Read 3 Books To Know More About A Topic Than 95% Of People

I met a guy in a hostel who introduced me to this idea: If you just read a few books on a single topic, you’ll seem like an expert to everyone around you.

Here are some very not-even-ballpark, fabricated, unscientific numbers:

• Read 1 book on a topic and you will know more than 50%. You’ll be able to talk about the topic at an elementary to intermediate level with pretty much anyone.
• Read 3 books on a topic and you will know more than 95%. It will be obvious that you know more about the topic than pretty much anyone who isn’t a professional in the space. Most people will not challenge your knowledge of the subject.
• Read 10 books on a topic and you will be a subject matter expert. Know more than 99.999999% (0.000001% of the world’s population is 7000 people). People will not fuck with you.

This is geared toward mind-centric, theory-heavy topics. Obviously this doesn’t apply to more practically-oriented things. Example: I can’t read 10 books on house building and expect to go out and build a house better than anyone who has ever actually physically built a house.

—@jasonparce