
How to Learn (Almost) Anything - cwan
http://litemind.com/learn-anything/
======
3pt14159
Pro-tip for those still in university for a technical field:

Instead of going to lectures, completing assignments, and doing tutorials you
would be better off learning engineering the way I learned. My way only works
in those cases where your prof will actually assign a relevant book.

Step 1: Start at the very beginning of the book with some blank printer paper.
Start reading, but be sure to use the paper to block off information further
down the page. I actually used 2 sheets of paper, one for the opposite page
and one for the section below what I was reading.

Step 2: When you encounter an example problem try to solve it. Make a good,
honest, serious 10 minute try at figuring out what the formulas _should_ be.
This is especially important if you haven't even been given the formulas
first. I "invented" the equations for electromechanical forces by thinking
about what they were asking, visualizing it, and then applying basic calculus
to the problem set. I also invented fluid flow through pipe networks,
structural deflection, life time value assessments, and many other things. All
of these concepts are stuck like granite in my mind for life.

Step 3: At exam time take all those assignments you haven't done and do them
all at once in the 48 hours before the exam. If you were smart you would have
asked your prof if he was ok with you handing in the completed assignments on
your own schedule. The reason you leave these off to just before the exam is
two fold. Firstly, you actually do the assignments without leaning on your
friends to help you with the devilish details. Secondly, your mind doesn't go
into auto-recall mode and remember THAT EXACT problem. It is actually trying
to solve them for the first time.

That's all it takes. My university experience was a walk in the park once I
figured this out, I actually held a full time job as a construction
coordinator while fully enrolled at Waterloo.

On exams I could always get the bonus questions because I didn't just
understand the formulas - I "invented" half of them. It's a much deeper
understanding that started in first year and carried me through until the end
of my fourth year. There are going to be exceptions (for me it was applied
partial differential equations (except Laplace, that I understood fairly
well)) but in general it is far easier to read through a 250 to 400 page book
and cram for 48 hours than it is to trudge along going to class and getting
stuck on stupid details in assignments.

~~~
ars
This is quite an interesting method, but be aware: it doesn't work for all
people. Everyone _has_ to figure out how they learn best, preferably by the
start of high school.

~~~
rw
In practice, _maybe_ by the end of college. How can we help people figure
figure how they learn, while they can benefit from it the most?

~~~
aik
I truly learned how to learn by the end of college, and I would have found it
invaluable to have learned it sooner. There is no doubt that I would have
accomplished 100x more and learned 100x more during those years.

~~~
nzmsv
In my very first lecture in university the professor told the class that this
is impossible. The only way to learn something is by doing. But not to
despair, as even if you think you are no good at times, you will be 100x more
productive by the end.

------
samlittlewood
My first employer out of college (The Instruction Set - RIP) exploited this by
selling training courses that the technical staff would teach on rota:

\- Per this article - staff quickly became experts in appropriate fields.
There is nothing like explaining pointers,inheritance,device driver interrupts
etc. to a confused (but motivated audience) to internalize it yourself.

\- It was a great source of development work - one of the principles of the
company was not hoarding knowledge - very often, teaching companies how to
solve their problems would result in them saying something like "Wow, it
really is hard, that's not our core business, can you help us" - and they
would now have the knowledge to negotiate a sensible spec.

\- It gave a sort of mini sabbatical to the tech. staff - every couple of
months, you would be out teaching for a week or two, and dev. work would be
scheduled around this.

------
NathanKP
The basic premise of the article is fairly obvious: to learn something teach
it or do it. The best way by far to learn something is to teach it. When you
have to explain to an audience the way something works you have a pretty good
mental understanding yourself.

Interestingly, according to some studies, people remember 70% of the things
that they say in speeches they give (at conferences, classes, conventions,
etc.)

------
detcader
I agree with this; though, I do wonder how my Physics teacher knows the
latitudes of various major cities...

~~~
dhimes
Coastal cities? S/he may be a boater!

~~~
diN0bot
if you know the coastal cities' latitudes, then some basic geography will help
one match up inside cities, too.

------
futuremint
My favorite example is this: Lets say you want to learn about a new Javascript
library.

1\. Spend a little bit of time reading about it, so you know about 20% of what
you need to know, then convince a group to let you give a talk about using it.

2\. Realize, "Oh crap, I know virtually nothing about this, I need to use it
for something!" Build something with it and take notes as you go.

3\. Your notes can be easily morphed into a presentation, which you give to
the group on the assigned date.

The deadline forces you to take action, and the doing before the teaching
makes you learn a lot of the material before doing the teaching, and then
preparing for the final "teaching" part cements the final bits of knowledge
you might have missed.

If you can't find a group to do a presentation, start a local one! Its really
easy with the free tools available online now.

------
detcader
This works well with programming. I took two years of Java in high school (an
intro course and an AP course) and now, as a HS senior, I probably couldn't
declare an array for my life. However, I've self-taught myself python by
programming a few GUI apps, and, even though having never taken a class on it,
I'm infinitely more competent.

------
ars
He touches lightly on it at the end, but this cone does not work for all
people.

For example for me, HEAR and READ would be reversed.

And actually the rest are not accurate - _for me_ \- either.

The point isn't the details (I initially posted them, but edited it out) - the
point is to figure out this cone for yourself, and work with it to best
effect.

------
chanux
Found this on HN sometime back. Similar good read
[http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_woznia...](http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak)

~~~
Timothee
I remember this discussion on HN. And I liked the idea. In prep school, I used
to go through my whole Math binder for each bi-monthly test even though the
tests were only on the last few chapters. It definitely helped me a lot.

After reading about the link you re-posted, I looked at some of the software
that were replicating SuperMemo's method. (I can't remember the names right
now) The issue I had was to find the material for what I was studying. Of
course, the best way is probably to create your own material but that requires
an extra time investment.

