Elon Musk Shares Advice On Learning In Reddit AMA

Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla Motors Inc TSLA on Monday discussed his automotive, aerospace and other interests in a Reddit AMA session. AMA stands for "Ask Me Anything."

Among a wide range of topics, Musk discussed his early education.

“The best teacher I ever had was my elementary school principal. Our math teacher quit for some reason and he decided to sub in himself for math and accelerate the syllabus by a year," Musk wrote.

“We had to work like the house was on fire for the first half of the lesson and do extra homework, but then we got to hear stories of when he was a soldier in WWII. If you didn't do the work, you didn't get to hear the stories. Everybody did the work.”

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Musk was asked how he learns so much, so fast. His response: “I do kinda feel like my head is full! My context switching penalty is high and my process isolation is not what it used to be.

“Frankly, though, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying.”

Musk commented that, “it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”

When asked what he believed had the largest positive impact on his life, Musk's one-word answer was “showering.”