How to develop erudition in a child, but at the same time not turn him into a nerd and a botanist? How to increase intelligence and erudition Maintain friendship with smart and educated people

Reading books is not only interesting, but also useful, because it contributes to development. But some books deserve special attention, as they help to noticeably improve intellectual abilities.

Top 10 best books to improve erudition:

1. "", Bill Bryson. This is a popular science work that covers the most popular areas of science in an accessible style for everyone. This is the most unusual encyclopedia, which, by the way, was awarded a prize for its contribution to the development of world science. In the UK and America, it has already become a real bestseller. According to the author himself, he wanted to write a simple book about complex things, and also to prove to all readers that knowledge can be gained in an interesting and easy way. The "Brief History of Almost Everything" deals with such issues as the origin and development of the Universe, the potential and development of civilization, the nature of modern people, the origin of the planet, the probability of a collision of the Earth with meteorites, as well as the most important discoveries of mankind.
2. "", Stanislav Muller. The author of this book and a Russian practicing psychologist believes that anyone can actually become a genius. But it's all about learning speed. If one person takes only a few minutes to master a skill, then another will have to work for hours. And such differences are associated with the degree of inclusion of the brain. So, if he works only at 3-5%, like all ordinary people, then the learning ability will be average. If more cells are involved, then the abilities are noticeably improved. For example, in very talented people, the brain works at 10%. But how to activate such cells? How to “pump” your brain and become a real genius? Special technologies for managing thinking processes will help in this. According to Stanislav Müller, it will help launch the so-called “superlearning state”, and for everyone without exception.
3. "Teach Yourself to Think: A Self-help Guide to Developing Thinking" by Edward de Bongo. According to the author, the human brain is a unique memory machine. But it can be turned into a more efficient mechanism of thinking. This book can be considered as a practical guide. Edward de Bongo proposed a ready-made working technology for improving the brain. It consists of five main steps. First you need to set a goal, then you need to analyze the situation, find means to achieve the goal and identify factors that can interfere. Next, you need to find solutions to problems and choose the best one. And then you can safely begin to act.
4. "", John Mitchinson, John Lloyd. The modern world is filled with a variety of literature, but most of it is simply useless. Many facts are wrong, and knowledge can be relative. And only Socrates was right when he claimed that he knew that he knew nothing. Modern people are often mistaken, but often afraid to admit it. It is worth reading The Book of General Fallacies, if only because it is incredibly interesting and at the same time easy. In addition, readers will be able to reduce their ignorance a little. There are 230 questions in the book, many of which were included in IQ tests. It also provides answers to them and detailed explanations of why everything is the way it is, and not otherwise.
5. « ", Mick O'Hair. There are questions that are of interest to almost everyone, but at the same time they baffle teachers, parents and even scientists. For example, why don't birds fall off branches when they fall asleep on them? Will bears be able to survive if they are relocated to Antarctica? Does bumblebee flight actually defy the laws of physics? Why is the sky so blue on clear days? Readers will find many of the most interesting discoveries, including answers to all of these questions, as well as the refutation of the most common myths.
6. "Why Elephants Can't Jump and 113 More Questions That Will Baffle Any Scientist" by Mick O'Hair. This book is a continuation of the previous one. The author of the book is the editor-in-chief of the popular scientific journal New Scientist, so he knows the answers to the most difficult questions. In his book, he will consider the most unusual of them (all of them, by the way, were sent by readers of the magazine). He will tell you why men need nipples, why facial expressions change so much when drinking bitter or sour, what the legendary phrase “Mix, but do not shake” means, what is the amount of human memory, at what maximum height butterflies can fly and so on. Such interesting information will definitely help you become smarter and more educated and increase your erudition.
7. "Why Bears Don't Run Downhill and 200 More Fascinating Facts to Explain" by Robert Enwood. According to the legend, the author of the book eavesdropped on the conversations of ordinary people in English pubs and tried to confirm or refute the most popular beliefs and statements. In his book, he will tell why dogs should not be fed chocolate, why a person becomes two centimeters lower at the end of the day, which fruits contain the most vitamins, can guinea pigs sweat, and can a swan break a person’s arm. The questions are funny and sometimes ridiculous, but the answers to some of them may surprise you. And, of course, you can show off your mind in any company.
8. "Why a panda stands on its head and other interesting stories" by Augustus Brown. The animal world is unique, amazing and deserves special attention. And to learn a little more about him will be very useful for erudition, because our smaller brothers have a lot to learn. And people often behave like animals, while even enjoying their wildness and passion. Representatives of the fauna are characterized by human feelings and even habits. They argue with previous generations, throw parties, play mafia and even have a penchant for homosexuality. The author writes about all this very easily and even with sarcasm and American humor.
9. "", Steven Juan. What could be more interesting, more useful and more informative than the study of one's own body and the functioning of the human body? This whole complex mechanism is a complete mystery with many processes occurring in it. And the essence of this machine is quite possible to disassemble. The author will tell you how a person is born and dies, what is the chance of getting sick in a critical situation, what is the probability of certain accidents. Moreover, Stephen Juan answers the most important questions easily and with humor.
10. "Who eats bees? 101 Answers to Seemingly Stupid Questions by Mick O'Hair. This author continues to collect the most unusual questions, and the answers to them are becoming more and more popular. And all of them concern the most different spheres of life which concern various spheres. The author will answer all of them, and easily and even charismatically. He will find out why tea changes color after adding lemon, why a cat may not even get injured if it falls from the tenth floor. Interesting? Then read the book and get enlightened!

These were the most useful books for the brain.

If you have already watched the movie "Divergents" and thought about which of the social groups of this society you would like to join, and if you understand that your preferences are clearly on the side of the erudite, then here are some tips on how to develop erudition and where to start.

The very first steps

First of all, you should decide what type of erudition suits you best? There are two types of awareness and, accordingly, two strategies for developing one's erudition:

1. Strategy "A lot about everything";
2. Strategy "All about one".

In the first case, the future erudite collects knowledge from various fields of science, art, sports, culture and about the world as a whole. The difference and advantage of this way of knowing the world is that the erudite is ready to answer a variety of questions. These are the people who draw attention to themselves. And the disadvantage lies in the superficiality of this knowledge. This is the case when the breadth of knowledge is there, but there is no depth.

Who would a sick person prefer to turn to to cure a tooth and get rid of toothache: to someone who knows everything about medicine, or to a dentist whose knowledge is limited only by the ability to cure a tooth perfectly?

By the way, the second strategy for the development of erudition is to accumulate knowledge, which, although limited to one area, is so deep that few dare to compete with their carrier in awareness. However, it needs to be noted here that there is a significant difference between the "Much About Everything" strategy and narrow specialization.

Compare:

• family doctor and optometrist,
• interior designer and carpet artist,
• physicist and electrical engineer,
• historian and history teacher.

It is easy to see that in all these pairs, the first is a profession that requires much more extensive knowledge than the second. Deep immersion in one, but very narrow area is welcome in the world of professions, but this is not only erudition.

Strategy "A lot about everything"

The development of erudition with the help of this strategy suits people who are inquisitive, even rather curious. Such a person has an insatiable need to seek out new knowledge for himself. Therefore, the very first thing to learn when implementing this strategy is the ability to ask questions. The very first scholars were, of course, the ancient Greeks. It was they who sought to organize the process of knowing the world and direct their minds along the path of revealing the essence of things.

Back in 325 BC, in his book Second Analytics, Aristotle brought out three theses that remain uncontested to this day:

• our knowledge is made up of the answers to our questions;
• how many kinds of things there are in the world, so many kinds of questions can we put;
• knowledge is based on four basic questions - “what”, “why”, “is there”, “what is”.

Well, our contemporary Boris Pasternak, albeit on a different occasion, said: “But we are still looking for the right answer, and we don’t find the right question.”

So, Rule #1 of the Many About Everything Strategy: Create a piggy bank of your own questions.

For this:

Come up with, develop, or borrow a ready-made plan, following which you will master new knowledge for yourself. For example, you can take the advice of another erudite - the ancient Roman orator Cicero. He used a chain of questions to describe a situation or event. There she is:

• who (subject);
• what(object);
• than (means);
• why, why (purpose, reason);
• how (way);
• when (time);
• where (place).

Come up with, develop or borrow a ready-made typology of questions that will help you identify new knowledge in a targeted way. Returning to the "Second Analytics", you can use the advice of Aristotle and divide the questions into:

• questions of existence (is it possible for such a thing or phenomenon to exist?);
• questions of possession of qualities (what qualities, properties, characteristics can a given thing, or event, or phenomenon have?);
• questions of belonging (does the subject have a certain quality or property?);
• questions of causality (what reason underlies phenomena and processes?).

Rule 2: Memorize quotes from smart people. Quoting is, in general, a demonstration of the culture of the mind, and not just a requirement for scientists, the violation of which is severely punished by accusations of incorrect borrowing. A well-timed and appropriately selected quote will perform three useful functions for you:

• will help to defend one's position in the discussion (as a rule, one does not argue with great people);
• will allow you to better understand the principles and patterns (serious quotes can be called quintessence, "squeeze", knowledge expressed in an extremely concentrated form);
• finally, it will show that you are on the right track to have your interlocutors recognize you as an erudite (your citation will serve as a reliable confirmation for others that you are reading serious literature).

Needless to say, memorizing words from collections of aphorisms with a title like “Wise thoughts of all ages and peoples” will not make you an erudite? An erudite memorizes quotes from their primary sources - books that he personally read.

With Wikium, you can increase your erudition by studying online

Rule 3: Memorize historical dates. An erudite is one who easily and confidently places historical events, the year of an important scientific discovery or the creation of a masterpiece on a conditional timeline. It will not be difficult for him to explain that Firdousi wrote his poem "Shahnameh" 300 years before Dante's "Divine Comedy" appeared, and Shakespeare began to create 300 years after Dante Alighieri.

Knowledge of historical dates not only structures the past and helps to arrange historically important events in chronological order, but also helps to build a systemic picture of the world from the past to the present. And then the question "Did Suvorov participate in the First World War?" will make you laugh outright.

Strategy "All about one"

How to increase erudition where to start if your choice fell on this particular strategy?

First of all, choose for yourself the space of knowledge in which you intend to seriously delve into and thoroughly master. And here you find yourself "between Scylla and Charybdis", in other words, between two dangers.

The first threat is too wide a field. When someone in all seriousness claims that he knows all philosophy, all history, all literature, this causes quite justified distrust. Another thing is when you have a specialist in the field:

• Ancient Greece, i.e. connoisseur of its language, history, literature, sciences, philosophies, culture and religion;
• pediatrics, i.e. a specialist who has thoroughly studied childhood illnesses, psychophysiological development, norms and pathologies, normative documents on children's health, features of childhood illnesses in different countries and at different periods of history, Latin, finally;
• automotive industry, i.e. a techie who understands engineering issues, development history, current state, development trends, future prospects.

In this case, we recognize that we have a person who is deeply erudite in a certain area of ​​human knowledge, a carrier of serious systemic and systematized knowledge, an expert on a variety of issues in his field of competence.

Rule 1 in the implementation of the "All About One" Strategy: clearly define your area of ​​​​competence.

No wonder they say that there is nothing more important for an intelligent person than to understand where his competence ends and where he can admit with a clear conscience: “Unfortunately, I am not competent enough in this matter.”

The second threat lurks in the exact opposite position: Excessive deepening into one narrow question.

Hence follows Rule 2: Differentiate your areas of competence according to the depth of your knowledge.

To determine this, draw three concentric circles:

• the first is what constitutes the core of your knowledge;
• the second is that which is a derivative in the same way that in mathematics Y is a function of X;
• the third is something that is already derived from Y, now it acts as an argument and sets the subject area of ​​​​your knowledge.

Do not rush to identify these zones. To begin with, consider several options, but even earlier you will have to generate these options. Take it as a challenge, even as a game to train your intellect. Prepare stickers in three colors and decide which color will define this or that zone for you. For example, on blue sticky notes you will write ideas about the core knowledge, on yellow sticky notes about Y, and on green sticky notes about the third area.

As you get an idea of ​​what knowledge you intend to master, take notes on the advising stickers. Let them hang everywhere in front of your eyes - on a computer monitor or even on a refrigerator. Looking at them, by association you will determine for yourself more and more different directions of knowledge. After a couple of weeks, evaluate the result obtained in this way. You should get an individual plan for the development of your erudition.

What's next? — Strategy "T-specialist"

Now it's time to admit that in addition to the "all about one" and "many about everything" strategies, there is a third strategy that combines them. This strategy is called the "T-specialist".

The letter "T" is used here not to denote any word, but to represent the essence of the strategy. The crossbar in this letter means "a lot about a lot", and the "leg" of the "T" means "all about one."

The “T-specialist” strategy contains the idea of ​​endless possibilities for individual cognitive development of a person. But this is a topic for another conversation.

Intelligence is the general level of all human cognitive abilities. Its indicators are learning ability, and the degree of development of analytical abilities and imagination, and the quality of various types of memory.

The level of general erudition is directly related to the level of intelligence development, since only a person who is able to effectively assimilate and process new information, memorize for a long time and, importantly, be able to use this information later, can become erudite.

After all, one can hardly call an erudite a person whose knowledge is extensive and versatile, but at the same time unsystematic, not ordered.

This section contains materials on theories related to human intelligence and erudition, tests to determine the level of intelligence, exercises to test your erudition, recommendations for their development.

In 2015, an experiment was conducted where the subjects tried to determine the IQ level of a person from a photograph. If in the situation with the guys everything was clear: for the most part, people guessed it correctly, then in the case of the girls, everything is not so simple. Most attributed higher intelligence to pretty girls, and underestimated the “simple” ones. The result was amazing.

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The rhythm of modern life is becoming so fast day by day that the most important and valuable skill of every person is the ability to competently and rationally allocate time. Everyone can do this, but not everyone can boast of the absence of "hands on work" at work and "blockages" at home. And if it seems that 24 hours fly by like one moment, and the work does not ...

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The intellect of the future is knowledge and creativity in human life. Modern scientific research, forecasts of scientists, ways of development (reading books, trainings, courses, independent research of problems and much more) and the importance of intelligence in people's lives. Possibility to download thematic presentations.

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Always pay attention to what you read. It is one thing to read articles from the Internet, and another thing to read serious fiction. Before talking about the concept of "serious literature" we must define its concept. It is understood not as boulevard novels, but when it is based on philosophy, psychology, history, when it expands the horizons of readers and is necessarily written in good language. Only these three conditions are called upon to call the book serious fiction. An additional advantage is that such reading will favorably affect your oral and written speech, and this, in turn, will help develop the ability to express your thoughts harmoniously and correctly. Second, he studies scientific literature.

Understand what you are reading. Books that help you understand the world around you develop intuition and erudition, curiosity and a desire to learn more. Explore the world not only around you, but also your inner world. Philosophy is the science of human life. Read more philosophical literature, literature on psychology.

Think and analyze more. A very effective tool - after reading a book and seeing that you are interested in some aspect, write an essay or note on this topic. Share your knowledge with friends and colleagues, discuss. Discussions help and promote the ability to draw critical conclusions based on facts, as well as develop memory and logic. It is desirable that your interlocutor has a clear understanding of the subject of the conversation.

Try not to be limited to a narrow circle of interests. Broad knowledge in various fields testifies to the high intellectual and spiritual development of the individual.

Train your mind more often, study foreign languages, compose poetry, listen to classical music.

But we should not forget that there is no limit to perfection. If you have learned something new, it does not mean that you have become smarter. Get in the habit of thinking about new information. Be sure to put your knowledge into practice, share your impressions with people. Spend your time usefully, get the latest news, play useful board games, take part in discussions, you will feel more knowledgeable and self-confident. The desire for self-improvement will surely open new horizons for you.

There is one simple example of how to develop erudition. The bottom line is this: for example, you are sitting in your room. You are surrounded by some objects (TV, chest of drawers, bed, table, flowers, computer, cell phone). Try to tell about each item, who created it and when it appeared. Start, for example. from your clothes: find out where jeans came from and why they have a small pocket. If you learn about 10 things a day, then in a year you will learn about 3650 concepts. And remembering them is not so difficult. The main desire.

There are many ways to improve your erudition, but the surest way is to read a variety of books on history, philosophy, psychology, scientific and fiction.

Do we need erudition? Around the answer to this question, disputes and discussions do not subside today.

One side of the participants is sure that erudition is something like an eccentric hobby, which can be conditionally called “I want to know everything!”. Those who have fallen into the arms of this hobby strive to constantly expand the horizons of their knowledge and, like true bibliophages, indiscriminately “devour” all the books that come to their hand. Someone collects badges or stamps, while erudite hunt for new knowledge and are endlessly looking for new ways to increase erudition.

So, the answer of the first group to the question of whether erudition is needed is rather negative. They consider erudite people to be just carriers of redundant knowledge, and not at all smart people capable of generating new things, making scientific discoveries and providing technological breakthroughs.

The second group responds to their opponents with the well-known phrase " If you don't like education, then try ignorance!". And they give a lot of examples when ignorance really costs prohibitively:

• a doctor who failed to make the necessary diagnosis in a timely manner,
• a history or literature teacher whose knowledge is limited to a school textbook,
• a lawyer with little knowledge of the law,
• psychologist making diagnoses “over the phone”…

Behind each such case is often not only a lack of professionalism, but also a low level of general education, leading to an inability to critically assess the situation and select adequate tools for analysis and correction.

Actually, erudition in the original sense of the word meant " beyond ignorance or rudeness» (ex-ruide). In other words, the possession of such a breadth of knowledge that does not allow primitive and naive explanations of the structure of the world. So, it contributes to the development of a special mindset!

An erudite has a critical view of the world

Increasing erudition leads to the expansion of knowledge in a variety of areas and scientific disciplines, which in itself is already useful for any person focused on mental development and personal growth. But there is another unique consequence of developed erudition: the collection of knowledge from different sources allows them to be compared with each other, compared and critically evaluated.

Today, such a critical view of the world is more useful than ever. The flurry of information that falls upon us every day gradually makes us indulgent to its deceit. We do not have time to check it and "swallow", suppressing doubts about its reliability.

Erudite individuals evaluate information quite differently. For example, comparing how the same fact (for example, a historical event) is described in different sources, they easily detect inconsistencies and contradictions. So their "excessive" knowledge of history helps them to discard in a timely manner the information that is written with insufficient scientific conscientiousness.

Scholars look at the elephant from different angles

In the science center of Bonn, inside the park area, there is a sculpture that symbolizes scientific objectivity - an elephant, which is felt from different sides by 4 blind men. One touches the elephant's leg, the second touches the trunk, the third touches the tail, and the fourth runs his hand over the elephant's body. This sculpture is an illustration of the famous parable about the argument of four blind men about what an elephant looks like, where each of them repeated about what he touched:

« The elephant is a wide pole!»

"FROM lon is a thick flexible hose!»

« The elephant is a little rope!»

« The elephant is a rough wall!»

And only if you put all four images together, you can understand what an elephant is. And it is the erudites who do it better than others.

Or another example. How do you answer the question about consciousness. If you do not use this term as a professional, then most likely you will simply say that this is a difference between a person and an animal. You may be using words like " thinking», « understanding" and " awareness”, as close in meaning or even synonyms.

But professionals will answer the same question in different ways. The philosopher will note that consciousness can be public and private. The doctor will say that you can lose consciousness or be in an unconscious state. The lawyer will point out that it is important to consider whether the suspect has reached the age of consciousness. The psychologist will connect the conscious and the unconscious.

An erudite, as a rule, is able to consider the category of consciousness from all these points of view..

With Wikium you can increase your erudition online"

How to increase general erudition

So, if you set yourself such a goal, then take into account the following recommendations.

1. Learn and learn new words

At school and college, almost every day you learned new terms, got acquainted with scientific concepts and categories, considered them in the context of a particular theory or technology. Along with the end of the training, the flow of new word-symbols into your consciousness also stopped. You stay in the same semiotic space all the time, not giving your brain a reason to form new neural connections, and therefore to develop your intellect.

By themselves, learned new words do not automatically make a person an erudite, but after all, a whole chain of their family ties stretches behind the new concept. These connections restructure your ideas about the world. The more such connections, the more actively the cognitive simplicity of thinking is replaced by cognitive complexity.

What specific actions are behind this advice:

• Set yourself the task of learning and memorizing 3 new words every week.. And not just memorize, but use them in your oral and written speech.
• Look for and assimilate words that mean different actions in different areas of knowledge such as building renovation and event renovation. When you come across an unfamiliar word, take your time to look up its meaning in the dictionary. First, try to understand for yourself what it means, and only then check the correctness of your reasoning or guesses.
• Read technical and scientific literature and strive not only to understand what this or that new term means, but also what other concepts and categories it is associated with.

1. Expand your thesaurus

Thesaurus is your individual vocabulary. It can be increased through the practice of using synonyms in your speech. Synonyms are called words that are different in sound, but the same in meaning (examples: discover and find, explore and study). Using synonyms, you can diversify your speech.

In addition, synonyms often mean the same thing only for an unprepared person, and an erudite will easily explain the difference to you, for example, between:

• rock and mountain
• typhoon and tsunami
• meaning and significance.

1. Read analytical articles and critical reviews

Such a reading will allow you to compare your idea of ​​​​an issue with the comments of competent specialists.

As a result, you will get three points of view:

• stated in the original
• an expert in this field,
• your own.

Critical reviews are especially useful, which will help you see the vulnerabilities in the logic of the author of the analyzed work, and compare the two points of view yourself. Such an activity turns reading from passive consumption of information into mental work, which is called comparative analysis.

1. Visit special sites to increase erudition

Of course, we are talking about sites designed for pros. There you will not only be able to expand your knowledge, but also train in order to develop the intellectual skills of an erudite:

• building an objective picture of the world,
• critical thinking,
• comparative analysis.

1. Write more than ordinary people

Start writing texts on a specific topic. But not everyday or popular, but scientific or philosophical and artistic. Written speech allows you to structure thoughts, puts them in a certain logic.

The written text is a reflection of your consciousness, so it will be easier for you to determine what you are strong enough and well versed in, and what is still your area of ​​proximal development.

1. Read as much as possible!

And let it be not just books with entertaining stories. Read descriptions of scientific experiments, philosophical reasoning, serious fiction.

No matter how various merry fellows tease erudite people, and no matter how snobs speak of them with disdain, erudite people always remain in demand both in a working environment and at moments of rest.

It is not for nothing that one of the most important roles in a management team or a project team is called an "expert" - a carrier of versatile knowledge, well-versed in a variety of areas and therefore able to suggest exactly where to look for answers to complex questions that stand in the way of a team goal.