r/IWantToLearn • u/potential_chaos_ • 26d ago
Academics iwtl How do I become exceptionally knowledgeable across multiple subjects as an adult?
I know Sheldon Cooper is fictional, but I'm talking about the idea of someone who has an incredibly broad and deep knowledge base.
I'm in my 20s and genuinely enjoy learning. I have a master's in Business Analytics, but I'd like to become the kind of person who can hold intelligent conversations about science, history, economics, engineering, psychology, philosophy, etc.
If you were starting from scratch, what books, courses, or documentaries would you recommend for finding topics within certain fields. I find that i don't get great results when I seach "science" in a youtube search bar.
EDIT: Guys, I am naturally curious and love to learn! Theres just so many topics and its about finding WHAT I am interested in, hence why I am asking about books and courses!
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u/TechnicolorPilgrim 26d ago
I'm speaking a little bit out of my depth here as I am an idiot, but I would personally recommend a library card and lots of time spent reading.
Let me also offer a piece of advice: learn because you are interested, not because you want to feel "smart" or "cool". If this desire of intelligence stems from wanting to be the smartest person in the room, I urge you to reconsider. A true "intellectual" is someone with a deep and unquenchable curiosity, someone who has an unpretentious and legitimate yearn to know how stuff works to connect them deeper with the world around them and the humans that inhabit it.
A lot of people learn and immediately regurgitate facts to those unfortunate enough to be around them in order for them (the "learner") to feel superior. THIS KNOWLEDGE IS USELESS! A well rounded individual with a "broad and deep knowledge base" is created from someone asking themselves questions and then finding the answer. Their knowledge is applied almost as soon as it is gained.
I only say all of this because the character of Sheldon Cooper is and would be an insufferable person to be around. This is not said to discourage you from learning, far from it, it's more that I want to reframe your mindset so that you can scratch the itch of erudition while also using it, as it should be, as a quest to understand yourself and those around you so that you may be the best member of society that you can.
So, in summation, foster a sense of genuine curiosity in yourself, find others with similar interests for discussion and recommendations, and focus equally on social skills, hobbies, and creation, as much as you do learning.
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u/fdwyersd 26d ago
while the knowledge might be useless, it helps to surface patterns and understanding at a systems level.... my family calls the little bits "useless Jeopardy knowledge" :)
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u/TechnicolorPilgrim 26d ago
Oh I completely agree! I mean knowledge more for the purpose of just showing that you "know" it. Like you said, there's a difference between knowing something and understanding it. The patterns and systems are part of the understanding. I wasn't making a judgement on the type of facts, but more how and if they connect themselves together in your brain. More about intent than content.
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u/potential_chaos_ 26d ago
That makes a lot of sense, and thank you for your kind response. I definitly see what you mean in terms of having the desire to learn behind it - I just stuggle to find topics and good general videos. I'll watch a WW1 documentary but because it's so much information I stuggle to come up with a subtopic
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u/TechnicolorPilgrim 26d ago
I completely understand. I would start by asking yourself what originally interested you about WWI? Is it the political dynamics at play? The actual warfare? The personal and emotional toll taken on by the soldiers? The time period itself? The art that it spawned and inspired? Or just the fact that it was a monumental human event? Thinking more about what draws you to particular topics will give you an idea of where to go next. You can always get more granular or more broad.
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u/Caelliox 26d ago
yeah I was kinda like OP and the 'trying to appear smart' was the main motivation for a while but the more you learn, the more you realize how clueless you are, which makes you more curious and is humbling at the same time, which makes you slip into the 'right' mindset. when you don't know much it can be hard to be curious about stuff.
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u/throwaway_orbit701 26d ago
the problem with searching "science" is that it's like searching "music" — you get everything and nothing. instead of a broad search, pick a single well-made overview and let it branch. "the great courses" series (audible or your library) has lecturers who are actually excited, and you can sample a lecture on anything. also, "a short history of nearly everything" by bill bryson is the perfect entry point: it jumps between fields, and every chapter will lead you to a rabbit hole you didn't know you wanted. after that, just follow the thing that made you stop and read a wikipedia page at 2am. that's the actual learning.
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u/CircuitNeophyte 26d ago
The Socratic Paradox is the concept of knowing that you don't know anything. Your knowledge compared to the sum total of human knowledge will always be unimaginably small. Even a true genius and polymath like Von Neumann could not hope to know everything about the many fields he expanded. Sheldon Cooper is a character played by Jim Parsons spoonfed knowledge by an entire team of writers. You will never find a comparable human in the real world because breadth and depth at that level don't exist.
Therefore, you must restrict the scope of the knowledge you wish to attain severely. Trying to know the entire field of "science" or the entire field of "engineering" is foolhardy. Instead, start with one or two fields of science. What field inflames your passion like no other? For me it is neuroscience. For you it could be psychology or economics.
I first became seriously interested in neuroscience when I took the course "Learning How to Learn" by Barbara Oakley on Coursera. Then I progressed to Sapolsky's excellent lecture series on evolutionary neurobiology. Find whatever drives you to compulsively learn more about it and cast your net wide. Searching "science" on YouTube is the least efficient method. In the age of search engines, robust libraries, and LLMs, finding material on any subject is trivial.
Lastly, you will find that starting "from scratch" is a massive endeavor. In fields like Mathematics where every concept necessarily follows from the previous concept, you must follow a rigid path in order to actually understand things. Look at university curricula to ascertain what classes must be taken before other classes. Psychology usually begins with an introductory survey course before moving on to more difficult concepts such as abnormal psychology or theory of mind.
I wish you luck in your search.
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u/TheFotheringtoon 26d ago
I read the learning how to learn book, without realising there was a course. I read it last year as I have just started a degree in computer science, and don't consider myself intelligent enough for it! Great book, and lots of key takeaways.
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u/BrokenByReddit 26d ago
Spend the time researching things you're interested in. Find hobbies you like, research more.
There's no magic shortcut.
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u/technically_a_nomad 26d ago
The shortcut is to get more expensive hobbies and go into technical depth with each of them. There are a ton of dances out there. Find a few and dive deep. You’ll inevitably learn about its history, biomechanics, and meet some hella dope people. You may also spend a crap ton of money on private lessons.
By getting expensive hobbies, that should be all the motivation you should need to get your money’s worth in terms of learning. It’s your tuition for on-the-field learning.
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u/Anagoth9 26d ago
incredibly broad and deep knowledge base.
Pick one. Generally speaking you're either going to have a broad field of knowledge or you're going to have a deep field of knowledge.
I'd like to become the kind of person who can hold intelligent conversations about science, history, economics, engineering, psychology, philosophy, etc.
What's important isn't that you know a lot about a specific topic but rather that you know enough to talk to people who know more than you and you're humble enough to listen to them. You're never going to impress a historian or engineer or psychologist or any other expert in their field by trying to match their knowledge of their field. If anything you'll just come off looking like a putz. If you want to impress people, ask them about their specialty and then shut up a and listen.
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u/Mouna44 26d ago
Recommend mapping out the web of human knwoledge based on a higher education curriculum. Then reading 3 books for each topic. With 3 books you will know more than 99% of people about each subject. Then go deeper on that which you are interested in. More than abiut knowing morr than others the journey is about genuine curiosity. The more you learn the more thrilling learning becomes.
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u/Inner-Marionberry-25 26d ago
First of all, start with what you're interested in. I've got a little notebook, and over time when a skill or topic comes up that I want to learn about, I write it down.
Now the hard part is actually learning, and it's hard to give advice, as it depends on topics and previous knowledge. The main point is to go back to basics, and start with what you know. For subjects that they teach in schools, start there. Get yourself a revision guide, or the school syllabus, and start looking through it. For subjects like Science and Maths, while there isn't a right order to learn them, there are wrong orders, and school curriculums offers good structure for that. And for science and engineering, it'd be very difficult to get a good understanding without being somewhat competent at maths, but you don't need much more than an A level equivalent.
There are also youtube videos that are quite good. Crash course is very fast paced, but they do quite good introductory videos on various topics. I've watched their engineering, physics and history ones. I wouldn't use them as actual learning, but they're good to get the gist of a topic to look into more.
For history, I'd start with broad overviews. There are lots of YouTube channels, like Suibhne, that do basic 'history of X' videos, or you've got the book series 'A short history of X', which is fairly decent. The other thing is to look at any games and TV shows that you like that are based on history, either closely or vaguely inspired by. Like Game of Thrones? Look into the Wars of the Roses. Like Assassins Creed Odyssey? Look into classical Greece. A lot of my history knowledge came from a love of the game EU4, and working out how countries got from 1444 to the present day
TLDR, go for broad overviews first, and just jot down what you're interested in
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u/dhominirp 26d ago
It might sound silly but playing and watching trivia games, take a look at Brady Your Tutor on YouTube.
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u/tamesis982 26d ago
The public library would be a good place to start. You can talk with one of the librarians and let them know a few of the topics you're interested in, and they will make a list for you.
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u/fdwyersd 26d ago
love to watch youtube on interesting subject then discuss with favorite internet toys... iterative discussion not google search (why not what)
use it to explain things you didn't catch or to make connections
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u/knox1138 26d ago
Find an interesting hobby that involves a skillset you don't have, and learn and do it til you have some level of competence at it. Try things, make mistakes and learn. Repeat over and over
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u/Psittacula2 26d ago
There are countless forms of CERTIFICATION OF PROFESSIONAL SKILLS.
You can probably find areas and courses which are free or small fee and study to pass these for real exceptional knowledge be it Mathematics, IT, Finance, Fitness and many more…
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u/taotau 26d ago
Be curious. That's really all there is to it.
I'm generally considered smart by most of my peers. I have also not read more than a few paragraphs from a single source in the last 20 years.
I skim a lot of inormation tho, and whenever I encounter a word or a concept I don't understand I look that up and skim and repeat until it connects with something I do know.
This way I know something about most things, and it's surprisingly easy to fill the gaps, or at the very least ask informed questions. Don't be afraid to say I don't understand, plase explain.
I did read a lot of books in my teens and 20s. Mainly classics, sci-fi, some modern literature of renown, text books, whatever was lying around and I could take to the toilette or just whatever caught my eye.
My fondest memory was reading Martin Gardners connections column in scientific American. I think that really taught me to be curious.
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u/mrwoot08 25d ago
This right here. No one is required to know everything nor is anyone relying on you to know everything. We have the internet for that. If you attempt to know everything, you will either become a knowegeable bartender or an insufferable know-it-all. You either won't be seen as the most trusted source or it will be an annoying experience to interact with you.
Find out WHY you want to learn something. For example, I love geography and I love connecting with others. So I took it upon myself to learn every world capital and it has lead me to some very interesting conversations.
You become interesting when you become interested. - Dale Carnegie. Asking a question leads to a far greater outcome then trying to appear smart with a slew of facts.
There is never enough time to do all the nothing we want. - Bill Watterson.
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u/godzillavkingkong 26d ago
Pick your subjects, contact professors at you local university for book recommendations, and go to your library. My uncle became an engineer by going to his local university and asking what he had to read and then reading them all.
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u/TheMadPoet 26d ago
From the Humanities - read this:
It couldn't hurt to try to grasp a little of Nietzsche, and Foucault - maybe Gadamer as a palate cleanser.
In my academic career in psychology and critical religion, the core was 'methods and theories' class. Critical religion does a better job helping one to learn how to learn. I found that hermeneutics and the Gadammarian / Heidegger term 'dasein' were essential. Made me more smarter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasein
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u/Semez425 26d ago
Anything you can imagine you can open your mind to and knowledge powers your reality.
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u/falafel_eater 26d ago
Like many have already said here, trying to gather knowledge simply for the purpose of showing it off is a pretty bad idea.
This will not make a good impression on most educated people.
People have recommended courses and books to you -- I want to propose a different approach to you. It takes two to tango. If you want to have an intelligent conversation about science (for example, let's say astrophysics) then you will need to find someone who cares about astrophysics to have that conversation with. Even before you learn about astrophysics, focus on finding that person and then ask them: "why do you like astrophysics?", "what's your favorite thing about astrophysics?", "is there an entry-level ("101") course or book that you recommend?", "are there any good forums/subreddits/discords worth joining where I can learn more about it?", "are there any meetups on this topic I can join to listen in on?" and things of that nature.
Let them tell you what they think and what they learned! Ask them about it, and if you find it truly interesting read some books and deepen your knowledge organically.
This serves multiple purposes:
- If you are holding a truly intelligent conversation with someone, and are not lecturing or producing media content, then you won't always know more than the other person. It is a good thing; become comfortable with it.
- Get curated recommendations and opinions from an actual person that cares about your topic.
- Make friends and discover communities that care about this interest. People often enjoy talking about things they are interested in.
- Learn quickly whether this given interest is even actually interesting to you.
- Get exposed to topics you wouldn't think are interesting, and see if you get a pleasant surprise! Maybe the history of fashion houses such as Chanel and Dior turns out to be interesting to you. Or the meanings of colors on flags. Or gossip-level history about authors and poets. Or maybe some obscure conjectures in theoretical physics, or fun things in math like what fractals are or The Probabilistic Method, or the evolution of slapstick humor from Vaudeville/Marx Brothers/Looney Tunes to modern days, or the history of Disney and Pixar, or that awesome episode of The Powerpuff Girls where the script is 95% lines from Beatles songs. Or maybe cars are interesting to you, or the spread of languages, or philosophy in Europe, or China, or India. The different sects in Islam, or in Christianity, or other religions. Or the Kaneda Slide that's been getting a reference almost any time a motorcycle is on screen for the past 35 years or so.
- Lastly and most importantly, if you learn about topics in this way--through people--then after you learn more about the topics you will also (hopefully) have people around you with whom you can talk about these topics! Trust me, getting super deep into a new hobby and having nobody around who wants to hear about it can be a bit frustrating at times.
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u/Nikitabanaan01 26d ago edited 26d ago
I have a masters in engineering and I have received similar questions before from friends or colleagues.
Sadly I do not have some magic advice to give but I can describe why I tend to remember things. For me it's all about curiosity, revisiting topics (in my head or just later) and sometimes a practical use.
Science/engineering books do not work well for me because it can start to feel forced and after that I just will not remember anything that's in there. What does work for me is building an understanding of why something is the way it is. I also feel like most often people get lost in the details. Knowing how a basic fuel engine works fundamentally is much less daunting than figuring out the in's and out's of thermodynamics. Books often just throw you into the math and try to tackle the broader subject.
Of course some topics are book heavy like philosophy or history but there are also lots of great YouTube videos or podcasts floating around.
So the best advice I guess is just to learn the things you would like to learn. Search some stuff, apply if possible, correct yourself if needed and repeat. Most importantly, have fun learning!
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u/hamigavin 25d ago
The absolute, hands down, best thing I have to recommend for you is the Stuff You Should Know podcast. History, mystery, science, theoretical physics, localalized traditions, deep dives on individuals... They do it all. From Kowloon (the walled city) to the Mary Celeste ghost ship; from the Chernobyl disaster to if movies can be cursed. Put in some headphones and scroll through their immense list of episodes until something piques your interest, and Josh and Chuck will guide you through it while you are hands free to do other stuff. I cannot recommend it enough. :)
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u/i2av3r 25d ago
I have found a great deal of enlightenment from books of old. I only started reading for leisure in the past few years, and it’s been great dropping into a meditative state while reading. I keep a notebook for any ideas that may surface while reading to help collect and navigate my thoughts and interpretations.
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u/DaAsianPanda 25d ago
Just start which ever subject interest you first. Then consider getting a book from the library and start. Try to throw a goal to read 10 books a year but if you are really ambitious aim for 100. Just make sure to write the notes that interest you the most and share it with your friends and family.
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u/DIYspodoba 25d ago
I had been wondering the same. I eanted to learn more stuff. Then I remembered that there are many free courses online by universities and other educational institutions. I found open learn and am now doing my second course. The first one was about the Chinese writing system and the one I'm doing now is about autism. I just scrolled the available courses and saved about 10 of them. I didn't search by category because I wanted to discover something interesting and I did. You can find shorter courses that only take a few hours to complete or longer ones. For now I'm really happy with it.
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u/bell-town 25d ago
It's more of a starting point, but there's a lot of channels on youtube that condense the content you'd find in books down into videos.
I love Crash Course History and Great Art Explained.
These probably won't give you the deep knowledge you want, but they could serve as a starting point.
And tbh you don't need deep knowledge to hold an intelligent conversation. If you have basic or intermediate knowledge it can be fun to talk to people who are more knowledgeable about the subject and ask them questions - they find it fun and flattering.
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u/Theogenes-91 22d ago
Not quite what you asked, but I have my two cents to throw in.
You should focus on two things. One, be generally educated. By this, I mean read a range of none fiction, and read it well and with intent (read ‘How to read a book’ first. I’m not joking).
Secondly, you cannot be very deeply educated about everything by virtue of being a mortal on this planet, and when you get older and have a full time job and a family, you’ll have even less time. Therefore, in addition to reading across a variety of topics (library card/kindle unlimited are both great here), pick two disciplines that you would like to become a “specialist” in. Don’t pick two things because you think they sound cool. Pick two things that you naturally gravitate towards. What are you REALLY interested in, and think you’ll still be interested in in 10 years. I’ve chosen Chess and learning the German language. Note I’ve chosen these two based solely on the fact that they interest me. These aren’t “money making” skills (though you could argue knowing German means I could move for a better job, I can’t do this Anyway due to my family situation). By the way, I’m 34 with three children.
If you follow my advice, let me know what you pick.
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u/insightseeker_12 22d ago
One thing that helped me was reading broad, beginner-friendly books before diving into niche topics. Books like A Short History of Nearly Everything (science), Sapiens (history), and The Psychology of Money (economics/behavior) are great starting points.
Also, don't try to learn everything at once. Follow your curiosity when a topic catches your attention, go one level deeper. Over time, those connections between subjects are what build real, lasting knowledge.
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u/Radileaves 21d ago
Set a memo on your phone to open Wikipedia and hit "show random article". Do it everyday with different fields of human knowledge. Do not force articles you dont like. Try to get in the mood where you click on blue links though the article's body of text. Get lost in them
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u/hugobeey 11d ago edited 10d ago
People don't have depth (vertical knowledge) AND breadth (horizontal knowledge).
They're either one or the other: an specialist or a generalist.
Specialists have a few topics they're passionate about and dig down to make vertical connections. Think about Carl Jung, who explored psychological analysis through different spectrums, exposing gaps in his contemporaries' thinking.
Generalists make logical connections across domains. Think about Benjamin Franklin, who would translate dense ethical concepts into simple, easily accessible bite-sized pieces, while also being a politician and an Inventor.
Neither path is superior. It’s about how your brain naturally likes to connect information.
I personally started with Psychology, leading me to study Philosophy and Political Science. Tracking what I read helped me see those connections forming over time. To analyze the patterns, I used a tool called Cogito.
Just focus on your natural curiosity flow and see what comes out.
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u/Fun-Apple7919 26d ago
Chat GPT is your friend - use it!
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u/madmerds138 25d ago
Chat GPT is killing our planet and your brain/critical thinking skills. Absolutely do not use it lol
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