Ep. 328 - Restarting the Local Maximum: Book Strategies for 2025
The Local Maximum with Max Sklar · Max Sklar and Winston Smith
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Show Notes
Returning after a Hiatus
* Today is just going to be a hangout with me and Aaron if you’re into that.. And later, we’ll return to more specific topics
* Give a little personal history & history of the show
Full Move to NYC
Teaching
* Less time
Hopscotch Labs
* Working on that
* Beebot - coming SOON!!
* Internship Program
Hope for The Local Maximum
Reading Habits and Strategies (for the busy)
* Is it still worth reading books in the AI era?
* What do I do if I get stuck on a book?
* How do I know I’m stuck?
* Can you read 2 books at once?
* How do I deal with these enormous tomes in my bookshelf
* What about textbooks?
* Local Maximum examples
* AJ Jacobs - easy to read! I didn’t think I’d be interested in the topic
* Jeffrey Tucker - fun to read!
* Sweet spot: 100-200 pages with SHORT CHAPTERS
* Books with 50-page chapters - WHY
* Topics: Current affairs vs History, philosophy, self-help, fiction?
* Examples
* Revisiting The Singularity is Nearer (Ep. 323 - The Technological Singularity Part I & Ep. 324 - The Technological Singularity Part II)
* Tracking tools
https://app.thestorygraph.com/
* (pause feature and journal feature)
* Take notes during or after; don’t wait!
Upcoming Topics for The Local Maximum
* Pull up the sheet
* Will we have a schedule? I plan on doing this differently
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