Just Read the Paper

Reading academic papers is an underrated way to quickly gain deep knowledge in any technical field. By reading Claude Shannon's original information theory paper, the author was able to distill an entire college course down to one core formula. Similarly, spending a few hours reading papers on agentic AI development provided a solid mental framework for the current state of the field. Papers are best for distilled knowledge, while in-person expert conversations are better for cutting-edge info not yet published, and books work best for entering entirely new fields.