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mattnewport comments on Less Wrong Book Club and Study Group - Less Wrong
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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.
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.