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mattnewport comments on Less Wrong Book Club and Study Group - Less Wrong
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Comments (148)
Is this a roundabout way of saying that people 'between levels 0 and 1' should probably start with a more introductory text? Do you have any specific recommendations?
This is a comment about usefulness of a book club (for technical books of any difficulty), not about any book or topic in particular. In the lingo of levels of understanding, my argument is that you should finish a book with a deeper level than is possible to achieve if you barely understand what's explicitly written, and otherwise you shouldn't even start. If Jaynes reads easily, and you seek the knowledge it contains, read Jaynes (on your own). If you need help with reading Jaynes, don't read Jaynes at all, find something simpler. Maybe after obtaining more basic knowledge you'll discover that you shouldn't read Jaynes because it doesn't teach what you want to learn, even when you become ready for it.
Even when I am perfectly capable of understanding something myself, I find it extremely helpful to learn with other interested people in a "study, study, then discuss" kind of format. I come to my own conclusions about the text while I study, just as I would if I were working by myself, but then I additionally get to compare the details of my conclusions with those of other minds working independently. Also, having participants with diverse intellectual backgrounds means that they may be able to identify and share interesting tangential ideas that would not have occurred to me alone.
I also find that communicating my thoughts to other people forces me to clarify them to a greater degree, often revealing small gaps in understanding that I had papered over in my own mind.
My interest in the book club is as an anti-akrasia strategy. I've read the first few chapters of Jaynes and find it easy enough to understand but have not finished it because I generally have trouble with finding motivation to read technical books when I have no immediate application for the subject matter.
That could work, but there are other things you could be doing with your time, given that it's not a fun/useful enough activity to drive you without additional help.
Yes, such as the things I am currently doing with my time. This would be akrasia.
You haven't really said anything about the book club aspect. Might that help with the obstacles you mention? For one thing, it's often difficult to figure out the prereqs, but people in the club may know. One thing that does make your comments particularly applicable to clubs is that they suggest the choice of book should be individual.