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> 1 - Read lots of things unrelated to your field of study. Read about flowers, or art history, or music theory.

I think reading is the most consistent way to get high quality information on any subject, and a lot of it. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of other great methods of learning, but reading tends to just be very high quality, specifically books. There are always a handful of must read books for any given subject, whether that be compilers or growing mushrooms, and they achieve that status through years of agreement. Also, it seems to me that the average book tends to be higher quality that the average YouTube video or Medium article. I'm assuming it's due to a higher barrier for entry, but maybe there are other factors.

I wonder the origin of that story, I've heard a version of a painter who holds a brush and pallette, falls asleep, drops them, wakes up and paints.

And I do love my lucid dreams, at some points of my life they would ruin my sleep but I found them a good trade off.

I've heard it specifically about Salvador Dali, except he would drop a key.

You are thinking of Salvador Dali. He would hold a spoon in his hand and rest it above a plate. When he fell asleep the spoon would fall and make a clang with the plate. Jolting him awake again, he would try to recall whatever was happening in his subconscious right before being startled awake and try to express it on canvas.

> He would hold a spoon in his hand and rest it above a plate

I do a variation of that too. And my plate has cereal in it ... The moment I wake up I go: "oh hello, what's that ... breakfast!" - and instantly I'm in a good mood. It's like a form of meditation I call "bowlfullness"

I'm not sure, the attribute to Edison is apocryphal at best.

> Dream, in a very literal sense. Do you ever remember those moments right before you fell asleep where your mind gets a bit too creative. Harness that.

This sounds similar to Rich Hickey’s “Hammock Driven Development”. He gives some tips on how to harness it in his talk: https://youtu.be/f84n5oFoZBc

Thank you for the insights.

Lately, I have also been thinking about different subjects such as flowers, art history, music theory, about animals (how insects, or bats work).

My question, how do you choose books if you intend to learn such subjects as non-expert? And if you can recommend any good books?

I would love to recommend The Peregrine by J.A. Baker if you've never read it before. It describes in fantastic and vivid detail every tiny nuance of how a peregrine lives, flies and hunts. The book is poetic in its prose and i've taken to looking at birds when I walk outside to try and see what Baker saw when he looked at the sky.

Thank you, looks great. I bought it.

If there are any other books like that, please let me know.

Thanks!

I have a sister with a degree in biology. I borrowed some of her books, like "introduction to zoology". If you've been through high school, books like that are self-contained. For instance, it had an appendix on organic chemistry.

Highly recommended, those books taught me much more about the world we live in than the various books on physics I've read on my own. And science.

some even suggested that horizontal makes your brain work differently