7.5 year pitch?
August 2, 2012 3:38 PM   Subscribe

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new 7.5 year cycle of Talmud study known as daf yomi. I'm planning to jump right in and begin the new cycle, but I thought in addition to studying Talmud, it might be fun to tackle an additional long-term project at the same time. Any suggestions for something (book/film/tv series? lego models? new language or skill? physical challenge?) that would keep someone busy for the next 7.5 years?
posted by ericbop to Education (9 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Learn Arabic.
posted by lathrop at 3:41 PM on August 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


What's your goal? To become proficient/fluent? An acknowledged expert? Famous? Book deal?
posted by rtha at 4:00 PM on August 2, 2012


I also vote for a language. I'd think 8 years of semi-serious study would get you up to speed on just about any language out there. Learn enough Ancient Greek to translate Homer? or Latin for the Aeneid?

For physical challenges, maybe pick a single martial art and practice it for the next 8 years?

And what a fascinating thing daf yomi is - I'd never heard of it. Good luck with your studies!
posted by jquinby at 4:16 PM on August 2, 2012


Become a Big Brother or other kind of mentor?
posted by fshgrl at 4:38 PM on August 2, 2012


This is meant seriously, not as snark...if you actually learn Aramaic grammar, you know, the language, along with daf yomi, you might really know something at the end. I say it as someone who can also struggle through daf yomi...most people have no clue what is going on, and that includes serious learners. I do not know a good Aramaic resource other than the aleph book, though.
posted by skbw at 4:41 PM on August 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


Learn to code.

It's become fashionable to tell people that as if it were not the work of a lifetime. This is why Atwood rejects the idea that everyone should "learn to code" aimlessly. This is why you should learn to code with a nice aim. In the last estimation, I think that we will realize that it is the queen of the crafts, or philosophy that you can get paid for.

Not everyone is a good programmer, but a good programmer can be anyone. You may proffer your age as excuse. It becomes easy to deny yourself that path, because the best programmers seem to have started at some single-digit age with intensity and ferocity. For that sentiment, I recommend this book. (the book doesn't just apply to women)

Peter Norvig has a timeline which is slightly longer than what you're looking for: 10 years, not 7. He recommends Python or Scheme as a first language to learn: I would also suggest Clojure, Scala and Ruby. Dedicate yourself to one at first: they are all points of view to the same problem of telling the computer what to do.

Many people recommend Codecademy to code newbies. I do not think it's good instruction for beginners. It certainly won't keep you occupied for the better part of a decade. Better to watch the Stanford lectures or go to Udacity or Coursera. MIT OpenCourseware has stuff. These are all in more conventional languages.

Here's more stuff: Matt Might has a curriculum with dozens of textbooks for becoming a computer scientist (distinct from being a programmer). Eric Raymond has advice on how to become a hacker (distinct, again, from being a programmer and meant in the positive, MIT sense).
posted by curuinor at 5:14 PM on August 2, 2012 [13 favorites]


Maybe a musical instrument? Piano or violin will keep you busy for 7.5 years if you have the inclination.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:01 PM on August 2, 2012


Best answer: In 2009 I made a list of 100 books to read in the next five years. I'm only on about 15, so such a project could work really well with a longer time period, too. The goal of the project was to "fill in the gaps" in one's reading; the blogger I got the idea from was using this as a way to fill in her knowledge of the classics in English Lit. My list is of international literature, 10 books per continent plus 10 critical texts and 10 general novels from my more casual to-read list. You could choose whatever topic you want.

It's a completely made-up project, but it's been satisfying to have a solid reading list to chip away at.
posted by snorkmaiden at 6:11 PM on August 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


The Proust Society at the Mercantile Library in New York reads Remembrances of Things Past in a four year cycle. I really enjoyed the structure and the discussions.

The Lifetime Reading Plan is a nice structured list.
posted by shothotbot at 8:15 AM on August 3, 2012


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