One way to dream up post-book media to make reading more effective and meaningful is to systematize "expert" practices (e.g. How to Read a Book), so more people can do them, more reliably and more cheaply. But… the most erudite people I know don't actually do those things!
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There's a funny response curve: folks who are super-diligent about note-taking practices or building simulations seem to generally end up with less insight than their somewhat-less-diligent neighbors.
Maybe it's a explore/exploit thing? Or maybe just a wonk/gestalt thing?
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The best theory I have is something like: it takes so much effort to do these "expert" reading practices now that such readers burn their willpower and mental energy on running those processes, rather than on the ideas themselves.
But I don't know! Gives me pause!
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wait, which less-diligent-neighbors ? (other erudites, or other anybodys?)
Also, is this left to their choice of whether to use diligent practices? What if you asked some of the diligents to "just read" and asked some of the less-diligents to up their processes?
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I also wonder about your thoughts if you compare to strategies and processes that struggling readers use in grades 4-12. e.g. vmg-craftcms-private.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/READ
bc, if a struggling reader becomes a reader, do they keep these strategies? If not, how would they describe their process now?
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Yeah, it's a difference of personality (brain) type. Some are aiming to copy the ideas on offer, while others are looking to play with them and combine them with ideas already collected, to generate totally novel ideas. The creative types take notes only when they are inspired.
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“folks who are super-diligent about note-taking practices or building simulations seem to generally end up with less insight than their somewhat-less-diligent neighbors.” Can you expand on this or link to source? Thx. I recall your posts on books but can’t find specific ref
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My view: everyone is different, what works for one person may not work for another with different personality.
Also I tend to discount "expert" explanations. They tend to be too neat and systematic. Experts think they do one thing, but actually do another. (ala Freakanomics)
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Simple, I think; this has been bugging me since GTD became a thing: “indexing” is not “integration/embodiment.” They can work together but learning how to do the former is easier than the latter, so that button gets mashed harder and outcompetes. twitter.com/andy_matuschak…
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