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Comment by Kilimanjaro | Hacker News Reader

I tried, believe me I tried hard, but video is not my type. Over 20 years I've learnt all I know reading, surfing, browsing the web, not watching videos. I can digest/absorb/ignore a whole page of text in ten seconds instead of being forced to watch boring 10 mins videos that offer only one min of real interesting content.

So, the spot is open for an education tool where text is king, like wikipedia, but with a syllabus.

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That's why I play Coursera's videos at higher rates. It makes the learning much more intensive and interesting.

At higher rates? You mean 1.5x or 2x speed? What tool do you use for that?

It's built into Coursera's video player - there's a menu/button to change it somewhere on the toolbar under the video.

I like to watch at 1.5x (or 2x if it's something I'm really sure I completely know from previous courses or experience) most of the time, and then if something starts to be especially confusing I'll slow down to 1x.

I felt the same way until I started watching videos at double speed. With a really good teacher and a well-edited video, I find it pretty compelling.

I am experimenting with a web app to publish more textbook like knowledge here:

http://www.bookvoid.com/

Not many takers up to now though. Any feedback (especially harsh and constructive one) would be appreciated.

There are transcripts for all the videos.

A book?

Online? yes.

With side notes, explanations, graphs, live tests, a short video if needed to explain a complex topic (only when required) and much more. So, a book is a good start, just make it rich.

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