I agree that “your own citations support your statements” is a low bar. In general I consider a book’s own citations being good and saying what they claim to be the bare minimum, and if something fails that I won’t go farther. I made an exception in this case because it came so well recommended. For the second chapter I reviewed I happened to have a lot of implicit understanding that would have taken a long time to formalize, via my neurologist and research I did years ago verifying things my neurologist told me.
What you suggest about looking at experts seems like an excellent way to hone in on concepts; I think I’m approaching the same goal, segmented in a different way. I read multiple books in the same vein and run these checks on all of them, and synthesize understanding from there. Segmenting it by book frees up a lot of RAM for me.
I’m torn on looking for counterexamples. On one hand, it’s an easy way to disprove wrong things. On the other hand, even the best theory is fairly easy to poke holes in, especially if you consider claims in isolation rather than the system as a whole. I find if I focus on disproving things, it inhibits understanding and learning, and leads to rejecting things that are imperfect but useful.
Possible solutions to both of these are to involve other people. For synthesizing concepts, you can have each person read on related topics and come together to discuss interactions. For looking for counterexamples, one person can focus on that while the other focuses on understanding in a generous way, without worrying about looking stupid for believing something wrong.
I agree that “your own citations support your statements” is a low bar. In general I consider a book’s own citations being good and saying what they claim to be the bare minimum, and if something fails that I won’t go farther. I made an exception in this case because it came so well recommended. For the second chapter I reviewed I happened to have a lot of implicit understanding that would have taken a long time to formalize, via my neurologist and research I did years ago verifying things my neurologist told me.
What you suggest about looking at experts seems like an excellent way to hone in on concepts; I think I’m approaching the same goal, segmented in a different way. I read multiple books in the same vein and run these checks on all of them, and synthesize understanding from there. Segmenting it by book frees up a lot of RAM for me.
I’m torn on looking for counterexamples. On one hand, it’s an easy way to disprove wrong things. On the other hand, even the best theory is fairly easy to poke holes in, especially if you consider claims in isolation rather than the system as a whole. I find if I focus on disproving things, it inhibits understanding and learning, and leads to rejecting things that are imperfect but useful.
Possible solutions to both of these are to involve other people. For synthesizing concepts, you can have each person read on related topics and come together to discuss interactions. For looking for counterexamples, one person can focus on that while the other focuses on understanding in a generous way, without worrying about looking stupid for believing something wrong.