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Comment by jdoliner | Hacker News Reader

Agreed, this is a fantastic description of one of the true legends of CS. I had the great fortune of having Laci as my algorithms professor. Many great researchers are lousy lecturers, Laci is anything but. He's a captivating lecturer. Listening to him it feel like your brain is moving twice as fast as normal. That's how clearly and quickly he explains concepts.

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"Listening to him it feel like your brain is moving twice as fast as normal. That's how clearly and quickly he explains concepts."

Excellent sales pitch. I'm going to listen to some of his lectures next snow day.

That’s something I’ve noticed also in Simon Peyton–Jones, and sought to emulate. You feel smarter (and more enthusiastic) just by listening to him.

I did an internship at Microsoft Research and my desk was down the hall from his office.

He would walk down the hall to his office, saying his hellos to everyone with a deep, sincere enthusiasm for life. It brightened the entire floor.

I was watching a talk of his the other day and thinking "he's old enough to be my dad, but damn, he's cute..." ¬_¬

Throughout my life, I've found that the best lecturers aren't necessarily the smartest or the most credentialed, they're the most apparently passionate and enthusiastic — so much so that their enthusiasm has a tendency to "rub off" on their audiences. Enthusiasm leads to engagement, which leads to attentiveness and self-motivation for learning. Even a mediocre teacher can be a great lecturer, and I've had a few in my lifetime (though unfortunately I can count their number on one hand).

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