Polymath: Master Multiple Disciplines, Learn New Skills, Think Flexibly, and Become Extraordinary Autodidact

about what has spurred them to develop a pi or comb shape instead of remaining as a simple T-shape.

other interests alive, too. She spends a lot of time gaining depth understanding of the more fundamental and lasting business principles, but constantly flits around when it comes to supplementing her knowledge on more short-term interests.
She takes short courses on app development, learns to code, volunteers, takes up a glass-blowing hobby and reads anything from self-help books to continental philosophy, beat poetry, art history and pulpy horror novels from the ’60s. While she is certainly a polymath, she focuses many of her interests around the more general backbone of business studies, which acts as a framework and organizing principle.
Now, add in another element: time. Some polymaths are not literally juggling all of this at the same time; they can choose to be serial specialists, spending a few years on each project, developing one of the depth prongs before moving on to another. Such a person might not immediately look like a polymath, but over time they are steadily accumulating skills, mental models, connections and possibilities.
The longer they work and study, the more content they have to draw on and the richer their palette becomes. In fact, one could abandon the old shapes entirely and consider becoming star shaped, with interests expanding outwards in all directions. This is a decidedly non-linear way of looking at things, and emphasizes the value of expanding your skillset to

What’s Your Shape?
Being a polymath doesn’t necessarily mean you have to fashion yourself after the great “Renaissance men” of old, taking up political life or oil painting or basement science experiments. In fact, modern polymathy will look distinctly different, and can even apply to groups or organizations of people with diverse domain knowledge. Your goal as a polymath is to become a generalist, i.e. the person who can talk about any topic with anyone, because they are able to bridge gaps, draw connections and learn.
Remember the T-shape? If your skills profile resembled this shape, you would be a generalist to a shallow level with just one depth understanding in one field. This is definitely better than being an “I” shape, with no general knowledge at all, only a depth skill. But it’s not

quest of polymathism is something that could very well boost your life to new heights. Rather than being an inherent quality, it can be learned and cultivated by anyone—including you.
This book is about what it means to become a polymath, a Renaissance man, and a versatile autodidact (someone who “teaches themselves”). In our complex modern world of increasingly narrow specialization, we can instead choose to develop ourselves holistically—becoming our best in the sciences, the arts, politics, academics, engineering, social affairs, literature, sports, and spiritual matters.
Our goal as aspiring polymaths is therefore to become the kind of well-rounded and multiply accomplished human beings who can do all of these things with a degree of expertise. The name of the game is development, learning and mastery—the particular fields we develop ourselves in are almost beside the point.
Master of None
Have you heard the expression, “Jack of all trades, master of none?” It’s not a positive connotation that we associate with people who have many interests and spread their time around liberally.
Despite revering intellectual powerhouses like Benjamin Franklin, in real life some of us are dismissive of people who flit about, never settling in one field but entertaining several

range of fields make people wonder where the United States of American would even be without Benjamin Franklin. Many schoolchildren accidentally believe he was a president at some point—it’s not true, but it isn’t hard to imagine the man finding time to run a country on the side of the countless other projects, inventions and enterprises he managed.
So, what is Benjamin Franklin famous for?
We could say that this sheer breadth of knowledge distinguishes him—i.e. that he’s a “polymath.” This term from the Greek means, “having learnt much” and was seemingly made for men like Franklin. Polymaths have knowledge in a wide range of subjects and fields, rather than specializing in just one. They are accomplished in multiple disciplines, seemingly thriving in the field of human enquiry itself, beyond the boundaries we draw between categories of study. The world’s most famous polymaths blend academic fields or create new ones from scratch. They are the quintessential “Renaissance men” who can do a little (or a lot) of everything and inspire us to imagine what the limits of human understanding and learning really are. It seems like they possess superpowers considering their prowess in multiple realms of knowledge. Other famous polymaths are also people you know by name and reputation—Leonardo da Vinci, Rene Descartes, Elon Musk, Plato, Isaac Newton, Galileo, Michelangelo, Archimedes, and so on. It may not be possible to reach the levels of these people, but the

Chapter 1. Jack of All Trades

Benjamin Franklin is one of American history’s most successful and influential figures. What exactly was he famous for? At this point he’s mostly relegated to political theory, but during his own time, he was known for just about everything.
Franklin was an accomplished inventor, respected politician and leading scientist. He engaged with current affairs, wrote prolifically on many topics, and acted as a diplomat, statesman, and passionate activist. He was a businessman who founded many organizations, such as the University of Pennsylvania and the first ever fire department in Philadelphia.
Franklin was a postmaster and political satirist. He invented a more efficient freestanding stove, a musical instrument (the armonica, if you’re interested) and bifocals to deal with his own failing vision. He dabbled in electricity and conducted the famous lightning, metal key, and kite experiment. Oh, and he was one of the five key people who put together the American Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution.
His immense contributions to a wide range

Being a specialist requires you to perform in the top 1 percent (for example) of just one discipline. A polymath will perform in, say, the top 25 percent of three disciplines or more. And here you see the first main advantage: being a polymath is actually easier, from this point of view. You can more quickly find yourself in the top 25 percent than in the 1 percent. How do you do this? Well, you “stand on the shoulders of giants.” You needn’t invent the wheel anew each time. Part of a polymath’s invaluable skillset is knowing how to quickly find and synthesize the highest quality information. This concept known as skill stacking is central to a later chapter in this book.

Being a specialist requires you to perform in the top 1 percent (for example) of just one discipline. A polymath will perform in, say, the top 25 percent of three disciplines or more. And here you see the first main advantage: being a polymath is actually easier, from this point of view. You can more quickly find yourself in the top 25 percent than in the 1 percent. How do you do this? Well, you “stand on the shoulders of giants.” You needn’t invent the wheel anew each time. Part of a polymath’s invaluable skillset is knowing how to quickly find and synthesize the highest quality information. This concept known as skill stacking is central to a later chapter in this book.

Unfortunately, even though we live in a world almost literally run by polymaths like Jeff Bezos, most of us still cling to conventional wisdom that artificially creates the idea of distinct disciplines in the first place.

As E.M. Forster famously advised, “only connect.”