Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2023-07-12
Books mentioned on Andy Matuschak — The reason most learning tools fail
A few weeks ago, I sat beside Andy Matuschak to record how he reads a textbook. Even though my own job is to learn things, I was shocked with how much more intense, painstaking, and effective his learning process was.
Dwarkesh Patel recommended How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and others, and discussed King Lear by William Shakespeare. Andy Matuschak recommended Democracy and Education by John Dewey and Experience And Education by John Dewey, and discussed Cell Biology by the Numbers by Ron Milo and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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How to Read a Book
How to Read a Book by Mortimer J.
Recommended“To explain this, I will reference Mortimer Adler and Van Doren's How to Read a Book, which is a great guide on serious reading.”
Where to get it
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King Lear
William Shakespeare's King Lear is a timeless tragedy exploring themes of aging, madness, familial betrayal, and the painful acquisition of wisdom.
Discussed“So these are kind of aspirational, like, “Oh, I wish I could read King Lear. I want to be the kind of person who reads King Lear.””
Where to get it
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Cell Biology by the Numbers
Discussed“For instance, a thing that I and some people I know have done is, we’ve gone through a book called Cell Biology by the Numbers, which says all of these things like,”
Where to get it
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Democracy and Education
Democracy and Education by John Dewey is a foundational philosophical text examining the role of education in a democratic society, emphasizing experiential learning and critical thinking.
Recommended“One of the heroes of the reform school movement is this philosopher named John Dewey, and he has a lovely book called Experience and Education, sort of written near the end of his time, looking back on all of his efforts to reform schooling in a kind of unschooling-ish direction.”
Where to get it
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Experience And Education
Experience And Education by John Dewey is a seminal philosophical work examining the principles of progressive education, experiential learning, and the delicate balance between freedom and guidance in schools.
Recommended“One of the heroes of the reform school movement is this philosopher named John Dewey, and he has a lovely book called Experience and Education, sort of written near the end of his time, looking back on all of his efforts to reform schooling in a kind of unschooling-ish direction.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“It has a bunch of links - if you want to learn more about margin calls, read this. And he goes, and if you want to learn more about the psychology of utilitarian bets, read this, and it's just a link to the Amazon page of Crime and Punishment.”