How to Learn Like Neil Strauss

What should you do if you want to learn how to use a knife?

Buy a book? Wrong.

Ask a friend to teach you? Better (assuming he knows how to use a knife), but still not quite right

Go to Mad Dog – the guy who makes knives, breathes knives, thinks about nothing else than knives? Correct.

That’s how Neil Strauss would do it.

Emergency is an interesting book about preparing for the worst case scenario when the world falls apart around us and everything comes crumbling down. But interestingly enough, the biggest thing I got out of it was not how to survive in the scary future but how to learn like a pro:

1. Go to the best expert in the field.
2. Take in all the knowledge you get from them.
3. Practice. A lot.

When you find a new skill that you are lacking, write it on a “to learn” list. Then repeat the steps above.

That’s it.