ChristianKl comments on How to learn soft skills - Less Wrong

44 Post author: AnnaSalamon 07 February 2015 05:22AM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 10 February 2015 08:08:12PM 4 points [-]

I'm not sure that "read a book" is the best meta-strategy for acquiring soft skills. Sign up for a course might be a much better medium. Especially for people who do have money.

Comment author: Lumifer 11 February 2015 04:50:56PM 2 points [-]

I'm not sure that "read a book" is the best meta-strategy for acquiring soft skills. Sign up for a course might be a much better medium.

Depends on the person. I've noticed that some people acquire knowledge much better when they are taught, and some -- when they learn by themselves.

Comment author: ChristianKl 11 February 2015 04:54:13PM 1 point [-]

Neither of those seem to me optimized by "read a book".

Comment author: Lumifer 11 February 2015 04:56:23PM 2 points [-]

"Learn by yourself" is often, but not always, optimized by "read a book".

Comment author: ChristianKl 11 February 2015 05:01:50PM 1 point [-]

When it comes to learning social skills, interactions with other human beings is often central. You don't have that with a book. It's useful to have a trusted environment that's supportive.

Comment author: [deleted] 11 February 2015 05:00:38PM *  -1 points [-]

Books are simply the best way to learn.

Be sure to read a good book though, because otherwise you can esaily lose motivation.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 22 February 2015 04:31:27AM 0 points [-]

Books are simply the best way to learn.

This is a vast overgeneralization. Note for example that many books are poorly written, and some subjects don't have good books. Moreover, different people prefer absorbing information in different fashions. I'm pretty heavily on the books-yay end of things, but I'm not under an illusion that books are magically good in and of themselves.

Comment author: [deleted] 22 February 2015 01:55:55PM 0 points [-]

Note for example that many books are poorly written

True. That means you just have to take the right book.

and some subjects don't have good books.

Not really the fault of books now.

Moreover, different people prefer absorbing information in different fashions.

Acceptable thing to say but an rather vague one as "preference" can easily be like that stupid "i has add lol cant read" (an rather extreme one, but humans are not automatically strategic and all that I guess), but admitting that good books has and always been a standard for a wealth of great information is not an understatement.

Most of this is less about books but rather about the information (utility). The only thing that matters is that they get the best bang for their buck. And for that.. books. Correlation, casuation.. eh.. let's keep it simple.