Lost Amateur

Not Lost In A Book

Dan Kois | Slate | 5th May 2024

Sales of books aimed at children aged eight to twelve are in "free fall". This "decline by nine" means that only 35 per cent of this age group read for fun. Some fear this will harm "the entire concept of pleasure reading as a common pursuit". The causes? The pandemic, screen time, bad teaching, too many illustrated books, but also the fact that these kids don't have phones yet (1,700 words)

Becoming An Amateur Polyglot

ArisAlexis | LessWrong | 8th May 2024

It is best if one's first new language is taught by an experienced teacher. After that, it is possible to make good progress alone with spaced repetition, grammar texts and apps. Don't try to learn more than four tenses. Don't worry about the gender of nouns. Watch TV in your new language, with subtitles at first, and use a Kindle to read books. Best of all, talk to friends without switching (1,900 words)