stacksatsio on Nostr: Following on from Peak, I’ve just finished Ultralearning by Scott H Young for ...
Following on from Peak, I’ve just finished Ultralearning by Scott H Young for #bookstr
Whereas Peak focuses on measurable practice to develop expertise in various fields from a academic lens, Ultralearning explores the fulfillment of these ideas through a practical framework for developing skills by real people.
The author’s claim to fame was studying MIT’s 4 year CompSci program in 12 months - alone, self-directed, online, for free.
For the book he sought out other examples of individuals who had done similar intensive deep dives and how they were able to successfully develop skills on compressed timelines. His distillation of these ideas is Ultralearning.
My key takeaways from the book were:
1. The importance of “metalearning”, not just in tackling new projects but in how skills compound and cross-pollinate to other learning endeavours.
2. Similarly the importance of Directness. Listening to that chapter will make you hate public education even more because of how obvious it is that time spent on the skills themselves rather than learning theories about skills is how skills are actually developed.
3. Some useful learning methods of successful people in learning skills where they are essentially blazing a brand new trail on their own for things where there is no guides to study.
Young references Peak’s author a few times (as well as Moonwalking with Einstein, an excellent book about developing memory skills) and like me disagrees with the conclusion that inherent talent doesn’t exist. Rather he shows that with the right work ethic, environment, and self motivation, that people can rapidly learn anything they set out to achieve.
This one is definitely worth a listen/read if you’d like some pointers on learning how to learn with a self-directed approach. I’m already using stuff learned herein for 2 projects I am working on for 2025.
Whereas Peak focuses on measurable practice to develop expertise in various fields from a academic lens, Ultralearning explores the fulfillment of these ideas through a practical framework for developing skills by real people.
The author’s claim to fame was studying MIT’s 4 year CompSci program in 12 months - alone, self-directed, online, for free.
For the book he sought out other examples of individuals who had done similar intensive deep dives and how they were able to successfully develop skills on compressed timelines. His distillation of these ideas is Ultralearning.
My key takeaways from the book were:
1. The importance of “metalearning”, not just in tackling new projects but in how skills compound and cross-pollinate to other learning endeavours.
2. Similarly the importance of Directness. Listening to that chapter will make you hate public education even more because of how obvious it is that time spent on the skills themselves rather than learning theories about skills is how skills are actually developed.
3. Some useful learning methods of successful people in learning skills where they are essentially blazing a brand new trail on their own for things where there is no guides to study.
Young references Peak’s author a few times (as well as Moonwalking with Einstein, an excellent book about developing memory skills) and like me disagrees with the conclusion that inherent talent doesn’t exist. Rather he shows that with the right work ethic, environment, and self motivation, that people can rapidly learn anything they set out to achieve.
This one is definitely worth a listen/read if you’d like some pointers on learning how to learn with a self-directed approach. I’m already using stuff learned herein for 2 projects I am working on for 2025.