Thoroughly recommended: Hamming's book "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn"<p>Slightly rambling, and diving into differential equations a bit more than I like in my bedtime reading, it reveals the mind and soul of a true engineering genius.<p><a href="http://worrydream.com/refs/Hamming-TheArtOfDoingScienceAndEngineering.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://worrydream.com/refs/Hamming-TheArtOfDoingScienceAndEn...</a>
The first "rule" in this paper contains a sentence that is strikingly similar to Elon Musk's advice on learning. I wonder if that is a coincidence?<p>From the linked paper: "when faced with new knowledge, try to establish nodal points in the knowledge network;"<p>Elon Musk's advice: "it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles" (via) <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/i_am_elon_musk_ceocto_of_a_rocket_company_ama/cnfput4" rel="nofollow">http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/i_am_elon_musk_...</a>
The entire book is excellent but I think the final chapter is really the best "You and Your Reseach"<p>"If you are to be leader into the future, rather than to be a follower of others, @it is necessary for you to look at the bigger picture on a regular, frequent basis for many years." - Hamming<p>(@) A little edit by me to remove some hedging.