I was inspired to ask the folks here how they learn after I reread a portion of Richard Feynman's book 'Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!", found here. Sometimes I think I haven't ever learned how to learn, to not just know things but have understanding. I've read a lot, so I know a lot of things, but I don't have much understanding, as in I cannot explain things as well as I think I should be capable of, given all the input I've had. Thinking is a difficult process that I first began to attempt when I read Henry Hazlitt's book, Thinking As A Science. He wrote it when he was young, but in later life he wrote about what he would change about it. This was in one of his essay collections, I forget which one. That book was influential to me in that it convinced me to learn vocabulary and spend time doing nothing other than thinking about one topic for a long period of time. I didn't get very far.
As I near the end of Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, I am asking myself why his story is so good. Not just the story, but also his writing style. He is clear, and although he is lengthy, it is not ponderous or filled with filler, it's all relevant, so much so that the movies made by Peter Jackson had excellent source material from which to draw, which I believe was responsible for making his movies high quality. I considered Tolkien's training in philology, the study of languages. I knew he was big on language, inventing his own languages for Middle-Earth. But there must be something deeper to understanding language as he did that produces clarity and penetration of thought that shined through in his writing, even in his prologues and notes. I am reminded just now of how Evelyn Waugh, who I consider a top writer, was similarly obsessed with the English language. I often felt such types produced the best works.
But getting back to Feynman and non-language arts things, how have any of you taken to learning a thing so that you understand it well? Whether it's your profession or subject matter or hobby. How would you teach your child to learn and think?
As I near the end of Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, I am asking myself why his story is so good. Not just the story, but also his writing style. He is clear, and although he is lengthy, it is not ponderous or filled with filler, it's all relevant, so much so that the movies made by Peter Jackson had excellent source material from which to draw, which I believe was responsible for making his movies high quality. I considered Tolkien's training in philology, the study of languages. I knew he was big on language, inventing his own languages for Middle-Earth. But there must be something deeper to understanding language as he did that produces clarity and penetration of thought that shined through in his writing, even in his prologues and notes. I am reminded just now of how Evelyn Waugh, who I consider a top writer, was similarly obsessed with the English language. I often felt such types produced the best works.
But getting back to Feynman and non-language arts things, how have any of you taken to learning a thing so that you understand it well? Whether it's your profession or subject matter or hobby. How would you teach your child to learn and think?
