读完了Scott Young在八月刚刚出版的新书 Ultralearning(《终级学习》),目前肯定还没有中文译本。如果你读过狗熊之前推荐的《原子习惯》或是其他关于学习、效率与能力训练方面的书,你一定会爱上这本书。作者Scott只花了一年,就完成了MIT计算机系学生4年的本科课程,还用一年时间通过旅行的方式沉浸式学习,掌握了四门外语到达中级的程度(可以与母语人士交谈及阅读)。Ultralearning这本书,就是关于他的学习方法的心得。
书里总结了9条学习的原则,另外也穿插了很多关注学习方法的朋友们比较熟悉的例子,比如费曼的“讲课式学习法”,国际象棋冠军波尔加三姐妹的成长,自学绘画的凡高,还有来自新西兰的世界填字游戏冠军Nigel的学习方法。很多关键因素是共同的,比如聚焦、正向反馈、构建多种思维地图(mental map,专家的思维地图可能有几百种,而普通初学者也许只有几种套路)。
想起我之前读过一位朋友总结的库布里克的学习方法:为了寻找适合的房间布景风格,他挑了三本建筑杂志把它们过去十年的过刊全看了一遍;为了找到有时代感的配乐,他把连续六年的 Billboard 榜单 Top 100 歌曲全听一遍……更有名的是他为了研究拿破仑所汇集的资料多到需要专门准备一个房间来存放。依靠短时间内密集获取单一领域信息,他可以很有效地获得某种只有「量」才能积累起来的感性的认识。
除了书里提到的9个学习的原则非常有价值之外,另外也有一些重要的概念和tips,比如“任何学习的项目,research的时间至少要占到整体学习时间的1/10”,”重述能力比我们想象得重要得多“,”回答简单的问题其实很难“。其中我觉得最有价值的一个点,是关于 meta learning的。Scott认为,任何学科都有关键的结构和最重要的知识或是技能,针对这些元知识或是元技能进行学习,就是meta learning。学习前通过research,可以找到这个领域的meta,针对其集中学习,就事半功倍。
PS. 另外书里关于语言学习,也有一些非常实用的技巧,比如项目式学习和沉浸式学习等,Scott自己的”A year without English“也的的确确让他掌握了四门外语。我目前开始使用”部分沉浸式学习“的方式来提升英语,等结束后,也会和你分享我的学习感受。
保持学习吧!在这个时代,学习能力,才是最meta,最靠得住的一种硬实力。
Do I believe a man can finish MIT's computer science diploma in one year? No, until I see some proof from the official. Do I believe everyone can improve his learning performance at least 200% compare to the average pace at school? Yes. That's why I would like to recommend this book to you, Ultralearning by Scott Young.
Scott learned all the MIT's Computer Science courses in 1 year instead of 4 years, and learned four languages in one year by traveling four countries, each one for three months in his "1 year without English challenge". After that, he wrote the book to introduce his learning methods. There are nine principles in this book, which like a learning framework for anyone to be a super learner. I live with some principles mentioned in this book, and the result is that I was regarded as a very productive person. If you can find a way to adapt these principles align to your learning project, there's no doubt you can improve your learning performance.
Watch this video, or read the book to learn his principles, but what is more important, is to take action of learning something. Set yourself a goal, and schedule some time for that, then do it. You will have your unique story to share about the challenge. Just do it.