The Best LEARNING Book in History - 40 Years AHEAD of its Time
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William Zinsser wrote many articles and books. You can buy the 2 mentioned in the video:
US
Writing to Learn - amzn.to/3wuACLP
On Writing Well - amzn.to/3OZ9Xx8
UK
Writing to Learn (kindle) - amzn.to/3SR832A
On Writing Well - amzn.to/49OOPRU
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⌚️Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:24 Who is William Zinsser?
00:58 What's the Book About?
01:39 Hate Writing? You're not Alone
02:14 What's in the Book?
03:23 Criticisms of the Book
03:45 The Insight of Zinsser's Intuition
04:07 Scientific Learning Techniques
04:25 On Writing Well
04:47 Thanks Brilliant!
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"Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process." Feynman
This was the single best piece of advice I received during my PhD. 99% of what I wrote never saw the light of day but all of it was useful.
I wish more supervisors and advisors would teach this!
thank you Doctor theFartoholic
Are you talking about your personal notes? How did you take them in PhD? By hand?
curious about the above question too
@@deadsilence--9478 Most of my note-taking was done by hand - generally for sketching out ideas, annotating reading, or anything where a bit of algebra was involved. However, I generally summarised those thoughts in a word document somewhere. Most of those documents I never actually returned to, but the process of writing them out clarified my thinking in a way that note-taking didn't.
That slowing down and being dissatisfied with writing is exactly what makes it excellent for learning. If you have a sense of mastery or craftsmanship, you will feel that dissatisfaction and continue to refine your thoughts and approach. Perhaps you never arrive at a state of satisfaction, but it drives towards ideals.
Truly an artist's work.
Perfectionism is just procrastination.
@@ilcontefranz7746 You've read a faulty account of it. When you're actually doing and continually dissatisfied, that isn't procrastination.... you know, the actual doing and all. There are people that fail to start due to perfectionism and that is procrastination... but that isn't how all perfectionism manifests.
I just love this videos where you talk about a book, even more when they're not as famous as others. Keep it up! You are doing an awesome job! Congratulations! 🎉❤
I'm freaking out a little right now because I just had this book pop into my head two days ago. It was the first teaching resource I used when I was teaching college level composition back 20 years ago. I hadn't thought about it in fifteen years. It absolutely stood out from everything else in terms of helping my students learn what they really believed by writing through it.
I've been doing this for years, entirely unaware of Zinsser. I've always been an advocate for it for all my students and anyone else who asks, for his reasons, but also because the entire process is laborious, and the labour of sifting and sorting your ideas helps them stick.
I agree. For learning to be effective there has to be some sort of cognitive effort from your part. I think writing is the perfect level of cognitive effort, since it's not trivial but not too challenging either. As you said, mostly sifting and sorting which you get better at with time. I just wish I applied that advice myself.
I can't agree more. No one appreciates this however, and it can be difficult to convince people of the financial importance of good writing in documentation (especially in the tech industry)
There’ll be nuances in Vissner that you’ve not yet heeded.
Your book choices on the table caught my eye. Having read and gained so much from your recommendations, I'm curious about your entire reading collection. A book tour from you would be fascinating!
I agree that writing is important to organise, test, and revise your thinking. What i also found very useful is to visualise how my ideas relate. I call it "connecting the dots". Sometimes, I get a circle, or a pyramid, or a matrix, or a triangle. These diagrams/model have supported my thinking, writing, and presentations enormously.
that's interesting. can you give an example? would a Venn diagram be an example of what your talking about?
@@vaughncwach5934 Yes, a Venn diagram is great for grouping ideas based on their similarities and differences. Circular diagrams are suited for depicting iterative processes, such as the planning, implementing, and reviewing, showing how each phase leads into the next. Pyramids help mapping out hierarchical structures, from general to specific classifications, aiding in the comprehension of complex systems. I find this particularly useful for structuring my writing starting with summary ideas and then going step by step into further detail. When it comes to displaying combinations of variables, matrices are great. The "Rumsfeld Matrix" is a famous example; I use it alot to look into cross-cutting issues. Triangles are adept at examining the interactions between three interconnected elements providing insights into their relationships, like for a stakeholder or political economy analysis.
So like mindmapping or systems architecture?
@@michaelwilson8806 Yes "mindmapping" is a good way to describe the visualisation of essential ideas/concepts with an emphasis on the relations."Mental Model" could be another useful description.
The way you described your process, if you don't already know, there is a notetaking app called Obsidian that works exactly as you said.. creating a web of notes
I really like this editing style, the brief subtly combined with the classical music on the cutoffs really is a lot better than all of those extremely stimulating videos.
Thank you for this recommendation. I am currently reading "On Writing Well" by the same author. Learning by writing is my path. I am also going through "Python Crash Course," so you will probably understand how synchronous it seemed to find a Python-related channel discussing a Zinsser book on learning through writing! This is a great find for me. :3
I always make this when i want to learn something. I just try to write the perfect summarized ebook about the subject i am learning at that moment. It force you to select the most important points to know about it, and it puts you in both roles, the teacher and the student. I imagine myself being the ultimate master and the perfect beginner at the same time. It has aspects from Tim Ferris' Meta-learning DiSSS system and the Feynman Technique. If you can do both, write a book and outline a short course, you are on the path to understand the subject you want to learn.
An absolute gem of a video. To be honest, I've only briefly heard of William Zinsser, but the book you've shared seems like it is one of those that you repeatedly read and continually gain new insights on. Writing is amazing because you can leave frameworks behind and just express yourself sort of like a journal. At least that works for me. Top video and will definitely look into it. Appreciative of you Giles.
I’ve just purchased this book after reading “Make it Stick;” which you also reviewed and recommended. These books are priceless
It's great! Glad I ran across your video tonight, because I really need to read Writing to Learn again.
I love William Zinsser! His “On Writing Well” is one of my favorite books about writing
I can confirm that writing what you learn actually helps. Doing so indeed helped me identify 'gray areas' and missing information in my knowledge with regards to programming. Sometimes, even after watching a video twice; only when writing down what you learn (from brain to notes) I have identified personal misunderstandings of subject matters. It really does work.
Maybe it's a way to have a dialogue about what is in your mind and seeing it without having to share it with someone else first. Also, I've noticed most great people have great counselors or close friends or a husband or wife. To be smart is to really reflect on the truth of the matter. Journaling is just another way of digging deeper into ones own thinking. But especially if you have someone to bounce the thoughts off of. People can do many different ways of seeing the same thing.
Thanks, you are a great communicator and your enthusiasm is infectious.
I can't stop but staring at the other books you read on the table, trying to have another peek of your mental life. Since I have read the books you recommended and benefited a great deal from those books. Could you do a book tour of your reading, that would be so interesting. Also, I found your british sense of humor, related to the bunch of Oxford and Cambridge students who made monty python and other commodities, very charming. Thanks for your work, your videos are short but the hidden work behind it is tremendous.
great idea!
I have written a feature film script which is based in my home country and deals with its recent war history. Not only did I manage to research the subject to a large degree and gave myself for the first time the confidence to discuss about it, but I have also healed the generational trauma that was inflicted on me, without having lived the events myself. Writing truly works wonders.
I have accidentally been doing these types of writing with therapy efforts. Sifting through my thoughts and feelings and experiences, structuring and restructuring them, has been so valuable for learning more about myself and my struggles. Every so often, I'll find that I have typed something I had not thought about in connection to the topic before or was forgetting or avoiding, and then I feel like I have new insight into what I have been struggling with. This video and Zinsser and his books seem to support the more recently and somewhat known practice of "morning pages", and also every other practice of writing thoughts down more frequently, even if just sporadically throughout the day (I see this is videos about productivity, reducing screen time, being a better person, etc.). Huh.
I really appreciate this video. I recently had got the book from the library out of curiosity but realized it wasn't quite what I was looking for in a book on writing--I'm not a math person, science person, etc., for instance, though I did see that the book was ahead of its time too in terms of education and more people should know about it.
Love the video. Thank you for making it. It would be nice seeing more videos like this from you :)
I've been waiting for something like this... Great video 🤯
This content is gold! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I like your choice of music in this video, especially Bach’s B minor partita for solo violin!
I received On Writing Well as a gift when I was in grade school back in the seventies. Little did I know that the text that probably would have helped me far more was this one, by the same author! Very much looking forward to reading and using this book. Thank you.
On Writing Well is outstanding. Totally changed the way I write - for the better. I was an English teacher and recommended it to my students. Also asked my own kids to read it to help them refine their writing. I have never read Writing to Learn but plan on it.
Thank you ! Have been looking for this kind of approach. Much encouraged. I hate and enjoy and occasionally love writing😘
Thank you for a great recommendation, after stumbling upon your video, I immediately got the book and loving it so far!
how is no one talking about how smooth that ending was, from "you must look for the nearest exit" to an advertisment.
He took the advice from the book to heart
He practised what he preached
I always used writing to study, it helped me to know what I had understood and what I need to go deep
I bought this book years ago. Seeing this now, makes me want to pull it out of my book boxes and read it.
Loved your video making which is quite different from the traditional hyper-cinematic style. It is simple, yet compelling, with a relatable day-to-day feel 👍
I am a lawyer and my senior partner at my first firm (over 50 years ago) was my writing “coach”. He said that people had it backwards , in reality,“ You can’t think what can’t write”. He said paragraphs were like a string of pearls, leading the reader to the only possible conclusion (yours). In turn I tried to teach my view on writing. God, I wish I had this book when I was in school.
'can''t think what can't write'? or 'can't think what you can't write' ?
Yeah... law is the silliest thing anyone can study. Law is made up by humans to benefit the elite. The only laws that apply anywhere are gravity, quantum physics, etc. Trying suing the Sun because it's too hot... The Sun and Universe overall doesn't care about humans. Lol
Interesting. Writing every detail of an image is absolutely painfully difficult to capture precisely for a reader other than self. Speaking and writing have always been massively difficult for me. But despite my terrible writing skills I keep writing because what you wrote is also true.
@@abrogard142 I didn’t say “ You can’t think what you can’t type”
@@alechorn1109 you've lost me...
Thank you for sharing. I find that you have a pleasant voice. Quite easy to follow.
A useful corollary for programming is that Wroting documentation is an important stage of program design. Sometimes when you discover that when a piece of code is very awkward to describe, this is a sign that you may be able to improve the conceptual model of the code so that it makes more sense.
Thanks
Hey glein, Your works are amazing. Can you really make videos on physics stuffs too, it would be really fun to watch it like your day doing your scientist stuffs and guide on how to become one and other (cool) physics stuffs!!
- [00:25] 📚 William Zinsser, a renowned writer and teacher, authored the influential book "On Writing Well." - [00:58] 📝 "On Writing Well" is not just for aspiring writers but also for anyone looking to learn effectively, even in fields like math or physics. - [02:14] 📖 The book is divided into two parts: Zinsser explains why he's writing the book and curated examples of good writing across different disciplines. - [03:39] 😓 Despite his success, Zinsser admitted to hating writing, but he found joy in the final product, likening it to solving a mathematical problem. - [04:46] 📝 Zinsser's writing advice emphasizes clarity and conciseness, urging writers to stop when they've made their point effectively. - [05:00] 🧠 Zinsser's insight on writing aligns with scientifically proven learning techniques like retrieval practice, spaced practice, and elaborative interrogation. - [06:02] 💡 "On Writing Well" is recommended for anyone looking to improve their writing skills or understanding of effective learning techniques.
Thanks for the video. Ordered a copy of the book to discover this for myself :)
Ending abruptly was brilliantly explicative. = )
Thank you for this video. I will surely read the book as well. As a medical professional, writing is the only way I can learn.
This is helping me get over my procrastination on my written assignments 😂❤ thanks!
Informative AND aesthetically pleasing. Thank you for exposing me to this book!
Wow, the fact that you can appreciate this kind of beauty is awesome man, thank you for sharing!
This was a great recommendation. As a person who uses writing to learn (as a physicist) I thought this was a great book. My book club is discussing it this week. Thanks for this.
Writing down what I know and taking notes of the stuff I didn't remember was basically one of only 2 learning strategies that I used during my studies. The second one was explaining/discussing difficult stuff with others. This strategy with practice makes you a bit weird, as you can draw diagrams etc starting from backwards, as you store the knowledge in a kind of muscle memory. Also I must notice it's not good if you want to remember something long-term, which would definitely require spaced repetition
Thanks, this is an inspiring video and book. I write a lot in this exploratory style - and appreciate the ideas of trying other forms of writing to learn and understand.
Thanks for the gift!
Thank you very much for sharing this!
Wow great video. Definitely getting this.
This comes at an opportune time. Just a few days ago, I decided I would learn Machine Learning by writing a book about it. Glad to know I have Zinnser's endorsement. I may not sell a single copy, but I will know a whole lot more about Machine Learning. I've only just discovered your channel and I'm finding it a goldmine. Not only is the information really useful, each video is a master class in how to produce videos of this kind. So well done.
Thank you for the suggestion. Appreciated.
Every morning I sit with coffee and write. Nearly every day I come up with new insights, or feel more comfortable with the material already known. It's wonderful! I convert coffee to ideas 😀 Ordered both books -- thanks! Subscribed.
What do you write about?
Thats a good video, man. Thanks.
Great video! Thank you very much!
Thank you for your videos. They are well-written and well-said and give me a glimmer of what can be done with useful knowledge.
thanks for the book rec!
Thanks for the pointer!
I've never commented on a video before, but I had to for this one. It's that good!
I liked the content. I found the quick cuts and fast paced editing distracting, compared to your earlier conversational videos that I find very calming. Any reason you're moving towards this style?
Writing is the best thing to ever happen to mankind, I cannot imagine how someone can even dare to hate it.
You make me cry, my brother. I love writing but never start. I am going to do it right now.
@@TheXuismyou will get better with every sentence you write brother!
the ingestion of a high protein diet is the best thing to have happened to mankind. then fire is the best thing to have ever happened to mankind. third is the spoken word. then hunting and cutting tools. writing is definitely in the top 10, but not the #1 best thing.
@@RobertMJohnson High protein diets are associated with higher mortality. So are low carb diets - but fashionable fads trump evidence it seems.
@@tomgoff7887you’re completely off topic. I’m referring to the best things to happen to man during his progress and evolution. I’m not talking about modern diets.
I have read 'On Writing Well' and it is excellent. I will add 'Writing to Learn' to my reading list. Thanks.
Thank you for introducing me to this man.
My thesis advisor made me re-write my abstract 17 times before he let me write the first paragraph of my thesis. Applying the same scrutiny myself, every sentence of the thesis followed from the previous sentences, without leaps that required holding an unsupported thought while the scaffolding was being built for it after the claim. It took ages, but by the end, I really knew what I was trying to say, and why.
3:46 This is a great tip I would say to decide before writing , what type writing you are going to do.
Bro, this explains my slow thinking approach, to learning and to healing trauma, and gaining self awareness and social skills, through writing. The only thing i hate about it is if i do too much, grip too hard or even use a bad pen, I'll get elbow or wrist cramps later.
Yes, this book is on my bookshelf somewhere! I should go back and read it again.
Thank you for the presentation on this interesting Book
Went out and got this book today, good suggestion!
I don't know if it's the algorithm (it is...) but I was looking a few days ago resources to start writing popular science as a hobby because I just wanted to share my knowledge! And all I was getting was tips to build a career and how to make money writing 😅 Just bought the book! Thank you🎉
I’ve read On Writing Well many yers ago, and this one looks interesting! I’ve realized that writing is my favorite way to learn near things (articles, book) or about myself (journaling), and I agree that it’s incredibly painful but rewarding process. It doesn’t help that English isn’t my native language either ;-)
Richard Feynman summed up this book with one quote: "If you can't explain something to a first year student, then you haven't really understood." the act of verbalizing something forces you to clarify your thinking.
Language, like social interactions, is one of the most effective ways for humans to learn in an enduring way. Writing-To-Learn (or, what I prefer, Communication-To-Learn) is kind of a standard in education now (in the U.S.) even though it isn't necessarily utilized everywhere, especially when it's seen as a challenge to traditional learning techniques that are not as exploratory. Writing (reading, speaking) is usually taught as if it is a separate from every other subject when really, for humans, there is no separation. Zinsser is a giant and his book is a great introduction to this subject. Thank you for sharing it.
I've really enjoyed your videos so far, they have a good pace and feel like a friend calmly and collectedly talking to me. The only thing that irritates me is the background music, I understand that many people seem to need this sort of "white noise" to better concentrate, while I would advocate pure speech in the strongest. It is in my opinion quintessential to ensure clarity of the communicated thoughts. However, I don't think that classical music is suitable for this, since it is composed to be heard AND understood.
What great timing. I was casually browsing a book store when i saw this book "on writing well", unaware of who the writer was. But after reading the first 50 pages, man did i make the right decision.
Great video. But I found the cuts in the editing jarring. It was like I flicked up on your next KZhead short (but I’m in the same video).
I wondered how I got to this Video on Writing. Long time Coder and Designer. Current Programming Language, again, is Python.
Oh. I have that book “On Writing well” I need to read it again
This process comes naturally to me. I thought that everyone wrote this way. I guess this is why I got top grades on a 20-page paper done in a month, but always got an under average grade on 1-page papers done in an hour
I liked Writing to Learn, but I stopped reading after the first chapter or two. I got the point, and I didn't need to read example after example from various disciplines. I didn't think it required a whole book to make the point. But still, I'm glad he wrote it, and I'm glad I read it, because the point is solid: writing helps us think, writing helps us learn. One caveat, though: it depends on the writer! Some people write to just express themselves. They don't necessarily engage in the processes Zinser is talking about. It's not as if writing *itself* forces you to examine and clarify your thinking, etc. -- the writer him/herself has to do that. Some people just spit out words like they are talking, and that's the end of it.
William Zinsser - he taught a very popular course at Princeton on writing to learn. Here are the points. Writing helps us to make sense of things. "I don't like to write, but I take great please in having writen..." An interesting relationship with the action... It enables people to 'wrestle with facts and ideas'. He lighlights two main points of writing for learning - explanatory, or explaining what you know and exploratory writing - exploring ideas, and so on.
This is so good, brother.
I've accidentally stumbled upon this method of learning by stating my understanding of the subject to chatgpt and then have it explain to me in 3 different levels of "intelligence" and it's changed my life.
Writing or diagraming allows you to map out your framework or mental models and refine them like the way a scientist tries to create a model based on evidence of real world phenonom or a artist with their sketches to try to refine and create the final piece a visual mental model.
I've just found your channel, it's really a gem. I really loved the video on Speed Reading, it was like seeing late James Randi debunking some weird stuff.
I own his book On Writing Well. Absolutely great book and author.
i love writing, sometimes editing is difficult. I think you can't force yourself to do things you don't love though. I hate math so I wouldn't force myself to do it.
I hope you keep going with your content i am really benefitting from it
Every discipline. In my career, writing, rewriting (notes) and DOING (experience) my notes made the difference between not knowing and having deep knowledge. I started with a box of note cards and now have a monster Obsidian vault.
In 1976 On Writing Well was the textbook, my professor taught from. I can't believe this book is still in print.
William Zinnser has been my source of self-improvement in my writing for decades now
Zinsser was brilliant.I would say thahis"On Writing Well" is in the Top 5 booksI rlaready have on closest shelf at writing desk.
I journal every day the thoughts I have. I would rather call it thought hoarding. Its all jorrible writing. Once I ever start to reread and combine and organize now thats tedious slow process. Some strange things happen when I write. suddenly many ideas springs out and builds upon the first statement I wrote, its angles and perspectives I never thought my brain could create on the spot. I would say more often in written form than when just thinking. Potentially the reason for that is becasue you stay with the thought longer, free up mental space by feeling you dont need to remember it becasue you wrote it down aaand the last reason i forgot
Our brains are for thinking not really for keeping information stored. That's why the saying "use it or lose it" comes from. If you are not actively thinking about something our brain filters it out eventually. In the short term our brains repeat alot of our thoughts over and over in an effort to remember. Writing out thoughts or ideas means our brains can let go of the thought/idea until we see the writing again. Like having an archive of photos or postcards from the past.
This concept of writing in order to clarify your own thinking and understanding reminds of the adage, "If you want to learn something well, teach it to someone else." (Or explain it to someone else, or something like that.) I have found this to be true in my own life.
Very true. I found difficulty in teaching simple math operators to a 6 year old. It's easier with objects, hence writing may be more effective when combined with drawing.
Everything is a type of story everytime we look out at reality we predicate explain describe tell a story about it. Asking & answering who what where when which why how about any person place thing idea topic event situation etc.
Zinser’s emphasis on exploratory and explanatory writing as tools for clarity is invaluable, especially in complex fields like entrepreneurship. Harnessing these methods can significantly sharpen your communication and critical thinking skills. 📘
5:13 that moment takes me back to morphology class. it was tough.
4:20 why was this cut off so quickly? Is there a video on the full list anywhere?
I tell all my students to write a blog as part of their learning. It helps them learn and gives future employers sth to look at
Hello, I was a CS student in Canada, and now I m back in China. I really enjoy learning and reading just about everything , and on that we are similar souls. But I m struggling recently, on deciding what is the most valuable and useful thing to learn in the future, as AI has so much potential, and I am just a tiny human brain. So I have this anxiety to how to learn better, so that I could still have some leverage in front of AI. I think you probably have the same idea, as the books you recommended recently are all about how to be a better learner. But still, I want to ask you, what do you think is the most valuable thing to learn other than knowing how to learn, cause I usually don't discriminate against any subject, cause I found them all very interesting, buy there s this huge uncertainty for everyone, even for our education system. What is your perspective on this? Also, I got bipolar disorder, and that severely undermined my social function, being useful that is, holding a job, contributing to the society so to speak. The one thing keeps me alive today is my insatiable curiosity to know more, and learn more. I m an intp type, from my observation, you are most likely an intp too. I m kinda stuck in my life, but my knowledge and brain never stops to grow. Therefore I want something to do. Like anything. I can offer you free mandarin class if you want, that would make me happy actually. So that's about it, hope you have a great day !
Best hing to learn? Code
@aayamgiri lol, I already know AI, and coding.
Best thing to learn? The Law of Life. Maybe I'll let you find out what it is, but a hint is Dr Horst Muller has a pretty good handle on understanding it, along with Dr Mark Sandoval.