How to learn from a book (maybe) | note-taking, visualizations, spacing | history example
Does anyone really know how to learn from a book? Here is a record of my first serious attempt to understand and remember what I was reading for the long term, along with various justifications (and rationalizations!) for what I did.
0:00 What I'm trying to do
0:50 What does it mean to learn from a book?
2:27 Writing down themes
4:27 The back-and-forth
6:01 The function of notes
7:01 Taking paths through the material
7:36 Why do my visualizations suck?
8:53 Getting precise
10:20 Why these (bad) visualizations?
11:14 Spacing things out
12:20 What I would do differently next time
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REFERENCES:
The book is China: A History by John Keay.
My practices here come from a variety of sources, but here's some representative work.
This piece is about teaching students higher-level reading strategies to aid deep comprehension (constructing inferences and explanations, self-monitoring, etc.). A useful read that I largely agree with: McNamara, D. S. (2010). Strategies to read and learn: Overcoming learning by consumption. Medical Education, 44(4), 340–346. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2...
On free recall and retrieval:
Agarwal, P. K., Nunes, L. D., & Blunt, J. R. (2021). Retrieval Practice Consistently Benefits Student Learning: A Systematic Review of Applied Research in Schools and Classrooms. Educational Psychology Review, 33(4), 1409–1453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09...
Roediger, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(1), 20–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.0...
Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1152408
On the value of "spacing things out" AKA long inter-study intervals, see:
Latimier, A., Peyre, H., & Ramus, F. (2021). A Meta-Analytic Review of the Benefit of Spacing out Retrieval Practice Episodes on Retention. Educational Psychology Review, 33(3), 959–987. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09...
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132...
Acknowledgements:
Image of Liu Bang (founding emperor of the Han Dynasty) comes from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Li.... It’s actually a Ming-era depiction
Image of Xiang Yu (Liu Bang’s rival) comes from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xi...
Xuanzang image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xu...
Xuanzang’s route: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Xu...
Zhang Qian’s route: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ha...
Zheng He’s ships: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zh...
Zheng He’s route: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vo... (author: SY)
Topographic map: https://en-us.topographic-map.com/map...
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