Currently Reading

Right now I'm reading a book called The Prodigy by Amy Wallace.

It's a book about William James Sidis, a child prodigy.  It was estimated that his IQ was 50-100 points higher than Albert Einstein's.

Get this.  He started to talk at six months old.

By three years old he was typing and had taught himself Latin. . . he taught himself Latin to surprise his father, Boris, on Boris' birthday.

At five years old he wrote a treatise on anatomy.

By age six he spoke at least seven languages fluently.

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That's mostly from the summary on the book, I just reworded it.  The summary also talks about him entering Harvard at eleven years old and graduating at sixteen years old.  I haven't gotten to that part yet.  Also, he rebelled against all this (his fame and intellect) and it sounds like the rest of his life is pretty depressing, but I don't know how yet, so if you know the ending, don't spoil it for me!
 
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I find it interesting how sometimes incredibly smart people seem to lack common sense.  Y'know?  Like, Billy's father, Boris, seemed to lack common sense and real life skills.  His mom was smart too, but she knew how to live in this world. . .  I wonder what would've happened to Boris had he not married?

I just googled something about geniuses and common sense and a bunch of different articles popped up.  I guess I'm not that only one that feels that way. :-)

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Tonight I went to a presentation from Invisible Children.  It was very good.  It makes me want to learn more about the LRA and African History.  Gahhh.  There's so much I want to learn!  How will I ever be able to keep up with it?!  My list is getting larger, not smaller.

Here are some of the things I want to learn about:
 
Stuttering (why it happens, how to interact with people who stutter, what treatment is, why some people snap out of it, and more)
Psychology (how drugs affect the brain, genetics, chemical imbalances, struggles among kids, PTSD, abuse, incest, personality disorders, schizophrenia, DID, bipolar, pregancy, diet... and almost a million other things. . . well, I haven't counted, but it probably close to almost a million)
Space (as in the universe, and everything in it... pretty broad, I know)
Food (which foods are in season when, where they originate, what benefits they have, how to cook them, what makes a plant "organic, which spices go with which foods, what certain spices come from... and more)
Languages
Cars (I know almost nothing about them.  I just want to study and engine and know the different parts and what each one does)
Mechanics/electronics (why do they work the way they do?  how come computer programming makes a computer work the way it does?  why do certain circuits and setups make what they do?  how did they figure out how to do it?  WHY/HOW does a spark plug work (not just the theory, but what makes the theory work?)  why does a radio work?  how does an alternator work?  not just WHAT they do, but WHY and HOW they do.)
Harmful effects of nonstick surfaces
African history (ALL of it, yes. . . every region)

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Anyway, you get the point.  There's lots of things I want to learn about.  There's things I forgot to put down, seeing as I'm writing this kind of spontaneously.  I should add to it and cross things off of it.

I have been learning recently though!

For example, I read a book about incest, so I can say I've partially completed my goal for that.  I want to read more though, I didn't learn enough.

I've also been learning other stuff about psychology.

I've learned about food too. . . like I learned what paprika is.  I thought it must be some cool little plant that I've never heard of. . . but no, it's just ground up red peppers (bell and chili).  Never would've guessed in a million years!  I love paprika.

Also, due to a conversation I had with my sister, Andrea, I discovered that what the majority of Americans call cinnamon is NOT cinnamon.  It's Cassia, which is still in the family.  True cinnamon, or Ceylon Cinnamon is used in the Middle East and in South America.  They're similar, but different, but packaged and labeled the same thing in the USA.  I bought some Ceylon Cinnamon from the store and it's delicious.  It has a sweeter, less bitter taste than Cassia does.  They're both scrumptious though, in my opinion.

Cinnamon is flaky and light color and looks like a cigar... cassia is dark color, brittle, and looks like a scroll.

Also, Cassia has a higher concentration of coumarin, which thins blood.  This caused Germany to ban the importing of Cassia.

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Who would've know?

I love learning. :-)