First Person: How to Know More and More About Less and Less

Eons ago, when I was in college, books by the British humorist Stephen Potter were all the rage. The best one was entitled One-upmanship, but they all had the same theme—how to be regarded as intellectually superior the easy way. To be known as a chess expert, simply walk around with a copy of The Chess Review under your arm, sport a chess tie and manage to get through the first three moves of a match. Then sweep all the pieces off the board and announce to your opponent: “Brilliant! You win in 23 moves and there’s absolutely nothing […]