The Best LEARNING Book in History - 40 Years AHEAD of its Time

William Zinsser wrote many articles and books. You can buy the 2 mentioned in the video:

US

UK

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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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[futurisold]

"Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process."
Feynman

[TheFartoholic]

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.

[kostaftp]

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.

[ericpmoss]

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.

[dusdnd]

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.

[chaosdream]

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.

[balllingen]

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.

[Eta_Carinae__]

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.

[dameanvil]

- [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.

[babelwrap]

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.

[lor_jav]

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

[donnaleone]

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.

[betweenearthandsky]

Writing to learn - Zinsser

Using writing as a tool to learn about what we know and what we don’t know
Exposing the holes in our thinkings
Wrestle with thoughts and ideas and organize them

Two types of useful writings
- Explanatory writing:
- Exploratory writing (freeform writing)

Types of Practice
Retrieval
Spaced
Elaboration
Interleaving

[LearnEnglishWithShortStories]

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!

[juliavunkannon]

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.

[UliTroyo]

I love William Zinsser! His “On Writing Well” is one of my favorite books about writing

[Arven]

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.

[savo.singh_]

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.

[haoweiyan]

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.

[dzcav]

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.