/ag/ - Autodidact General - Foundations Edition

[Anonymous No.9714228]

Greetings /lit/erati, grab a book, paper, and pen, and let's get a /comfy/ thread going while we talk about something to better us all.

It has come to my attention that a certain "meme list" has been circulating around. These threads include, but are not limited to:
>>9711174
>>9706101
It turns out that these lists originate from a few key threads, which have their own batch of interesting arguments, perspectives, and recommendations:
>On "Autodidact General": >>/lit/thread/9374881
>On "How to Think": >>/lit/thread/9475678
>On Trivium: >>/lit/thread/9570794
It is nice to see that people are trying to better themselves, and this has been a more organized approach than I've ever seen on this website.
These lists, however, are beset by a lot of practical problems that keep them from being anything other than meme lists.

Friends, it's awesome that we're trying to develop some sort of "autodidact" core to serve as a substitute for the liberal arts education we deserve but never received. Unfortunately, with all of these scattered developments, inaccessible books, and haphazard reading orders, you're only going to attract derision from all but the most dedicated people. Also, without the proper mindset, lifestyle, and discipline, all of your autodidact ventures will be doomed to amateurism and failure. You can successfully teach yourself to achieve better expertise than many dispassionate experts, but ONLY with common sense, hard work, self-awareness, and skepticism.

We need to establish some basic standards, which many include a core curriculum for intellectual independence, some resources for independent study after independence, accessible recommendations (at least libgen friendly), and some other lifestyle and practical advice to support those who wish to dedicate enormous resources to this venture. A community needs to be built around this purpose, compiling resources on a Google Doc, starting a Discord channel for discussion, etc.

In a moment, I'll begin with an example of a meme list for those who don't want to read the aforementioned threads in their entirety, followed by my own critiques and suggestions. I see great opportunity for a small movement on /lit/, putting our cynicism, skepticism, and our last vestiges of hope to good use. What say you all?

>pic related: the flags of baltic nations

[Anonymous No.9714241]

>pic related is one example meme list
Here's another similar list: https://i.warosu.org/lit/thread/9614604#p9615391

It seems like we need some fresh blood.

[Anonymous No.9714264]

If you are over 22-25, your train has passed.

Sorry.

[Anonymous No.9714266]

>>9714264
Plenty of us are on the younger side. I'm well into my autodidact journey at 20 years old. The brain remains plastic throughout adulthood too—you're still fully capable of growing and learning if you apply yourself.

[Anonymous No.9714275]

>>9714228
Burger-whos-in-vacation-in-yuropoor anon is that you?
>>9714264
Stop with this shitty meme, holy fuck

[Anonymous No.9714277]

>>9714241
>Creative & Critical Thinking - W. Edgar Moore
That's a meme book if I've ever heard one. Whoever recommended that book should be shot for not uploading it, because it's too rare to find on libgen or even in most libraries. It DOES seem like a good book with these topics:

Decision making -- The hypothetical syllogism -- Reliability and probability -- Evaluating evidence -- Forming hypotheses -- Testing hypotheses -- Generalizations -- Statistical concepts -- Statistics and probability -- Reasoning from generalizations -- Forming causal theories -- Testing causal theories -- Evaluation and decision -- Value judgments -- Creative thinking -- Fallacies of irrelevance -- Neglected aspect -- Pitfalls in language -- Classification and definition -- Categorical propositions -- Immediate inference -- Categorical syllogisms -- Alternative and disjunctive syllogisms -- Interpreting propositions -- Involved arguments -- Complex syllogistic forms -- Need-directed thinking -- The personal point of view -- How we distort the evidence -- Emotions and thinking -- Hidden propositions -- Psychological pitfalls -- False assumptions -- Devices of persuasion -- Refining value systems.

It's a shame that an old-fashioned, hardcore textbook on critical thinking has been superseded by mass-produced textbook mill crap designed to dull the mind and not sharpen it. It's a shame, too, because we could do more to promote critical thinking skills besides throwing good books and problems at people and hoping by luck of the draw, whether it be genetics, experience, or mood, that they figure it out and learn to think for themselves.

[Anonymous No.9714279]

>>9714275
It's me. Currently skimming through some "critical thinking" book replacements. There's a lot of stupid bullshit out there, and there's even fewer "mediocre-decent" range books that are either too much of a niche or not comprehensive enough. But I guess the perfect is the enemy of the good, isn't it?

Don't worry, I'll be back with hopefully a contribution that could answer >>9714277.

[Anonymous No.9714286]

>>9714279
Glad to hear from you again.
Keep it up, I'm cheering on ya'

[Anonymous No.9714429]

Currently bogged down due to the Critical Thinking - William Hughes not converting properly from .chm to .pdf. The standard Mac program for this, ichm, keeps getting stuck at "Label". Any advice?

[Anonymous No.9714516]

Update, decompiled chm to a bunch of html files, will seek to convert to pdf. Let me know if there's a good place where I can upload the finish product. Also, is it possible to upload it to the libgen library so other people don't have to go through this hassle?

[Anonymous No.9714658]

I don't know if this is the type of thing you're looking for, but a while ago I found an ebook collection of the Harvard Classics.
It was said at one point that one could obtain a liberal education by reading 15 minutes a day from this collection. It's probably missing some important stuff now, but still has a good selection.

Here's the ebooks: wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Harvard_Classics_Available_at_MobileRead

[Anonymous No.9714669]

>>9714658
Great stuff. I don't know if they should be an autodidact "core" curriculum, but they should definitely be a recommended path once somebody is comfortable tackling things on their own time.

Speaking of autodidact curriculums, what are some necessary skills that autodidacts should have, both in learning and in general? Are we all shooting to become some sort of Renaissance Man?

[Anonymous No.9714730]

just copy the Aeneid and Metamorphosis and Kikeroo over and over idiot

[Anonymous No.9714752]

>>9714669
Understanding statistics is essential for pretty much everything outside of art.

[Anonymous No.9714760]

>>9714752
Do you mean understanding an introductory statistics and inference class content? Or just maybe the basic "reasoning about statistics" you might find in a critical thinking book? I have one that I'm about to review and post as soon as I can get the formatting done.

[Anonymous No.9714787]

>>9714669
You're probably right that the Harvard Classics aren't necessarily core. I've just been sitting on the link for a while and figured this is the most relevant place to share it.

As for other skills, maybe I'm alone in this, but I feel it's important for people to know more mundane skills like carpentry and plumbing. At least enough to do minor repairs. I don't know what resources would be best for this, but I feel knowing how things work is important to being a Renaissance Man.

[Anonymous No.9714821]

>>9714266
plasticity only goes down my man
if you weren't amazing at 12 you're not going to be so hot at 32

[Anonymous No.9714827]

>>9714760
The first. All modern science, both natural and social lean heavily on statistics.

[Anonymous No.9714843]

>>9714787
>As for other skills, maybe I'm alone in this, but I feel it's important for people to know more mundane skills like carpentry and plumbing.

You are totally not alone in this. Some of the old threads on autodidactism have recommended picking up hobbies, including practical skills. I know that I want to learn these skills once I leave university, and lord knows how much my heart will melt if I can teach those skills to my kids, who will pass the knowledge onto their kids, etc.

Some practical skills, like drawing, can be taught at a beginning level through reading a good book and self-practice, such as Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - Betty Edwards. Others will probably need less formal resources, like YouTube links, in-person courses, and maybe only supplemental theoretical materials (an intro book on physics + a book on circuits for electricians could help but you for sure should learn from an expert). Maybe it's more important about developing method, providing what resources we have, but encouraging others to find their own path.

-- --

Also, I've abandoned William Hughes. Can't get the chm book formatted in something that isn't totally cancerous. Will be looking at Rulebook for Arguments by Weston, The Art of Reasoning by Kelley, and Critical Thinking by Irving Copi.

[Anonymous No.9714864]

>>9714821
I was amazing at 12. Still am amazing. Read enough history, math, and science to breeze my way through high school into a full-ride at a HYPSM caliber school while fucking around. I'm just don't have the stomach for mediocrity like that I used to, so I started teaching myself what public schools couldn't provide. Why don't we think positive and make the best out of what we have?

>>9714827
Hmmm... we should definitely incorporate a good introductory textbook then for a sciences primer. I don't want a core list to be more than 10 books. You don't need statistics for everything, and you can teach the "type" (for the lack of better word) of reasoning in other books. I will definitely include a good statistics book in a compendium for sciences though, since you need the formalized version to understand how to setup experiments and read scientific papers.

[Anonymous No.9714937]

Bump

[Anonymous No.9714942]

I've been thinking of writing some notes & problems on basic (GCSE - A level) maths, partly for fun and partly to learn LaTeX, and this would be a great motivator. Would anyone be interested?
Qualifications: I'm going into my 3rd year of Physics this October.

[Anonymous No.9714985]

>>9714942
Have you seen either Pre-calculus by Stitz & Zeager/Pre-calculus by Sheldon Axler + Calculus: A Modern Approach by Jeff Knisley? Free books of decent quality compared to modern textbooks at universities. You should check them out as a standard IMO.

[Anonymous No.9715038]

>>9714985
I'll check them out. It's probably a good idea to work toa standard, but most of the fun of this is thinking about basic concepts in new ways, so I might not draw too much from them.

[Anonymous No.9715056]

lmao says 'friends' in OP, uses 9gag image & thread has only one poster

[Anonymous No.9715170]

>>9715056
There's 10 posters in this thread.

[Anonymous No.9715303]

Honestly, I'm about to either scour local libraries here for the book or purchase Creative & Critical Thinking by W. Edgar Moore. Might even find a way to scan it if I can do so properly. The only books I can find that occupy a similar niche are The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley and An Introduction to Logic by Copi, though to be honest they would end up overlapping hard with The Trivium: Logic, Grammar, & Rhetoric, plus they would also go very far into formal logics that isn't much of a "core" subject. A Rulebook for Arguments is the opposite problem: it is the appropriate depth, but it isn't broad enough.

[Anonymous No.9715322]

>>9715303
Is it really that good? I can't find it here in France..

[Anonymous No.9715342]

>>9714429
Move on, find something else.

[Anonymous No.9715472]

>>9715322
It's pretty good. Better than most critical thinking books that can't seem to decide their scope, seriousness, or depth. Have you checked the university libraries?

>>9715342
Already did. My backup is The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley. I'll probably be writing up a post shortly.

[Anonymous No.9715615]

>>9715472
the lateral thinking book by edward de bono has some dank mems

[Anonymous No.9715812]

>>9715615
Didn't have a good experience reading Edward de Bono. How to Have a Beautiful Mind is probably as systematic and to-the-point as he gets, but I wouldn't really recommend even that book.

Anyway. It's settled boys. I'm making a trip to the library tomorrow. I'll return with the book Creative & Critical Thinking, some pictures to share, and a write-up. Maybe one day I'll even get it PDF scanned.

[Anonymous No.9715818]

>>9715812
>PDF scanned
i'm telling the librarian on you

[Anonymous No.9715828]

>>9715818
The real thought crime is trying to get people to think.

[Anonymous No.9716263]

Bumping for interest

[Anonymous No.9716691]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y8_RRaZW5X3xwztjZ4p0XeRplqebYwpmuNNpaN_TkgM/pub

8ch net/pdfs/res/48.html

[Anonymous No.9716692]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9QDHej9UGAdcDhWVEllMzJBSEk

[Anonymous No.9716712]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6475ZpbH_cGSWxsZjdtY05ySGM/view

[Anonymous No.9717245]

Bump

[Anonymous No.9717440]

>>9716691
>>9716692
>>9716712
Excellent links, especially on aesthetics. Thank you for your contribution.

[Anonymous No.9717472]

I spent a lot of my time during my first semester of law school re-learning how to learn. Will post about it later if these general threads keep up.

I like the idea of mental growth threads here on /lit/. Nice to see others wanting others to become better.

[Anonymous No.9717511]

>>9714228
>to serve as a substitute for the liberal arts education we deserve, but never received

This struck me to the core. Since discovering lit, starting with the Greeks, reading the lit starter kit, and attempting Nietzsche, i've come to resent my country's destruction of the humanistics. Learning from Nietzsche, more accurately from what others on this board say about Nietzsche, regarding Protestantism's transformation to today's socialism in pic related countries, with core tennants such as; destroying religion, language, culture, tradition, history and art; I've come to sorely miss the humanistics, especially the study of Latin. 2000 years of knowledge, in a language that isn't mandatory teaching.
Fuck me.

Today, I, again as usual, learned somehting i'd never learn from any school available in my country, except for our Catholic institue - privately held, and that is the Trivium and Quadrivium. Before this all I had was Aristotle's Rhetoric, and now I have so much more.

Thank you, for giving me all of this.
For free.

[Anonymous No.9717563]

>>9714228
>9fag watermark

[Anonymous No.9717622]

>>9717563
>>>/b/

[Anonymous No.9717625]

>>9717622
>hating 9fag is exclusive to /b
Crawl back under the rock you came from.

[Anonymous No.9717630]

>>9717563
I didn't even notice it at first. Find me a picture without a watermark and I'll never use the 9fag version again.

[Anonymous No.9717633]

>>9717630

[Anonymous No.9717643]

>>9717633
Thanks! Surprise that the 9fag watermark was 18 kb in size.

[Anonymous No.9717656]

>>9714864
>HYPMS caliber school
>public school
Berkeley is not HYPMS caliber as much as califags wanna believe.

[Anonymous No.9717738]

>>9717656
I meant HYPSM as in one of those 3. Hint: it's not Yale.

[Anonymous No.9717950]

Another bump in the form of expressing happiness due to vacation (soon).

I've stored up a couple of books that I'm going to enjoy immensely and deepen my knowledge with. And earlier this morning I bought a Paperwhite which will arrive on Friday/Saturday. Hopefully there will be more of these threads in the future (you should always strive to better yourself and the community you're part of) with a firmer foundation and more sources of knowledge. Those of you that have contributed and continue to contribute deserve a clap on the shoulder and great respect. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.9717964]

>>9717738
Hey what do you know, we go to the same school. Harvard isn't a public school my friend who goes to the same school as me.

[Anonymous No.9717965]

>>9717964
What do you want me to do, dox myself? That was my key to my freshman dorm, and Lamont Library is only accessible to students, faculty, etc.

[Anonymous No.9717978]

>>9717965
No need to get defensive, we should hang out sometime

[Anonymous No.9717982]

>>9717978
I hope to see you around so we can talk about autodidact literature.

[Anonymous No.9717987]

>>9717982
Yeah sure I usually wear oxfords and chinos and derbies. If you see anyone who fits that description go up to him and say heil didactic automaton and I'll know it's you.

[Anonymous No.9717991]

>>9717987
Now that's just malicious advice.

[Anonymous No.9717994]

>>9717991
Nono I wear really thick chinos even during the summer, I'm sure you'll know it's me. And I don't ever wear khakis so khakis =/= me

[Anonymous No.9718019]

>>9717950
What books anon?

[Anonymous No.9718087]

>>9717950
Sounds like my story. What books are reading?

[Anonymous No.9718171]

>>9718019
>>9718087
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
A little bit of Elements by Euclid (gonna practice and try to understand as much as possible), then onto Archimedes and his works.
Also I'm quite excited to read about Lao Tzu, and more eastern philosophy

[Anonymous No.9718184]

>>9718171
Good stuff. Enquiry made me "get" philosophy, as in the purpose of it, how to do it, and the stakes of it. With Euclid, I recommend that you use a modern companion book like Geometry: Euclid and Beyond by Hartshorne and maybe even a proofing book such as How to Prove It by Velleman to get the most out of your experience.

[Anonymous No.9718251]

>>9718184
Thanks for the tips, anon.
I'll make sure to check it out when the time comes

[Anonymous No.9718572]

>>9718171
Any other books you recommend or books that you've read before?

[Sean Goonan No.9718606]

Resurrecting this thread, I would like to ask people a few questions:

1) What are the "necessary" skills before becoming an autodidact?

2) What should be the "essentials" of a starting autodidact curriculum?

3) What are some interesting pathways that an autodidact could take once they've reached an intermediate level?

4) What would you recommend that is overlooked, unorthodox, or otherwise unfairly ignored by autodidacts?

Pic unrelated, a nice diagram of the trinity, so at least you've walked away unlearning heresy.

[Anonymous No.9718615]

>>9718606
Also this is not Sean Goonan. I was trolling earlier.

[Anonymous No.9718626]

>>9714228
Kierkegaard

[Anonymous No.9718814]

>>9718626
Why do you recommend Kierkegaard? I think he's a great read for anybody interested in philosophy or religion, but I wouldn't say that it's a great read for a beginning autodidact.

[Anonymous No.9718965]

Abandon academia. Become an autodidact.

[Anonymous No.9719243]

>>9718965

That pepe makes me irrationally angry. I don’t know if it’s just how smug it looks, but I get the impression that he thinks he’s better than me, and his overall attitude manifests in his boneheaded mantra. It made me angry a few months ago when I first saw it, and it still sends me for a spin.

[Anonymous No.9719383]

What do the resident /autodidacts/ think about journaling?

[Anonymous No.9719420]

Make a discord

[Anonymous No.9719473]

>>9719420
For what purpose? Discord only promotes circlejerking and attention-whoring.
It's better to discuss here on 4chan where everyone are anonymous/equal by default.

[Anonymous No.9719496]

>>9719420
>>9719473
I plan on making a discord after a few successful threads if there's enough enthusiasm. I want to get a coherent system and direction setup first.

[Anonymous No.9719705]

Bump and good luck to you all; I've been looking for a shorter book on critical thinking but haven't had much luck. Most are gimmicky as fuck.

[Anonymous No.9719757]

>>9719705
I agree. Thankfully, I have a gracious friend who will be checking out a university library to borrow C&CT tomorrow. I will post pictures of the table of contents and requested sample pages so we can see if it's worth buying. Otherwise, we might as well stick with The Art of Reasoning by David Kelley, A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston, or An Introduction to Logic by Copi to fill the niche.

[Anonymous No.9720218]

Imagine if this thread dies before your friend pulls through.

[Anonymous No.9720661]

Bumping to keep this alive

[Anonymous No.9720712]

Hope you guys find some interest in these images

[Anonymous No.9720718]

>>9720712
Been following pic related for Schopenhauer, honestly far more interesting than continuing with the Romans, which is what I would be doing now.

[Anonymous No.9720978]

>>9714264
Lies. Sadler, the professor on YouTube, started at around that age with philosophy.

[Anonymous No.9721454]

>>9720718
That's a good point to mention. There are multiple approaches besides the old structural one that we tend to recommend.

[Anonymous No.9721650]

>>9720712
Here's an alternative list that avoids Stewart, making it a cheaper option. Doesn't have to be done in order. For example, if you want to do real analysis, you could probably just do Knisley > Velleman > Apostol (optional) > Tao. But if you want to be systematic, I think this is the way to do it by mirroring a typical math curriculum.

>0. Khan Academy
This is not where you start. This is where you go if you're stuck. Where you go if you're struggling due to poor high school education, a lack of concentration skills, mathematical immaturity, or lapse of grit. Should be considered training wheels and fully abandoned somewhere within category 1, maybe category 2.

>1. Foundations of University Mathematics
Pre-Calculus - Carl Stitz & Jeff Zeager
Calculus: A Modern Approach - Jeff Knisley & Kevin Shirley
The Art and Craft of Problem Solving - Paul Zeitz

>2. Introduction to University Mathematics
Linear Algebra and Its Applications - David C. Lay
Calculus of Several Variables - Serge Lang
Differential Equations - Shepley Ross

>3. Introduction to Proofing and Survey of Higher-level Mathematics
How to Think Like a Mathematician - Kevin Houston
How to Prove It - D. J. Velleman
Mathematics: Its Content, Methods and Meaning - A.D. Aleksandrov, A.N. Kolmogorov, & M.A. Lavrent'ev

>4. Bringing It All Together: The First Test of Pure Mathematics
Calculus Vol. I & II - T. M. Apostol
Principles of Topology - Fred H. Croom
Analysis I & II - Terence Tao

>5. Further Reading in Pure Mathematics: Introductions
Linear Algebra - K. M. Hoffman & Ray Kunze
A Book of Abstract Algebra - C. C. Pinter
An Introduction to Formal Logic - Peter Smith
Concrete Mathematics - R. L. Graham, D. E. Knuth, & Oren Patashnik
Introduction to Graph Theory - R. J. Trudeau
Introduction to Probability - D. P. Bertsekas & J. N. Tsitsiklis
Applied Partial Differential Equations - J. D. Logan
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos - S. H. Strogatz
Foundations of Applied Mathematics - M. D. Greenberg
The Princeton Companion to Mathematics - Timothy Gowers

[Anonymous No.9721703]

dude what the fuck is this retarded thread

[Anonymous No.9721713]

>>9721703
Cultural exchange with the Baltics

[Anonymous No.9721744]

>>9721713
>population statistics
Those are some fightin' words, troll.

[Anonymous No.9721840]

anyone here know anything about pic related? it's meant to be for homeschooling kids through the trivium, could I use it too or is it too easy?

[Anonymous No.9722109]

>>9721840
I would imagine that you would be able to find good sources for things in case you're struggling for a more advanced topic. It's really more of a long, multi-stage curriculum with advice, primers, and resources. You can download the book on libgen if you want to see if it will be useful for you.

[Anonymous No.9722320]

>>9721840
Wait are you referring to the book aimed at homeschooling kids or the one aimed at adults. There's a difference between the former, Well-TRAINED Mind, and the latter, Well-EDUCATED Mind.

[Anonymous No.9722524]

>>9721840

You can, sure, but it is aimed at parents/teachers for K-12. Look for "The Well-Educated Mind" also by Susan Wise Bauer instead, it's aimed at adults teaching themselves. Also rec Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book" to round it out.

[Anonymous No.9722655]

>>9721650
same thing for physics my man?

[Anonymous No.9722661]

I don't suppose anyone would know where to start with international relations / politics?

[Anonymous No.9722662]

>>9722655
I only know that Halliday is probably the best place to start. What level are you at? You could probably get a lot of information by Googling "best physics textbooks site:yuki.la" or the same thing but with warosu.org. If you find some good stuff after comparing the two, post anything that's easily accessible.

[Anonymous No.9722843]

Thought I would share this old link: >>/lit/thread/9368880

[Anonymous No.9722855]

I'VE GOT PICTURES OF CREATIVE & CRITICAL THINKING

WILL BE PICTURES SHORTLY

[Anonymous No.9722917]

table of contents part 1

[Anonymous No.9722936]

>>9722855
Upload it on dropbox instead of dumping it here

[Anonymous No.9722951]

unfortunately my friend skipped two pages by accident, I can have those pictures uploaded tomorrow

continuing onto table of contents part 4

[Anonymous No.9722957]

I'll upload the table of contents here and everything onto a dropbox once I get the missing 2 pages.

table of contents part 5

[Anonymous No.9722960]

table of contents part 6

[Anonymous No.9722964]

table of contents part 7

[Anonymous No.9722968]

table of contents part 8

[Anonymous No.9722974]

table of contents part 9

the rest will be in a dropbox, except for the missing table of contents pages, which I'll put into the dropbox later

[Anonymous No.9723023]

turns out I misordered 4, 5, 6, should be in reverse.

[Anonymous No.9723037]

>>9723023
Fucked up the ordering again. Don't worry, the dropbox will be in the right order.

[Anonymous No.9723174]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nzrzylohf6vg1ml/AABbd5ie1Rp3d4SYmGH8nFLDa?dl=0

Uploaded the beginnings of Chapters 1, 3, and 4. Should be about ~20 pages of readings. I will upload the entirety of the table of contents and maybe some examples of exercises tomorrow morning, as well as a write-up of the /autodidact/ core.

[Anonymous No.9723400]

>>9723174
So far, I think that Chapter 1 is a good introduction to decision-making. There's a systematic approach to what good decision-making entails at an abstract level. I hope to see the exercises sometime later.

[Anonymous No.9723449]

>>9723400
Just finished with my excerpt of Chapter 3 on hypothetical syllogisms.. Seems like the book likes to analyze the crap out of the Cuban missile crisis, but I don't mind that because the analytical approach is great, with plenty of references to concepts from other chapters to enhance clarity and application. Extremely clear exposition on what a hypothetical syllogism is, how its moving parts work together, as well as how the "minor premises" we encounter in every-day thinking stimulate the use of hypothetical syllogisms to make good (or bad) decisions. Also talks about how affirming the antecedent, affirming the consequent, denying the antecedent, and denying the consequent affect the validity of a syllogism, making it easy to recognize how the "direction" of a syllogism works.

Seems like this book is taking cues from mostly logic, philosophy, psychology, and possibly some math. though then again, it's critical thinking, so I wonder what I was expecting lol. Makes me wonder whether "critical thinking" can really be considered in its own right as a skill instead of a pragmatic combination of tips & tricks applied judiciously.

[Anonymous No.9723526]

>>9723449
The good news from Chapter 4, the chapter on forming hypotheses, is that this book isn't a gimmick based around the Cuban missile crisis, instead introducing a investigation about the mysterious causes of a plane crash. This chapter is about going beyond the syllogism, where deduction may not be enough (unless you simply know how everything works all the time if you believe in extreme reductionism and wishful thinking).

It's getting late over here, so I only read the problem of induction (speak of the devil mentioning Hume earlier in the thread), which I thought was explained clearly if maybe a little lacking at first in rigor, and then discussed how hypotheses are formed to add meaning to curious facts in the form of inductive reasoning.

I'm going to upload the rest of the table of contents and try some exercises tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it goes. It feels safe to include this into a "core" list.

[Anonymous No.9723884]

bump bump

[Anonymous No.9724042]

>>9723174
Thanks man

[Anonymous No.9724459]

>>9719383
>journaling
It's on my daily to do list just like meditation, working out, feeding myself etc.

I spent a few weeks going through endless legal pads trying to fix my hand writing via some PDF called handwriting repair and I'm at a point where I can use journaling not just as a release and a history of my daily actions and emotions, but also a way to practice better handwriting with slow and methodical precision. It's not like I'm taking class notes or anything that must be scribbled fast, and it's not like I use it to write stories. But I think journaling is a good habit to build as it forces you to write every day and gives you an opportunity to improve something that doesn't always get worked on.

Google search handwriting repair italics approach.

[Anonymous No.9724537]

oi lads this the textbook Cambridge uses for their first year logic paper in philosophy:

http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/tecb2/forallx.shtml

I've been working through this and it's great fun. The problems come with an answer key too; everything's explained from the very basics.

http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/curr-students/IA/IA-outlines-reading-lists/paper3-logic

^I trust a lot of what's on this reading list because of the university it comes from. Most of the books it lists I've found on libgen, e.g. "More Precisely: The Math You Need to Do Philosophy", which is exactly the book I've been looking for.

Logic isn't literally the same as critical thinking, but it's close enough that I thought I should post about anyway

[Anonymous No.9724759]

>>9724537
Very nice, thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous No.9724804]

>>9723526
Cant thank you enough, kind of a long shot but what would it take to upload the entire book? Taking pictures is faster than scanning.

[Anonymous No.9724828]

>>9724804
Not going to happen in the near future. The book isn't in my possession. I want to get a good scan sometime this year but I don't know where to start and how to do it cheaply and nicely.

[Anonymous No.9724837]

>>9724828
Unfortunate, but could you at least take a picture of what you think is essential with exercises etc?

Btw scanning is free and doesn't cost anything if you have the printer, then you add the pictures to make a pdf and that's it, but it takes a lot of time.

[Anonymous No.9724931]

>>9724837
I don't have a printer right now, and I don't really know how to scan professionally without destroying the book.

[Anonymous No.9724936]

>>9724828
Can't you go to an Internet Cafe or something and leave them the book for like half a day and then have them send you the scanned pictures to your email? It shouldn't be expensive, we do that in Mexico

[Anonymous No.9725035]

>>9724936
I don't know what you mean by Internet Cafe. Do they scan books? I don't know if we have the same kind of establishment in the United States.

[Anonymous No.9725321]

>tfw want to be an autodidact but lack the discipline to keep going once initial motivation dies

[Anonymous No.9725379]

>>9725321
Talk about it, anon. Why do you lose motivation? What motivated you in the start? Maybe read a book about discipline and motivation

[Anonymous No.9725440]

>>9722655
Check out the /sci/-wiki.

[Anonymous No.9725451]

>>9725321
You have to change your life if you want to be a good autodidact. Being an autodidact became almost an automatic inclination after I started eating better, exercising, sleeping better at regular times, journaling, meditating, etc. When you're taking care of yourself, you simply want to start applying yourself to SOMETHING.

And the limited amount of game time I allot for myself, like my favorite RTS game Age of Empires 2, has become a lot more fun because I was able to focus more on improving my gameplay while also cherishing the little amount of time I had. I wouldn't want to spend any more time though, because I'd have diminishing returns and a nagging pang inside.

Idk man, you owe it to yourself to live a better life. Take yourself to the cleaners and pay back the debt.

[Anonymous No.9725841]

>>9725451
Woah dude you're like Leonardo da vinci

[Anonymous No.9725867]

>>9725841
I don't know if you're being sarcastic or something but it really doesn't matter. you can take small steps to make your life a lot better

[Anonymous No.9726256]

>>9723174
Any thoughts on the sample chapters of Creative & Critical Thinking by W. Edgar Moore? I liked it.

[Anonymous No.9726375]

>>9726256
I liked it as well. Very insighful yet easy to read, with very good arguments featuring a nice example of President JFK's sharp decision making.

>Outside the context of scientific investigation, however, we tend to commit repeatedly the same blunders in thinking that seriously retarded science until the development of effective procedures"
I have to admit I chuckled a bit when I read that.

Wish I had the full book or a PDF of it.

[Anonymous No.9726418]

>>9726375
I have the full table of contents, some additional chapters, and some sample exercises coming up.

[Anonymous No.9726447]

>>9726418
Looking forward to it! I appreciate you greatly for doing this

[Anonymous No.9726505]

>>9714264
Why not just say 25+

[Anonymous No.9727055]

Good news, I've uploaded excerpts from Chapters 7, 12, 25, and 28 onto the Dropbox. I've also uploaded the full table of contents in case anybody is interested in seeing them. I hope to have some few examples of exercises before I finish my uploading spree.

Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nzrzylohf6vg1ml/AABbd5ie1Rp3d4SYmGH8nFLDa?dl=0

[Anonymous No.9727445]

>>9727055
you've saved a life today, anon

[Anonymous No.9727906]

anyone have a book about the mind palace? I've been using it based solely on YouTube videos and it's been pretty effective but more tips and tricks would be awesome. I can really only remember lists and it's hard to imagine points within points.

[Anonymous No.9727994]

>>9727906
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-books-on-Memory-Palace

Take your pick^. The Cicero extract is good

[Anonymous No.9728832]

>>9727445
Haha I wouldn't go that far. But thank you.

[Anonymous No.9728880]

>>9714264
Why do you retards post this in every single thread?

If you honestly believe this, you lack an sort of critical thinking ability and probably have an objectively low level of intelligence. It's no wonder that someone as lowdown as yourself would take pleasure in shitting on people trying to better themselves.

There are countless of examples of people who studied art late in life and made a living out of it (Granda Moses being the most obvious example). Also people overcoming drug addiction, losing ridiculous a amount of weight, going back to school, learning all sorts of new skills, etc., etc..

The fact that you can't conceive of any way in which a person might overcome maladaptive patterns of behavior shows a fundamental lack of imagination. Put it this way: say you kidnap someone, lock them in a room with a bucket to shit and piss in, send them daily meals, and every day go in and point a gun to their head and tell them you're going to shoot them if they don't read the books you've given them on perspective, anatomy, etc. and draw every day for at least 8 hours, after enough time has passed, do they become a good artist or not? Well, then there goes your theory. Now it's just a matter of finding a less extreme way to overcome your shitty habits, you worthless nay-saying shithead.

All you really need to do to convince people like you of anything is present you with a reddit article with some semi-credible seeming source and use lots of smart-sounding words and pseudo-scientific jargon, and your dumb ass is on board. "You lose your neuroplasticity after you turn ___. You may as well kill yourself." Well, I guess Fukken Science™ said it, so it must be true. Guess I'll post it in every autodidact thread on /lit/ and pretend as if I know what I'm talking about.

>in b4 you post some lame ass "u mad?" response instead of addressing my critique of your shitty theory and garbage personality

[Anonymous No.9728928]

>>9728880
Only problem with starting late is it'll take more time, thus making it not "worth" it in a way.
Don't get me wrong, i think it doesn't matter when you start studying as you're only "cultivating your garden"
But it's a fact that at later stages in life studying and adapting to changes takes a lot of time and is barely worth the efforts put into it.
And this is only valid for people over 50 and even then it's not valid, since it depends on who, where, how, take people who lived mostly in villages, you can't compare their progress without a western, obviously it'll be different and in some cases not worth the effort for him to learn.

But claiming it's useless from ages of 22~25 is ridiculous, sure a young kid would adapt faster, and might remember things better, but unless he's a genius and his brain works differently he won't really understand, this is where maturity takes place, there's a HUGE difference between a 24 yo studying calculus and a 16yo studying calculus, again they both will reach results, the 16yo MIGHT do it faster, but it changes nothing.

[Anonymous No.9729266]

How are we doing today friends?

[Anonymous No.9729389]

Bump bump bump

[Anonymous No.9729394]

>>9729266
>>9729389
Great my dude, currently reading philosophy and gonna do math and physics later, all from scratch, i haven't graduated yet and i'm 20yo.

Moved to Europe and got the chance to get my high school diploma, gonna study for it.

[Anonymous No.9729411]

>>9729394
Awesome. What reading materials are you going to use? How are your study skills? Good concentration and grit?

[Anonymous No.9729426]

>>9729411
Found a good torrent of almost every good /sci/ recommended book on topics such as : math, biology, chemistry, and physics.

Then for philosophy i found a huge torrent with a lot a lot of books and works of various philosophers.
More pdfs about introduction to philosophy, "the big questions" etc..

I don't really have "study skills" i'm mostly reading and taking notes on every subject, and each theme individually, for math i'll be also doing exercises of course and just repeating them over and over.

I have no problems concentrating, it's just that these are almost all ebooks and my eyes are hurting from the computer monitor.
f.lux and lowering the brightness/contrast only help so much, so i got to take a lot of breaks.
Everyone is having fun, summer and all, but i already had enough fun, time to take shit seriously now, if i won't no one will for me, it's enough to drive me towards my goals.

[Anonymous No.9729600]

>>9729426
If you're looking for /sci/-related books, try Pre-calculus by Stitz & Zeager, and Calculus by Jeff Knisley. All free PDFs available online. Halliday is a great book for physics as well but you'll have to libgen it or something. And maybe try to get an E-Reader instead of reading everything on your computer.

[Anonymous No.9730484]

a bump for the greater good

[Anonymous No.9730633]

Any books about legal research? All of the books assigned for my previous classes were shit and I'm having to learn how to truely research on my own for work without any help.

[Anonymous No.9730645]

>>9730633
Seconded. While each field has their own tricks, like Google-fu for the internet, Worldcat for science, etc., there's a lot of general researching resources that could be taught as a "practical" academic skill. It's valuable for any autodidact to have.

[Anonymous No.9730768]

>>9730633
>any instruction manual on doing things without instruction
what did the author mean in this passage

[Anonymous No.9730869]

>>9730768
The goal of learning a skill is to be able to do something on your own, with a special kind of "know-how". Help can be anything from an introduction to a librarian. Come on, you know this.

[Anonymous No.9731751]

It would be a shame if this weren't bumped.

[Anonymous No.9732974]

Another bump. And then I'll let this slide and start a new thread.

[Anonymous No.9734380]

Got to bump this.

[Anonymous No.9734387]

>>9731751
>>9732974
>>9734380
With new nothing to contribute.

Is this the NEET brainlet general?

[Anonymous No.9734414]

>>9734387
>contributes nothing
>lul y u bumping u have nothing to contribute?
>uses NEET and brainlet in the same sentence

Leave.

[Anonymous No.9734418]

>>9734414
Who are you quoting?

[Anonymous No.9734422]

>>9734418
>resorts to the improper use of greentext because he can't back up his statements

[Anonymous No.9734452]

>>9734387
I've contributed a lot of material that I'm waiting for feedback on. I have new material as well that I'm saving for a new thread to increase visibility.

[Anonymous No.9734653]

Turns out Euclid takes 3 years to get through.
Thanks for the autodidact meme you fags.

[Anonymous No.9734658]

>>9730633
I have TONS of legal theory and legal philosophy books but I don't know how to participate/upload.

[Anonymous No.9734666]

>>9734653
>boohoo I have to do work
Shut up faggot poseur. It's not like your NEET ass has anything better to do. It's a total lifestyle change because knowing shit takes work.

>>9734658
List an intro path. What would be a good series of books to get introduced to legal theory and philosophy, to get a nice survey of what it is?

[Anonymous No.9734685]

>>9734653
>He thought he could breeze through Euclid like it was just a newspaper
How one can be this delusional is beyond me.

[Anonymous No.9734686]

>>9716691
>On bias
>I am a Marxist and an atheist,

Thankful for people who put their brain damage up front so I can know to disregard the opinions they have

[Anonymous No.9734706]

>>9734666
>>9734685
Calm down you fucking autists, im learning it in conjunction with greek. I'm just pointing out how surprisingly long it takes.
Learning French fluently by comparison took 6 months.

[Anonymous No.9734709]

One may improve social skills by reading the Han Fei Zi and remembering the Daoist phrase: "If the sages of old lived today, they would live in accordance with the times."

A lot of skill becomes unnecessary once you learn to enjoy watching the ball game. Drink beer if you have to. I'm not saying that it's impossible to make friends while detesting the culture of the majority, I'm just saying it's 100 times harder.

[Anonymous No.9734717]

>>9734706

When I read Euclid I copied down the propositions and diagrams, and limited myself to a single proof per day. I mostly was using it as a tool to learn propositional logic.

[Anonymous No.9734722]

>>9734666
The problem with Law is that the best works are either in German, Portuguese, French or Italian, but I'll try to upload what I can; but either way some of the most famous introductory books would be:

Philosophy of Law - Kaufmann, Arthur

Introduction to Legal Thought - Engisch, Karl

Introduction to Philosophy of Law and to the Theory of Contemporary Law - Kaufmann, Arthur

Methodology of the Science of Law, Larenz, Karl

The Concept of Law, Hart, H.L.A.

[Anonymous No.9734734]

>>9734717
More or less the same as I'm doing desu.
I've got a notebook set up for the Greek and the Euclid. I've wanted to work up to modern mathematics, so I figured this would be a good place to start.

[Anonymous No.9734751]

>>9734709
I think that the misanthrope problem can be partially solved by just being a more charismatic person and doing your part to bring the best out of other people. Hey, it's your time that you're spending with others, and sometimes you have to do it, so why not put in some effort to gently nudge things in the right direction? There is some value in what you said, and you can implement it on your own terms if you have practiced your social skills.

>>9734722
Thank you for your contribution. Do you know anything about Dworkin? I had to read him as a college writing placement assignment once. What is his place?

>>9734717
>>9734734
In case you haven't heard of him before, check out Hartshorne while you're dealing with Euclid. It's a good transition to modern geometry.

[Anonymous No.9734755]

>>9734751
>Do you know anything about Dworkin?

love her

[Anonymous No.9734773]

>>9734751
I'm currently uploading every ebook I have on my hard drive to Google Drive. I believe I have an ebook authored by Dworkin, but you shouldn't dive too deep into the "naturalistic" rabbit hole; he, for many, was what Zizek was to /lit/: a meme.

[Anonymous No.9734777]

>>9734755
I mean Ronald Dworkin. I don't think he's a woman.

[Anonymous No.9734817]

Now listen up guys, I'm linking 4gb of ebooks I've gathered throughout the years. Some of these ebooks are in Portuguese, some have Portuguese names but are in English, but the mass majority of these ebooks are in English (about 95% of them). I'm too lazy to translate the folders from Portuguese to English so I guess you either know Spanish or Portuguese or you just try your luck.


https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwA5Btr22cuQWksxRmoySWNwems

>>9734751
Me again [>>9734773]. Click on the link and search for a folder called "Direito". I have some ebooks about law in English there. Good luck.

[Anonymous No.9734820]

>>9734777

I was gonna say.

It's basically impossible to love Andrea Dworkin. She's ugly, inside AND out, as close to an /r9k/ worldview as a woman can get.

[Anonymous No.9734826]

>>9734820
no

[Anonymous No.9734836]

>>9734817
Muito obrigado, friend.

[Anonymous No.9734839]

>>9734817
I forgot to say: /lit/ might be very interested in checking the Philosophy folder out [Filosofia], it is probably the biggest folder I have there.

[Anonymous No.9734842]

>>9734817
Thanks for your contribution, friend!

[Anonymous No.9734870]

>>9734836
De nada, camarada.

>>9734842
You're welcome.

If you're looking for something specific tell me since I doubt you'll breeze through the folders without knowing Portuguese or a latin based language.

[Anonymous No.9735027]

What is the best book about fallacious thinking in our everyday lives?

[Anonymous No.9735042]

>>9735027
"The Necklace" by Maupassant.
Short story, but still amazing.

[Anonymous No.9735055]

>>9734817
Aren't you scared of reading some obsolete translation? I bet these ebooks aren't curated at all

[Anonymous No.9735070]

>>9735027
I like both Creative & Critical Thinking and Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow. The former is a bit more systemic about all kinds of thinking, so logic, philosophy, psychology, etc., while the latter is more targeted towards how psychological biases inform and derail our heuristics, which can be applied to both everyday life and high-stakes applications.

[Anonymous No.9735075]

>>9735027
A short book, in case you don't want to read the former two, would be A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston.

[Anonymous No.9735078]

>>9735055
What do you mean?

[Anonymous No.9736545]

Posting with a sage on page 10.

[Anonymous No.9736588]

>>9736545

[Anonymous No.9737888]

>>9736545
The absolute madman!

[Anonymous No.9738856]

>>9735055
>>9735078
Still waiting on that answer.

[Anonymous No.9738922]

There is a "Learning how to learn" course on coursera