Information Acquisition is the process of obtaining information from a variety of sources. Common information sources include:
- Websites
- Books
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Seminars
- Webinars
- Classes
- Podcasts
- Other people
- Direct personal experience
You must balance information from books, magazines and newspapers. Books give the most context but are least up-to-date. Newspapers and news websites are the most up to date, but provide the least context. Magazines fall somewhere in the middle.
Richness of source must be a criterion. It simply doesn’t make sense to search poorer sources before richer ones.
Method:
Read a book from its index: Look for interesting topics and then go straight to them, punching holes in the text.
Present-need-triggered/direct retrieval versus potential-need-unsought-inflow approaches to information collection.
On many subjects, I could figure out the key principles and techniques on my own, if I had the time. But I don’t, and in many cases, a lot of the “mental R&D” has already been done for me. I need only research and evaluate it.