i want to know everything

[kidcolin]

AZK,

I've read that speed reading improves recall quite a bit. My father was a strong speed reader in high school and he says it's true, too. I have a speed reading book but haven't bothered with it yet.

asofel,

I think general curiosity is pretty natural. I asked your age because it's rather common among the college-aged crowd to set lofty self-learning goals for themselves only to fall way short due to the sheer amount of effort necessary. Many, I suspect, state they want to learn "everything" in an effort to sound smart, more interesting, "worldly". I'm not accusing you of this, just something I've noticed.

My friend and I talk about this sort of thing a lot. Learning about stuff you won't necessarily use does have value. Our brains are pretty incredible at making connections we don't even know about, and it also seems to function better when you give it some exercise. But I'm a bigger fan of stuff that I can apply directly to something, and that's generally how I weed out what subjects I want to get into. So something like archeology I'll probably never study, because getting into details about the method won't serve me much good.

I feel like I've done a poor job explaining myself (a general improvement area that needs work for me), because it sounds like I'm against it. I'm not really. Some subjects we just find interesting and explore on our own. Some I think to myself, "that sounds cool", but no realistically it's low priority and will never get to, in lieu of learning stuff I use day to day or at work or think will be useful later on in life.

Put it this way: I'd rather have a beer with a plumber who's done his trade for 20 years and talk to him about that than with someone who knows a lot of stuff but has never really done or accomplished anything.

[asofel]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I wrote this not so much as a "how can i learn everything" but more along the lines of, am i just weird for wanting to know so much

[/ QUOTE ]

ugh.

[/ QUOTE ]

la,

great response! thanks for taking your time to share such a thought out point of view.

i really don't understand when people post like this. if you think i'm being incredibly arrogant, self-righteous, whatever, can't you say it? Saying "ugh" just really pisses me off...and if you think _everyone_ wants to know _everything_, well, then I'd disagree with you.

Kid,

No offense or anything taken...I mentioned that somewhat earlier as I do think age probably has something to do with it...and i think there's something interesting in what you said about the plumber...for me, i don't think its so much about "knowing lots of stuff"...i'd care more about talking with someone who's experienced something i'm interested in, to a much greater extent than i am...

anyway, thanks for the thoughts

[invisibleleadsoup]

[ QUOTE ]


Put it this way: I'd rather have a beer with a plumber who's done his trade for 20 years and talk to him about that than with someone who knows a lot of stuff but has never really done or accomplished anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

interesting
i completely disagree with this sentiment,anyone else?

[keikiwai]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Put it this way: I'd rather have a beer with a plumber who's done his trade for 20 years and talk to him about that than with someone who knows a lot of stuff but has never really done or accomplished anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

interesting
i completely disagree with this sentiment,anyone else?

[/ QUOTE ]

i completely agree w/ the convo w/ practiced plumber >>>>>> know-it-all do-nothing

you'll find conversations with people who are not posers much more intersting than with posers

keep yourself open to new experiences, but don't sell yourself short and settle for mental masturbation

[kidcolin]

I should clarify that by "someone who knows a lot of stuff" I meant someone who's not really VERY knowledgeable about anything... the pseudo-intellectual if you will. The ones that fill up the coffee shops. I've known a few people who are truly knowledgeable about a breadth of subjects, and of course they're a joy to talk to.

[IHateKeithSmart]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My question is this:

I can read and read, but I feel that on more practical subjects (specifically programming, computer protocols etc), I can explain the theory all day long, but when asked to say, write a buffer overflow, I have a lot of trouble. What is the best way to get better at the practical side of what you are studying?

[/ QUOTE ]

Get a job or real project doing it.

[/ QUOTE ]

What if that isnt feasible?

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't worry about an actual job if you're interested in learning about things like buffer overflows. This is very much a self learned thing. I've been in computer security since about 98 and many of the best vuln researchers I know are self taught. It definitely takes a certain kind of personality to be great at it (patient, very analytical, creative), but I would say anyone with some C experience (and ideally some assembly knowledge) can get the general hang of it.

I would suggest grabbing some halfway popular open source applications, and peeping through the source code (I'm assuming you're familiar with the concept of buffer/stack/heap overflows, and are now interested in writing code to exploit these?). Now is a much better time to be trying to learn this stuff, as there is so much mainstream guidance out there. Always remember - gdb is your friend!

[invisibleleadsoup]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


interesting
i completely disagree with this sentiment,anyone else?

[/ QUOTE ]

i completely agree w/ the convo w/ practiced plumber >>>>>> know-it-all do-nothing

you'll find conversations with people who are not posers much more intersting than with posers

keep yourself open to new experiences, but don't sell yourself short and settle for mental masturbation

[/ QUOTE ]


the problem is you're using loaded terms (this applies to the post that follows the one i am responding to also)

obviously its a truism that no one wants to have a conversation with a poser/know it all/psued/mental masturbater(!),however it is not necessarily true that everyone who knows about a lot of things without being steeped in experience fits one of the above terms.

personally i would prefer to have a conversation with someone who is able to talk about a wide range of topics that i find interesting,even if that person has "never really done or acomplished anything",than with someone who has a wealth of experience and knowledge in a very specific area that doesn't particularly interest me.

obviously there are some people who are extrememly driven/dedicated to one particular field of human endeavour who will be very interesting to talk to about their field,however i don't believe that these are the only people worth talking to.

there are so many things in the world that are fascinating,and i think its completely fair enough for someone to try to keep up a broad range of interests,even if they never have the same knowledge an expert would have.

as you can probably guess,i personally am interested in loads of things,many of which i know quite a lot about,but none of which i am an expert on.if that makes me a psued or whatever then so be it,i don't mind being a jack of all trades master of none,i can quite happily go through life exploring the numerous areas that interest me without ever really focusing on one in particular to the exclusion of all others...

am i alone on this idea?

[keikiwai]

[ QUOTE ]


am i alone on this idea?

[/ QUOTE ]

i also am interested in a wide range of topics, but i have found that when i have conversations with other people also interested in a wide range of topics, the conversation often just goes in circles

there are a few exceptions, when i speak to people who are really extraordinarilly smart or insightfull, but these instances are few and far between

i also find that when i talk to someone who is very knowledgable in one particular field, i can pick their brains, and since people like to talk about what they know, the other party usually enjoys this, and we both come away with a positive experience.....

on average it's easier to find someone who is knowledgable about one thing than it is to find someone who knows a lot about a lot

the terms used (poser, etc.) are loaded, since they are on average usually but not always true

[kidcolin]

invis,

It's not like it's bad to have a breadth of interests as long as you're honest about your limited knowledge of most areas. Typical "psueds" aren't. They'll talk authoritatively on subjects where they've only just learned the ass from the elbow.

I'm pretty much in agreement with keikiwai.

[AZK]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Put it this way: I'd rather have a beer with a plumber who's done his trade for 20 years and talk to him about that than with someone who knows a lot of stuff but has never really done or accomplished anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

interesting
i completely disagree with this sentiment,anyone else?

[/ QUOTE ]

Just as a tangent, this is great way to learn about things you never would. More often, it also sticks better. So I would rather talk to a plumber for 3 hours about his trade than read a book on plumbing. I do this with everything from the meatheads at the gym to the car nuts...everyone can offer you something (or at least, almost everyone) you just find out what they are passionate about/know a lot about and let them talk...I'm not saying this replaces books, but it's a nice supplement and sometimes helps me better remember things that I would normally read and forget