Newbie need help for relaxing

[ankit_jain2]

First Post

Hello

My name is Ankit and I am new to Ubuntu(not totally new I know little basic stuff). I am doing job as System administrator currently.I want to learn linux.For that i am referring to ebook but not able to study.Please tell me how to read ebook.How to successfully read ebook

When i start reading i am in a hurry to end it.Please help me to fight this problem.


Thanks

Sorry if i posted in wrong section.I couldnt find better place for it

[howefield]

Are you looking for an ebook reader application ?

You might try Calibre which can be installed from the Software Centre.

What is file format of your ebook ?

[ankit_jain2]

it is pdf.I know about reader.I need help for how to read ebook.like 1 page daily or 1 chapter daily.How to start

[mastablasta]

you read the letters as they go and make sure you do not miss any.

[grahammechanical]

When i start reading i am in a hurry to end it.Please help me to fight this problem.
This is not limited to electronic books or to books about Linux. It can happen if the contents of the book are exciting, as in a novel or boring, as I would find a book about Linux.

For study we need mental discipline. Different people have different methods. For myself, it does not matter what the subject is I always read the book very fast. That is the way I am. If I do not throw the book down with disappointment I will read it again more slowly. Right now I am reading for the third time a book I brought recently on the history of what happened in 1914 when Europe went to war. But this time I am reading it a few paragraphs at a time.

If I was studying the material I would read a paragraph more than once and I would think about what is written there. I can read words but understanding is an altogether different skill. We have to train our minds to think and to reason. And we do that by asking questions. The English language has 6 questions. Who, what, where, when, how and Why.

Answer the first five questions and you get information. Answer the 6th question (why) and you get reasons. And it is reasons that give insight. When it comes to knowledge & understanding those six questions are our teachers.

I also rehearse in my mind how I would explain that subject to someone who knew nothing about it. The best way to learn a subject is to teach it. If I can work out in my mind what to say to teach someone else, then I am teaching myself.

Our minds are not computers. They are something much greater. Our minds will work away at a subject long after we think we have stopped thinking about it The mind will work even when we are asleep. Take short breaks from studying. Some have found that walking helps them think. I guess it is all to do with getting more oxygen into the blood stream and then into the brain.

Do not smoke. Smoking greatly reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.

Regards.

[stalkingwolf]

study methods differ from person to person. some do better in formal classroom settings others in independant study. some use videos to suppliment reading. The hardest
book i have ever found to read was the dead sea scrolls. it took me 3-4 weeks to get thru it.

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

What is the ebook? Knowing the specific book title/content may provide an alternative learning method to the topic(s). Sometimes an audio book may work, other times a video may work best. Depends on the topic, and what the perceived benefit is to complete the ebook (like, passing a test, getting a certification, getting a job or the opposite, not eating, not having a place to live, etc.).

If each chapter has a quiz or test or other mechanism to test for understanding, then, take the tests & see if you understand. Also, are there sub-topics - - is a chapter 7, 17, or 77 pages?

If you want an intelligent answer, give us more info.

[coldraven]

It may be that you are hyper-sensitive to caffeine. Try to reduce the amount of tea and coffee that you consume and keep away from Coca-Cola and so called "energy drinks". Doing yoga for 10 minutes in the morning will also help to calm your mind. This one for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFXH78c5n_E

[Bucky Ball]

Thread moved to The Cafe.

Grab a notepad, open the eBook, start reading the first paragraph and look for important points to note down in the pad. Nothing you consider pertinent? Try the next paragraph. If you are not reading the paragraphs effectively and with focus you won't know what the important parts are.

Read the entire document and note down the important parts. At the end, type out the notes you've taken and elaborate by adding anything you may have thought of or questions that come up and you want to follow up.

If you lose concentration attempting to read through a paragraph or a page of any text, not just a Ubuntu instructional eBook, I'd suggest you seek professional advice.

As you are able to post here it is doubtful you are illiterate so it may be something more serious which could be affecting your concentration in other areas of your life, not just your reading. Do you also fall asleep alot?

[mikodo]

Hi.

Unfortunately, we are only guessing here without more information. You have been given excellent advice. All I can do is be anecdotal. In high school, some of my friends and myself never learned to study. We just didn't do it. Flash forward to our professional training in University, and some things changed. One my friends, who was in a heavy memorization college was rooming with us, and he never changed how he prepared for exams. He never went to class. He would borrow someone's notes, read them through quickly the night before exams and always got straight A's. Contrast that friend to me. I very soon found out I needed to learn to study. My natural inclination is to take everything in like my friend as quickly as possible and walk away from it. That didn't work for me in university as, I was being overwhelmed with the work load. I couldn't remember what I had read in my haste, because of the sheer volume of information being presented. I had to learn to be systematic in my learning including re-visiting what I had learned in intervals though out the semester to, take the memory of what I had learned from short-term to long-term.

What I am trying to say mostly is, that each of us need to address what needs to be addressed in learning. Seems, you need to slow down, and be methodical about your study time. That one friend of mine I talked about is a one in a thousand I am sure, that he could rush through a semester's worth of notes in one night and do well in exams. Seems you are like we other 999 of us and need to "work" at learning how to effectively study.

Oh, there are books that can teach one how to study. Don't take everything one particular author states as being the way for you. Remember, the author is often focusing on what they have found successful. Maybe read a few, to get different perspectives.

Good Luck.

[Bucky Ball]

@mikodo: Your exceptionally gifted friend is probably one in five hundred (or more) and is by no stretch of the imagination anywhere near the typical case. Shouldn't be used as any kind of example for comparison. The 'cram the night before' and straight As will not work for the majority of people. This is a known, substantiated fact.

Read your notes on a regular basis. Refresh yourself by reading all notes before exams. I took notes at class by hand, came home and typed them up. The more you write them down, the better it sinks in. The more you read them, the more it reinforces the memories. BUT, there is a caveat, and this is why the 'night before' approach doesn't not work for most. It is about repetition and having a gap between session. If you get up in the morning, read your notes all day, unlikely to be in your head a week later.

If you read your notes once or twice every second day for a week or two, trust me, it will be locked in there.

There are no shortcuts (for the majority of us), only efficient and effective study habits and study plan. Good luck.

[mikodo]

@mikodo:
Huh! Isn't all that the message I was relaying.