billswift comments on Branches of rationality - Less Wrong

75 Post author: AnnaSalamon 12 January 2011 03:24AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (64)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: billswift 12 January 2011 04:30:26AM 4 points [-]

I have found that the best way to make myself ask questions about what I am learning is to force myself to take notes in my own words about what I have just read. It forces me to really think about what is important about the material.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 12 January 2011 04:53:55AM 2 points [-]

(nods) Yes.

I discovered this when my job involved doing a lot of software design reviews; the only way I could make myself actually review the design (rather than read the design and nod my head) was to write my own summary document of what the design was.

This was particularly true for noticing important things that were missing (as opposed to noticing things that were there and false).