Invisible wrote:
> way of looking at something just be *pretending* to explain it to somebody.

You *are* actually explaining it to someone else. That model in your head 
really isn't any less "real" than the model you have in your head of me.

Just like thinking about throwing a basketball helps you actually practice 
real basketball throwing.

> Chopping the subject up into pieces is not difficult. It's stringing 
> them into a logical structure that's difficult. I think I do this quite 
> well for smaller documents. For large documents, it ends up all going 
> wrong.

It's practice. Exactly the same with computer programs. The little one you 
can fit all in your head at once. The big one you have to do differently.

> Fair enough. Although, like I say, I've written plenty of smaller 
> documents, and they've worked out well. It's large documents that end up 
> not working.

Practice practice.   It also helps to practice speed on the small documents. 
Give yourself 15 minutes to write a 2-page document on a topic you never 
thought about before. (OK, start with 30 minutes, and cut off five minutes 
each day.) Then you start getting some of the same cognitive load as a 
larger paper imposes.

> I guess mainly it just comes down to extreme pessimism about whether 
> there's any useful documents to be found in the first place. (E.g., what 
> are the chances of somebody having written a document about wavelets 
> that isn't either a vague summary that tells you nothing, or a dense 
> technical report which is incomprehensible?)

Hey, you've got a topic to write about!   Two, even!

Your first assignment: Speculate on why there are few intermediate documents 
of the type you talk about, and analyze what that implies for learning in 
this day of ongoing adult self-education. I want to see your outline 
tomorrow, and a two-page explanation by the end of the weekend. :-)

> Perhaps not this week though, as (inexplicably) I actually have some 
> work to do. Yeah, I know, imagine that...

When you get home is fine.  It's f'ing homework - what do you expect?

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
  "How did he die?"   "He got shot in the hand."
     "That was fatal?"
          "He was holding a live grenade at the time."

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