Title: Learn Like A Polymath (How to teach yourself anything, develop multi-disciplinary expertise, and become irreplaceable)

Author: Peter Hollins

Hi all

Today’s book is dedicated to everyone who wants to add to their skillset, or even become irreplaceable in a world where automation risks putting more and more people at risk of losing their jobs, due to being unwanted when machinery can replace our jobs.

The historical method that was used to determine whether someone was intelligent was ‘school-smart’ , learning from reading and hearing from the teacher, and remembering. Some were good at learning this way, whereas others were not able to recollect the information as well, and were considered unintelligent. Today’s equivalent of determining whether someone is intelligent or not is the standard IQ test.

However, because we are all unique, we learn things in different ways. It is because of this that when we are taught in our own unique way that we can become properly educated.

Two theories were brought forward to explain how each one exhibits a different intelligence.

Theory 1 was provided by Howard Gardner, in which he explains that each person has different intelligences they are good at, and due to this, the person learns new things differently than someone else. The categories of intelligence he brought were:

• linguistic intelligence
• logical-mathematical intelligence
• spatial intelligence
• bodily kinesthetic intelligence
• musical intelligence
• inter-personal intelligence
• intra-personal intelligence

Theory 2 held a more biological explanation which focused more around how your brain is developed. To be more intelligent in one area was argued that one part of the brain was developed to a greater extent than the average person. This in turn lead to the idea of being right-brained or left-brained. This theory practically would then be more of genetic reasoning, and would suggest that our history is fixed, and cannot be altered.

The book, however, argues that both theories are wrong because there isn’t enough data to support these theories. He further argues, that anyone of us can learn to become polymaths, by following some of the tricks he explains in the book.

-> At this point, if you feel that this is a rip off, and just another guru trying to take money from your pockets, I do not judge you at all. After all, there are many scam artists out there, and to make this assumption is therefore perfectly reasonable.

However, the steps that he presents are actually quite simple to apply, and they make sense why you should follow them in that order, because they try to make learning as easy and personal as possible for the reader. Not to mention, there aren’t many of them, so that makes it even easier to work with.

Before we step into it, the main requirements that anybody needs to develop the skill of becoming a polymath is broken down into two things:

• willingness to learn new and different things
• putting in time and effort that is required

Admitting these two points from the start is essential as it will keep you on track when the going gets tough, since you remind yourself that you are reading and learning these new things because they are for the betterment of your life.

Polymaths are people that aren’t specialized simply in one area of profession (eg. accountant, tax professional, physician, dentist, etc.). Rather, they have built up an arsenal of knowledge in different lines of work/profession/academia/other, and utilize their knowledge in all these to deliver better results than one who only knows the one profession.

They therefore have breadth, depth and integration.

• Breadth refers to a wide range of professions/information of which they know something
• Depth refers to knowing a little more than just a little, and having read up on the topic so you could give a presentation about it
• Integration refers to being able to apply the whole spectrum of knowledge and deliver unique results

(Keep these factors in mind when we jump into the steps)

Step 1 – Choose the different areas you want to achieve expertise in. They should be distinct from each other, but not too distinct, and should bear some relevance to your profession. (eg. You are an accountant, and want to learn more about the law, and therefore choose to more about business law, and ethics, and not something like physics that you wouldn’t apply in your day-to-day activities)

Step 2 – Start by establishing some breadth, which involves gaining some superficial knowledge.

Step 3 – Now, add some depth to those broad categories, by reading up on the different topics.

Step 4 – After becoming much more acquainted with the different topics, you will likely realize the topics are too vast for now, and then should decide to specialize on specific areas within those areas. (eg. For business law, you decided to focus on contract law since that is what you might be facing in a more supervising position, and for ethics you keep the scope the same as before)

Step 5 – The next step, is integrating what you learnt in such a manner that you remember it, which is called “transfer of learning“.

• he gives six ways in which this transfer of learning can take place

The means of transfer of learnings that I enjoyed to learn about, which I relate with the best were the following:

• Metacognition – where you talk (in your head) and consistently ask yourself questions to understand how this new topic relates to another topic you have recently come across
• Vary the ways in which you consume the media you use to learn – where you learn history best by watching youtube series, and learn maths best by doing examples, and learn a new language by speaking to people
• Problem-based learning – where you start with the problem at the core, understand all the facts relevant to the problem, and then come up with a solution best to solve the problem
  • PBL is used most frequently with medical students where they are presented with an ill patient, then learn what their symptoms are, ask further health-related questions, and then come up with a best method of treatment.

This and much more is offered in the book in the hope that you will also use these tricks of the trade and enhance your skillset to become a valuable polymath.

Summary:

The book provides a simple and easy-to-use approach to help the reader build up their knowledge base and thus become more skilled and valuable as an employee. It is short enough, and provides good examples to explain each aspect of the topics described. The book thus was rated 4.65/5

The method I enjoy is by reading a broad range of books from different genres, which is the method my uncle suggested to me, and I couldn’t agree more with him today than before that it has become so much more necessary to build up our skillset in the modern age.

Happy reading! 🙂