You’ve Probably Read Enough

by Ben on December 5, 2011 in Blog with 48 Comments

What is reading one more article going to do?

Probably nothing.

It feels like improvement, but it’s mostly superficial.

You can only read so much about a topic before there is only minimal improvement.

To master the subject, there is only one choice – do.

I want to get into video editing, at least as a hobby, and see where it goes. How much time did I spend tonight watching YouTube and Vimeo videos from people with fancy cameras and talented editing? About 35 minutes. How much time did I spend editing video? 0 minutes, as of right now. There is an iMac with a trial version of Final Cut waiting for me to learn it. I don’t need to watch any more videos to start experimenting.

To get started on one of your lingering interests, you probably don’t need to read about it as much as you think. Go. Do it. And learn from there.

Like a kid burning their hand on a hot stove, most lessons we don’t learn until we experience them.

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  • Tepidgamer5186

    Great post, thanks!

  • http://aymeric.gaurat.net Aymeric

    Reading about a topic, even after the learning becomes minimal, is still beneficial because it keeps your way of doing “awaken”, otherwise you would go back to the old way you would be doing things.

    Sorry, it isn’t very clear, I can’t find the proper words to describe what I mean.

  • Anonymous

    Funny to come across this on HN… I was writing a similar post last night but couldn’t muster the right words.  The point of my post is that I need to take a serious break from taking a break since I continually go back and read more stuff that I think will somehow motivate me to actually *do* more stuff.  Ironically, I went from couch potato to Ironman finisher over the past 22 months (just did Ironman on Nov 20th) yet I still cannot get my ass motivated to push myself further with other things I want to do.

    Thanks for the motivation!

  • http://www.moovietrailers.com/ Kensuke Kamachi

    I really agree with you. If you want to learn computer programming, just write code. I’m doing this.

  • Anonymous

    Agreed. The key to learning is by doing, especially you’re talking about programming and such. 

    However, you can’t let go of reading entirely. I’m currently learning to code, and a lot of the problems I come across incorporate concepts that require a substantial amount of reading.

    • http://www.twitter.com/bennesvig Ben Nesvig

      True. Once you find that balance of reading/doing your talent really takes off.

  • Phonic

    As the saying goes: a couple of weeks in the lab can save hours in the library.

  • Chisake

    Reading will give you tools, but what good are tools just sitting there waiting for you to pick them up and use them?

  • http://twitter.com/ymirpl Marcin Mincer

    This being upvoted on Hacker News is so ironic. 

    • http://www.twitter.com/bennesvig Ben Nesvig

      haha. True. Probably a lot of other people like me who feel like they spend too much time reading articles on there. I love that site, but need to find a better balance.

    • Anonymous

      It’s probably the Matthew Effect.

  • http://profiles.google.com/russell.ballestrini Russell Ballestrini

    I agree!  I also feel this applies to other aspects of life.

    For instance “touching” up a resume has only minimal benefits to you career.

    A more worth while effort would be doing more, or meeting and networking with more people.

    To read more: http://russell.ballestrini.net/career-development-is-a-game-of-chutes-and-ladders/

  • http://www.noteaquote.com/quote/9344 Albert Einstein

    Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.

    • http://www.facebook.com/SSophiaZhao Sophia Zhao

      Can’t agree more!

  • Drew Bisset

    agreed, I think I’m going to print this out and hang it on my wall, couldn’t have captured the idea better imo.

  • http://jonvaillant.com Jon Vaillant

    It’s hard when you’re an addict. No wonder why those crazy iPad workers are doing better than before; they can barely do more than one thing (at a time).

  • http://www.ingtotaro.it Giovanni Totaro

    What is reading one more article going to do? Probably nothing.

    Reading articles after articles instead of doing things is a very common form of procrastination.

    To fight this plague I’m working on an anti-procrastination web community for startup founders and people working on side projects: asaclock™ (http://www.asaclock.com).

  • ryan

    experiential education at its finest

  • Anonymous

    Great post,

  • http://twitter.com/xeqtit XEQT IT Pvt. Ltd.

    Can’t agree more? Realized that my productivity was going drastically low because I was reading too much of interesting stuff. IIRC there is a line in Nassim Taleb’s book Fooled by Randomness where he says  ”read less” or something on those lines. I clearly understand where you are coming from.

  • Anonymous

    > How much time did I spend editing video? 0 minutes, as of right now.

    Now you’re blogging instead of editing video.  Perhaps you’re just procrastinating.

  • 3rl4ng

    yeah, i found that problem too when i need to learn something and just stuck reading but  procrastinate to do what i already know from reading.

  • Mrfoofoo

    Since this article doesn’t obviously have an intended audience, you seem to be saying that everyone, everywhere should stop reading all articles once they posses the ability to read English well enough to comprehend this article. It is an interesting idea, but I suspect that this would lead to very uneducated people, so that people who ignore your advice are going to be better educated. If a senior citizen is told, “You’ve probably read enough” then, yes, maybe they will agree and proceed to purchase a plane ticket to the Bahamas. But if a teenager reads this article, the reaction will probably be, “sure, and by the same token, can you tell my teachers to stop assigning me homework?”

    In any case, the core of the point is that by ignoring your advice, your readers can be better educated. Now, I am a Christian, but stupid priests who proclaim the creation myth until their vocal chords give way share something with you: if you ignore THEIR advice, you will be better educated, at least in science.

    But really, you’re right. The human race has reached the end of knowledge. There really isn’t anything more anyone could possibly learn, so why try?

  • bvp663

    If you have any Final Cut questions, feel free to let me know. I’m here to help and I love to share my passion with others who are looking to get into video as well.

    • http://www.twitter.com/bennesvig Ben Nesvig

      Any resources you have would be helpful. Did you learn on your own or through tutorials? (Lynda.com, YouTube, etc.)

      • bvp663

        I assume you’re using FCPX and have no experience with previous versions of Final Cut Pro. RippleTraining and Larry Jordan both offer great training programs. http://www.rippletraining.com/, http://www.larryjordan.biz/

        Fcp.co is a great resource for all things Final Cut. They collect paid/free tutorials under this tag: http://fcp.co/component/labels/tutorials

        Ken Stone’s Final Cut page is a mainstay with a few great tutorials as well - http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_homepage_index.html

        A few tutorials to get started…
        Larry Jordan’s 30-minute intro to FCPX - http://www.rippletraining.com/
        Over 27 free FCPX tutorials - http://bit.ly/uz9pRb

        That should be plenty to get you started. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me an e-mail and I can get you an answer. Good luck!

        • http://www.twitter.com/bennesvig Ben Nesvig

          Wow…Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is incredibly helpful.

  • Troll

    35 minutes is far too much time to spend researching anything before you stumble in!

  • Anonymous

    Well said!! Absolutely agree. I learned many stuffs without reading anything, but by started using it.

  • http://www.johnmcfarlane.me.uk/ John McFarlane

    I think what matters is that you know what you want to do with a particular something, if you’re not sure then that can lead to endless research, i dont mean that wanting to get into video editing is clear enough, maybe necessary to ask yourself why exactly.

    Myself, im currently reading lots about customer development, but specifically the first step, customer discovery, im not jumping around the whole subject, im taking notes as i read, im collecting knowledge that will enable me to deal with the first of 4 stages.

    Im sorting the wheat from the chaff, im reading because i currently have to, not because it is easy, but because what is ahead of me requires that i do so.

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  • http://fengqijun.com Jun1st

    learn by doing something!

  • http://torbjornlunde.com Torbjørn Vik Lunde

    I find articles useful for becoming more familiar with a subject, and while it obviously cannot replace doing, it is a fine suplement.

    And let’s be honest: to use geeks, reading articles about geeky things is simply entertainment. Some people watch friends, some people read articles about design or programming.

  • Anonymous

    Bollocks (kinda). You’ve probably learned more in those 35 minutes than you’re willing to admit or realize. Applying your “just do it” approach may work for some topics, but most  require a basic knowledge to get started and prevent failure (death?), e.g. try refining oil or flying a hang glider without getting some basic skills/lessons and knowledge of best practices.  This is also true in the art of film making/editing.  

    • http://www.twitter.com/bennesvig Ben Nesvig

      Instead of it being an either/or, everyone needs to find a good balance between studying and doing. This wasn’t the first night I’ve spent watching videos and noticing things photographers do. If I had to rewrite the title, it would be “You’ve Probably Read Enough To Get Started.”

  • Joe

    This might go without saying, but it really helps to have a project. In fact, I’d say it’s the key to learning. If you just sit down and say “I want to learn this” all you end up doing is reading and implementing examples, and chances are, you’ll retain absolutely nothing.

    • http://www.twitter.com/bennesvig Ben Nesvig

      Wow, that’s insightful. Looking back on things I’ve wanted to do, but could never get the complete motivation to learn, a project was missing. Thanks for the helpful comment.

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  • Rosamunda

    Terrific. It´s absolutely true. At least with most things. Even when you study a career at the University, the only way to be proficient is practice.

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  • Caikehe

    just do it.you never know what you can do until you do it!

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