I found his comment regarding learning to be the most insightful. It is a more developed explanation of what I have found to be an effective strategy for me:
> One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.
Without the structure of prior knowledge, I never understand or remember facts; however, when I've had the time to develop that "first principles" knowledge, I can usually grasp and understand the significance of minutiae.
> One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.
Without the structure of prior knowledge, I never understand or remember facts; however, when I've had the time to develop that "first principles" knowledge, I can usually grasp and understand the significance of minutiae.
How do you of HN learn? Is it similar?