I'd like to know what fellow BBS members here read, watch, and practice to become better sophisticated individuals. Some people might mention the Discovery Channel, but which show? I've been watching episodes of Myth Busters but I don't know exactly if it's triggering anything in my brain and if I'm actually learning anything new. As for books, what do you guys read that you can say has changed your ideas and perception on things? I'm not talking about stuff that you are forced to read, like textbooks. It can range from fantasy, to biography, to whatever. For fantasy novels however, can they really make you smarter? Reading the series, ASAIF, for knowledge purposes or are they just for entertainment? I get that if you read different books from different authors you get to see how various people think thus helping your own mind... People might mention Ayn Rand books, but the only one I have read (only went through the first few chapters) I couldn't get through. It was sorta boring. I've read the book Outliers, and it's an interesting book. Planning to read Gladwell's other books The Tipping Point and Blink. And I have the 50th Law and the Power of Now, which I still have to finish. I think the ultimate way to be knowledgeable about everything is to read an encyclopedia, but that seems like a difficult process. Also, there is also a case for music. I read a comment about how listening to Radiohead has made that poster "smarter". How can this be? If it's true, what other music can do that? Thanks.
The encyclopedia is not the only way to get knowledgeable about everything. Just read a bunch of different books on various topics/subjects. Realistically no one has ultimate knowledge on every subject but the more you read then the more you know. Hit up Amazon and get your read on.
We live in a world that is collecting information at a rate that is mind blowing. I think I read somewhere that in the last year we have collected more new information than all that was available during the Renaissance. So when you think of the classic Renaissance man, you have to realize it was much easier for him to get a lot of knowledge in a lot of areas, since there was such a limited amount available. My suggestion to you would be to find something you are interested in and study it. Your interests will expand and you will find more to study. Lucky you, you live in a time where information is easy to get and growing at an astronomical rate, but start with what you like first.
Read and watch what interests you. If you give 2 sh!ts about history, don't waste your time reading history books or watching the history channel. If you enjoy astronomy, trying and find some shows on Discovery and DVR them, as well as find some good books. If you don't find something interesting, you're less likely to absorb the information.
I recommend starting here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312376596 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618226478 I have been using torrents to download a ton of ebooks in subjects that I had no idea. I have the will and desire to learn, but my problem is with finding time to absorb all of this information. You have no idea how many times I have wished there existed some type of a matrix download system to be able to dump knowledge directly into my brain. With the internet there are no limits as to how much information and knowledge you can gain free of charge. The only problem is the resources it takes to be able to accomplish this.
Google alone gives us more intelligence (assuming you are collecting factual data) than anything even our parents had. Which is sadly now why we have so many yahoos asserting a couple facts that they read on wikipedia and acting like they are the kings of Earth.
Always find a subject that you actually enjoy learning. It might lead you to another subject you probably didn't think was interesting, but eventually grows on you. I'm a travel and history buff and slowly developed an interest in learning as much as I could about architecture.
I firmly believe that once man is old enough to conceive of a power greater than himself, he will seek out some understanding of that power. Whether you find it or not is another matter, but you keep looking and thinking anyway. It's one of those things that separates humans from the rest of the animals. For example, I didn't grow up in a religious family. As a result, I began devouring anything related to mythology, legend, and folklore at a very early age. Greek, Norse, Egyptian, etc. as well as the legendary stories of those cultures that may or may not involve the respective pantheons of deities, but simply the tales of mere mortals as allegory. Not that it matters, but I don't consider myself a "religious" person at all, at least as far as any denomination, dogma, or named religion is concerned. All those myths and legends are all very old stories, so there is rare occasion to point to a specific author. Homer is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, but it's late and I've had too much wine to strain my brain much further tonight, lol. Anyway, these, along with fantasy novels, which are modern mythologies in their own right, have done a LOT to shape my views of religion, spirituality, morality, general philosophy, good vs. evil, the concept of balance, striving to better oneself, lessens learned from hardship and trauma, etc. All of this was a natural pretext to working in psychology prior to nursing school. In short, I like to think, and I like to think about how other people think. What makes a person tick is ultimately what makes that person who they are. It dictates their responses to various stimuli, and determines their actions in life and their reactions to it. But I've rambled enough about that. As to other areas -- - Music: Go to an opera or symphony. Make an effort to find out why these composers and their works have been played and loved continuously for literally hundreds of years. Houston Grand Opera is doing Rossini's The Barber of Seville next season. If you grew up watching Bugs Bunny, you're familiar with some of the more famous parts of that opera. Google "The Rabbit of Seville" for one of the greatest cartoons ever, which just so happens to be set to a ridiculously awesome opera. - Art (painting, sculpture, and the like): same as above for music, really. There's an Impressionist exhibit at MFA with some Van Gogh's....at least I think it's still going on. Read a little about him and his work, and then go take a look at it for yourself. As to more visceral stuff....for no real reason, I've been eating up information on survival. It's pretty cool to know that I can find drinking water, build a solar still, set some basic traps for food, build a decent shelter, and make a fire by rubbing two sticks together. At least, I think it's cool....and I wasn't even a Boy Scout. /long-ass post
Read books. Lots of books. Start with this one: "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse A short and easy read that deals intelligently with the subject of knowledge and enlightenment.
Don't question it--that's the first step to being smart. You should listen to lots of Radiohead and watch your IQ rise... Also, country music works as well. Have fun!
As someone already mentioned, learn a new language. The mind has to expand abstractly in order to retain a new language and the new grammatical structure/rules of that language. It offers you a whole new way of thinking and multi-lingualism is one of the first things I look for as a marker of intelligence (I'm not saying that mono-linguals can't be intelligent). Read classical English authors/poets. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton and so on. The language seems archaic at first, but when you immerse yourself into it it becomes easier to read and it also offers a whole new perspective on a language [English] that its speakers oftentimes take for granted. Read classical authors in general, and not just European authors. Seek out scholarly translations of poets like Hafez, Rumi, Du Fu, Li Bai, Basho, Issa, Vallejo, Paz and so on and so on. When it comes to music, try to dig a little deeper than the modern stuff like Radiohead. As much as I appreciate rock'n'roll and hip hop and all the modern genres, they almost invariably pale in comparison with the classical music of almost every culture. Get into European classical. Get into the classical traditions of a variety of cultures, not just European music. Get into Jazz. The point is to expose yourself to as many different cultures and artistic traditions as possible so that your mind will expand and grow in its understanding. It's also important to expose yourself to difficult literature and difficult music, so that you can train yourself to think more critically and appreciatively when it comes to art in general (i.e. try to actually understand why certain pieces are considered to be good and be able to form your own opinions about them).
I forgot to mention film. I know that art films get a pretty bad rap from most people because they come across as pretentious (but with a medium as blunt as film, given its literary and visual quality, you always have to walk that line). I couldn't possibly make a list of directors to keep an eye out for. Just go onto Wikipedia and look up "art film" and you'll see a very wide array of different directors from many different countries.
Move away from America. Ignore it. Be Eurocentric. Everything in Europe is "cultivating". Everything in America is "conventional".
I read encyclopedias when I was a kid. The knowledge inside makes you a glorified Jeopardy contestant because you know facts as it is accepted but sometimes without context on how it came to be. It does build a tradition of research should you begin to want to know more. Google is not your friend in this regard. In the context of "targeted searches", Google good for updating information in fields you already know, but it's parsed and extracted, so you're assuming that the information you have is vetted and trusted, which is never the case. It is never cut and dried. But if you realize this point, congratulations. You're probably in the upper 20 percentile who recognize the limitations of free and open information with several different agendas and thinking with a critical mind. If you want to be a well rounded person, you gotta do it the "hard way". By reading books...Several of them in the same categories by different people. Write notes and get more training in research and thinking if you need it. Vary your sources so you don't parrot the thoughts of a few writers whom you might admire. Think of knowledge of a particular field like a diamond. On the surface it is alluring, attractive and clear. But if you examine it deeper and deeper, you'll discover the genuine ones have flaws on its surface. All knowledge in every field has flaws when you get to a certain point. Artificially created diamonds can be flawless, but people generally value it as cheap and not as rare. That's where the thinking starts. Addressing, refuting or adding more flaws to a field will give you a purpose. Realizing that you can't get too dogmatic makes you yourself valuable. By then, the "hard way" of reading tons of books might be fun and fulfilling because it doesn't get easier than that.
Find a subject that interests you. Go to the website for a prestigious or large state university, click on the related major and find the courses required for the degree plan. Ignore the "Core Curriculum" or "General Requirements" that all university students would take regardless of major. Then go to the website for the university's bookstore and see what books are required for each of those courses. Then go to Amazon.com and buy the books, obivously buy for only two or three courses per "semester" (every 4 months or so). Then go online and do a Google search with the terms "syllabus," the title of the book, and the title of the course. Otherwise I think you're just taking shortcuts to learn forgettable trivia.
Listening to Radiohead at someone else's advice has not made me any more likely to expand knowledge on geophysics than listening to Rebecca Black. At work I'll watch "Cosmos" on the computer while the radio plays some of the most GUTTER disposable hip hop. I'd a say for music, like the suggestion at learning another language, try your hand at learning an instrument. Be on the PRODUCING end of music, rather than just the listener side. Its like learning an "audible language". That kinda makes the search engine name "Yahoo" sensible and applicable then. An aside: I do kinda miss the "old" days when conversations were about what you know and about what our feeble mortal brains could recollect. Rather than it being "And then, there was - wait, can't remember *cell phone Google search* - yeah, there we go". Everyone already "knows" cuz they can bring up the factoids on command rather than from ability. I guess its similar to the steroetype of guys not wanting to use a map or ask for directions, but thats just me. Gotta keep the info accessible and ubiquitous I guess
I'd like to know what fellow BBS members here read, watch, and practice to become better sophisticated individuals. In order to be more well rounded, stemming from a religious imperative to seek all forms of knowledge and experiences (similar to Socrate's quote on the unexamined life), I strive to read, watch, and practice various things. Reading: Novels- I read at least one fiction and one non-fiction novel in a two-week period. Before I began reading books frequently for leisure, I first read almost every novel found in a typical greatest-books-of-all-time/books-every-educated-person-should-read article like this excellent list. It took me about 2 years to read almost all the classics. And now, my reading rate ranges between 55 seconds to 70 seconds a page for the typical paperback, so were I to do it again, I can read the above list in under 6 months. Reading only becomes easier as time goes on. Other media - I read the Financial Times and International Herald Tribune every morning. In addition, I subscribe to the Economist, Nature, and Foreign Affairs, and I read them throughout the month. Coupled with various online news sources like Der Spiegel and Reuters, I get a solid and diverse pool of news to digest. Watching: I rarely watch live TV, but when I do, it's channels like PBS, History Channel International, National Geographic, etc. Examples: Frontline, NOVA, (most PBS shows are online too fyi), TED, etc. However, I also enjoy quality TV shows like the Sopranos and Mad Men. I enjoy watching movies, particularly art house cinema. Like books, I watched most classics to establish a base before watching a current movie every week. AFI/IMDb have good lists. Practicing: Whatever catches my interest. Can be anything from traveling to different continents, playing reversi, tasting wines, skydiving, or volunteering at Habitat for Humanity.
