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How to read a mathematics textbook (2016)
Reading maths textbooks linearly doesn't work; here's what to do instead.
Topics /
Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 7,742 posts.
3122
Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels Apple’s quality is degrading. I spend 10 hours a day on my laptop and would spend any amount of money within reason for a better one. However, everything comes with tradeoffs.
3123
Tmux is worse-is-better
tmux (short for “terminal mux” (short for “multiplexer”)) is i3 for your terminal. Oh, it’s so much more than that, and I recently discovered with some joy that it is installed by default on OpenBSD, but its fundamental value add to any programmer who has to SSH into servers more than once a week is it allows you to…
3124
GPT makes learning fun again
What will GPT unlock for the nerdy kid sitting in a 7th-grade classroom today?
3125
Nobody knows what's going on
A major online publication once reported in a profile on me that I had retired at 33. A few old friends and acquaintances reached out to congratulate me on my financial ind...
3126
Capsaicin is a psychoactive substance
Capsaicin, the active substance in chili peppers, acts on vanilloid receptors (TRPV1) and alters adrenaline and endorphine levels.
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Developing a food-safe finish for my wooden spoons
You know what they say in the world of products: fast, cheap, good; pick two. That's exactly my experience when trying to find the most suitable wood finish for my hand carved wooden spoons and cups. I got tired of trying to find something food-safe, without chemical smells and that doesn't take ages to cure. So I…
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Saying goodbye to an old friend
Our tracker blocker for iOS and macOS, Better, was poisoned by a rotten apple and died.
3131
A complete guide to getting what you want (2018)
Note to reader: This is a long post – 2200 words – so bookmark it if you need to, but I think you’ll find it a worthwhile read if you apply this strategy even a single time. *...
3132
Stages of Denial
It is a lazy Tuesday afternoon. Perhaps you were idly browsing your favorite news aggregator, or visiting The Orange Website to wade through murky startup groupthink in search of interesting links.
3133
We’re Reading Fahrenheit 451 Wrong (2018)
I was reminded of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 a day or two ago while reading Ian Bogost on Apple’s Airpods. Bogost examined Airpods’ potential long term social consequences. …
3134
How Might We Learn?
On an immersive future of learning
3135
Keep work fresh by teaching your successors and investing a bit in long-shots
If you’re doing what you’re told to do, they are paying you too much.
3136
Digging into PlantStudio, a bit late
This aesthetic screenshot of an old windows app has been in my inspiration space for ~5 years. Until recently, I assumed that it was just a nostalgia bait concept.
3137
Most books don't sell only a dozen copies
A little post on why publishing statistics are so confusing
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What I'm Hearing About Cognitive Debt (So Far)
A week ago, I wrote about how Generative and Agentic AI may be amplifying what I’ve been calling cognitive debt: the accumulated gap between a system’s evolving structure and a team’s shared unders...
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3141
What I learned from writing for The Onion for a month (2015)
I wrote for The Onion News Network for exactly four weeks. Here's what I learned.
3142
"I have come to find out what it's like to be dumb."
I’m a smart guy. I’m not bragging. It’s not like I deserve any credit for being smart. I didn’t do anything to make that happen. I’m also tall, but nobody compliments me on that. (Good job being tall!) Intelligence is an immutable characteristic that I have at times capitalized on and at other times let […]
3143
Beware the Casual Polymath
We live in times of great disaggregation, and yet, seem to learn increasingly from generalists. In the past, an expert in one field of Psychology might have been forced to teach a broad survey class.
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We see something that works, and then we understand it
“We see something that works, and then we understand it.” (Thomas Dullien) It is a deeper insight than it seems. Young people spend years in school learning the reverse: understanding happens before progress. That is the linear theory of innovation. So Isaac Newton comes up with his three laws of mechanics, and we get…
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On keeping sketchbooks
Matt Kirkland is a designer. He probably reads too much.
3149
My Apple Watch After 5 Days
Having known about the Apple Watch for some time and knowing lots of my friends were planning to buy one, I was sceptical as my needs are quite different to that of those of the sighted and hearing. I have to rely on specific accessible features. However, I was curious as Apple products have b...
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