Quora is one of my favorite websites. It’s chock full of amusing, insightful answers to questions about every subject under the sun. Sometimes I write answers, and they’re all about learning, memory and how the brain works.
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The Science of Original Ideas
Everyone in the world of tech is obsessed with “innovation.” It’s a popular word with a nebulous definition. Some people think of it as coming up with unique business ideas, others view it as taking existing ideas and making them ten times better, and so on.
[Read more…] about The Science of Original IdeasAm I Too Old to Learn X?
This question gets tossed around all the time, especially amongst people who are over the age of 25. I’m not a sociologist, but I would guess this has a lot to do with how images of young, successful geniuses have been propagated throughout our society.
[Read more…] about Am I Too Old to Learn X?Learning How to Program
“I’m learning how to program…”
As someone who goes to quite a few tech meetups, I hear people say this on a regular basis. When I mention that I code for a living, I often get a torrent of questions about the best ways to learn. Rather than be a dick and tell them “hey, I wrote book about learning, just read that!”, I end up writing epically long emails about all the factors a newcomer to coding should consider.
In an effort to spend less time writing emails, I decided to create this blog post. Since I’m usually telling people the same things over and over again, it makes sense to just have this information in a single, easily-accessible place.
[Read more…] about Learning How to ProgramThe 3 Most Important Rules for Public Speaking
“Delivery, delivery, delivery.”
–Demosthenes, when asked to name the 3 most important components of rhetoric
Last night I gave my first public presentation about 52 Aces-related material, specifically the fundamentals of memory. It seemed to go over well and I walked away feeling like I provided some value to the audience.
That being said, several people came up to me afterwards and asked me about books, videos or anything else I’d used to develop my style of speaking. They all gave me suspicious looks when I told them I hadn’t studied anything.
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