89 Ways to Kick Start Your Hacking

I'm beginning to think that the following sets are mutually exclusive:

  1. people who make web pages called "[1-9][0-9]* Ways To .+"
  
  2. good hackers ∪ people I want to read

Anybody have a counterexample?

I don't see how this list is going to be helping a "beginner" at all. It's "89" items that all boil down to "Read code, write code, study techniques for abstraction", which in turn boils down (roughly) to "practice" - which is the same thing you need to do to get better at, or master, any activity.

5.3 # Consider taking the SCJA or SCJP exams

WHAT?!

Any list above 5 items signals that the writer hasn't done what is really valuable for the reader: Preselected and prioritized the material.

89 items is just camuflaged information overload.

Why has it always a certain number? 7 Tips To Get Rich. 15.4 Ways To Get Smarter. 89 Ways to Kick Start Your Hacking. 28 Secrets To Be Whatever.

excellent?

Is it just me or do a lot of these points contradict themselves right after being said?

-Being driven and lazy at the same time.

-Extreme optimism

-Extreme pessimism

-Being good at math

-Having good communications skills