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I wrote this book, so I may be biased...
The first three chapters of this self-help book give some great tips to learning anything you want in 20 hours. You may not be an expert, but you should be able to have fun with that new skill.However, the remaining 6 chapters are about how the author learned to play Go, windsurf, play the ukulele, learn computer programming, do yoga, and learn a keyboard that is not QWERTY.These chapters were meant to show how to apply the tips to learning in a practical way. Unfortunately, there was WAY too mu...
A crisp, well-written explanation of rapid skill acquisition that any learning junkie will find incredibly useful. On the strength of the first three chapters alone, I've been recommending it to anyone who'll listen, but there's a wealth of additional data in the six case studies where the author used himself as guinea pig to test his theories. (They are, in case you've not read it elsewhere yet: yoga; a programming language; a non-QWERTY touch-typing system; an ancient Chinese strategy game cal...
Read the first three chapters. Everything else was just about what he personally learned and not terribly interesting. Basically, you can do anything if you make it a daily priority for a couple weeks. Which is obvious, but I guess I was hoping for some big secret to be revealed. Or at the very least, a funny writing style.
A decent read, although not as good as his other book The personal MBA, which is one of my favorite..The book is basically based on simple practical techniques and principal, which enables us to learn any skills very quickly, the good part is that the other has himself tried those techniques, and learned 5 to 6 new skills, which he also illustrate on the book that how he learned those skills in less than 20 hours, following were those skills1. Programming2. Touch typing3. Go game4. Wind surfing5...
The First Twenty Hours has an interesting idea and something useful for most of us in this time short attention wandering world getting to a degree of general competence in a topic rapidly.I dislike several things about this book. The misuse of the 10,000 hours idea to become an expert. I've never ever heard anyone say it takes 10,000 hours to learn something (other than to misquote!). 10,000 hours is purely the amount of time required in competitive areas to become absolutely world class.(view
As far as I am concerned this book merely describes the obvious procedure involved in acquiring a skill. I don't think there is anything special in there which would help you rapidly acquire arbitrary new skills. The chapters describing various things Kaufman taught himself ranged from boring and cringey to slightly interesting, I had to skip a lot. My recommendation is to go and work on the skill of your dreams rather than waste time reading or listening to this.
The problem with "The First 20 Hours" is that the author spends a majority of the book explaining what he learned (Yoga, Programming, touch typing, Go, Ukelele, Windsurfing) rather than how he learned it. Just look at his chapter on Yoga. He spends twenty pages explaining where yoga originated and the poses that he learned, but only one page of skill acquisition explanation (where he admits to referencing some books and online videos).Essentially, Kaufman's book shows you that it is possible to
I really enjoyed it. He explained how to do it, as in the theory, and then he moved on to the practical side of it by sharing his personal experience with aquiring six new skills based on his theory. For some people it may be too practical and personal, in the way that his choice of skills to improve wouldn't appeal to others, but I liked reading about it. Also, I like his writing, clean, on point and funny, in a smart way.
Josh Kaufman did a great job creating a lot of hype for the book, that's for sure. But I for one was a little disappointed upon actually reading 20 Hours. There are two chapters tops that detail his "method", two ten point lists, and the remaining 280 some odd pages are case studies. Kaufman stresses "breaking down a skill" into smaller chunks, but doesn't really give any in-depth write up on how to do just that theory-wise. In the first chapter Kaufman says "Yes, the secret to learning skills q...
The First 2 Hours: Pathway to Putrefication Effortlessly it seems, the author has created a book that is simply unreadable. This defect, without exception, putrefies a book for me. Should you, a reasonably intelligent person, decide to read this, I'll wager good money on the proposition that you won't need 20 hours to learn you wasted time and/or money. Indeed, the Vegas line on over/under is 2 hours, and I'll take the under.
Very disappointing. There's an worthwhile idea here: it may take 10,000 hours, as others have suggested, to master something at the world-class level, but what about those areas where you just want to be competent enough to enjoy it and not humiliate yourself?Unfortunately, this isn't really the book to help you. The first part is the 10 principles Kaufman has put together for Rapid Skill Acquisition, and they are mostly common sense. For example, do things you love, get rid of distractions, and...
For the past 10 years or so, I've described myself as a dabbler. I am a Jill of many trades, an expert of none. I own a guitar and a ukulele, but I can only play 3 songs on each. I own language learning tools for Spanish, French, Arabic and Czech, and can barely speak anything other than English. I've taken 1 surf lesson and 1 stand up paddle board lesson and loved both. Someday, I would like to learn to build a website, make silver jewelry, and play the violin. I also work full time, exercise d...
This is another book which should have been just a blog post.The main ideas:• Choose want you want to learn and deconstruct it into the smallest possible sub-skills.• Learn enough about each sub-skill to be able to practice effectively and self-correct.• Remove any physical or emotional barriers that get in the way of practice.• Practice the most important sub-skills for at least 20 hours, even if it is a drag.
The First 20 Hours (2013) by Josh Kaufman is a pretty thin book on learning new skills and learning in general. The book is pretty much an essay extended into a book. Kaufman’s book is about how to obtain the basics of a skill in 20 hours. Kaufman wrote a successful book called The Personal MBA. Kaufman is the self-help guru for the Hacker News set.Kaufman has 10 rules for Rapid Skill Acquisition and ten major principles of effective learning. They include such gems as ‘Research the skill and re...
Very informative.
It's difficult to imagine a better book on skill building than The First 20 Hours. If you've ever found yourself thinking "I wish I knew how to ____" or "I wish I didn't quit ____ lessons as a kid," then this is the best book you can read. There are many other books on learning that I love, such as "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin, but this is by far the best step by step guide you can apply to learning any skill.The first 40 pages are dedicated to the principles of effective learning and
"When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears." Like for many, Josh Kaufman ended up in my radar after coming across his famous Personal MBA. And 'How to Learn Anything Fast' title was the only nudge needed for me to immediately pick up this book. "No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking - Voltaire" The book actually started with a strong, tempting couple of starter chapters. Those outlined some of the key concepts behind rapid skill acquisition, and along some intrigui
3.5 starsCould be a blog entry
The First 20 Hours is a book about rapid skill acquisition. In this book, based on his research, Josh Kaufman lists down the four major steps of rapid skill acquisition:a. Deconstructb. Learnc. Remove barrierd. PracticeNext, the author goes on to explain ten principles of rapid skill acquisition and ten principles of effective learning. The ten principles of rapid skill acquisition is a list of common-sense thinking to skill acquisition, put together nicely in a list for your checking. The ten p...