This may be also caused by confusing syntax highlighting in some editors, for example in VSCode [1]
The variable in the second string gets highlighted (with slightly different color, but still) because it would still work with `str.format()`. GitHub doesn't seem to do this.
Who said we have the "highest" level of consciousness? Flies have 360-degree vision, birds can sense magnetic fields, dogs have way superior sense of smell.
Of course we are superior in many aspects, but we're not "higher" in the general sense. We _are_ animals, we're next to each other.
> why do we assume humans could consciously conceive of whatever life-form is above us?
Can we conceive how to be a "lower" form of consciousness? Or even a different human? For example, we have no idea if everyone perceives colors the same way. We know that butterflies can detect UV light, but is it "mapped" to the same color range that we perceive, or can they perceive colors that we can't even imagine?
> No, you aren’t. Beause there are overlaps. (Seen Venn diagrams, btw?)
Sorry, I meant different as in distinct, coming from different people.
> When you don't read those threads or blogs, you are not taking advantage of accumulated human knowledge over the years.
I agree, that's why I keep reading them. But more often than not, I feel like I end up with more questions and uncertainty than I started with.
> And this approach will more likely to lead to poor choice of books.
I don't think it's so obvious. Maybe that "average" book that matched your particular taste, would actually be more useful than the "perfect" one, which felt mundane? Simply because the first one would be more engaging, and you'd have higher chance of finishing it. But if you had read the reviews beforehand, you'd end up feeling bad both about the one you liked, and about the one that others recommended, and eventually wouldn't read either.
> One method I forgot to mention- I also look at reputations of publishers/series. If a book is coming out of Green Tea Press, Pragmatic Bookshelf, or Manning, I will tend to favor them more.
I'm so annoyed that I keep consuming all that pseudo-educational content without actually gaining any knowledge from it.
I don't have anything particular to learn, but anytime I hit something interesting, I search for it, see how much material I would need to get through, and I give up and revert to browsing HN.
But my point is, note just how many separate bits of information you're looking at to make the decision. 4 threads on Reddit, 4 threads on HN, and you're already in the hundreds of different opinions! All of them coming from people you don't know, with different background, different learning style, etc.
Compare to going to a book store with ZERO external information, and picking the one YOU seem to like reading the most, without those hundreds of voices in your head.
This resonates w/me. When I read a book, I tend to remember at least something from it for years or even decades. As for blog posts or YouTube videos, most of them I forget by the next day. They seem to carry lots and lots of information, but give very little knowledge.
Btw. I've been toying with meditation and mindfulness on and off for a few years now. It's definitely hard work. So far I haven't succeeded in sticking to it for more than a few days at a time.
> It seems you're a beginner programmer; you could do worse than "Eloquent JavaScript":
Oh, sorry for not expressing my thoughts clearly enough. I'm a senior dev, I self-taught myself almost everything from books, starting before I even knew what Internet is, and later from early-Internet-era websites. Again, never considering it a chore, not preparing for a job, it was just a fun way to spend long winter evenings!
I only mentioned JavaScript as an example, slightly ironic, because you used to learn it from a few page long tutorial. The tutorial didn't need to be longer, because JS was mostly used for creating hover menus and animated snowflakes. You could go over it in 30-60 minutes and call it a day. And frankly, there were years when knowledge in that tutorial would be enough to land you a well-paying job. Today you have to push through 21 long chapters (of that book you mentioned), and it's still only the beginning. I feel genuinely sorry for people who are starting these days, web-dev in particular became so complex.
> Old fashioned discipline starts in the mind. You must be ruthless with yourself, and make a determination
Well, I think we're kind of in agreement here. I'd now need to essentially torture myself to do something that used to be a fun hobby, and required zero effort.
> I'm reading this book
Ok, but the problem is, _which_ book?
Let's say you search for a JavaScript book on Amazon. It seems to yield more results than all the books they had in my local computer bookstore! Pick one at random? But what if it has low reviews? Pick one with the highest rating? But maybe it was published 2 years ago, so maybe it's already outdated? Anyway, I saw on HN that everyone is using Rust now, so perhaps instead I should read a book about that? That's the analysis paralysis I mentioned.
The variable in the second string gets highlighted (with slightly different color, but still) because it would still work with `str.format()`. GitHub doesn't seem to do this.
[1] https://imgur.com/a/9KGWVG0