Book Notes
2016-08-01
“If you understand something in only one way, then you don't really understand it at all. The secret of what anything means to us depends on how we've connected it to all other things we know. Well-connected representations let you turn ideas around in your mind, to envision things from many perspectives until you find one that works for you. And that's what we mean by thinking!” --Marvin Minsky
Being smart means being able to learn quickly, remember a large amount of information and be able to sort that information in a way that achieves your goals.
It wasn’t just that smart people learned better or faster. They learned differently. Smarts requires a different strategy.
Smart people tend to make fewer distinctions between branches of knowledge and can easily relate one set of understandings to another.
Holistic learning takes a different approach.Instead of trying to memorize information by making a perfect copy in your brain, it uses the web of neurons you have. Holistic learning creates webs of information. One idea relates to another idea. That interrelating of ideas allows you to easily navigate through complete understandings.
it is impossible to learn an idea in isolation. Learning anything requires associations. The more associations you can create and the stronger those associations are, the better.
Holistic learning is based on linking ideas as a way of remembering and applying them. The best techniques to start learning are metaphor, visceralization, flow-based notetaking and diagraming. These methods form the foundation of holistic learning.
A construct defines a set of tightly interlinked understandings.
When building constructs, your goal is to create as many possible interconnections as possible between ideas.
Models can take a variety of forms. The goal, however, is always the same: compressing information.
Models do not need to have perfect accuracy, they only need to combine several ideas to make them more manageable. As my understanding of subspaces grew, I made adjustments to my previous model and created new models.
A highway is a reference that links two completely different ideas. The benefit of a highways isn’t an immediately obvious one. However, highways help with creativity. Thinking “outside the box” might as well describe people who think outside of constructs. Highways allow them to do this by making connections between areas that they didn’t previously think were connected. Creativity can be seen as being able to utilize these highways to build new constructs in territories that were previously empty.
In all cases, your ability to handle a medium of information forms the first filter which can enhance or destroy your learning efforts. Any information lost here is gone forever. No amount of holistic learning techniques can make up for a failure to acquire the important ideas.
When acquiring information, you have three major goals:
1) Simplicity
2) Volume
3) Speed
Input is nothing without comprehension. If you don’t understand the surface of what a book is trying to say, the chances of remembering it for an exam or applying it in real life are almost nonexistent.
Learning by rote is learning with only the Understand Phase. The Understand Phase, is where most people stop and smart people go beyond.
Despite the limitations of stopping at this phase, it is the most critical. Unless you can acquire and understand the surface of information, you have no chance of building depth.
Not being able to understand something instantly, isn't a sign you aren't learning holistically. My suggestion, when you encounter a tricky subject is to break it into components. Narrow down specifically what you don't understand so you can use further reading to fill the gaps.
Exploration is really the start of holistic learning. There are three major ways you can explore ideas: depth, lateral and vertical exploration. Depth exploration is probably the best method to lock an idea in place, but also the most time consuming. Lateral exploration requires less research than depth exploration, but more creativity. It requires that you see connections that might not be present initially. Vertical exploration is the most difficult, but also the most creative way to learn.
Creating diagrams can help with vertical, lateral and depth exploration. Metaphor and visceralization both work best with vertical exploration.
Debugging can be seen as pruning back the holistic web. Adding exceptions and breaking connection that don’t exist in reality.
The only way to debug is to practice. You can cut down on practicing time if you form a solid foundation in the first three steps.
Application is part practice and part creativity as you take theories and force them onto the real world. A certain amount of all information is subconscious. That subconscious portion might not be developed if you fail to apply. Someone who has read a library of business books may understand concepts, but someone who has run a business can feel them.
Whenever you try new methods, information might get lost or absorbed differently. Testing allows you to track what your weaknesses are, so improvements can be made.
Testing isn’t a complicated process, but it requires a lot of self-awareness.
The sequence of holistic learning isn’t really a sequence at all. Instead it is a cycle that constantly jumps between steps. Try to avoid seeing these steps as linear but as part of an ongoing cycle to create understandings.
The solution to poor acquisition is to improve your study, reading and note taking habits.
Even if you feel you can’t understand your subjects, I’ve found that this is rarely the main problem. Usually most people can understand the basics of an idea. It is the cross application and linking required to remember ideas that most people stumble on.
When you don’t understand, slow down and ask for different explanations.
Poor debugging is shown by inaccurate connections. I find this is less common in the classroom, and more common in the outside world.
A sign you don’t do enough debugging is if you don’t regularly find yourself to be wrong on a major belief or issue. If you always think you are correct, chances are you aren’t doing enough critical examination of the connections you make.
As a learner, however, you can’t hire someone to explore or apply ideas. You have only one brain, so you need to focus on fixing weak points in the sequence.
Arbitrary information is a set of facts, dates, definitions or rules that have no logical grouping.
Your first goal with arbitrary information is to make it less arbitrary. If there is a logical pattern in the information, try to find that first. Otherwise the job of remembering and using the information becomes more difficult.
If that can’t be accomplished, these methods also work well:
Linking Pegging Compression
The one benefit of arbitrary information is that it is relatively easy to understand.
But this upside is also a curse. Since there is little understanding required, there is also little exploration that can be done. Therefore, this type of information is the most likely to be forgotten without sheer rote memorization. Linking, pegging and compression can help, but they can’t entirely compensate for the tricky nature of this structure.
Opinion information is information you need to argue. With opinion information, your biggest problem is the acquiring phase. Speed reading techniques are a great asset in gathering information. Diagraming is also a useful method with opinion information.
Practice is the most important element to learning any idea you need to act upon repeatedly, but creating the right background concepts is also crucial for saving time.
Most process information relies on having the right models. Here are some techniques to improve your models:
Visceralization Metaphor Diagraming Model Debugging
The biggest challenge with process information is that you need to actually put in the practice time. The benefit of process information is that, if you do practice, it tends to stick with you much longer than almost any other form of information.
Most information sits on a spectrum between abstract and concrete, the difference can often be based more on the way it is presented than the content itself.
Visceralization can be helpful if you want to put information into more than one of your senses.
Abstract information is like concrete information, but it lacks the obvious connection with the senses.
Abstract information is the complete opposite of arbitrary information. Very difficult to understand but the pattern is highly logical.
When dealing with abstract information, you need to move it to a concrete level.
Visceralization and metaphor are essential to bring complex ideas down to a basic level. Model debugging plays prominent role because your initial attempts to model an idea may have unintended errors.
When you need to learn a new topic, decide what major category or categories your information fits within. Deciding which category you need to learn can help you determine what techniques to use when learning and what obstacles you might face in remembering.
An arbitrary structure is the weakest structure for information. It is the hardest to
learn holistically, takes the longest to learn effectively and has little value outside its specific application. If possible, try to find patterns that make arbitrary information more logical.
Concrete and process structures are the strongest structures of information. Both of them create tangible experiences that help you link any new ideas through your senses.
Learning without a practical purpose is a waste of your time.
With acquiring information I’ve found two methods helpful, speed reading and flow-based notetaking.
Visceralization is my word to describe imagining not only a mental picture, but sounds, sensations and emotions. Often a mental image will work, but connecting an idea to several senses and even emotional states can create a stronger link than a picture.
Weak – Learning through repetition.
Better – Learning with linking, pegging or information compression.
Best – Learning with metaphor, visceralization or diagrams.
Information Compression:
Mnemonics are devices that store several ideas together by using a phrase or word that can organize the information. Using a mnemonic is as simple as collecting several ideas you want to compress together and picking a word or phrase you could use to organize them.
Picture linking
Notes compression
Practical usage isn’t a step-by-step technique. It is a creative process of looking for unusual ways you can apply the ideas you are ingesting.
When you get questions wrong, you need to separate simple errors that can easily be fixed, from those that represent a failure to understand key ideas. In the case of simple errors, just repeat a new question and learn from it. In the case of concept errors, go back to your models, metaphors and visceralizations to see if you made mistakes in the reasoning process.
Spending hours repeating the same type of questions is no different from rote memorization. I prefer to spend my time debugging on a shotgun approach, which tackles a few questions of each type, but doesn’t become repetitive.
Project-based learning can be useful when you don’t have an instructor or a final exam. It simply means constructing a 1-3 month project that will force you to learn. Here are some tips:
Keep it Small.
Write it Down.
Create an Objective Outcome.
Productivity Tips:
Energy Management
Don't “Study”
End Procrastination
Batch
Get Organized
Energy Management:
1) Increase your energy capacity. (do exercise; enough sleep time; eat healthy; drink more water; meals on time)
2) Switch your schedule from a linear format to a circular format. A linear schedule has work spread evenly over the entire time period. A circular schedule focuses on doing a lot of work earlier with ample rest time afterwards. (set a day off each week; evenings off; 90 minute timeboxes)
Don't “Study”:
Instead of studying, define the activities you need to perform in order to learn the material. Unless you itemize what you need to do in order to learn, you’ll waste endless hours “studying” instead of optimizing your time to actually learn.
End Procrastination:
Beating procrastination doesn’t mean just completing work earlier. (using Weekly/Daily Goals System)
Batching:
Batching involves taking a group of similar, small sections of work and doing them at one time. Batching helps cut down studying time because you can focus completely instead of switching between tasks.
Get Organized:
Everything has a home; Carry a notepad with you at all times; Maintain a calendar and a to-do list
Self-education comes with its own unique challenges. Without the structure of school, it is harder to maintain a focus, find resources and test your understanding.
Structuring Learning Habits:
Daily Reading (Books can’t teach you everything, but they form a solid foundation of ideas you can build any learning efforts from. By reading a large volume, you can structure your education more effectively, getting a wide variety of viewpoints on a subject instead of just one.)
Daily Practice (Practicing helps provide a structure for your learning, since it is the first time you will have a benchmark of your abilities.)
Daily Goal Setting
A few tips on setting your learning goals:
All Goals Need to Be Written. (Write down your goal as a few sentences, along with a deadline.)
Make it Objective.
Set Difficult, But Achievable Deadlines.
Break it Into Daily and Weekly Actions.
Review Your Goals Regularly.
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