16 Comments
Jul 10, 2021Liked by Thomas J Bevan

great piece tom! reading on whims was a standout for me as I try to follow this as much as possible. it is wonderful and freeing to know that one can pick up a book and drop it as soon as it bores you. "read what you love until you love to read" by @naval on twitter was a good tweet and i feel you just expanded on a bit.

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May 25, 2021Liked by Thomas J Bevan

This essay gets a very countercultural charm to it if you realize that lately "education" and "online courses" both melted into just another way of profitting from content-junkies at the interwebs. Every single content creator wants you to learn from THEM, ultimately, but most (if not all) have not stood the test of time as you mention here. Currently, as a law student (if I permit myself to be identified as such, for I don't really like the "law" part of it), we look to understand the principles of things before going in to the details of treatieses, manuals etc.

And developing a great skillset around critical thinking, whim-driven reading and better judgment, you really wont get past the copycat phase of your education. Hell, it might even let you expedient enough to finish your grad if you think about it hahahah

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May 24, 2021Liked by Thomas J Bevan

I stumbled upon "The Intellectual Life" by Sertillages thanks to Liberty's Highlights. It's very good and reminded me a lot of Charlie Munger and PCA. Finding people like Feynman who were genuinely excited not only to learn but share what they learned has helped me go down the path of neverending curiosity.

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May 23, 2021Liked by Thomas J Bevan

Thank you Thomas for this.

I think I need to reignite my curiosity.

You know what, you talking about teachers has reignited my intense dislike of them.

It's important for me to be able to articulate what I like and dislike and its frustrating to voice criticism only to be told "I hate everything" or "I spend too much time thinking".

What I am saying is that it's good to know there are people out there who consider things further than the surface.

You're a beacon Thomas and it's good to have you lighting up the dark.

(I need to read more of the good)

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May 23, 2021·edited Apr 27, 2023Liked by Thomas J Bevan

Thank you, Tom. It's a great topic I've been thinking about a lot recently, and even published an essay about my love for random facts, curiosity and nuggets of knowledge :D

> "You are either an autodidact or you are not"

This is very true. I think a true autodidact never treats a process of reading, playing with ideas, etc. as learning. 'I should learn something today. I am an autodidact, right?' is not how the autodidact approaches it. The learning comes organically as a result of curiosity, a whim, as you mentioned. They learn for the sake of intellectual joy, finding pleasure in thought and so forth. It shouldn't feel like work or a necessity. That's the key I believe. Autodidacts are curious explorers in the first place. They can easily pick up a new topic and abandon it at any time.

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May 23, 2021Liked by Thomas J Bevan

Tom,

Have you found it difficult to make time for these pursuits as an adult in the “real world”? I find it hard enough as a student to truly drink deeply; for every book you read there are 5 more, and all of those books are ones that of course should be read 30 different times. It’s great but often overwhelming.

This isn’t even to mention the time spent in work and all the other necessities of life; it can often lead to an anxious FOMO to use your leisure as best as possible. But of course, that spoils the whole point. Any advice for learning to just chill out?

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