We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.
~Dave Barry
I like Dave Barry, and I like this quote. I'm not a journalist, but I think this idea describes my knowledge base. Being well-read helps, I'm sure, as it gives you a bigger pool of background knowledge to pull all that useless knowledge from. As does playing trivia games or watching Jeopardy on TV. I've found that in areas that I'm interested in, I tend to do things to gain more information about that subject. I may read more books, talk to others about the topics, or watch documentaries about the topic. That being the case, I can probably say I do know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics....but I know very much about certain, random, odd areas of knowledge. For example - some of my deeper areas of knowledge include a random assortment of knowledge of:
Ancient Greek mythology - I've been a fan of these fun stories since elemntary school, and have studied them in school, painted an oil picture of one of the myths, dressed in costume, watched documentaries and movies on the topic, and general by now have forgotton most of the finer points of most of the stories.
Classical literature - this brings to mind a cultured educational background. Certainly in school I took some of the odd-ball classes like Greek Tragedy. And in my Humanities class we read the Aeneid (Roman epic poem), as well as the Illiad and the Oddyssey (Greek epic poems). But, also, I remember going through "the classics" reading lists in school, which included things like Jules Verne's sci-fi books (20,000 Leagues under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth come to mind), Call of the Wild, Little House on the Prairie, Frankenstein, The Three Musketeers, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, the Jungle Book, the Secret Garden, and many more that I can't even remember.
Robin Hood - I've read many different versions of this story, and stories adapted off of it, as well as seen many movies on this theme. My favorite - Robin Hood, Men in Tights.
Spanish culture - particularly Don Quixote, which we studied off and on for 3 years in Spanish class
Some Shakespeare - from constant exposure. Seems to be the rule in school that you had to hit another play each year in English class. Also, through school plays (watching, not acting in) I've seen several, and somehow I know the plots and main characters of many more. Enough that I was able to do fairly respectable in my at-home-guessing on today's Jeopardy character of Shakespeare's Women.
Maya, Aztec, & Inca civilizations - random knowledge from an elective class I took in college, added on to my 4 years of AP Spanish cultural stories.... Plus some extra info from life. Since I know about this, I do tend to gravitate towards the documentary shows on the History channel that discuss these cultures (from the end of the world prophesies -NOT- to basic historical culture).
Science - my knowledge tends towards life sciences, especially biological and geological. Way too many classroom hours on these topics, plus book, documentaries, and the like. I have much more knowledge in this area than your basica lay person.
And one to end on - Knitting - this seems to be an odd one for the modern women to be interested in. I spend much of my life being oblivious to knitting, although I've had exposure and experience in a variety of crafty endeavors all my life. In recent years knitting has become on interest of mine, and I've taken to it with a vengeance. Many many hours later, I can safely say I have a pretty deep background knowledge on how to knit, what a pattern means with all those abbreviations, what yarn is good versus cheap, and how to create some interesting handknit items.
So - enough about my oddball interests and deep pools of knowledge. What are some of your favorite things? Are you like Dave Barry and a generalist who has knowledge in many fields, or do you tend to specialize to become an expert consultant? Share your thoughts.
Missy Bree
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