What's your favorite LessWrong post?

pepe_prime

What's your favorite LessWrong post?

post by pepe_prime · 2019-02-21T10:39:53.919Z · LW · GW · No comments

This is a question post.

  Answers
    11 aaq
    11 aaq
    5 pepe_prime
    4 Raemon
    4 pepe_prime
    2 Bob Jacobs
    2 Pablo_Stafforini
    2 Pablo_Stafforini
None
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This was last asked in 2014 on the annual survey [LW · GW]. Since we have strong upvotes, you may vote for 2 posts. Each answer should link to a single post, and I will delete repeats. Please use a strong and weak upvote each for at most one answer (and posting an answer is a vote).

Basically any LessWrong URL is ok - links, events, questions, and archive links to pages only on LessWrong 1.0 are fine. I only expect regular posts and links to be chosen though.

Feel free to comment on answers if you're dying to explain your reasoning, or comment on this post if you're dying to mention your third favorite and lower posts.

Answers

answer by aaq · 2019-02-21T13:35:07.343Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Set up for Success: Insights from 'Naive Set Theory' [LW · GW]

I very much doubt anyone else will care much about this post, so I will give my reasoning.

Please vote before you read my reasoning. :)

This is the only post I've ever read that actually convinced me to do something with substantial effort, that is, actually read Naive Set Theory. I really, really wanted to practice kata on sets before I attempted a math minor and I still look back on that as the best 3 weeks of last summer.
Reading NST the way I did taught me a lot about how not to read a math book. Don't try to memorize everything. Don't try to get every detail on the first pass. And definitely don't copy the book almost verbatim into a spaced repetition system ending up with over 8,000 cloze deletion cards which you then practice for 6 months. There is a really good reason why we learn math through proofs, problems, and puzzles.
Also I like the tradition of having several smart people read the same classic book and give their slightly different spins on it. The information is mostly redundant, but my all-too-human memory is thankful for it.