For those who think they are up to the task of being an English Champion, not only do you need to have a solid grasp of nearly everything related to the field of English, but you also need to have a reasonable level of competency in most other fields as well. That’s why I’m offering tomorrow’s book review. I spend just as much of my time reading a variety of other content areas—psychology, sociology, economics, history, business, philosophy, theology—as I do specifically English-related topics. The reason for this need of a broad knowledge base is that English is the study of creative and rhetorical human communication in written, oral, or visual form. Humans have memories and beliefs; they live in diverse groups; they make rational and irrational decisions; they have connections to other locations and languages; and they have complex interpretations of the world around them. Therefore, in order to study rhetoric or literature or linguistics, you are going to have to be able to situate your understanding among other influential ideas. I know that sounds like a lot, but I told you on the first day that being an English Champion is not for the faint of heart.
However, I am going to ask you to expand your knowledge even further. This past December, after seeing the films Interstellar and The Theory of Everything, I was made very aware of my lack of understanding of the complexities of gravity, black holes, the big bang, and all things cosmological. So, I decided to tackle some material far outside of my usual range of study. Since I never had to take any advanced Physics, Mathematics, or Astronomy in school, I decided to read up on the fields those movies had just explored by diving into Stephen Hawking’s famous text, A Brief History of Time. The book has sold well over ten million copies since its first publication in 1988 and has the reputation of being popular for laypersons due to Hawking’s accessible prose. Over the course of about two weeks, I gave Dr. Hawking my best effort. I read and re-read his mathematical principles. I gathered new vocabulary about quarks and strings and light cones. I pondered his immense implications.
To be honest, I didn’t understand much of any of it. But it was the attempt that mattered. I didn’t shy away from the complicated material, and I will always carry with me a tiny sense of pride that I finished that brain-busting book. My challenge to you is this: over the next month, I dare you to read a book that is WAY outside of your comfort level and in a field in which you may have very little interest. If you are a musician, read a book on mechanical engineering. If you love biology, read a book on Renaissance paintings. If you are passionate about seventeenth-century South American history, read a book about digital entrepreneurship. Do something different, just this once. An English Champion is super-smart, and you don’t get that way by not being interested in learning new things.
Are you tough enough? Let me know how you will challenge yourself this month!
However, I am going to ask you to expand your knowledge even further. This past December, after seeing the films Interstellar and The Theory of Everything, I was made very aware of my lack of understanding of the complexities of gravity, black holes, the big bang, and all things cosmological. So, I decided to tackle some material far outside of my usual range of study. Since I never had to take any advanced Physics, Mathematics, or Astronomy in school, I decided to read up on the fields those movies had just explored by diving into Stephen Hawking’s famous text, A Brief History of Time. The book has sold well over ten million copies since its first publication in 1988 and has the reputation of being popular for laypersons due to Hawking’s accessible prose. Over the course of about two weeks, I gave Dr. Hawking my best effort. I read and re-read his mathematical principles. I gathered new vocabulary about quarks and strings and light cones. I pondered his immense implications.
To be honest, I didn’t understand much of any of it. But it was the attempt that mattered. I didn’t shy away from the complicated material, and I will always carry with me a tiny sense of pride that I finished that brain-busting book. My challenge to you is this: over the next month, I dare you to read a book that is WAY outside of your comfort level and in a field in which you may have very little interest. If you are a musician, read a book on mechanical engineering. If you love biology, read a book on Renaissance paintings. If you are passionate about seventeenth-century South American history, read a book about digital entrepreneurship. Do something different, just this once. An English Champion is super-smart, and you don’t get that way by not being interested in learning new things.
Are you tough enough? Let me know how you will challenge yourself this month!