We live at a time of universal polymathy. We don’t know everything, but there’s not much difficulty in being able to discover any given truth. But it’s worth remembering just how hard it used to be to find things out. Thirty years ago if you wanted to research off your own bat it meant a trip to the public library — and perhaps filling out a form for an inter-library loan.
Philip Hensher
The genuine polymath is still one in a million
Despite the ease of modern research, few can ever hope to rival the deep, varied learning of Leonardo or Goethe
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