On: Alan Kay’s reading list

[Alex3917]

Has anyone here actually read Piaget? I've heard that he was such a bad writer that even his closest disciples often had no idea what he was talking about. I'm tempted to read these books, but on the other hand I'm worried it will make it even harder to understand his ideas.

[b-man → Alex3917]

If you want an advice, read Seymour Papert's articles and books (http://www.papert.org/works.html, also take a look at http://learning.media.mit.edu/content/publications/EA.Piaget...)

Papert's style is very accessible, and he was, at least in my view (and in Piaget's view) the guy who grok his ideas the most.

[Alex3917 → b-man]

Thanks, I'll check these out.

[_csoo → Alex3917]

Here you go:

http://books.google.com/books?id=jJZ7aWY4tIcC&printsec=f...

Some pages you can read to see if you understand his writing.

[Alex3917 → _csoo]

Thanks for the link. Yeah, it's even worse than I'd imagined. I think I'll stick to just reading Duckworth's summaries of his ideas for now.

[radu_floricica → Alex3917]

I raised an eyebrow at Piaget too, but mostly because he's been described as on the same level with Freud: he created the field, but that was a long time ago. I haven't read him though, I admit.

[bitwize → radu_floricica]

I suspect Kay got into Piaget because he was a fan of Papert.

[GHFigs → Alex3917]

I second the recommendation of Papert. The first few chapters of Mindstorms are extremely accessible and probably more relevant to any HN reader than anything direct from Piaget.

[dhess → Alex3917]

I'm slowly reading Language and Thought of the Child. The "slowly" part is my fault, not Piaget's; I think it's excellent and understandable, even if it's a bit verbose.