He's commented on this type of thing before and it seems like he thinks it isn't any great trick. The main thing is that if you're going to reason well from first principles, you have to learn from first principles. If you build your "tree of knowledge" efficiently, then adding on to it isn't so difficult because you have a good core. Contrast this with the hobbyist that tries to learn rocket science when they don't have a good handle on first-year physics.
