Top all-time · #657
Andy Matuschak
Personal blog · andymatuschak.orgproductivitywriting
Andy Matuschak writes Square Signals, a personal blog at andymatuschak.org about productivity and writing. Since 2007, 96 different Hacker News readers have linked it 114 times, most often “Books and lectures don't work”. The last post was in 2017, but the archive is still widely read.
Sometimes recommended · 12 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Andy Matuschak's writing on spaced repetition, prompt design and why books fail to transmit knowledge, and often recommend it to Anki users and learners.
- Recommended for · 12 comments
- One commenter calls the prompts essay very helpful for making better flashcards; another says it made spaced repetition click; others say the books essay is wor
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Books and lectures don't work27 people · 27 mentions · first linked 2019-05-11
- How to write good prompts: using spaced repetition to create understanding24 people · 35 mentions · first linked 2021-01-01
- Apple HIG (1987) [pdf]8 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2021-10-11
- /8 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2021-05-28
- How Might We Learn?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-05-21
- Getting Started with Cocoa: a Friendlier Approach3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2007-09-13
- Crowdfunded Research from Andy Matuschak3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-10-14
- Apps and programming: two accidental tyrannies3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-04-12
- Reflections on 2020 as an Independent Researcher2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-01-18
- A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate [pdf]2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-04-13
What Hacker News says?
I would like to see randomized control group studies using study mode. Does it offer meaningful benefits to students over self directed study? Does it out perform students who are "learning how to learn"? What affect does allowing students to make mistakes have compared to being guided through what to review? I would hope Study Mode would produce flash card prompts and quantize information for usage in spaced repeti…
Comment linking /hmwl/
on “Study mode”Submitted How Might We Learn? as a story · 225 points
HN discussionRelated and not related. Fans of https://andymatuschak.org/ might want to know that he is now working at https://x.com/pico , which apparently has the same tagline as this article "Attention is all you have". But really truly don't click that link that site is a hellhole. (Edit: Wording)
Comment linking /
on “Attention is all you have”Submitted Books and lectures don't work as a story · 195 points
HN discussionHi, I come across a lot of blogs when I curate for my newsletter Interesting Things [1]. Just looking through the links that have been curated in the past month or so, I would suggest: Tech - https://wasteofserver.com/ - https://tonsky.me/ - https://brianschrader.com/ - https://blog.thea.codes/ - https://fasterthanli.me/ - https://jvns.ca/ - https://blog.royalsloth.eu/ Non-tech - https://www.drorpoleg.com/ - About w…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals?”Submitted Why books don't work (2019) as a story · 178 points
HN discussionSpeaking of reading and retention, there was a controversial article titled: "Why books don't work"[1]. It was also recently discussed here on HN[2]. As a serious reader, I took "offense" at first the sweeping title. But when I completely read the article, the author's contention was largely with poorly written books and lectures work ... which wouldn't make for a sensational title. - - - As to the original question…
Comment linking /books/
on “Ask HN: How Do You Read?”Submitted How to write good prompts: using spaced repetition to create understanding as a story · 130 points
HN discussionGenerally hate leaving comments that just link to other things, but since I haven't seen them linked nor have time to form a full opinion, a few pieces in this space: - Sarah Perry - "Why Books are Fake" - https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/06/01/why-books-are-fake/ - being a bit ironic here since her first point is "Every citation is either a homework assignment or a promise." and here I am hyperlinking :P - Andy Matu…
Comment linking /books/
on “Ask HN: Are books worth it?”Submitted A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate [pdf] as a story · 79 points
HN discussionI highly doubt this is an individual matter. Cramming (massing) for exams is literally the antithesis of SRS. Look into Andy Matuschaks work: [Dwarkesh Podcast]( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmeRQN9z504 ) [How to write good prompts]( https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/ )
Comment linking /prompts/
on “Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards”Submitted The Use of Formal Representations in Interfaces (1999) [pdf] as a story · 52 points
HN discussionSo I have never actually used Anki for languages specifically, but I use it heavily for almost everything I deem important enough that I want to remember. There are two very common reasons why people lose interest/motivation after trying out Anki. The first one is creating too many cards when you first start out. People get excited by SRS and then start creating cards for a lot of things, especially for stuff they d…
Comment linking /prompts/
on “Anki – Powerful, intelligent flash cards”Submitted Exorcising Us of the Primer as a story · 48 points
HN discussionVenture Research | Technical Adviser | REMOTE We're embarking on a new kind of research project, aimed at inventing novel forms of media to reason about and communicate complex ideas. Right now we're a team of one writer and one data visualization engineer. We're looking for an adviser to help generalize one-off work into a more systematic framework. If you're interested, please send a note highlighting any relevant…
Comment linking /books/
on “Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2019)”Submitted Why Books Donʼt Work (2019) as a story · 45 points
HN discussion> Early UX design wasn't always done with as much thought and sophistication as today's software designers (are claiming to) apply. Oh, but it was. Here's Apple HIG from 1987 listing extensive bibliography on the subject: https://x.com/andy_matuschak/status/1447409175596699652 (here's the full PDF: https://andymatuschak.org/files/papers/Apple%20Human%20Inter... ) Modern "designers" apply as much thought and care as…
Comment linking /files/papers/Apple%20Human%20Interface%20Guidelines%201987.pdf
on “Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?”Submitted User Interaction 101 as a story · 31 points
HN discussion> System 1 (1984) had check marks on the menu and "x boxes", which are equivalent, but not checkboxes afaik I think it had ( https://andymatuschak.org/files/papers/Apple%20Human%20Inter... , page 56) I don’t know whether those were the first, but https://skeuomorphic.design/p/from-paper-ballots-to-pixels-t... claims they were, in the sense that the Mac made radio buttons different from toggle buttons. Does anybody k…
Comment linking /files/papers/Apple%20Human%20Interface%20Guidelines%201987.pdf
on “Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)”Submitted Reflections on 2020 as an Independent Researcher as a story · 15 points
HN discussionI am a former principal software engineer at a MAMAA company turned independent educational researcher. My primary interest is in deliberate practice and how to use spaced repetition (i.e., Anki) to develop expertise. I have three primary areas that I am working on and would love to find serious collaborators: 1) I am building high-quality content for math, English language arts, chess, etc. (see [0] for a good expl…
Comment linking /prompts/
on “Ask HN: Who wants to collaborate?”Submitted Getting Started with Cocoa: a Friendlier Approach as a story · 9 points
HN discussionAndy Matuschak's thinking / independent research work here is very relevant: - https://andymatuschak.org/ - https://www.patreon.com/posts/71081197 - Literally a related quantum computing / physics example (with Michael Nielsen): https://quantum.country/
Comment linking /
on “Learning Is Remembering”Submitted Apple HIG (1987) [pdf] as a story · 8 points
HN discussionCertain designers may have hated Nielsen, but their users hated them, and they have more users hating them than Nielsen has designers hating him, and users matter much more than designers, so I think he came out way ahead. Bruce Tognazzini is the OG GUI Guru of 80's user interface design! https://asktog.com/atc/about-bruce-tognazzini/ Tog not just invented and implemented, but also deeply rationalized and documented…
Comment linking /files/papers/Apple%20Human%20Interface%20Guidelines%201987.pdf
on “Gurus of 90s Web Design: Zeldman, Siegel, Nielsen”Submitted Cultivating Depth and Stillness in Research as a story · 6 points
HN discussionKnow personally in real life? No. But there are plenty of examples of people using Anki/SRS tools for interesting things outside of school or 2nd language. I’m firmly in the camp that SRS is widely underrated and underused for working adults. Some examples would be Michael Nielsen, Gwern Branwen, Andy Matuschak and u/SigmaX (reddit - not sure his real name) * http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html * https://gwern.n…
Comment linking /prompts/
on “Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system”Submitted Reflections on 2020 as an Independent Researcher as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI've found Andy Matuschak's essay, _How to write good prompts_ [1] very helpful in making more impactful cards. https://andymatuschak.org/prompts/
Comment linking /prompts/
on “FSRS: A modern, efficient spaced repetition algorithm”Submitted Why Books Donʼt Work as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
