Original link: https://weichen.blog/on-reading/
Many people say that to be a good writer, you need to be a voracious reader first. My feeling is that the two go hand in hand, and that writing also inspires reading.
When exploring a problem, the author chooses a specific angle. But the choice of information means the lack of information. Even if the author knows about other perspectives, it is not practical to write everything down because it will affect readability. (Perhaps that’s why no one likes to read legal terms.)
These perspectives come from the author’s preferences, purposes, and from the intended audience. Many people complain that “Why We Sleep” is full of scientific loopholes, but it does not mean that this book is not good. It is intended for general readers, not domain scientists. Useful and accurate are two different things, at least it was helpful to me. 1
In addition to actively chosen perspectives, authors have their own biases.
Therefore, understanding multiple viewpoints is often better than understanding only one. Whenever possible, read answers written by authors of different backgrounds, rather than repeating answers written by authors of similar backgrounds.
Everyone understands the truth, but I wonder how many people actually do it. Take Zhihu as an example, how many people will compare ten different answers and choose the most reasonable one? How many people upvoted because the answer was right, not just because it was right?
However, Zhihu is not a good learning channel. Good authors rarely search for answers. David Epstein encourages us to go to libraries and bookstores and “get out of the algorithm you’re in”. Malcolm Gladwell also said that you won’t find interesting things through search engines, “it takes you to a dead end.” According to Neil deGrasse Tyson, search engines are a classic example of confirmation bias. 2
Malcolm Gladwell also found that people don’t talk about a book the way they think about it, so he intentionally interspersed the book with jokes for people to talk about. The core of the book is like a main dish for readers to enjoy quietly at home, and the interesting jokes are like snacks for everyone to share.
For learning, books like entrees, podcasts, and videos are more of a snack. When asked about the difference between writing a video script and writing a book, YouTuber Ali Abdaal replied that for videos “you are more likely to fool the past”, you are more likely to make logical jumps through audio-visual means.
Learning is a brain-consuming thing, otherwise it is very likely that you will not learn well. If I want to learn English while watching American dramas, not only will my English not improve, but American dramas will also be unpleasant. 3
How to do it? James Clear shared a piece of advice :
Refresh your mind with books, think strategies in quiet time, and learn techniques through conversations with successful peers.
Even reading, though, be wary of good authors.
The better the writer, the easier it will be for you to believe what they say.
But being able to write doesn’t mean they’re right. If your purpose in reading is to get close to reality , you need to keep questioning.
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Some time ago, The Knowledge Project podcast interviewed Matthew Walker, author of “Why We Sleep”. Some listeners expressed dissatisfaction, and host Shane Parrish responded: “When I think about guests and our body of work, our goal is high signal and low noise. Not every episode will hit that but that’s the target. In an attempt to make this happen, I ask myself one question: “Is this useful?” Take Matthew Walker. Is his work 100% accurate? No. Is it useful? Based on the feedback I’ve gotten. Yes. Useful and accurate are different things. (From itsLearning Community Forum )
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Neil Tyson’s original words were “The internet is the epitome of confirmation bias – and you’re going to use that to tell if you are right! Oh no…” He also said , “Internet search engines have a way of affirming your hypothesis , no matter what you have hypothesized.”
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Regarding learning requires deliberate practice and effort, Sönke Ahrens writes in How To Take Smart Notes: “Learning itself requires deliberate practice, and I mean actual learning that helps us to increase our understanding of the world, not just the learning that makes us pass a test. And deliberate practice is demanding; it requires effort. Trying to skip this step would be like going to the gym and trying to work out with the least effort possible. That just doesn’t make sense, just like it wouldn’t make sense to hire a coach to do the heavy lifting. A coach is not there to do the work, but to show us how to use our time and effort in the most effective way. What is self-evident in sports we are only starting to realize is true for learning as well. “The one who does the work does the learning,” writes Doyle (2008, 63). It is hard to believe, but in education that is still a revolutionary idea.”
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This article is reprinted from: https://weichen.blog/on-reading/
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