[VoodooJuJu]

When I used to be an overintellectualizing, overacademizing nerd, I would use complex and regimented notetaking and review systems. The whole gamut from trendy notetaking wiki-type apps to flashcard spaced-repetition apps like anki.

These things made me feel like I was learning. Flashcards and notetaking itself were fun games. I felt like I'd stumbled onto this hyper-optimized efficient way to learn whatever I wanted.

That feeling was misplaced.

I threw away all that garbage and just started diving into things after reading/observing the bare minimum to get the wheels rolling. Read a little, act a lot. The acting is the most important part. You want to learn some thing? Just do that thing, repeatedly.

It's inefficient, failure-laden, and it's the best way to truly learn something.

This applies to abstract things too, like math and language. Don't bother making flashcards for theorems, syntax, or word definitions. You gotta do the work. For math, just do a million exercises. For language, read, write, listen, speak. You can flashcard word definitions and atomic little rules all day, and you'll feel like you're making progress, that's how Duolingo reels in so many people. It's an easy way to feel like you're accomplishing, but it's a facade. Gotta just do the work.

[organsnyder]

Beautifully put. It's been a while since I've read a book and immediately thought, "Wow, this is so inspiring, my life will be completely changed if I can apply this!" I think this is more a function of my age rather than the quality of the books I've read recently.

Just about everything I read—fiction or nonfiction—will impact me in some small way, whether it's a useful new phrase, a novel concept, something explained in a new way, or a new perspective. I'm fine with just absorbing what I can and allowing it to enrich my (hopefully) continuing process of gradual self-improvement.

[mindcrime]

This applies to abstract things too, like math and language. Don't bother making flashcards for theorems, syntax, or word definitions. You gotta do the work.

I sort of disagree with this, at least with the naive interpretation. That is, if one is saying that "the work" is mutually exclusive with memorizing "theorems, syntax, word definitions <and etc.>" then I definitely disagree. I would posit that "The work" includes (but is not limited to) doing that memorization. So I'd rephrase the original statement as "Don't ONLY make flashcards for theorems, syntax, or word definitions. You gotta do the other work too" or something close to that.

IOW, I think memorization using Flashcards (whether using Anki or not) is a valid part of the process of learning and synthesizing things. At least in my experience, it's a part that adds value for me. But I would agree that just doing that is not sufficient in and of itself.

[phatboyslim]

> "Read a little, act a lot. The acting is the most important part. You want to learn some thing? Just do that thing"

Took me a long time to learn this but also came to the same conclusion.

[wenc]

This is me too. Learning by doing means making mistakes in real life rather than things remaining in the realm of intellectual exercise where everything is neat and tidy.

Some people have a linear happy path to learning — they seem to be able to acquire all the right knowledge and avoid mistakes.

But I learn from doing the wrong things — the resulting cognitive dissonance burns the lesson into my head. This is an expensive way to learn because you have to make a lot of mistakes and bear the resulting shame. But over time I learned to avoid fatal mistakes and make the merely stupid ones.

I’ve always been inspired by a quote by Goro Shimura about his colleague Yutaka Taniyama (both of the Taniyama Shimura Conjecture fame, which led to the proof of Fermat’s last theorem):

“He was not a very careful person as a mathematician. He made a lot of mistakes. But he made mistakes in a good direction. I tried to imitate him. But I've realized that it's very difficult to make good mistakes.”

[jdreaver]

I agree with basically everything you are saying, except I think a sprinkle of rote memorization can go a long way in some domains. Whenever I read a math book, memorizing definitions and some key theorems helps me apply them in problems. With programming, however, I tend to do zero rote memorization.

[graboid]

Generally agree.

There is a case for writing down the stuff you learned though (into your notebook, app, zettelkasten, whatever). When I try to note down a concept I learned, I feel like sort of explaining it to myself. And often, I will quickly discover holes in my understanding. A good note-taking software can also point out connections to other stuff (mostly in the form of other notes) I maybe wouldn't have made. Maybe others don't need that, but I am bad at making connections.

[soco]

"One learns from books and example only that certain things can be done. Actual learning requires that you do those things." (Frank Herbert, Children of Dune)

[sva_]

> It's inefficient, failure-laden, and it's the best way to truly learn something.

I think there's value in documenting the errors/failures one ran into, and reflecting on them in hindsight. That is what actually shows one's learning process.

[kangda123]

Math actually takes it to an extreme. I did not expect that and spent a few months reading math textbooks thinking I'm studying it. Maybe doing some basic exercises and moving further right after.

[somsak2]

"Pitting the learning of basic knowledge against the development of creative thinking is a false choice."

- make it stick: Brown, Roediger, McDaniel

[rgrieselhuber]

For languages, I think it depends on the language and the learner. Flashcards helped me learn all ~2,000 of the Jōyō kanji in about 18 months.