you are here 4 xvii
the intro
So, we did our part. The rest is up to you. These tips are a
starting point; listen to your brain and figure out what works
for you and what doesn’t. Try new things.
6
Drink water. Lots of it.
Your brain works best in a nice bath of fluid.
Dehydration (which can happen before you ever
feel thirsty) decreases cognitive function.
9
Get your hands dirty!
There’s only one way to learn to Android: get
your hands dirty. And that’s what you’re going to
do throughout this book. Android Development
is a skill, and the only way to get good at it is to
practice. We’re going to give you a lot of practice:
every chapter has exercises that pose a problem for
you to solve. Don’t just skip over them—a lot of the
learning happens when you solve the exercises. We
included a solution to each exercise—don’t be afraid
to peek at the solution if you get stuck! (It’s easy to
get snagged on something small.) But try to solve
the problem before you look at the solution. And
definitely get it working before you move on to the
next part of the book.
8
Feel something.
Your brain needs to know that this matters. Get
involved with the stories. Make up your own
captions for the photos. Groaning over a bad joke
is still better than feeling nothing at all.
7
Listen to your brain.
Pay attention to whether your brain is getting
overloaded. If you find yourself starting to skim
the surface or forget what you just read, it’s time
for a break. Once you go past a certain point, you
won’t learn faster by trying to shove more in, and
you might even hurt the process.
5
Talk about it. Out loud.
Speaking activates a different part of the brain. If
you’re trying to understand something, or increase
your chance of remembering it later, say it out loud.
Better still, try to explain it out loud to someone else.
You’ll learn more quickly, and you might uncover
ideas you hadn’t known were there when you were
reading about it.
4
Make this the last thing you read before bed.
Or at least the last challenging thing.
Part of the learning (especially the transfer to
long-term memory) happens
after
you put the book
down. Your brain needs time on its own, to do more
processing. If you put in something new during that
processing time, some of what you just learned will
be lost.
3
Read the “There are No Dumb Questions”
That means all of them. They’re not optional
sidebars, they’re part of the core content!
Don’t skip them.
Cut this out and stick
it on your refrigerator.
Here’s what YOU can do to bend
your brain into submission
2
Do the exercises. Write your own notes.
We put them in, but if we did them for you, that
would be like having someone else do your workouts
for you. And don’t just look at the exercises. Use a
pencil. There’s plenty of evidence that physical
activity
while
learning can increase the learning.
Don’t just read. Stop and think. When the book asks
you a question, don’t just skip to the answer. Imagine
that someone really is asking the question. The
more deeply you force your brain to think, the better
chance you have of learning and remembering.
Slow down. The more you understand, the
less you have to memorize.
1