Learning and Research Resources
This page is basically a directory of links. I have a hodgepodge of useful bookmarks accumulated over time in a yet-to-be-well-organized bookmark directory and I wanted to group up a few of them for specific topics (this page being for links related to general learning and research resources). I figured I might as well post it here for my own reference and so others might get use from it! These links are not necessarily in any particular order, but I’ll try to provide a brief description of each.
Textbooks are expensive and so is your memory:
Library Genesis
- THIS IS A VALUABLE RESOURCE - Texts from this site can be used to great affect for college courses, technical certification prep, and more!
- Library Genesis (LibGen) is a free online repository offering millions of scientific articles, books, and academic resources across various disciplines.
- It operates in a legal grey area, providing access to copyrighted materials, often bypassing traditional paywalls.
openstax
- Similar to LibGen, but the selection is less broad but more legal.
- OpenStax.org is a nonprofit educational initiative that offers free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed textbooks and resources for college and high school courses.
Compare textbook prices
- Websites to compare textbook prices for buying/selling/renting books.
LitSolutions
- Free step-by-step solutions to many textbook problems (seems to be many common college course texts)
spreeder
- Spreeder is a speed-reading tool.
- Displays text in a rapid, sequential manner.
- Supposed to enhance comprehension and retention by minimizing subvocalization and reducing eye movement.
- NOTE:
- Really cool to experience for the first time, give it a try on some article!
- A little practice goes a long way.
- Bonus tip: If the reading you want to speed through is already somewhat verbose/filled with extraneous information, consider having your favorite language model do a summary configured as you may. Then ‘spreed’ the summary to double the skim-rewards (but also the risks)!
- Less useful for readings with high syntax/vocab complexity.
Anki
- Anki is an open-source flashcard app.
- Memorize information efficiently through spaced repetition.
- Supports multimedia flashcards and is widely used for language learning, studying, and retaining complex information
At risk of being news to nobody
- ChatGPT
- Extremely useful, large language model powered, chatbot.
- WolframAlpha
- WolframAlpha is a computational search engine that provides expert-level answers and solutions by analyzing queries through algorithms and curated data.
- Fantastically helpful when doing various maths.
- Honorable mention: Wolfram plugin for ChatGPT
Research Resources:
Internet Archive / Wayback Machine
- This is an invaluable resource for doing many kinds of research on the web!
- From their about page:
- “The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.”
- “…28+ years of web history accessible through the Wayback Machine…”
- For developers, check out the Wayback Machine APIs!
Map of reddit
(Made by Andrei Kashcha aka anvaka)
- An interactive visual map of reddit.
- Each dot on the map is subreddit. Two dots within the same cluster are usually close to each other if multiple users frequently leave comments on both subreddits.
- This thing is so cool, shoutout to Andrei.
- For more info, here is the project’s GitHub repo.
YouTube metadata search
- “Search within YouTube subtitles and captions”
- “Enclose phrases in double quotation marks, for example: “radio telescope” Indexing over 960 million captions across 870 million videos and 65 million channels.”
Our World in Data
- OurWorldInData.org is an open-access, data-driven platform that provides research and visualizations on global development trends such as poverty, health, education, and climate change.
- It combines empirical data with expert analysis to help inform policy, promote understanding, and support decision-making on the world’s most pressing issues.