Learning by Watching

Typically learning is by reading books. But recently I find watching is of great help. Watching here means watching the lecture videos.

I have an obsession when reading technical books: I should not start a new section if I have not completely understand the previous session and finished all the exercises there. Such obsession haunted me so severely that sometimes I tries to browse later chapters just for fun. Indeed this kind of obsession is quite harmful for reading: it is quite difficult for me to read through the whole book. It should be noted that in many books, the later part normally contained advanced topics, which I miss.

Watching video is another story. I'm now trying to learn SICP but my obsession just stopped me before finishing chapter 1. However I have also download the video lectures. Watching video lectures does not impose any obsessions for me. Actually it is very interesting when I'm sitting in a shuttle bus or in public transportation. I just feel that it is rather easy to comprehend the video. It seems that I may finish watching all the videos quite early before completing the book.

Just hope all the great books have video lectures.