I get smart by being against the wall. Maybe a sign of internet ADD. I've tried reading, rarely worked. I watched tons of talks, sometimes deeply inspiring, most of the time the equivalent of a TV show for emacs nerds. I learned the most in crysis (bricked os, fubared hdd, proving for interviews, having a client).

ps: btw, try MOOCs, it had a positive effect on me, people compared it to IRL college, but I found the irc channels more open to discussing problems, replaying classes very good when your brains shuts down, the self pacing valuable too.

Do MOOCs have their own IRC channels?

Not official ones (at least in 2012), only people deciding to gather at some newly named room like #proglang, #progfun, #coursera-foo.. Usually around 40 persons speaking at peak, 10-20 regulars. From lost noob to almost rockstar (we had the pleasure to have a c++ standard co-author in #progfun).

I've found reading the right books to be the best way. Lectures tend to be too broad for me, although they can serve as good overviews.

My philosophy is that if I want to learn something, I get a few suggestions for books, briefly skim through their contents and pick one. After that I'll take notes in it and reread and basically squeeze every ounce of knowledge that I possibly can from it until it's engrained in my brain.

Figure out your specific niche, the craft you would like to master, and learn everything about it, go as deep as you can.

Watching vs reading - doesn't matter, whatever is most comfortable and has the info you're interested in.

Don't forget audiobooks - they are very easy and fun to listen to, and you can do it in many situations when you would otherwise be wasting your time.

Also try writing/blogging - it is hard, but it is amazing.

Picking a creative project, and doing it, reconceiving the project as you go, and picking up whatever you need to learn to get it done.

Develop your critical thinking abilities. You'll end up asking 'why?' as second-nature, and that question is one of the biggest engines for getting smarter.

I personally learn best from some combination of a lecture, and a tutorial, followed up by my own trial and error.

Read textbooks.

No, battle them! :)

Practice :)