There are a certain percentage of people who are able to master the art of learning itself. You can think of people like Tim Ferriss or Naval Ravikant who have figured out just how to get to the right level of proficiency that would enable them to then compound their learning exponentially if they decided to do so. There are also the archetypes who just have brilliance baked in; too many to name but my friend Dirac would be such person. The learning to learn feature is a skill that is hard to teach but is more about observation and practice. Richard W. Hamming is one such person who figured out the art of learning and leveraging it to solve serious problems and on top of that was able to write and communicate it effortlessly.
The book titled "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn" by Richard W. Hamming is along these lines [1]. It's a read on the accounts and recollections of a master at learning and leveraging what has been learned to solve problems through thought and questioning. What you find in Hamming's book is that he continuously leverages the tools, ideas, and nuances that he was familiarized with throughout his career. By training he was a mathematician but through the need to solve problems became a computer scientist. And through the advancements and burgeoning field of computers he became a digital signal processing pioneer.
The Bell Lab Phenomenon
Bell Labs was one of the leading research and technology companies in the world from the 1940s to the 1980s. It was here that luminaries such as Hamming, Shannon, Shockley, Shor, and many others made some of the most significant discoveries in human history. It was arguably one of the most prolific institutions in the world for scientists and engineers.
The book is a collection of topics Hamming worked on throughout his career being told from the perspective of a teacher to his students. Throughout it the chapters of some quintessential passages that are bolden to highlight the importance. My favorite quote in the book is:
Luck favors the prepared mind. – Paraphrased from Louis Pasteur
I think this rings so true in two ways. The first is that "Luck" is just that, things that happen by chance due to the fact that you were unaware of all possible outcomes or information. There is nothing you can do to be lucky, in the purest meaning of the word, its just all about what comes across your path. The second is that with time, mental clarity, and skill preparation, when opportunities present themselves, you are able to take advantage of them where as the amateur would have let it go unnoticed.
Here are some other great passages — commonly repeated by other greats in science and engineering — from the book that are pertinent to the current AI/ML wave:
"Learning a new subject is something you will have to do many times in your career if you are to be a leader and not left behind as a follower by new developments." p. 180
"Those who did make significant contributions viewed computers as something new, studied on their own merits ... people always want to think something new is just like the past ... and hence they prevent themselves from making any significant contribution to the new field being created under their noses." p. 196
"to the extent you can choose, work on problems you think will be important." p. 228
"Why should anyone believe the simulation is relevant?" p. 246
I would recommend this book to about anyone who is looking for a leisure read about how Hamming learned to learn and think. Its probably best for someone who is a senior in in college or a first year grad student as it will prime their mind to be alert for how to improve themselves. There are at times when the specific math takes some thinking through (e.g. error correcting codes) but nothing is that daunting to read through and comprehend. Hamming does state in the beginning not to worry about the math but just follow along with his thinking at the time for how to address the problems. The style of writing is very engaging and never a dull moment, especially because Hamming did so much at Los Alamos and Bell Labs.
The one thing this book is not is a tutorial or hands-on book for learning to learn. Its not about how to prepare your notes, listen to lectures, use flashcards, or any other mnemonic device. It is all about how to ask yourself questions that probe thinking and applying your learned experiences to answer those questions and thoughts.
References
[1] R. Hamming, The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn. N.p., Stripe Matter Incorporated, 2020. Google
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