[kd5bjo]

“A soldier does not become a shrewd general merely by endorsing the strategic principles of Clausewitz; he must also be competent to apply them.”

“Knowing how to apply maxims cannot be reduced to, or derived from, the acceptance of those or any other maxims.”

— Ryle, Gilbert. The Concept of Mind (1949)

I started reading this a couple of weeks ago after seeing it referenced in Peter Naur’s “Programming as Theory Building”, and this point of his in particular keeps coming up in all sorts of contexts: there’s a fundamental difference between knowing how something is done and knowing how to do it. The former is what you get from any sort of how-to or advice article, but the latter comes from experience. It’s unclear if there’s any internal transfer at all between these two kinds of knowledge.

[jasim]

I've come to believe that reading isn't as useful as I previously thought. I still read prolifically, because it is pleasurable, and occasionally inspiring, but not because there are any causal benefits I can point to.

"The saying experientia magistra rerum, ‘experience is a great teacher’, was familiar in the Middle Ages: you don’t learn to ride a horse or shoot an arrow by reading books." (from the book, oh the irony, The Invention of Science by Wooton)

[dasil003]

It sounds like you might be over-correcting if you truly believe reading doesn't have any "causal benefits". The vast majority of what you read might not be directly applicable to your pursuits, but when you find those nuggets that reveal a flaw you hadn't perceived, or point you in a new direction the results can be dramatic. Practice and knowledge go hand-in-hand, the key is judgement on where to focus day-to-day.

[jasim]

I agree - it is a bit of over-correction.

[agumonkey]

I hit that wall somehow hard. There's a very odd cognitive notion about 'know how'. Even stupid simple obvious things, when you've never done them, good chances you will feel weirdly stuck for tiny and absurd reasons.

[lanstin]

Which is why trying new stuff you don't know how to do and also to do stuff you like but are bad at is so cognitively beneficial.

[hellisothers]

Which is why when you’re interviewing you should have a really good example of personal failure and recovery :)