Serendipity and Learning

 If you, by chance go to a recipe site these days, the recipe will start with a story. And then a pointless anecdote and then other recipes and finally deep down is the actual recipe. Some of the not so sadistic recipe sites have a "jump to recipe" button. The reason is probably misplaced incentives . But that does explain it fully.  While writing a book (as in my own experience) there is a temptation to write and fill pages. But the reader will lose interest. The trick is to keep it short and punchy. This is difficult when the goal is to write x pages or y words.  In a TED talk - there are so many rambling stories that I find it easier to dive into the transcript, get the core idea and move out.  I was recently tasked with looking for some good online courses on a platform. There is so much rambling - somehow that is seen as necessary for the course to be seen as something with gravitas.  Or a podcast. So many of them have so many unrelated anecdotes it is impo...