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    The quickreading

    Claude Shannon

    Today I learned that quickreading scientific text isn't all that quick at all. I have a theoretical exam on information theory on Tuesday and to start off the studying I wanted to read Shannon's original paper on the topic, all 55 pages of it.

    Seeming as how quickreading is a little bit like opening a broadband pipeline from the text right into my brain ... well turns out quickreading 55 pages liberally sprinkled with mathematical formula takes just over an hour. And I don't feel like I've gotten much out of reading the thing, certainly nothing more than I already had a grasp of studying for the practical part of the exam.

    At least it was an interesting read.

    Another thing I discovered today is that with the addition of a wireless keyboard, the iPad is in fact a useful device. Shocker!

    After my laptop keyboard started spazzing out following the August Spill, I fired up Pages on the iPad and was well on the way ... except for the special Slovene letters because the iPad is oh so clever and you can't tell it to use a keyboard layout different than what the keyboard considers native.

    Silly thing.

    Published on September 10th, 2011 in Apple, Claude Shannon, E-book, Information theory, IPad, Learning, Personal

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