Updated on iBookstore: Cognitive Productivity with macOS

A couple of weeks ago, I finally managed to update my second book, Cognitive Productivity with macOS®: 7 Principles for Getting Smarter with Knowledge, on the iBookstore. The delay was due to problems with iTunes Producer, the software one uses to upload books to iBookstore. Continue reading Updated on iBookstore: Cognitive Productivity with macOS

Extras for Cognitive Productivity with macOS Book Are Now Available as a Separate Package from Its Leanpub Web Page

Update 2019-05-16

The original post below is no longer valid. I have removed the “extras” only package of Cognitive Productivity with macOS from Leanpub. Rationale: Leanpub has clarified that all packages must include books. If you purchased the $5.00 “extras only” package, then you will still have access to it. But it is no longer for sale separately.

The original package of this book, which contains the book and all the extras, remains available for sale.

Continue reading Extras for Cognitive Productivity with macOS Book Are Now Available as a Separate Package from Its Leanpub Web Page

A Book for Our “Post-truth”, “Pre-meta-effectiveness”, Times Launches on June 18

On Monday, June 18, the complete version of Cognitive Productivity with macOS®: 7 Principles for Getting Smarter with Knowledge will be launched.

Cognitive Productivity books can be read as pro-active responses to the “post-truth” era. More generally, however, they are meant to deal with the fact that we are still in pre-meta-effectiveness times. “Meta-effectiveness” refers to the abilities and dispositions to use knowledge to become more effective, meaning better at understanding, solving problems, building products (including new knowledge) and living according to our values. Respect for truth is a subset of meta-effectiveness. One can have respect for truth and yet not use knowledge optimally.

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Continue reading A Book for Our “Post-truth”, “Pre-meta-effectiveness”, Times Launches on June 18

Nurture Your Fondness and Admiration of Powerful Structuring Ideas

I’ve just published a new section in Principle 7, “Apply Knowledge” of Cognitive Productivity with macOS. It is called “Nurture Your Fondness and Admiration of Powerful Structuring Ideas”. The book is now 99% complete. Continue reading Nurture Your Fondness and Admiration of Powerful Structuring Ideas

Creative Off-line Problem-Solving with Cognitive Task Lists

Creative work requires considerable perseverance and productive obsession. This in turn calls for a certain kind of mind. Not everyone is mentally inclined to think deeply and extensively. Without adequate self-regulation, brain power can be wasted by unproductive “perturbance”. That is when insistent motivators hijack one’s thinking, leading to repetitive thought —emotion, rumination, worry, obsession, perseveration, etc.

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Distraction-Free Information Processing: The “Surf Strategically” Principle of Cognitive Productivity with macOS

The Information Cornucopia we call the web is a source of knowledge that can make us more effective. It is also a potential drain on the brain’s most precious resource, short-term awareness (which some people call “attention”).
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Productive Practice Screencasts—Published on YouTube and in Cognitive Productivity with macOS

You’ve heard me sing the praises of productive practice — a form of deliberate practice and test-enhanced learning that involves “retrieval practice”. I’ve released the latest installment of Cognitive Productivity with macOS®: 7 Principles for Getting Smarter with Knowledge, which includes Principle 6 “Practice Productively”.

Continue reading Productive Practice Screencasts—Published on YouTube and in Cognitive Productivity with macOS

Reading with Software is Better than Paper: Principle 5, “Delve Deeply”, of Cognitive Productivity with macOS

Many people are still not convinced that software is better than paper for reading in depth. I believe this is largely because current software is, in fact, not designed for this purpose. It’s also that the majority of people haven’t figured out how to select and utilize e-reading software. One can shoehorn learning strategies on top of the best reading software.

I’ve dedicated much of my professional life since 2001 to understanding what it would take for people to be able to learn deeply by reading and practicing with software. I’ve been designing new software and strategies for learning with current software. Cognitive Productivity and Cognitive Productivity with macOS® demonstrate that learning with (the right) software is far better than with paper and pen —for that small minority of people who really wish to improve themselves with knowledge.

Last month, I published Assess Analytically, which is Principle 3 of Cognitive Productivity with macOS®®. That principle helps you identify knowledge resources that are worth processing in depth. Yesterday, I published Principle 5, “Delve Deeply”. That chapter contains tips for identifying, understanding and utilizing knowledge gems within helpful documents (and other types of resources). Continue reading Reading with Software is Better than Paper: Principle 5, “Delve Deeply”, of Cognitive Productivity with macOS

How Do You Judge the Helpfulness of Information? And Why Does This Matter?

One of the few beneficial side-effects of the 2016 American federal elections, in which Donald Trump was elected President, is that thinking people are more aware than ever of threats to knowledge. Post-truth has entered dictionaries. We complain about fake news. We point fingers.

Assessing sources of information has always been one of the most difficult cognitive challenges thinking-people face. I discussed this topic at length in my first book. Yesterday, I published an additional chapter of my new book that deals extensively with this issue. It is the third of seven principles of Cognitive Productivity with macOS®: 7 Principles for Getting Smarter with Knowledge:

Assess Analytically

Continue reading How Do You Judge the Helpfulness of Information? And Why Does This Matter?