Id like to be more intellectual....

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Fri May 19, 2006 2:53 am

It began a few months ago upon discovering how little I knew about history.

I always thought I was pretty smart. Had a good handle on psychology, sociology,music,art,and literature. Discovering how little I knew about history, made me feel that there is a huge hole in my understanding of the world. How the heck can I catch up? If I start spending all my time reading,I wont have much time to live. And I dont have many years left.

Ill never catch up. I feel like a blithering idiot incapable of holding a conversation with those more well informed. I cant go on living like this......

Tigerlily · Post by **Tigerlily** » Fri May 19, 2006 5:27 am

Nobody can know everything Weeder. I'd be signing up and doing the equivalent of our A levels in the subject of choice. Do you have anything like the Open University? Their progammes are excellent. So many ways you can soak up whatever you want to know.

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:29 am

There are times I feel the same way, Weeder. For me it is also wishing I was better able to express my thoughts is a reasonably intelligent matter. I would bet, though, that you are intellectual. I do not feel it is important to be well versed on everything in life. But the ability to express well the thoughts and ideas you do have is much more important I think.

jbbarker1947 · Post by **jbbarker1947** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:52 am

Start with a book that covers the entire Treaty of Versailles. Nations were formed in addition to the end of WWI. I found it to explain the politics and conflicts we see today.

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Fri May 19, 2006 8:24 am

koochikoo wrote: Hehe, I'm glad it's not just me that feels like this sometimes. Quite often I read threads here and feel so uninformed about the topics I have trouble finding something to post in!

I try to learn more things, I have the net on in front of me a lot of the time. But then I stumble upon a jokes site or similar and find myself sitting here having a laugh instead! :wah:

Aaahh, ignorance is bliss!

Have you been reading my mind :wah: That's how I feel most the time.

Weeder it's ok not to know everything bout everything. If you really want to learn some more history, start off by learning bout event or period in history that has always intrigued you.

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:40 am

When I was a child I was given 2 copies of the same book. The book was 'The Great Escape' but one was an adults version where all the people had names such as Sgt-Mjr Bloggs DSO, ABC, PMS, 123 etc etc. Long, long names that got very confusing. In the end i was so muddled I gave up. Then came the next book, with the same story but written for children, so the characters were named Peter and Andrew and john, etc. Now suddenly I could understand which character was which and I followed the story and enjoyed it.

So now I find it is often easier to read a childs version of a story which is clearly written without being over-simplified and then go onto more indepth adult books to gain a deeper understanding of the subject.

This might sound silly, but if you started with, say, the Treaty of Versailles (as suggested) I think you would become confused, lost ..........and eventually bored.

So many different things led to the Treaty and other things were going on at the same time that weren't ratified that I think you'd find it a hodge-podge of confusion.

Or you could look on the internet at various things that have happened in history, and when something catches your imagination you can research it more deeply.

You could also consider taking a class locally as its a great way to meet people and to further your interest and to gain an extra qualification.

Have lots of fun doing it!

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:50 am

weeder wrote: It began a few months ago upon discovering how little I knew about history.

Lol! So is that why Spot gave you the Enoch Powell "Rivers of Blood" speech and I talked to you about the Magna Carta! I wondered how we ended up on that subject, but I have just realised that both subjects are related as they are both about excess immigration! Enoch Powell said it should be slowed in 1968, but the Magna Carta is the reason we apparently cannot stop the influx! Even though the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 and is no longer applicable, IMO, yet 'tradition' states that we must abide by it!

Wow! Weeder! I've learnt something today! Thanks.

http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/powell_press.htm

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Fri May 19, 2006 3:13 pm

Thank you everyone. Rapunzel you cannott know how embarassed I was to not know that England owned India. A blithering idiot.. at this age. I am going to take it a step at a time. Knowing a liitle more today than you did yesterday is always a start. The part about not being able to go on like this......... was supposed to make you laugh. You know like Im going to commit suicide because I need to learn history. Heres the deal.. Part of why we are here is to help and learn from each other. So every bit of information we share, on any subject... is a gift to each other. Love to all of you who shared with me that you feel insecure about posting on many threads. Pick a subject like I am doing and start investigating it. We will all get smarter together.:-4

gordonartist · Post by **gordonartist** » Fri May 19, 2006 6:23 pm

I studied History at school and Uni and taught it too. I used to read historical novels, but that too became time consuming.

Today, if I come across anything I don't know, I make a quick search if Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopaedia.

For example, when reading "The Da Vinci Code" recently, I chased up every new word or word I didn't know about. For example, the Roslyn Chapel is a good and easy read on Wikipedia.

Take care,

Gordon

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Fri May 19, 2006 8:35 pm

I can understand how you feel Weeder. I am a history buff, and the problem with history is, there is so much of it. I got interested in the U.S. Civil War at one time and started reading books about individual battles, and then the Generals, on and on, and it dawned on me that I could spend the rest of my life reading history of just this one time period, and there were other periods of history that I was interested in as well. Just look at the Roman Empire time periods. Now there is a lifetime endeavor if one chose to know it well. One counsulation, people in future years will have more history to learn.

Tigerlily · Post by **Tigerlily** » Wed May 24, 2006 12:41 am

My husband is 60 this year Weeder. when he was a boy his father didn't understand the value of a stable education and moved a number of times so my husband attended three different secondary schools, each with a different syllabus. His education suffered.

My main interest was always history and I was fortunate that my mother was interested too, so the house was full of all sorts of books - reference, historical novels, biographies - for me to grow up with. My husband was very envious of this, decided he needed to catch up, and now plods through all sort of stuff that I would find far too heavy. Because he's doing it because he really really really wants to he's soaking it up.

I have been on holiday with the Albigensians, the American Indian, Aztecs and Incas, Napoleon, the Byzantines, to name but a few. He likes to discuss what he's reading so I pick up stuff too. When we both retire he has all sorts of plans to visit the places he's been reading about.

it's never too late!!

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Wed May 24, 2006 8:16 am

I remember once I was doing in home companion care with an elderly lady. One day her 16 year old grandson was visiting. He was telling me that he wanted to be a history teacher when he got out of college. But, he admiktted he found some history dry and boring. He asked what I thought? Anyway, this was just in the first days following 9/11. I told him that if he wanted to be good at teaching history..he should pay attention that day..because THAT was some of the history he would be teaching. I reminded him that our history was someone else's present...and to try to teach first hand when ever he could.

minks · Post by **minks** » Wed May 24, 2006 8:26 am

I think to it's about accepting what you don't know. As we grow, we learn, but we can't learn "everything" and often when we are young we choose to learn what we like. And then one day it creeps up on you that perhaps we would like to learn more..... I love the saying "education is wasted on youth" I feel as an adult I have "wanted" to learn more now than ever when I was a kid. I thirst for science and after having been told a ton of history this trip I am reading more about it myself. Heck I even bought a cheapy book called "the history of England" it is kind of the "coles notes" of history. A simple, paired down version of the history.

We are never to old to learn.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Thu May 25, 2006 1:59 am

Rapunzel wrote: Lol! So is that why Spot gave you the Enoch Powell "Rivers of Blood" speech and I talked to you about the Magna Carta! I wondered how we ended up on that subject, but I have just realised that both subjects are related as they are both about excess immigration! Enoch Powell said it should be slowed in 1968, but the Magna Carta is the reason we apparently cannot stop the influx! Even though the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 and is no longer applicable, IMO, yet 'tradition' states that we must abide by it!

Wow! Weeder! I've learnt something today! Thanks.

http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/powell_press.htm

It's nothing new

http://www.beaco.org/index_files/roots_branches5.htm

Elizabeth the first used to complain about the number of black people in England though probably most of them weren't too thrilled to be there either. If it wasn't coloured people it was Irish, Italians, jews, poles, huguenots, immigration has always been the norm in the UK and we've benefited greatly from it.

posted by weeder

It began a few months ago upon discovering how little I knew about history.

I always thought I was pretty smart. Had a good handle on psychology, sociology,music,art,and literature. Discovering how little I knew about history, made me feel that there is a huge hole in my understanding of the world. How the heck can I catch up? If I start spending all my time reading,I wont have much time to live. And I dont have many years left.

Ill never catch up. I feel like a blithering idiot incapable of holding a conversation with those more well informed. I cant go on living like this......

Just read anything that catches your interest and that will lead on to other things. Real life is always stranger and more fascinating than anything you will find in fiction. Never too old to learn something new.

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:47 am

gmc wrote:

Just read anything that catches your interest and that will lead on to other things. Real life is always stranger and more fascinating than anything you will find in fiction. Never too old to learn something new.

This is SO true!

There was a fascinating programme on TV last night about Star Trek, which showed how people tried to invent, in real life, the items used on the show.

Apparently, laser surgery, the computer, dvd players, ipods, mobile phones and many other things, came into being because someone saw them on Star Trek and was inspired to invent the real thing!

It IS fascinating how things come about and also how things which you think are new, have actually happened in some way before. Even down to the fashion industry! Fashionable clothes today were also fashionable in the '70s, yet in the '80s and '90s the clothes from the '70s were ridiculed by the media. Yet now they're fashionable again! It's totally bizarre!

Weeder, I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression about your knowledge of history. Why should you know any British history anyway? I don't know any American history! But we each know quite a lot of our own history because what is news today is history tomorrow.

gordonartist · Post by **gordonartist** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:56 am

Ah Foo didn't say this.

Lovely gardeners grow new friendships

Unscrupulous gardeners buy weeds

Take care.

Gordon.

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:42 am

Rapunzel wrote: This is SO true!

There was a fascinating programme on TV last night about Star Trek, which showed how people tried to invent, in real life, the items used on the show.

Apparently, laser surgery, the computer, dvd players, ipods, mobile phones and many other things, came into being because someone saw them on Star Trek and was inspired to invent the real thing!

It IS fascinating how things come about and also how things which you think are new, have actually happened in some way before. Even down to the fashion industry! Fashionable clothes today were also fashionable in the '70s, yet in the '80s and '90s the clothes from the '70s were ridiculed by the media. Yet now they're fashionable again! It's totally bizarre!

Weeder, I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression about your knowledge of history. Why should you know any British history anyway? I don't know any American history! But we each know quite a lot of our own history because what is news today is history tomorrow.You didnt give me the impression I was unknowledgeable... I realized it myself.

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:44 am

Here we go again.... I met a gorgeous man from Bermuda yesterday... I didnt know England owned Bermuda either.... And I didnt know that Barbados became independant of Great Britain... I know now!!! Fascinating

woppy71 · Post by **woppy71** » Thu May 25, 2006 7:56 pm

In my opinion, It's not so important to be worried about what knowledge you don't know, it's how you apply the knowledge you already have.

Marie5656 · Post by **Marie5656** » Thu May 25, 2006 8:07 pm

woppy71 wrote: In my opinion, It's not so important to be worried about what knowledge you don't know, it's how you apply the knowledge you already have.

I will have to agree with that thought.

Tigerlily · Post by **Tigerlily** » Fri May 26, 2006 12:07 am

Very true. People can be serious bores about stuff they know a lot about and like to let you know they know!!!

Part of the fun is in finding out anyway.

My old man occasionally looks up from whatever tome he's plodding through and accuses me of reading rubbish. But you find all sorts out from reading novels. Dick Francis, for example, used to set his hero as some sort of specific job, like a wine merchant, or a toy-maker, and really research it so the hero could use his skills to sort the baddies. Learned all sorts from his books.

pink princess · Post by **pink princess** » Fri May 26, 2006 1:56 am

id like to know more about politics and the world....

things like the pension crisis are all a bit of a blur to me

but im happy with what i know about everythign else.... i think!

Post by **spot** » Fri May 26, 2006 3:37 am

This general consensus toward novels and films as vehicles for learning is right, I think. It's as well to check an opinion or two about whether it's at all accurate - anything about King Arthur on film is really going to be out of bounds, for example. But the Thomas More film, definitely.

If you have a public library, you may find their history section packed with VHS and DVD copies of BBC documentaries and dramas. I'd recommend those as well. The dramas centred on the Tudors are extensive and teach a lot while they entertain. They often have Brian Blessed in them too, just to amuse the ladies.

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Fri May 26, 2006 3:56 am

YOu can't learn everything at once....decide what you want to learn and make that a 'specialist subject'...if it's History, who's history do you want to know about ? USA, UK, europe, oriental. a specific era like the Victorians, Edwardians...The Industrial revolution, Agricultural revolution..... spots ideas are good....films, documentary videos, childrens encyclopedias, Internet.....there are so many 'mediums' for learning stuff now and the more you learn the more your brain is exercised...important at my age

Post by **spot** » Fri May 26, 2006 4:02 am

You're right about finding an area to focus on, Bez. I have never managed to find a way to get to grips with the 18th century, and I feel very frustrated about that.

minks · Post by **minks** » Fri May 26, 2006 8:27 am

spot wrote: You're right about finding an area to focus on, Bez. I have never managed to find a way to get to grips with the 18th century, and I feel very frustrated about that.

Noooooooooo I don't believe that for a second, not you, I have boasted all over the place about the walking wealth of knowledge that you are.....

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Fri May 26, 2006 1:27 pm

Weeder, my sister is one of the most intellectual people I know. She breezed through school without even trying, she takes courses that are totally foreign to me, usually just taking the final and testing out of the course, has an IQ that is about 14 points above genius.

She is also one of the most introverted, bottled-up, lacking in common sense people that I know. I love her dearly, of course, but there are times when I want to whallop her upside the head.

Book smarts is one thing. I don't have a whole lot of that, myself. You have something I find to be much more valuable: wisdom. You share yourself here, all your trials and your triumphs, your words of encouragement to people that come here looking for advice and help, hell, you've sent me so many encouraging and uplifting PM's that I created a folder just to keep those in. I go back and read them when I'm feeling particularly low. It always cheers me to read your kind words. You've been through fire and come out on the other side a strong, independent woman, and you share that with all of us. To me, that is way more valuable than any knowledge you could gain by studying. What you have, people don't get by studying. They get it by living, over-coming, conquering, and sharing. And having a heart the size of the moon helps, too. Way more important, in my opinion, than anything you can learn in a book.

Your biggest fan,

Criss :-4 :-4

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Fri May 26, 2006 2:23 pm

Dear Criss... Our lives are so parallell.... its frightening. My baby sister, 10 years younger than me... is brilliantly smart. Shes an attorney in New York. She makes so many faux pas's in social situations .. Im afraid to take her out to dinner with me and friends,,, So Believe me.... I get the picture. PS.. Obviously.. financially her life is WAY different than mine. She would never offer to loan me 5 cents... and I would never ask her...

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Fri May 26, 2006 2:25 pm

weeder wrote: Dear Criss... Our lives are so parallell.... its frightening. My baby sister, 10 years younger than me... is brilliantly smart. Shes an attorney in New York. She makes so many faux pas's in social situations .. Im afraid to take her out to dinner with me and friends,,, So Believe me.... I get the picture. PS.. Obviously.. financially her life is WAY different than mine. She would never offer to loan me 5 cents... and I would never ask her...
OH MY GOD!!!!!! I cannot STAND being in public with my sister!!! She has NO clue whatsoever. How very eerie.... :yh_ooooo

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Fri May 26, 2006 2:44 pm

My sister has caused me some real problems with her mouth. She doesnt have a clue. She wouldnt intentionally hurt a fly..... she never understands why people get pissed off at her. Duh????

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Fri May 26, 2006 2:46 pm

What are you doing home on Friday night? Night off? Im debating.. go out or go to bed at 8am.. Bed will probably win.. And I wonder why I never meet any one.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Fri May 26, 2006 3:05 pm

weeder wrote: What are you doing home on Friday night? Night off? Im debating.. go out or go to bed at 8am.. Bed will probably win.. And I wonder why I never meet any one.
Are you asking me? If so, I don't go in till 7 on Fridays. I spend up until the last minute here at FG before I go to work. It's my pre-working therapy.

minks · Post by **minks** » Fri May 26, 2006 3:08 pm

BabyRider wrote: Are you asking me? If so, I don't go in till 7 on Fridays. I spend up until the last minute here at FG before I go to work. It's my pre-working therapy.

need a shoulder rub before ya head to the trenches? hehehehehehehe

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Fri May 26, 2006 3:09 pm

Pinky wrote: You have to have that to go with a chilled head on.

So, SO true, Pinks. :-5