prolog

PART 1.
Why self-study?
The study of the last three years is more important than the study of 20 years ago.

01 There are many traps around us.

The Expert Trap - Even Experts Don't Know the Truth
Trap of Tradition - The Older Something, the More It Needs to Be Revisited
The Trap of the Many - What if it's a Consensus of Fools?
The Bias Trap: Humans Are Always Biased
The Profit Trap: No Business Before Money
The Pitfalls of AI: AI Lies Better Than Humans

02 A tectonic shift is taking place in the knowledge age.

ChatGPT - What 100 Million Users Mean
Just open your eyes and you'll see new technologies and trends.
The Age of Excess
Explosive Growth of Influencers
The line between work and study is becoming increasingly blurred.
The irregular overwhelms the regular
Can I study and compete with Indians?

03 My nose is also three inches from college

The decline of universities is not a prediction, it's a reality.
Tuition isn't the only thing you pay to school.
Why Business School Professors Fail When They Manage
Prestigious British universities are becoming cradles of technology startups.
The Experiment at École 42, the Leading Innovative University Without Professors
Jewish studies are noisy and talkative.
What new universities ultimately want to nurture in their students

04 The Era of Integration and Convergence

The greatest benefit of studying is expanding the world.
The side effects and reality of a test-oriented society
Edward Wilson's Consilience
The era of choice and focus is over.
Connection is the key to intelligence

PART 2.
What is true self-study?
Western students vs. Asian students

05 Why Your Studies Fail

The Disease That Makes Studying Hard - The Problem of Fear
Why I Keep Procrastinating
It's not a question of intelligence
The quick way, the easy way, the way without fail
Voluntary suffering is essential
Understanding, Data, and Context
Humans are inefficient
American English isn't the only English
Failure of order
If it's not rational, rationalize it.
It's pointless to follow only the winners.
Failure in small daily tasks can lead to failure in studies.

06 It's not the self-study you used to know

The opposite of self-study is not cooperative learning, but no learning.
Leaving browsing mode and regaining control of the learning subject
The Aesthetics of Roughness - Not All Study Needs to Be Serious
Just looking from above can change your life.
Don't do what everyone else is doing
A new way to learn Chinese
The best study is to weave it well.
Study and Design
Determining the utility value of a 25 billion-seat lunch
Studying is not a means, but a way of life.
Knowing what you don't know
Growth mechanism for learning new things
A lifelong study topic

07 The Meaning of Studying

Perception and memory are different
Empty study, fake study
The process of becoming multi-layered from a single layer
Ambiguity is energy
It means that I have read an entire book.
The difference between knowing vaguely and knowing deeply
Context and Text
The distance between 'fact' and 'interpretation' is as great as the distance between 'falsehood' and 'truth'.
Wandering is not a waste
There is no study that solves all of life's problems in one go.
From superficial to essential
Content, Experience, People
The study you are struggling with now is the easiest of the remaining studies.

08 Artificial Intelligence and Our Studies

Amazon and the University of Cambridge's Policy on AI-Powered Authoring
I've already lost my ability to draft because of ChatGPT.
How to tell the difference between a dog and a cat
Artificial intelligence that doesn't know the inside
Even artificial intelligence has its vulnerabilities.
How Data-Dependent Is AI?
Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Intelligence
How the human brain learns
Memory is material
Tools given to everyone do not create comparative advantage.
YouTube knows my heart

PART 3.
How to become good at self-study
How to Prepare Children for the Age of Artificial Intelligence

09 Mind Preparation for Strengthening Self-Study Ability

It's time to break up with your major.
Let go of perfectionism and strictness
Moderate stress is essential for self-study.
Is there any empty space?
It's important what questions you ask.
Human nature is multiplayer
Hwang Hee-chan and the Stoic Life
Nothing is as powerful as repetition.
But definitely 'Every Angle'
The complexity in my head doesn't go away
Attitude toward ignorance
Self-study is driven by the muscles of the mind, not the muscles of the intellect.
When it comes to really important studies, speed doesn't matter.
What Parents Can Do for Their Children's Education - Meaning and Purpose, Integrity, and Fun
Elon Musk's Study: A Practice-Oriented, Field-Based Self-Study

10 Starting Points for Strengthening Self-Study Abilities

The Power of Short-Term Goals
Make one very small dot as dark as possible
First, figure it out while walking.
Walk unfamiliar paths periodically
sugar and flour
Focus on your actual study time and priorities.
Secure the space specifically
Opportunities become real when we respond with action.
Curiosity is the fuel of self-education.
Doubts and counter-questions
Start small with minimal methodology.
It's time to stop procrastinating and create a study routine.
Analog study you can't miss
When you can't study, just 5 minutes

11 Tactics to Boost Your Self-Study Skills

Tactic 1: You can understand half the book's contents just by looking at the table of contents.
Tactic 2 - Select only the tables and figures
Tactic 3 - Manage questions that arise while studying separately.
Tactic 4 - Follow Richard Feynman: Explain what you've learned in simple language.
Tactic 5 - Mix intellectual study with physical exercise.
Tactic 6 - 18 minutes of focused study, followed by a 2-minute break.
Tactic 7 - Clearly define the start and finish lines.
Tactic 8 - Take Keyword-Based Notes
Tactic 9 - Hum quietly enough to be heard by yourself.
Tactic 10 - Warm-up with Wisdom
Tactic 11: Strengthen your study habits by building on your existing routine.

12 How to Turn Your Self-Study into Achievements

How to respond to provocation
A fierce battle for dominance: smartphones vs. notebooks
Connect your studies to your work, business, or major, and tell a story.
Start engaging with your community
Interaction and friendship promote growth - David Hume and Adam Smith
Write a book with yourself as the reader.
Two plans are much more powerful than one.
Why You Should Read Classics and Dissertations
The power of doing it 'directly'

13 How I study creates who I am.

Tonkin's Grief Model
Where and how does study fit into our lives?
I've been studying like it's homework that I have to do too much.
It's not easy to know yourself
Are the studies I've done useless?
You shouldn't study to the point of nosebleeds.
The best way to study is the way you enjoy it.
There are more moments of study in life than practical ones.

Epilogue l Don't let prejudice and bias rule your life

To us who live in uncertain times
The one and only power you need
Will you be replaced or surpassed?

Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Mike Dell.
What do they have in common? Beyond the fact that they possess exceptional academic ability, enough to gain admission to top universities, their innate "self-education" is a key skill that allowed them to lead the world in cutting-edge technology fields despite dropping out of college.
The power that allowed him to read the flow of the times, seize opportunities, and create new ideas and goals through self-study focused on execution, and grow his company into a world-class company, is his self-study ability.
Just as they pioneered new fields through self-study, we too now need these same capabilities. AI will impact all industries, transcending the arts.
Moreover, even experts cannot predict how AI technology will develop in the future, as it has no known limits.
In the face of this uncertain future, self-education, the power to learn and grow on your own, will be the key to navigating the dark tomorrow.
This book is divided into three chapters and discusses why self-study has become an important skill for us today, what self-study means in the modern sense, and how we can maximize self-study to grow effectively.
In particular, the last chapter sets various starting points for action and provides 11 tactics to match them, providing methods for readers to immediately implement self-study after reading the book.
Additionally, through abundant examples, it will help us dispel the misunderstandings we have had about 'studying' and help us deeply engrave in our hearts the will to 'real study', which is studying because we need to, rather than studying because others tell us to.


Studying 3 years ago is more important than studying 20 years ago.
Don't let the shackles of your major confine you any longer!

The author, who works in venture capital and has a track record of reviewing the technologies of 200 to 300 tech startups each year, came to teach artificial intelligence at a university.
The new path opened up for the author, who majored in business administration and made a living from it, was further expanded by the British government's proposal for an AI talent recruitment program.
Through a series of courses, he realized that the comprehensiveness, connectivity, and potential of self-study can be applied to all aspects of life, and he planned this book to share this with more people.
In the future, which is coming, or perhaps has already arrived, if we place limits on our work, its effectiveness will decrease and the gap with others will inevitably widen.
This is because we have entered an era where we must constantly think on our own, explore new methods, and continue to train through study.
In reality, people who are currently called experts in newly emerging fields are often more interested in the field than they are in having degrees in the field, and they are sincere people who think a little more deeply and act without hesitation.
Therefore, depending on your efforts, you can always be called an expert in a field that will be newly highlighted in the future.
As you read this book, following the author's perspective as he expands his professional horizons by becoming an expert in a new field unrelated to his major, you'll find yourself reflecting on whether you've been setting your own limits and building fences.
I hope that through this book, you will be able to start tearing down the fences you have built for yourself, one by one.


Self-study that can become a weapon in life, not the boring self-study of the past.
At the crossroads of trial and error while experiencing a wide range of studies
Let's start studying for real together

In an age where the values ​​of connection and solidarity are more important than ever, the term "self-study" may sound tedious.
But if you read this book, you will realize that the definition and scope of self-study is much broader.
With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology over the past five years, we are experiencing a period of unprecedented rapid change.
“It wasn’t just that they didn’t realize the rules had changed,” says Intel’s former CEO Andrew Grove in his book.
“The bigger problem was that we didn’t know what the new rules were,” he said, adding that the only way to survive was to act, experiment, and figure out what the new rules were.
According to him, although self-study is the most important skill, for us who have been accustomed to an institution-centered education system, self-study is bound to come across as a difficult task thrown at us out of the blue.
This is because education within the system has limitations in terms of finding things to study on one's own.


However, in the new era we will face in the future, the ability to learn on one's own must be strengthened.
In a changing environment, you must grow by testing and verifying the ideas you have accumulated through self-study through experiments.
Based on the author's own experience, this book provides a variety of examples on how and what attitude we should have toward studying in this rapidly changing era, and is packed with practical self-study techniques that can be applied immediately in real life.
However, the author does not propose yet another "study method" in this age of overabundance where everything is pouring out, but rather becomes a friendly guide who conveys meticulous execution skills, welcoming readers at the crossroads of self-study, which can be fraught with trial and error.
I hope that you will have time to discover and explore a new future, not an uncertain one, with the author, who is armed with 'self-study skills.'