Curiosity - Breadth vs. Depth

[Dave Gray]

I was listening to a podcast over the weekend about curiosity.  There are two kinds of curiosity: breadth of curiosity (being curious about a lot of general things) and depth of curiosity (being very curious and inquisitive about a few specific things.)

So, for example, you might be interested in battle armor, and from there, want to seek out as much info about it, different types, from different eras, etc.  That's depth of curiosity.

The other would be if you are always looking at new things, learning about the stuff on a surface level, and then moving on.

Which one of these applies most to you?  If you have a depth of curiosity, what field?

I am definitely more into a breadth of curiosity.  I like to learn about a lot of different topics, but I am not an expert in anything, really.

[Sunstroke]

Spread a little butter on my breadth here as well...

I do get a little "depth" in certain areas, mainly sports stats and psychology-based topics, but mainly I just want to learn enough about as many different things as possible.

[bsfins]

Could you point me to the podcast, I'd be interested in hearing it,because I'm not sure how to answer... thank you...

[Dave Gray]

The podcast is available free on iTunes, called "Stuff you Should Know.  The episode is from 6/16, called "How curiosity works".  There are many, many topics with a wide range, and all of them are very entertaining and educational.

[Pappy13]

I'd say I'm more Depth. There are a lot of subjects that I don't care about in the least, but the ones I do care about I usually try to research a bit and at least read a couple of differing viewpoints on it.

[bsfins]

I would say before I got the internet my fear stifled my curiosity...While I'm still very scared of my shadow in many ways,being able to learn different points of views ,from many varied sources has made me more curious...

Things I have a depth of curiosity in...
Human nature - I'm always want to know why? Why is that guy with that girl? Why do we choose to work where we do? Why do we like this type of music? It's also made me more fearful,and confused....

Things I make,create,my art (for the lack of a better term) - I look at how light reflects off of everything,how shadows lay against things,reflections,how things are arranged,how things are put together....I'm constantly trying to learn,different better ways of doing things. Even though lately I end up staring at the empty screen for hours...

[fyo]

Like Lil B., I'm not sure how to answer. On the face of it, I'd say I'm both. I go totally nuts about something and look up anything and everything I can on the topic. I'll obsess about it for a while, then move on to something completely different. But maybe that's breadth?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

What's the line I read?

I think it went....

"An expert learns more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.  A generalist learns about less and less about more and more until he knows absolutely nothing about everything"