Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It

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Thorndike himself is quite intolerant of these magicians, and sees what they were saying as crazy and completely unsupportable. But nevertheless this was an early effort to try to be sympathetic to what in previous times had just seemed like pure superstition – the idea that there were magical forces.

One day I saw Ron Howard walking by. Ron was already famous and successful from his years acting on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, but he was trying to make the leap to directing. As he was walking by, I thought, I’m going to meet Ron Howard tomorrow. The problem for this tradition of magic is that all of the stuff in it which was of any value – ideas of occult forces that fed into, for example, Newton’s conception of gravity or early studies of magnetism – eventually became assimilated into science. What was left was the folk traditions that have always existed, that really are pure superstition. So if you talk about the occult now, it is clearly discredited. Any value in that kind of thinking had long since transferred itself onto science, and we’re just left with the residue. But there’s a continuity between those early ideas about magic which goes through Rosicrucianism and eventually comes out in Mormonism in the United States. First, my life had just changed forever. When I reported for work as a legal clerk that Monday, they gave me a windowless office the size of a small closet. At that moment, I had found my life’s work. From that tiny office, I joined the world of show business. I never again worked at anything else. Forage like a fox hog. “T-shaped knowledge” deep skills in a specialty (vertical axis of the T) and a broad understanding of other disciplines (horizontal axis, big ideas).In one of many unexpected outcomes of 2020, “the science” has become big news. Politicians are claiming it, protesters are disputing it, and all of a sudden everyone is an expert on superspreader events, RNA vaccines and what happens at the bottom of an Excel spreadsheet. It’s hard to know who to trust, and it’s more important than ever that the public has a basic understanding of what “science” says, so we are less likely to be deceived. Fortunately, a number of excellent writers are here to make it accessible, absorbing and staggeringly informative. I met with him on Friday at 3 p.m. He hired me at 3:15. And I started work at Warner Bros. the next Monday. I met with Carlos Slim, the Mexican businessman who is the richest man in the world. 18 How does the richest man in the world live every day? I wanted to know what it takes to be that kind of businessman, to be so driven and determined that you win bigger than anyone else. The new office changed everything. Just like when you wear the right clothes for the occasion—when you wear a suit, you feel more confident and grown up—going to work in that real office changed my perspective. All of a sudden I felt like I had my own piece of real estate, my own franchise.

I also realized that curiosity had saved my ass that Thursday afternoon. I’ve been curious as long as I can remember. As a boy, I peppered my mother and my grandmother with questions, some of which they could answer, some of which they couldn’t. While some educational theorists have argued that filling children with facts stifles creativity (it's the basic message of TED Talks' most popular video, by Sir Ken Robinson), neuroscience has demonstrated that true creativity depends on being able to make novel associations among many different facts and concepts, and that a knowledge-based education is critical for that. Children’s books are an absolute gift for curious minds. They stretch across everything from nature and the stars to extraordinary people and movements in history, all kinds of life skills, and…look, I’m never going to be able to write an exhaustible list! You can find a book on every topic under the sun (especially if you have a LIBRARIAN to help you find it - there’s a reason why I dedicated this book to librarians). And if there’s something that hasn’t been written yet, you could bet your last biscuit there’s a writer out there working on it. The range of books is something I was always amazed by as a child stepping into a library. I still feel that way today when I think about what’s out there. No one today ever says anything bad about curiosity, directly. But if you pay attention, curiosity isn’t really celebrated and cultivated, it isn’t protected and encouraged. It’s not just that curiosity is inconvenient. Curiosity can be dangerous. Curiosity isn’t just impertinent, it’s insurgent. It’s revolutionary. The author traverses the topic through research and many stories and examples. He discusses the impact of modern digital technology on curiosity and presents a very strong argument for the importance of knowledge and knowledge-based education in supporting and cultivating curiosity. My only complaint is that I felt it was light on content and wish it delved deeper into the topics discussed.⁣

CURIOSITY DISCUSSION STARTERS

I think it means that we can ask any question. That there is no reason why trying to understand the minutiae of a gnat’s leg is out of bounds. It’s not necessarily too trivial. Some of the people who supported the rise of curiosity in the late 16th and early 17th centuries made the point that scientists still make today – that you never know where something is going to lead when you start asking questions. It’s small questions that have led to some of the biggest discoveries.

I didn’t quite realize it at that time, but two incredible things happened that day in the summer of 1974. I was intrigued by the concept of an evolutionary origin driving human curiosity. Compared to other animals, it appears that humans possess a unique biological urge to be curious, to venture into the unknown. Some might say then that curiosity is a key trait of humanity: to be curious is to be human. Just as curiosity had gotten me the job, it also transformed the job itself into something wonderful. Curiosity is a book that is both entertaining and informative. Written with a passion and pace that will keep the reader both entertained and engaged throughout. If you ever wondered why you know longer wonder, if you think you have it all figured out but can’t shake that sneaky feeling that perhaps you don’t or if you are just fed up with being told that it is not your job to ask questions this book is worthy of a gander. I already explained that first step, insisting on meeting everyone whose legal contracts I delivered. I took two things from my success with that. First, people—even famous and powerful people—are happy to talk, especially about themselves and their work; and second, it helps to have even a small pretext to talk to them.

Stoufer also recommends encouraging your child to read books that relate to their grandparents' era and even from when you were a kid. “Children are naturally curious about what life was like for their parents and grandparents,” says Stoufer. “They love to hear those history stories and about the things that were around or not around during those times.”