Re:Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?
by DenisM on Sunday August 09, 2015 @01:45AM
(#10029624)
Very astute, especially the library reference idea. In the same vein:
- Avoid news brought up by social networks - people like and share what's emotionally engaging, so the story writers have a very strong incentive to embellish. Majority of the "news" on social media is either bogus or empty.
- Major newspapers check credentials of their guest authors. Those guest articles aren't always correct, but signal/noise is way higher.
- Articles in peer-review journals are usually right, especially the bigger journals with more eyes on them.
- Avoid news brought up by social networks - people like and share what's emotionally engaging, so the story writers have a very strong incentive to embellish. Majority of the "news" on social media is either bogus or empty.
- Major newspapers check credentials of their guest authors. Those guest articles aren't always correct, but signal/noise is way higher.
- Articles in peer-review journals are usually right, especially the bigger journals with more eyes on them.
- Approaching a librarian is not as hard as it may seem. Here's UW. for example: http://www.lib.washington.edu/about/contact
- Apparently there's a "24/7 Reference Cooperative", a nation-wide librarian Q&A service: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/w/page/13839418/24%207%20Coop%...