> Barbara Oakley's book A Mind For Numbers

Thank you for the recommendation! I am looking forward to reading the book. It is good know that someone who started off their education assuming they cannot do well in STEM subjects, can actually pick up the skills much later in their carrier, is refreshing. I belong to the camp that I did well in STEM subjects through formal education but then lost touch with math later on. Am looking forward to regaining this skill.

What would you say are your biggest take-aways from that course?

Here are a few:

* Diffuse mode vs. focus mode. After focusing hard on a problem, letting your brain wander can do wonders for coming up with insights and ideas. The classic example is coming up with something in the shower after working on it throughout the day. I've focused much more on giving myself some of the non-focused time after focused periods (ex. going for a walk/run/swim, taking a nap or shower, etc). I've started doing this more for work, as well.

* How memory works (short-term vs. long-term) and along those lines, spaced repetition. All through undergrad I would cram, but spacing it out (with the help of Anki for flashcard-focused topics) really does wonders.

* Importance of actively quizzing yourself, practice, and working through problems as you're learning something.

I’d recommend asking Tim Ferris.

Mr. Ferris certainly has a lot to say about the process of learning, but I haven't run across him saying anything about this particular course.

This was a joke.

Tim Ferris still promotes a “life hack” of paying other people to read books for you and provide a summary. Of course, this entirely detracts from the entire reason to read a book or any complex piece of information that might affect people differently depending on biases and past experience (so anyone who’s interested enough to read said information / content).

Which tools do you use for anki? Make your own decks?

The act of creating a deck is part of the practice. A really great illustration of this is (the book, haven't tried the app) Fluent Forever as referenced at https://fluent-forever.com/.

This is what I do. I make all my own decks, which obviously helps reinforce the material. Anki on desktop to create decks and cards, and Anki on mobile to review when I'm bored. Combined with appropriate material and labs, I have taken and passed 5 or 6 certification exams and countless college courses. I also use Anki for work things that I feel are important to remember 'off the cuff'.

Is it necessary to go through the entire Learning How to Learn course or is there a TL;DR somewhere?

I don't remember who posted it or if it's the same course, but https://workflowy.com/s/E9HW.jGUYboLrGj

Whoa cool these are the notes I put together. I'm glad someone remembered :)

I didn't find it useful at all. Not that it was bad - it's just that there was barely anything new for me and the content lacked depth. It all felt like obvious stuff. It seems to get a lot of praise though so clearly some people find value in it.

This comment is probably the most common reaction, and also the reason the course exists.

The course is really short. Like 4 hours. You could spend an hour per week and be done with it. Or just consume it over the course of a few days.

It's worthwhile. Try it.