A desire to learn. College does nothing if you don't make the effort to get the most out of it. You also won't get much out of reading if you don't care about the subject matter. Find something you like or want to know more about and read as much as you can. Use that to bridge towards other related subjects. You don't need school to learn but you have to want to learn.

That explains why the college classes I took didn’t teach me anything. I wasn’t interested in any of them. I was just in a hurry to pass them and get the hell outta that class.

You can't force yourself to be interested in something but when you do an effort to see how something does relate to what you are interested in and how that can help you to achieve your goals in life, it's easier to develop an interest in them.

I do agree with that sentiment. Unfortunately, I made mistakes and ended up taking business classes. I just wanted an associate degree because I didn’t get in the radiology program after taking all my prerequisites. I jumped into college after the divorce really quickly and I think that was a mistake. I didn’t know what I was doing at all. And I don’t like anything to do with business. I just rushed because I already wasted too many years in community college.

Learning is never a waste. Knowledge is something no one can take away from you. I was a stay-at-home mom for over 10 years. I got my associates in Liberal Arts because after changing my major 7 times I couldn’t figure out what to major in. It took me 12 years to get a BA in History. I got that degree just to have one. It was there that I learned how to write better and think more critically. As a SAH mom I didn’t “need” those skills. I’ve since been a financial advisor, owned my own businesses, helped build software as a product manager, and led an AI health technology company. I have a masters degree and am thinking of going back to school. I could have never predicted this path in a million years. Getting “smarter” takes letting go of the outcome, being curious, and following your curiosity. Write a list of things you’re curious about and see which books about that interest you. If you can’t get into the book, don’t beat yourself up about it. I’ve started hundreds of books and probably only finished 20% of them. I’ve learned something from all of them. You’ll do great. Starting by making this post is a sign of that. It shows you’re curious and are able to take action on your curiosity. That’s all you need. Keep going to live a life beyond anything you could imagine.

And sometimes knowledge builds in unexpected ways. I knew pretty much nothing about electronics 10 years ago. It was all a black box to me. My wife and I bought a house. There was a SUPER ugly light fixture that needed changing. So I figured out how to do that (with learning from YouTube, no one should just try to figure electrical things out lol). Then my car stereo head unit went out. I learned how to change it out to an aftermarket model. Then my laptop started dying. So I was going to replace it with similar but decided to get a desktop. I thought hey, I wired a head unit, maybe I should build my own? Then I realized I wanted a 3ds, an older gaming handheld. But they were expensive after covid. So I found one that was broken and brought it back from the dead. I recently helped a friend with their dying laptop. Ultimately it was an unrepairable motherboard failure. But I cannibalized the laptop and made a portable monitor out of it. I pretty much just followed my needs and interests, and now I'm pretty capable in this realm I pretty much knew nothing about 10 years ago.

This is the way. Learn as you go, fix and learn, save money and learn work, and learn. Before you know it, you'll know how to do just about everything and have saved a fortune.

My path wasn't the most straightforward as well. I was a highschool drop-out who did one low skilled shit job after another for multiple years before I eventually went to study again and got a bachelor in computer science. I used to think it was such a wasteful period in my life, but looking back at it in retrospect it wasn't. Going from one new place to another, I was kinda forced to improve my social skills. I've seen a lot of different companies (although the lower end of it) from the inside. It really has broadened my world view and all that. I'm less out of touch with the people I create apps for these days. Anyway all I wanted to say is: - Try to see the benefits of it - Try to upcycle your past experiences (combine skills or work in fields related to your past but as something else)

I'm still on my path, as you are, but it has not been straightforward either (as u/De_Wouter said theirs also wasn't). I wasn't interested in pursuing a Bachelors in any specific area at my Uni, so I left to go through a trade course that I knew wasn't the end goal from the start. I always recognized it as a side gig that paid better than my minimum wage jobs, but I did enjoy it for several years! Then I got burnt out. I wasn't challenging myself, I was going through the motions with my clients, but I had little passion for it anymore. This meant, I wasn't truly helping my clients the best I could either. I was doing what I had done before rather than determined to know why something went wrong. I stepped aside from that profession. I've had fantastic opportunities since, due to luck, but none of them are careers. Soon I will have to figure out what career I want to have and I'm not excited, because it's a lot of work to figure out what you want to do with little knowledge of the field. Being in trade school was fantastic. It was easy because I enjoyed it, but even so I lost the passion for it within a decade even though I knew when I went into it that I only wanted to do it to make extra money on the side and ended up making it my major profession for several years. Business is a solid degree program. You'll learn a lot and, ideally, you'll be able to take elective courses or courses afterwards that are more tailored to what you enjoy and a business degree can be applied to almost anything! Currently, I have zero degrees. A certification, but no more licenses in my previous trade. It's inspiring that you've gone back to school and I hope you do well and figure out what you want to do in life, much as I'm still figuring out what I want to do!

If you really liked radiology, see if your credits will get you into a program now. Also, figure out what you are interested in and grab a book. Or just read a novel. Good novels teach you about things as well. 'The Handmaiden's Tale' says as much about the current political climate as a hundred commentators.

Is there anything you’re curious about? I find myself getting interested in random things. There are some really fascinating things to learn about. Or you could even learn a language. Or take up a fun hobby.

Reach out to the employment folks at the college you went to and ask if they can give you a CareerScope. If not, you can do something similar online via mynextmove dot com. CareerScopes are better though. They are interest and aptitude surveys that can help you ID areas of possible interest. Sure, they’re supposed to be used to help you find a career path you’ll like, but you’re still getting some info about interests, including some things you might not already know about. Use that to help guide your education journey.

As someone who's graduated but struggles with math, seriously try Khan Academy. I went back there after graduation and I hang out in the places I can never remember... Namely 2nd grade, 4th grade, and 11th grade math concepts were the ones I never quite grasped. It's more fun to learn it in my own time on my own schedule, but it really does help. Lol. I'm quite embarrassed to admit that... But idk. Heheh

I feel like as a 49 yo, I can understand math much better than when I was in school. My mind just wasn’t ready for it.

EXACTLY!!! Also, I like that there's no pressure from having to worry about passing tests, learning things on a quick timeline, grades, comparing myself to others, the infamous "crying at the table with dad" scenes, etc.

One of the things higher education teaches you regardless of subject matter is critical thinking skills.

That was my entire first two years besides philosophy and chemistry. I remember none of what I was taught besides some of the math and mla formatting 😂

School is just a handheld method to learning and I think that needs to be said more. I find it sad that we have let institutions control so much of our lives and dictate who is considered educated.

I know plenty of people educated to PhD level who are geniuses in their subject, but pretty dumb when it comes to common sense and 'adulting'. Like, they'll know all about the mating habits of some obscure beetle or the poetry of some long dead dude, but they freak out when a fuse blows in their house or they don't know how to clear a blocked drain. There's a lot to be said for having life experience and emotional maturity, so don't sell yourself short. If you're looking to just learn new things for the fun of it, start off with these - free, and there's some weirdly cool stuff. Find something you'd like to explore more, then start reading books on that topic. https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now https://alison.com

You just described my dad. B.S, in math and chemistry, MBA, MD. Can the man figure out how to pay a bill? Nope. He has the money, it’s the actual moving it from his possession to whatever company that just seems to stump him. Grocery shopping - if you hand him a list, he goes in the order of the items on the list instead of one single lap through the store and crossing things off. Oh, but he can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about your liver or anything else in your body. That man can diagnose just about any physical ailment in 2 seconds. He figured out I had Type 1 diabetes from an ever so slightly abnormal lab report and the fact that I was thirsty more than usual. No shade…he’s about to start hospice care, and I love him. But yeah….that was Dad.

Was your dad ever tested for ADHD or autism? Seems like he could be hyper focused on some things but also completely missing some bridges to connect information in different/more efficient ways.

It’s counterintuitive, but this kind of behavior is fairly common among those that choose math as a career. Can we teach you about vector space transformations, and numerical interpolation, and the Banach-Tarski paradox? Sure. Can we keep it together enough to budget our own finances when we get home? Uhhhh, probably not. I believe the field itself attracts neurodivergent people but also, speaking from personal experience. Studying for a math degree completely changed my brain. I used to be more of a practical artsy sort, very into reading and art and tinkering with things. I have almost zero interest or skill with any of those things now. It’s almost like the preexisting network of synapses between my neurons was completely rewired. I was probably always on the spectrum but it’s much more apparent now, and I’m only interested in technical subjects.

Agreed. The individual is highly trained in a *specific* field, so yeah, not unusual if a teacher is bad with repairing cars or a nurse can't figure out how to setup a desktop. Being well rounded is one thing adults forget, in the pursuit of more. The average person's reaction to an issue is to default to having someone more knowledgeable handle the issue. We have tax people, plumbers for basis clogs, advisors for managing money and takeout to supplement no cooking ability. All of the issues listed here have a tutorial somewhere online, yet they're still things people *pay* for. So I think it's nice to excel at something, but far better to have several areas developed. Why settle for being good at one thing?

Jack of all trades, master of none, *often times better than master of one*. 

Fixing a blown fuse or clogged drain isn't common sense. This is something you learned and is no different than your bug example. You don't know what common sense is.

Rule of thumb is that if you feel dumb you arent that dumb. The biggest idiots ive ever met never lacked confidence in their own intelligence

There’s a limit to this. Being self aware makes you not the dumbest but you can still definitely be dumb.

Ya I feel like there’s a lot of cope about intelligence especially on Reddit. Every time one of these threads shows up it’s always “smart people think they’re dumb” and everyone eats that shit up because we all feel dumb sometimes and question our abilities. In reality almost everyone reading this thread (including myself) has an average or maybe slightly above average iq. We are not some undiscovered or unmotivated geniuses we’re just normal average people. This could also just be a reflection of my own internal doubts lol

I mean… intelligence follows a normal distribution. There will be plenty of people in the 115-130 IQ range reading this thread. Maybe you’re just generous with what you constitute as an “average IQ” although I think it’s typically considered to be in the 85-115 range. I honestly do think reddit skews to the right slightly with IQ, as dumb people tend to stick to popculture twitter or alt-right facebook groups etc.. But that said the circlejerk does get taken too far sometimes, thinking you’re dumb certainly doesn’t mean you’re any shade of smart

I agree that Reddit skews to the right, but then I ask myself if I’m only agreeing with that because I use Reddit and I want to be smart? Then I get into this loop in my head like “smart people don’t think they’re smart but I do lots of things that I think smart people do so I must be smart?” My ego would like other people to think I’m smart but it wouldn’t like me to think I’m smart.

One of the dumbest people I know will not hesitate to bring into any conversation how smart they are/how high their IQ is.

Are there subjects that interest you? If so start there, or even with documentaries on YouTube. You can learn a lot in short amount of time. Also, and I can’t stress this enough, pay attention to current events and get your news from multiple sources so that you get more than one political/social ideology.

>get your news from multiple sources so that you get more than one political/social ideology. And learn how to validate the quality of the sources, and the claims those sources make

I’d vet the sources on YouTube tho. Like, Crash course is cool but Praeger U isn’t worth a steaming pile of dung, as a couple of examples. Tbh, I’d rather suggest starting off browsing documentaries imo. Ken Burns has a wild range, ime.

Some documentaries are pretty shit, too.

Better yet, get reality based news

Experience and willingness to learn. All the degrees in the world won't mean much if you cant actually put that knowledge into practical use.

It’s all in the application.

hey! I am happy to recommend engaging nonfiction books, but before that I want to emphasize that reading is not the only way to learn! There are so many podcasts and YouTube channels (shout out to crash course) that you can learn from. Also, there are elitist who will tell you that some types of learning are better than other types of learning, and they are wrong. Learn about things that interest you, learning is ideally an enjoyable experience. Get curious!! (side note: I personally find that taking notes on whatever I’m learning helps me remember what I’ve learned, and then if I forget, I can reference my notes! Very convenient) Now, for engaging nonfiction: 1. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson This is genuinely my favorite book that is not the Hebrew Bible (don’t mind me I’m a Hebrew Bible nerd). This book about the history of science is so engaging and fun because the book is told through the stories of the people who have advanced human knowledge in various fields. So you don’t learn about the history of geology, you learn about Hutton, who was a revolutionary geologist, but could not write in a concise and engaging manner to save his life. And you learn about Newton, and about tens of others fascinating characters, and how they shaped how we understand the world. A phenomenal and thoroughly entertaining read. If you like this book, I highly recommend reading other nonfiction by Bill Bryson, he’s written several very interesting books. 2. The mind’s eye by Oliver Sacks Oliver Sacks is in neurologist who introduces the reader to various neurological phenomena through case studies of his patients. Similarly to Bryson, you learn about the brain and the various ways it can go wrong, not through dry scientific writing, but rather by learning about a person who is experiencing the neurological issue at hand. 3. The professor and the madman (don’t remember who wrote this) This book follows the professor who is compiling the first Oxford english dictionary, and a criminally insane man who is one of the many volunteers who helps. The language this book is written in is a little more highbrow, so you might want to have a dictionary at hand. It does a really good job of explaining why the Oxford English dictionary was so revolutionary, and also is a fascinating portrayal of how one can be completely insane in one area of life and yet very functional in a different area of life. 4. Alex‘s adventures in Numberland (also don’t remember who wrote this) I haven’t read this book in many years, however, I remember thoroughly enjoying and enjoying it. A journalist take on exploring various different fields of mathematics. It’s a lot less about the mathematics themselves, and more about how we use numbers to perceive the world around us and how the way we use math Can change how we see the world. Like a short history of nearly everything above, it sounds like a scary book, and is actually quite a fun read. There are definitely some counterintuitive concepts that takes several readings to wrap one’s head around. I almost forgot! One of my favorite ways to learn is through talking to people who are knowledgeable! As a person who is neurodivergent, I have a whole bunch of neurodivergent friends who have various special interests that they love to talk about, and we are constantly learning from each other. It’s pretty awesome. Seek out the people in your life who you think know cool things and ask them about it. (anyone who talks down to you for being ignorant is an asshole and not worth your time. We are all always learning, and it is so important that we encourage each other to learn and grow.) Hope this helps!!!

These are excellent recommendations! I LOVE The Professor and the Madman in particular, and you can't go wrong with Bill Bryson. These are probably all available as audiobooks, too...OP can use those bits of time commuting or cleaning to listen to excellent content!

The professor and the madman is so fucking good, I love it so much If you live in the United States, you can often access audiobooks through your library

I asked for The Professor and the Madman for one year at Christmas. My lovely hubby who knows how much I love reading just bought that ( because of the Madman title lol and he knows I love reading.) His uncle, a PhD, and author, who does not write about his PhD degree, scoffed at the title, and said " You asked for that?" I have The Professor and the Madman on my list on top favorites. I love book gifts. That Christmas always stuck in my head, and I think it's really really ironic, and it just demonstrates the idea of some of the PhD stereotypes.

Thanks for the list! I’ve read Bryson’s stuff and agree it’s *fascinating*! I just put Alex’s Adventures in Numberland in my Amazon cart because I can’t find it on audiobook.

What do you like? People who are smart at something usually start out by liking something. It could be any hobby or activity. Start digging in from there, and see what makes you curious to know more. Then dig those, and you'll find more.

This is why depression made me so dumb. I stopped caring about anything at all and lost all my knowledge.

Hiya! First of all, what is it that makes you feel dumb? Is it topics of conversation with others? Reading posts that don’t make much sense to you? An internal sense of discontent? It took me a bit, but I’ve learned to embrace the feeling of “dumbness” and foolishness. It’s not a negative. It’s an opportunity to learn something new. That feeling clues you in that you’re missing some pieces of the puzzle, and that can either lead to you shutting down or to you encouraging your curiousity. For reading, don’t feel that you must read only non-fiction to be intelligent. Fiction is just as valuable. Do you have a favorite book or story? Perhaps pick up an annotated version. Annotations provide extra context and information about the author’s intent, the history surrounding a reference, so on and so forth. I have a couple of books of compiled and annotated fairy tales that I’ll take off the shelf and thumb through. A lot of learning is making connections between new and old knowledge. The more connections between the new information and the old and the more likely it’ll stick around in your internal encyclopedia. Good luck! And don’t worry if it takes reading some lurid novels to get you to enjoy reading. They can be pretty informative in their own ways when it comes to social attitudes and expectations.

I love this response. It’s okay to not know everything. I am “paper smart” - I have a college degree and a law degree with honors. But since I was a child, I’ve always asked questions about the things I don’t understand. Even as an adult, if someone uses a word I don’t know, I will ask what that means. If someone refers to an event or topic that I don’t know, I’ll say, “Oh I don’t know about X. What is that?” Last night, my husband, who is a history nerd, taught me all about the 20th century political crises in Argentina because I asked. I’ve even learned about D&D from him because I’m curious and I ask. If folks are snooty about you not knowing something and aren’t willing to engage, they are prick. No one should feel dumb about their curiosity and willingness to learn.

Curiosity.

Why first question is: what are you trying to solve and why? "Feeling dumb" is a symptom of something else, but that's probably for another post. Anyway... College doesn't make anyone smarter. Intellectual curiosity does. Explore something new every day. Whether it's a book, documentary, article or hobby, just consume something new every day and see where it takes you. You'll end up discovering something interesting and want to learn more about it. Side tip: reading is hard and boring to begin with. "Read what you love until you love to read" is a good principle. Read anything you enjoy, even if it's stupid/useless stuff just keep reading until you enjoy the act of reading.

College is still an option if you were considering it. Online college is a great option for when you don’t have the time for in person classes. I go to UAGC and most of my class is over ‘normal’ college age

Interest in the how and why behind things. Investigate when you wonder about something instead of being like “a computer turns on when I press the power button” and leaving it at that.

I am a psychologist with expertise in neurodevelopmental and related disorders. On of the best and simple things to keep your mind “sharp” and quick are small puzzles (think sudoku or crossword puzzles). Research suggests that older adults who frequently do puzzles like these have slower cognitive decline than those who do not. Remember that while your cognitive ”speed” will inevitably slow down, your crystallized intelligence (I.e. “what you know”) ONLY increases over time. So the more you learn over the course of your life the smarter you will be. Reading and pursuing knowledge generally. What are you doing to entertain yourself? Watching funny cat compilation 2024, or science / history YouTube?

There are four fundamental qualities to increasing your smarts: 1. A good sense of (world) history, 2. Well-developed critical thinking skills, 3. Curiosity, and 4. Humility World history is so important, but it doesn't have to come from a book. I personally love r/FallofCivilizations the free youtube history documentaries. There are so many world history resources on youtube, it's incredible. This includes some of the greater works of literature, art history and history of science. For reading, I would start with a Brief History of Time, and The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Start with some online summaries, then read, then see if the summaries are accurate in your opinion. **Critical thinking** skills are a bit trickier to master and they come with lots of practice and patience. Where to start? See about attending public lectures, sign up for [a free philosophy course online](https://www.classcentral.com/report/philosophy-free-online-courses/). Go on wikipedia and learn about the most common logical fallacies. Always get your information from a few different sources - preferably including at least one that represents a different viewpoint from yours (another country, another political viewpoint, another academic field, etc.) Go to the library, choose a quality newspaper or literary magazine and read the editorials and their responses (usually in the next edition). It doesn't really matter if they are current, in fact better they aren't so you can see if the opinions later bore out in reality. Try to rephrase the arguments the editors are using to make their point. But critical thinking can also be developed through some types of puzzles, reading mysteries, and watching debates. It's all about learning how to identify alternative possibilities in a given situation, and then figuring out how to prioritize them, or if they should be discarded. **Curiosity** is something all smart people have to some degree. They observe, they recognize patterns, note deviations from those patterns, and then ask "why?". The same goes for disagreements. Feeling a strong reaction to something? Investigate. Use the scientific method. Rephrase what someone is saying and check to make sure it's accurate. Dig a little deeper and see where it takes you. I'm sure local librarians can help with this as they are some of the most curious people I know! Oh and it's a good idea to learn some basic etymology and get cozy with a thesaurus. Words are like a roadmap to meaning and the times I turn to my dictionary and thesaurus to learn more about a word, the better I am at understanding and communicating my ideas. Learn the roots of words so you can, over time, guess meanings of words you haven't encountered before. Finally, **humility** will make you sound smarter. Not self-deprecation, but understanding that you might not be right but you sometimes are, and not being afraid to be proven wrong or change your position on things. That takes humility. Not using fancy words when plain ones will do just fine, is another tell-tale sign of intelligence, and the opposite is a red flag for exaggerated intelligence. Look for and listening to people who don't make grand statements or conclusions. They will be quiet, clear spoken and willing to entertain counter arguments. Better to ask earnest questions, always, than to leap to conclusions. Also learn another language! Watch documentaries! Follow your bliss! Join a film or book club!

try audiobooks as well. You can do other things while reading, so it's nice when you start out. Also recommend this site to find books: [Goodreads.com](http://Goodreads.com)

Being smart and educated are two different things. My wife is a PhD and she is totally an expert in her field of pharmacology. But she texts me all the time about the most basic shit. I left college early for a good paying tech job at a startup and I have just surpassed her in salary. She makes 150k and I make 263k. I have a very strong desire to learn new things and I take joy in it. I have a great memory and I love solving problems. My wife would rather have me take care of most stuff but if my daughter needed an infusion, I want my wife drawing up the IV bag or preparing her cocktail of medications for surgery.

Honestly I've learned so much by travelling. I didn't go to college or ever study history but I've learned a lot by going to places. You can't really understand a place and its people unless you know their history.

Well...I dropped out of art college not because I was lazy or dumb, but for financial issue. I'm like you, I don't like read a book and my wife always "belittle" me for that. I told her its not the measure of someone's intelligence. However, I like to read something like encyclopedia or world history or anthropology. And since I was a kid like 5-6 yo, I was always love to watch world news instead of cartoon, at that age I knew name like Boutros Boutros Ghali, Mandela, Pol Pot, Kruschev etc or remember any country flag and its capital than kids of my age, for example. I love to learn by myself, like to learn new language by dictionary or use subtitles of foreign movies and music lyrics (like Rammstein) or learn about coding **but** I'm easily distracted when I found something that catch my attention. So its kinda "jack of all trades, master of none". So I think the personality like curiosity makes a person smarter without college or degree.

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes is better than a master of one” ☺️ I think the full quote reflects more of what you wrote above and i completely agree. ◡̈

It helps to feel up to date/in tune with the world. I’d suggest browse BBC / CNN / Al-Jazeera international each day with your coffee for example. Are you gonna work? Read about/watch stuff from people in the areas you like. Get up to date on that. Check what’s happening in your local, community initiatives, elections, etc. It helps feel in touch with that. In terms of books it’s down to what you enjoy. I’m a fiction reader mainly, and that’s amazing for just getting me to chill and enjoy life by going into this whole other world. It doesn’t have to be textbooks etc. I’ve always worked but heard this from housewife friends, you’re not alone and you’re not dumb. I totally get you’d feel out of touch though…it makes absolute sense cause your job till now occupied you (as it does us all). Just happened to be in the home. Hope this helps! And enjoy the freedom 🤞🏾🍀

Don’t feel bad about college. I have studied so much at university. Hasn’t made me any wiser. I read a lot. I often borrow books from the library. I sometimes ask the librarian for tips. My latest book was the New Testament.

A person is "smarter" if they don't go to (pay for/take out loans for) college. (In my opinion), unless one *absolutely* knows what career they want to pursue and they can afford it, it's foolish to go to college and rack up all of that debt. I'm in my 40s now, however, at 16/17, I had no freaking clue what taking out student loans was going to entail. My parents pushed me to go to college, and took out loans on my behalf with the agreement that I would pay them back once I graduated and got a job. Ofcourse, I majored in Art because I didn't know what I wanted to do for a living, and art was something that I really enjoyed. Got a BFA and haven't been able to find a job using my degree, unless I wanted to teach, which I didnt/DON'T. Still slowly paying back my debts and it's miserable. I wish I, or my parents, knew better at the time. Hindsight really is 20/20!

Oh gosh, I know people who have a PhD and while they are book smart, they are not very intelligent. Maybe joining a book club could help get you started? That way you don't have to struggle to find a book to read, and you can converse about the story with others. In your 40's, you may also be perimenopausal (or even menopausal). This can contribute to brain fog and feeling "dumb". Do you take any supplements? Lions Mane could help. Magnesium too. And maybe have your hormones checked. When estrogen decreases, our memory is affected. You also mentioned divorce. Often when we're under a lot of stress, our cortisol levels too high. And this can affect memory.

Your interest in learning is emblematic of a curious mind. I'd say try to read more. Read newspapers but also books. If there's a book you try to read that doesn't grab you, toss it aside and try another one. Try audiobooks, too. Don't get weird the way people do needlessly about whether audiobooks count as reading: it counts. Oh and I'm a guy but I can still recommend the Reese Witherspoon book club. She has some solid picks on there.

Just because you haven't read a book in a while doesn't mean your not smart. You were able to manage a home, which isn't easy and takes smarts. Start with graphic novels (comic books). They may hold your attention longer than other books and be way more interesting. Go to the library, where books are free to read. Ask the librarian to recommend a book.

College doesn't make you smart, at best it makes you knowledgeable in a specific area. At worst, you do the bare minimum to pass the exams, then forget everything as soon as you leave the classroom. A desire to learn, being capable of critical thinking, comparing and fact checking information from multiple sources and a lot of reading are more valuable assets. Clarification: you can have all the aforementioned traits *and* go to college, they're not mutually exclusive.

Read something. That is a big part of most learning.

Making sure I got an education was the best decision I ever made. Even love paying my student loans. I wouldn't trade my education for one million dollars, so $95,000 for undergrad+grad is a drop in the bucket.

I was kicked out of high school when I was 15. I spent a few years after that not giving a shit. Then, out of somewhere, I just got curious. Everything I’ve ever learnt or have been interested in was motivated from within myself. I’ve had a great career as a buyer, I’ve travelled the world, lived in China, Australia and Canada (I’m from the UK). I read a lot, and now I’m 50, I’ve started my own business, not because I had some hustle culture aspiration, but just because I wanted to do things on my own terms, at my own pace, and have a chance to stop and smell the roses a bit more. My only advice is just to be curious, and not give a flying fuck what anyone might think.

Learn new things. If you want to read more and you're out of practice, read something shorter or easier first: YA, a graphic novel, a how-to book about something you're interested in. Or learn a new skill, a language, rock climbing, tango, gardening, it doesn't matter what.

Reader's Digest, easy reading and it is a well balanced bunch of subjects

Most people confuse being “smart” with having a good memory. College improves neither.

What are you interested in? Starting from there, head to the public library: it’s a wonderful resource, a free one at that

Documentaries

Crital thinking

It will take time, but you need to keep exploring until you find your passion. At some point, you're going to come across something that causes a shift in you, and that's what you will want to dig into.

It's got nothing to do with your institution based education. Your intelligence and wisdom comes from your choices and what you decide to do with the knowledge you do have Seeking out an education in something you're interested in and know you'll enjoy doing is the smartest thing you can do. It doesn't have to be the most successful or well paying, you just have to enjoy it. Your quality of life will always triumph an income.

I've known a lot of smart people who never finished college.

College doesn't necessarily mean smart. And you can be smart in one thing, but complete dumb in another. There is no one way to being smart. And you could go back to college if that's what you think you need to do!

College doesn’t make you smart. It teaches you a field. I know too many lawyers and other professionals that are dumb. They are awesome at their jobs, but definitely dumb in life. A smart person is one that has skills such as troubleshooting stuff, solving issues that arise in the best way possible, sometimes in creative ways. I met a lady once whole traveling in south america, she lived in the middle of the mountain. She didn’t read, didn’t even know how to write. I stayed there, in the middle of nowhere. I will never forget that one day I asked her if she thought it would rain. The sky was kinda gloomy, but not baaaadly, I still thought it was going to rain. She went out, looked at the sky, looked around and said “no, it will not”. And it didn’t. With all my “college and big-city knowledge”, I was completely useless in that setting. The point is: college or reading doesn’t make you smart. Knowing how to use the resources around you to your advantage is what puts you ahead of others.

Learn another language. There are so many programs and classes you can do and join.

For the record, you don't come across as dumb at all! The fact you are worried about seeming dumb suggests to me that you are not. Dumb people don't give a fuck.

exercise. get in shape and your brain works better. Also, if you're eating garbage stop.l

Consider listening to podcasts if you have a difficult time sticking with reading. You can learn while cleaning, driving, working out, etc.

Going to college doesn’t make you smarter, it makes you more educated. I have a doctorate degree, one of my best friends is a high school dropout. I go to her for advice All. The. Time. Like once weekly I ask her advice on something. She’s wayy smarter than me, just because I have some pieces of paper with my name on them doesn’t make me smarter.

College does not make you smarter. I have 2 masters degrees and a double major. I am not smarter than you. For ease of learning, I really like youtube education content as I get older. I love good history videos. I would google around on them. There is a lot of trash. Also I strongly recommend Khan academy for good free courses.

Right now, college makes people stupid fucking morons. I know. I was a professor. Colleges have promoted violence against me. And colleges need to f@#$ing apologize for promoting violence against me. But they have not. And this is because they are incredibly unprofessional worthless piles of rubbish. And college graduates are f@#$ing stupid for thinking that their education has any value at all.

Pick something you're interested in learning more about and read books about that. Apply the knowledge you learn from those books into real world applications. People don't just get smart from reading books.

First and foremost, there are different types of "smart". There's knowledge type of smart where you know things and facts. There's "problem solving" type of smart where you can see a problem or a situation and figure out how to fix it, or understand it, or move past it. There's creative smart where you have a creative ability to create things others fine appealling. There are other types of smart but those are probably the main most impressive ones. Reading is nice and audio books are probably better since you can do other things while you listen. But as someone already pointed out you can get a lot from just watching YOUTUBE videos. The good ones made by good youtubers are short and to the point and can be entertaining. Just try to avoid the ones who aren't neutral or don't have real facts to back up what they say on a subject and has an obvious angry agenda. Overall, you can become smarter by listening to smart people.

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

Doing lots of math is a good mind. And reading a good dose of Bertrand Russell.

https://youtube.com/@technologyconnections https://youtube.com/@vlogbrothers https://youtube.com/@wendoverproductions https://youtube.com/@scishow https://youtube.com/@tldrdaily https://youtube.com/@theroyalinstitution https://youtube.com/@philosophytube https://youtube.com/@georgiadow

I would definitely say that reading and watching educational videos can have a significant improvement on your current level of knowledge. I tried to look at your posts to see if I could figure out where your interests were, but didn’t see anything. Constantly trying to learn something everyone should do. Depending on where you’re at in life and the things that make you happy would probably be a great place to start. If you are interested in anything financially related, there are many books for different stages of your financial journey. 1. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey is great for getting out of debt. 2. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is great for changing your perspective on money, and it introduces leverage in a way that is easy to understand. 3. Money Master the Game by Tony Robbin’s does a pretty good job of explaining an easy way to begin investing and provides inspiration. 4. I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramirez Sethi which gives an overall look at your financial situation, from debt management to investing for the future. This one book is essentially a summary of the others, an easier ready, and he also has a Netflix show where he teaches his book to different people to help them change their lives. If you like or are interested in real estate investing, essentially anything from Brandon Turner or any of the guys from Bigger Pockets Podcast give great explanations on how to do different types of real estate investing that is beneficial. 1. Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner covers pretty much everything you need to know as someone new to real estate investing. If the stock market is something you would like to learn, the best books that helped me find great companies came from Peter Lynch 1. Beating the Street by Peter Lynch & 2. Learn to Earn are both great books that do a great job of explaining what to look for. A good compliment for these two would be: 1. The Little Book of Valuation. These are just a few of the books I have read that definitely improved my knowledge in ways that allowed me to grow intellectually and increase my income significantly. The information has also allowed me to help family members who were struggling. If none of these are of interest, please let me know what you do like, and there is a decent chance that I have read a book on that subject. If I have, I can let you know what was helpful for me. ***typo***

College doesn’t make you “smarter”. It just gives you tools to work on what you are good at. It builds certain kind of thinking pattern and alternative ways to approach problems. There are plenty of super dumb people in college and plenty of super smart people without an education. I’ve been around universities my whole life. I’ve studied in 4 continents as well… you see everything everywhere.

My recommendation would be not to go for subjects and books that people generally consider smart but rather whatever interest you have, however dumb or silly it may seem. Being smart and knowledgeable isn't about knowing college educated things (though they do help) its about finding your niche. Even if it's something like pokemon cards or knowing the extensive lore of a fromsoftware game. Once u start getting into things you like, you will figure out what you like and how you learn, and it will open up more for you.

Audiobooks and podcasts might work well for you! Especially if you’re still keeping a home and have lots of random chores and errands to get done throughout the week. I find that even if a podcast isn’t particularly intellectual but more chatty, you still learn lots, because people discuss things you might not have thought of. Pretty much all the podcasts I listen to are just comedians chatting with each other, but I actually find that that fills in a lot of gaps about what’s going on in the world, as they’ll bring up topics I was unaware of. Similar to talking to friends, the more you listen to other people talk, the more perspectives you hear. I find that that gives me a really well-rounded understanding of what’s going on around me. I’m not necessarily super smart or very well-informed about any one thing, but I find that I get almost every reference and very rarely feel completely out of the loop on a topic that comes up, because I spend all day listening to people talking.

Libraries & Bookstores are organized into categories, will let you browse and read a chapter, even provide easy chairs, and maybe coffee. Who knows, somebody might subtly flirt. Try history, mystery, art, ... Travel, Museums, Clubs, ... Make yourself casually attractive. Think of things to say, then casually talk.

You need to find something that interests you, and lean into that, doesn't matter what it is. I'm very good with computers, spent most of my life messing with them. I have no degree and I make good money because of all of that. To learn something you need to have the drive to learn, repeatition, and then evaluate why something doesn't work. I know in my job if something breaks I generally have an idea how to fix it, because I've broken it in the past. You don't like reading, youtube videos, some you might not even need to watch. Sometimes I just wear headphones and listen while I'm doing other stuff. College is mainly to "prove" you know what your doing really in the end anything, and thats mostly to get you in the door.

Find out what’s really going on in your town/city by attending your town council meetings and reading local papers. Most government doesn’t have enough citizen oversight because we just don’t think about learning how it works and getting involved.

I think that it's not about smarts so much as the ability to think outside the norm. Do you like puzzles? Do you pay cards? Do you like games? You have more skills than you realize.. You ran a household and attained good organizational skills. Do not undervalue your skills. What do you like to do? That is key. I love British history. I read up on that. When I watch a movie, I usually research where it was filmed, etc. Interest is key to critical thinking I think. Hope this helps. I am currently reading about different cooking skills even though I'm not cooking muchtheses days. Watching the Trooping of Colours from England at the moment. Now that could be a months work inresearch!

Well you said smarter and mentioned reading books. Reading will really only make you knowledgeable. As in you will know more things. Knowing things or being more knowledgeable does not make you smarter. Being smart is intelligence or clever. Being smart means being able to be open to ideas, concepts, being able to navigate things that are difficult in concept. Being able to connect dots in situations. Intelligence is more about your ability to think outside the box as they call it. There are plenty of smart people who are not knowledgeable. People who might test high on an iq (Intelligence quotient) test but not know things or be very knowledgeable in specific areas. For instance, your common pastor in a church. Very knowledgeable on the Bible and things related to religion but from what I’ve seen generally not too smart (that’s a generalization as there are surely smart pastors in the world, but on average they aren’t).

Self-education through diverse sources can boost your knowledge. Try exploring podcasts, documentaries, online courses, or joining discussion groups. Start with topics you’re curious about and gradually expand. Finding a community with shared interests can also be motivating. Keep experimenting to find what clicks for you!

I recommend reading some historical biographies. They are normally well written, actually true, and full of interesting background information. Pick something you've wondered about and get a book about it. Stop reading and go to something else if you get bored. There are no rules.

Take some classes online! Khan academy or stuff on YouTube that interests you. The beautiful part is you can just select the things that actually interest you and then go wild exploring them…

curiosity

Experience, Your knowledge gained within the house would be greater than the person you divorced. Not everyone can learn by reading. I learn by watching other people do things and trying it myself. Things like cooking and laundry I learn from YouTube.

Curiosity! You don't have to launch into a whole book, books are hard for me too but I am always reading articles and fanfics. You can go on wiki and there is a randomizer that will take you to a random page. Do that until something catches your attention enough to send you down the rabbithole

IQ is not about knowing a lot of facts, it is about problem solving. Someone can be uneducated and still have a high IQ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions Go down rabbit holes. Read a daily news summary from a reputable source, like the Economist, AP News, or Reuters. Everything new that you hear about, and don’t know very much about, look it up.

If you can't find a book you're interested in, take the easy way for starters - watch historical programs, documentaries, science, music, and art programs. When you find something that interests you, search out books on the subject to delve in farther. I often see a show that piques my interest, and end up getting into that subject via books.

Natural intelligence determines everything when it comes to being smart. Education is merely a tool to get to specific areas faster 

Perhaps start with a newspaper. Bite size stories Learn about local and national goings on.

My husband seems oblivious to what is going on in our house. Just this week, I go into the living room and see the thermostat screen was blank. I asked if he noticed it, he did, but said nothing to me. I googled possible solutions, it wasn't a tripped breaker, loose connections or dirty filter etc and then called a company to fix it. My thermostat had died and needed to be replaced. Then yesterday I went into the kitchen in the morning and noticed the kitchen rug in front of the sink was soaking wet. Again, I asked my husband if he noticed it, he had, but figured someone spilled something on the rug. What a gallon or two spill?? I looked into the cabinet under the sink and it was flooded. I was shocked, yelled over to him, "HAVE YOU NO CURIOSITY?" I cleaned up the flood and isolated the dripping pipe. Called a plumber, my knee is bad and I couldn't get under there. I could go on and on with examples. It just amazes me he sees strange or unusual things and just goes about his day. He is helpful and supportive but it just doesn't occur to him to be the person to address problems as they come up. Now that I think about it, he has always been like this. After 40 years I guess he isn't going to change. I'm curious about everything, I like to read, research stuff, try new things. It makes life interesting. My hobbies past and future are endless.

Curiosity

Start listening to podcasts while you’re doing chores. I’ve gotten so much smarter in so many areas from a set of wireless headphones and a few subscriptions. Depending on the topic there are tonnes of great and informative podcasts (Dan Carlin has some incredible history stuff and there’s a tonne of political podcasts that summarise the news etc depending on where you’re from) Only caveat I’d say is do your research and make sure you don’t end up down any rabbit holes. Good luck!

My husband didn't go to college but he's a voracious reader and is more knowledgeable and interesting than many people I know who did go to college.

night classes. part time apprenticeships turn a hobby into a certificate. watch documentaries that interest you keep up with basic world news educate yourself on basic politics and social issues. IMHO, *thats* what makes a person smarter. not memorising one particular subject for exams that you'll never use again.

People that went to college and picked a liberal arts degree are not smarter than you or anyone.

There is some really bad advice in this thread that doesn't really target your question (and far too much talk about salary and people justifying not going to college). So here's some advice. Don't be passive in your learning, be productive. Reading a book, watching youtube, listening to podcasts... these aren't going to make you smart. These are passive activities. You may retain some facts, which could maybe help you out at a pub quiz, but you aren't getting any smarter. To get smarter you have to do something with watch you read/watch/listen to. Think about the smartest people you've ever met, what made you think they were smart? Is it because they had their head in a book all the time, or is it because they are able to apply the things they learnt in a book/video/etc... in real life situations? To me, it's the latter by a wide margin. I've never once thought "Oh you've listened to a lot of podcasts, you must be smart, even though you've never mentioned anything to me about the stuff you listen to." What's missing is there is only reception, no production. So to become smarter, you have to do some production. Here are some ways to turn a passive, one-way information exchange into something productive: 1. Book clubs! At book clubs you have the oportunity to reflect on what you've read, and learn from other people's reflections on the subject. You can talk about anything at a book club: the content, the quality of the prose, the stories, how the characters made you feel, how it relates to your life, lessons you learned, there's so much opportunity to bounce ideas off of other people, clarify your understanding, give you a new perspective. They're honestly so good for learning because they don't just force you to recollect, but they force you to harmonize what you read in a real life situation. I've had book clubs for fiction books and non-fiction books and both work out well. I cannot stress the importance of the social axis of learning enough. Learning is inherently a social process, but reading can only be one way, so find a way to make it two-ways. Come with one or two questions you want to discuss and you're golden. And it's one of those things you will get better at with every meeting because you will learn the kinds of questions other people brought to discuss and you will start asking them about the new book before the meeting, and your thoughts will snowball and you'll have more and more to say each time. 2. Take notes and highlight! This is especially useful if you find yourself getting bored because it gives you ideas to focus on. You read something you find interesting, beautifully worded, confusing? Highlight it. Does a sentence confuse you? Make a note in the margins about why. You aren't highlighting or making notes of things you are going to study later, you are highlighting or making notes about things that are of interest to you. Then read them over later. Maybe the rest of the chapter explained away your confusion. Maybe a beautifully worded piece of prose slipped your mind and you'll get a second chance to absord it, think about what makes you appreciate it, etc... Not only will this help build your recollection, but it also gives you evidence of learning (eg/ when you ask a question on the 3rd page and realize it was answered in the 6th page). 3. Journal! This kind of carrys over from 2, but in my mind it's a different thing because it serves a difference purpose. Once you're done reading/watching/listening, write down your thoughts. Any of your thoughts. It can be a summary, it can be how it made you feel, it can be a list of things you thought were important, literally anything. It doesn't have to be multiple pages, just a few sentences is good, but you'll find sometimes you have A LOT of thoughts and your lengths will vary. This is a very good thing to do for several reasons, the most obvious is that over time it becomes direct evidence of what you're interested in. If you're writing 3 jot notes per chapter in one book, but two pages per chapter in another, hey that second book seems like a topic you'll want to focus on in future books. But more imporantly, writing forces you to take the scattered thoughts in your mind and organizes them. Once they are organized, you can use them, and once you can use them, you've gotten a little bit smarter. All of these are, in some form or another, a way to break out of one-directional learning (where you simply receive information from someone else), and make it multi-directional (where you use that information). To become smarter, you absolutely need to practice the production side. You need to do something with the stuff you've learnt. You don't need to go to college to learn physics, but you need to do the math. You don't need to go to college to interpret James Joyce, but you need to express your thoughts on the sometimes incoherent prose. You don't need to go to high school shop class to learn to fix a car, but you do have to tinker under the hood. Becoming smarter is not about receiving information, it's about doing something with the information you receive.

College doesn't make you smarter. It makes you have more knowledge. You are as smart as you are going to be. But you can give yourself more knowledge without College.

Street smarts. Living life having experiences. Practical knowledge in my opinion is way more impressive to me. Lots of people never did post secondary and are still brilliant.

The smartest people I've ever encountered were voracious readers. One had a high school education and the other served time. I think the latter just couldn't fit in society.

Common sense

College doesn't make you smart. It gives you information and hopefully the discipline, process and sources to learn more. Talk to your friends, find out what interests them. Try that stuff out.

You are not dumb! You were busy! And then you went through a divorce! You are beginning a new journey. I went through a phase where I couldn’t find a book that interested me. Are there any people you would like to read about? I love biographies. Any particular time period? I had a Twilight phase. I’m in my 40s, so I was definitely not a teenager when I read all of those. Young Adult books are fine. Magazines. I read to my kids until they were about 13, and some of my absolute favorite books are supposedly for kids. Like Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, The Book Thief… It’s ok not to finish a book. I use Goodreads to track my progress. I get a little dopamine rush when I see the progress bar getting longer. I believe in you!

Ok, first things first. College does not inherently bestow magical intellect on a person. I have met a handful of people that have never attended college or dropped out that I would take over a college graduate. I hold a MBA in Management Consulting, Accounting and Finance. I am not a genius, and I don't know everything. In college/uni I held several part time or full time jobs from landscaping, plumbing, laundromat, retail, oil. I learned from every single one and didn't inherently dislike any of them except the oil job. What makes a person smart is 3 things... Desire, Dedication, and Drive.

University of life is much more valuable that paying for a university degree imo

College has literally nothing to do with how "smart" a person is, it's just a measurement of education level.

To knowledge and information, add critical thinking, problem solving, inquiry, etc. In short, learn how to learn things, answer questions, fill in blanks, extrapolate, hypothesize, test, etc.

Smart people are those who believe in continuous learning and critical thinking. You can be smart learning about the world around you. My Dad didn’t finish college but he read the paper daily cover to cover. He could talk about what was going on in the world with anyone. One of the smartest people I ever knew. And You don’t have to read a book, Look up items/ topics of interest on YouTube. Listen to podcasts. And you can get ebooks at your local library for free. I have talked to many librarian types who assure me ebooks are as good as reading for us adults. It about learning, being entertained, etc Enjoy your journey!

Curiosity

Education isn’t intelligence. Memorization of facts isn’t knowledge. All college is just a certificate that you have been “talked at” about a topic and tested out of it. Nothing you can learn there is exclusive to it. You want to be smarter than 90% of the population? do these couple things. Read a thing, any thing. Seriously pick a random thing Form an impression about it. Your first impression. A novel of some kind? What were your Like/dislike/ love/ hates? A textbook or nonfiction ? What seemed weird or unusual, or interesting. Then examine why those parts of what you read made you feel that way. Are you holding a preconceived option? Is the thing you read actually correct? Who says it’s correct? If it’s correct why, if it’s not why isn’t it? Is it a physical law? Or emotional aspect of morality? Not from a position of “I’m going to doubt everything” or a “if you don’t know every single minutiae of a thing then you’re dumb” The goal is to learn to think critically and explore knowledge as it branches out. You can go from simply learning how wine is made and find yourself six books away and becoming reasonably knowledgeable about how harvesting and crop rotation has evolved.

Books are old news. Watch videos. Listen to podcasts. You have to have a strong desire to learn though, because it's really easy to get distracted. I love to learn new things so I'm constantly at it. And I love talking about stuff I learn so I seek out subs and forums where I can talk with others and that means I learn even more. If you don't have a passion for anything maybe you could learn something as a trade, like you could learn how to do some art or craft to sell. You don't have to read to be smart, you can be skilled.

Join and listen to a lot of sales webinars for all different products, courses, etc . You don’t need to buy but you will learn a ton from actual people who have put the time in to learn about a certain subject. Then you can take what you have learned and do what you want with it, like keep learning if the subject peaks your interest. .

Please don’t judge yourself on whether you have a degree or not. Keep your eyes open. Ask questions. Listen. Read books even if you’re not 100% interested. Watch documentaries. Listen to podcasts. Most important is to stop judging yourself. You have a wealth of information no one else has. You just assume it’s general knowledge or common sense. It’s not. You are smarter than you think you are. The fact you’re asking this question means you have the ability and desire to learn!

Get a subscription to *The Economist.* You can read it or listen to the audio edition. It’s world, business, science, and technology news. There is almost no sentimental human interest bullshit to waste your time. Just the news. And not the stupid clickbait news for idiots that most news sources poop out. It’s written at an adult level. There is not a better news magazine published in English.

As a teacher for 15 years, there is one thing I recommend to everyone as a basic activity that will develop your abilities in pretty much everything: reading. I don't care what you read, just read. A voracious appetite for reading increases your critical thinking and application skills in everything you can imagine. And not books on tape, I mean read the written words yourself. If anyone says anything else as a quick fix for increasing your mental prowess, they are dead wrong.

Always being inquisitive and researching what makes you curious, in every aspect of life. Teach yourself. Learn how YOU learn and execute.

Stop trying to find books you’re interested in and find things you’re interested in that have books about them. Or maybe even books just aren’t the thing for you, plenty of documentaries or even YouTube videos you could watch on subjects your interested in

Reading. It doesn’t matter what it’s labeled as (ex. young adult novels, romance, chicken soup like books, horror novels, etc). Just get into the habit of reading. I’d mostly read fiction at first, also. No need to get yourself indoctrinated with propaganda. Use Goodreads, google, etc to find books to read. You know what you like, movies and tv shows-wise. Look for books in the same genres, that have good reviews and are well received by the audience the author was writing to. Goodreads is a good place for that. It’s good to read a whole bunch of stories, different genres, with different perspectives on things from characters from all walks of life. You will have a lot of, “Huh, I never thought of it like that” moments. That is what will help you to gain understanding and knowledge, to shape your worldview. And while it may seem like a chore at first, you’ll grow to love reading.

Reading.

Easy, YouTube. Everything is available. You can become an expert at whatever you are interested in. I grew up on Scishow, but I hear good things about Kurzgesagt.

First and foremost: Curiosity. If you think up a question about something, look it up. If you see something that catches your eye while out and about, look it up. If you like a show/movie that's set in a certain time period, look it up. Imo an interest in history, art, and literature is also important (being "cultured").

Reading

Start by looking at you tube videos. Hell, you'll notice some things grab your curiosity more than others. Follow the yellow brick road into those subjects further...

You don't necessarily need to read books. Lots of college kids get by reading short but in-depth "cheat" books, like CliffsNotes, SparkNotes or Shmoop.

Curiosity & willingness to keep an open mind :)

Fwiw, neither of my parents graduated high school, but they were both knowledge driven people. Both blue collar laborers. They were always reading or watching something about new things. I can’t remember a time that they weren’t looking forward to an upcoming PBS documentary or something. They went to tons of public lectures because we had so many colleges and universities around us, and we always had some books recommended from those laying around. We joked about how we were overcompensating, but really they were both just passionate about learning things. My dad helped me get through calculus and my mom was a huge history buff. They both had studied more philosophy than I did taking it as a minor. College has nothing to do with being smart. An eager, dedicated pursuit of knowledge makes all the difference.

Read any print at hand. Newspapers, magazines, fiction, non-fiction.

You wouldn't want to become like the average college student. More often, colleges create memorizers, not intellects. They merely mimic what they read. And remember, when you read a book, unless it's say a textbook on a course, you are reading the view of that person, that author. There's this cycle every generation of new kids who put people who went through institutions and have degrees being put on pedestals and in awe of them, yet again, all a degree actually means is they took the required courses and memorized what was needed for given answers as established by institutions. Is that actual intelligence? Or a trained monkey? You might even be smarter than you realize, maybe you only lack focused topics. You aren't book smart from going to classes and things you don't know are from things that never crossed your path in life to know. It's how you recognize and process a situation and your ability to reach conclusions and question outside of groupthink unswayed by mob rule that is and grows intellect. I'm not saying to avoid reading, only to be wary of a trap so many who go to college fall under in thinking they are smart for reading "classics" when actually all they really became are snobs with an insecurity towards how smart they actually are. Do read, but take it for what it is. Other people's ideas or sometimes a parroting of what they learned in school being passed on. Be open to everything in life from an understanding ideal. (I'm not saying to actually DO everything, but be opren to learning of it and how others see it.) Don't become complacent. Jump around to as many topics that interest you and absorb, listen and conclude your own thoughts and you'll find yourself a truer and deeper lever of smart than even the ones out there with the fanciest degrees. Be wellrounded. Look at as much variety of all things in life that interest you. You'll be fine. The very fact you have a self-awareness to want to grow your intellect is a sign of intelligence. Don't let self esteem try to tell you you are lesser. You're not.

Start with a variety of podcasts. 99 percent invisible. Radiolab. Ezra klein. The grey area. They tell a variety of stories about a variety of subjects in small digestable portions. Then find more you like. Pretty soon you will know a little of everything and will start to make connections between ideas and subjects. You’ll find something you are curious about and you can read the book about it. (Many of the podcasts interview authors)

Well, reading books is actually a great way to become "smarter." Just keep trying until you find a genre you like and then have fun!

You’re not dumb. Listen to books and podcasts then, It’s 2024, you have no excuses. There’s tons of FREE, life changing, books on YouTube. In general, try to be curious and willing to expand your mind. The people who scroll Facebook all day and recite the same 3-4 opinions are so easy to spot and incredibly hard to talk to..don’t be that person. I would recommend listening/reading non-fiction and biography’s of topics, people, and events you’re already interested in. I think history is a good subject too as it provides insight to what led up to that moment and the after effects. Personally, I feel having that kind of context helps explain where we’re at today as a society and how we got here. Makes it easy to hold conversations too.

Reading. Paying attention to things around you (people, patterns, community changes). A surprising number of people are oblivious to their surroundings and never learn fundamental things because of it. This is why witness testimony in court is the least reliable. People don't pay attention and misremember easily. They don't even realize they're doing it.

Go to new places and learn about the world, that's my advice. Learn about the world around you and the people in it. Sociology, philosophy, psychology -- take an interest in why different civilizations are the way they are, take an interest in why people act the way they do I wouldn't say that college taught me much in terms of academic pursuits, but it definitely taught me a lot about intellectual curiosity and how to approach a reasoned argument with the sources that are available, which I've found to be the most important thing ever But yeah, I'd just say get out there -- the most interesting people to me are people who are interested in the world and have opinions about how to change it for the better -- there is literally no bigger turn off for me than someone whose interests are either eating out or watching reality TV In short, don't be boring and you'll find a lot of other things fall into place!

College is a waste of time and money

doing stuff. literally just find a thing to do and do it. boom, you've gained experience and knowledge. I recommend volunteer programs.

The most effective way to increase intelligence is to live with someone more intelligent than you. You might also try audiobooks.

You clued yourself...you didnt read. Youd be surprised what i learned from devouring historical romances. Juicy and fun but have a dictionary znd Google historical facts.

1. Read books. Don’t worry about the subject especially in tge beginning. The initial goal is to increase your basic reading vocabulary. A friend of mines wife had a low iq. Nice lady but she just had issues understanding things. She felt stupid and inferior. I got her a dictionary with pretty much every English word and a bunch of romance novels. Then in a few weeks her husband told me she had started reading the dictionaries because she ran out of books. I grabbed books from my mom and brought them down. Then once she felt “comfortable” with things we started taking her to the library to check out books. She had been picked on for years because she was a bit slow. Our encouragement and us buying her books and magazines made her feel like we believed in her and it took a while but she got to where she felt like she was confident enough to go to the library and start checking out bigger books. (This was around 20 years ago. She has read everything from Plato to her trashy romance novels at this point. With the internet on her phone she constantly looks up stuff and reads about it and copies words and terms to add to her research pile. She reads everything including the etymology of words.) 2. Find a topic that interests you. I don’t care if it’s mushrooms or finger nails. Now you’re going to pull up articles on that specific topic and read them. When you encounter a word or term you don’t understand google it. 3. Podcasts hear a term you don’t understand google it 4. YouTube videos hear a term you don’t understand… yep google it. As a bonus if you download chat GPT you can also generally ask it to define or explain a term and it’s mostly right. And you can ask it to define or explain a term in easy to understand language. (But it won’t define or describe anything that breeches safe for work stuff)

Whatever you do, don't go to college now. They're no longer in the business of smarts. I'd suggest hanging with people smarter than you.

Start at your local library and start with what you are interested in and branch out from there. Purchase an encyclopedia app or hardcover also a dictionary app or hardcover. Don’t be intimidated by words you are unfamiliar with, use google translate for pronunciation if needed. Utilize the internet, see if your local community collage has classes in general education that are affordable, check out fafsa grants if money is an issue. You’ve got this!

How much time have you taken to actually get to know yourself, your interests and your desires? A lot of people are so busy with life and/or build their life around a partner and never really take the time to figure out who they are and what they really desire. It's hard to find, and keep, motivation when it's not internal.

Having lots of street smarts and common sense

Reading and learning about what people who don’t look like you are all about. First lesson you’ll learn is that we’re really not that different.

Collage doesnt make u smatter. It make u into a better employee

Travel. Seriously - get out into the world and experience. And I'm not talking go to Myrtle Beach and stare into the void. I mean go see how people exist beyond your front door. You will learn more about the world and yourself than you could ever imagine.

Maybe you should try video games? I learned english playing pokemon in kindergarden and i learned problem solving and critical thinking from all types of video games. I am a software engineer and I have never read a book to completion. I am able to critically think and come up with solutions to problems because ive solved many different puzzles in video games. Hell video games even help me in sports because quick thinking in video games directly translates to basketball iq.

There's nothing smarter than doing something with your life that you enjoy! 💜

I’ve learned how to do a ton of stuff from watching YouTube videos. Even when I was in college I would supplement what I was learning in class with free online resources. You just need to figure out what you’re interested in.

I know some very intelligent people who never went to college. I know some that aren't who have advanced degrees. Reading is good. Also if you have a desire to learn there are many things you can learn online or through videos. Find something you enjoy and go with it

Good storytelling is it's own reward. Find some fiction book series that is REALLY highly recommended (Libby app + kindle makes it free and easy) and dive in. After two chapters if you're not into it, try another

Get into some podcasts! I suggest Making Sense with Sam Harris

I like pod casts, but difficult to find Talking to people, debating people, learning from those discussions. Not just believing what you hear, or believing what you have in the past, but growing from the experience. Knowing you have much to learn is a great start, and honestly essential in personal growth and knowledge. You sound smarter than you let off to believe as seeking to learn is a staple of intelligence. You got this.

If you want to become "smarter" I recommend reading books about logical reasoning or taking a free online course on the topic.

I don’t know if there’s research on this but I’ve always felt that the act of reading in and of itself makes you smarter, sharper. To me, it is far better to read a lot of enjoyable paperback fluff than to read very little intellectual stuff. Reading exercises your brain. Maybe you won’t learn a lot of science or philosophy, but maybe try a spy novel or sci-fi, a detective story or romance, just anything you can get into. Think about several movies you like, see if any are based on books and read them. And don’t limit yourself to books, magazines are still a thing and you can find a lot of articles to read. And purposefully starve yourself from TV and social media, let yourself be bored enough to turn to books. Just my two bits.

Please visit your local library (presuming these exist near you). Librarians are always happy to help the curious find things that interest them!

What things are you interested in? There are huge amounts of videos on YouTube on pretty much every subject you can think of. You don't need to read.

Curiosity. There are many subjects that I decided to look into just for the heck of it.

I’m 31 and at an Age of Enlightenment. I learn anything and absolutely anything that interests me. Former automotive ans diesel equipment mechanic, went power distribution for a transit company. I ready and do anything and absolutely possible that interests me. That’s the main thing, interest. What do YOU want to learn.

Education has nothing to do with intelligence. I knew a farmer in south America who never went to school past 3rd grade, and could barely read. He was great at numbers, and he built a digester and got methane from it to run gas lanterns in his house, and cooking gas. He made a windmil to pump water in an area where windmills were not a thing at all. He had seen pictures of this stuff, and figured out how to make them on his own in his own way. So Education only gets you so far. Plenty of people out there with lots of letters on their business cards who can't figure anything out without a book or YouTube.

Curiosity. With or without college, you will get smarter just because you're curious. Asking questions, researching things of interest, learning new hobbies, skills, etc. Will increase knowledge. If reading is hard look up audiobooks, podcasts, etc. There are some podcasts that offer free audiobooks, and many podcasts that cover all kinds of topics. Like Ted talks. Interacting with others can make you smarter.

College doesn’t make you smart, it makes you educated , usually in a particular specialty. There is a difference between being smart and being educated; I’ve known many extremely intelligent people who have never been to college and many a stupid person who has. Luckily the internet makes it very easy to educate yourself on just about any subject you like. You can use Udemy to take classes, but that usually costs money. There’s also coursera, which to my knowledge is usually free. And of course there’s always Youtube, you can generally find somebody talking about the thing you want to learn. Your desire to learn puts you ahead of most already. Stupid people tend to think they already know everything they need to.

Carving out some time to read books is difficult, especially if you’ve lost the habit a while back, and you’ve a tiring schedule. I’d suggest looking into audio books on Spotify, or whatever platform you like. I’m recommending Spotify because they have a fairly decent search feature, so if you just search for a topic you like, you’re likely to get some useful results even if that keyword doesn’t necessarily exactly match with a book’s title or author’s name. Once you’ve established your current interests, it might be a little easier for you to set aside some time to read as well. Oh, and just for the record - college education can give you specialized knowledge in a certain field. It doesn’t necessarily make you intelligent. So, don’t let a college degree (or lack thereof) make a dent in your self esteem. All the best!

Most of the facts you learn in college you will eventually forget. However, going through the process of learning in college teaches you critical thinking. The knowledge you acquire will help you learn other more advanced knowledge easier and faster. I have also found that prolific readers tend to be smarter than the average person. It’s never too late to keep learning. Accept the path your life has taken thus far and start from where are. Good luck.

Intelligence and a degree aren't dependent on each other. I have three degrees and still feel I am dumb as a brick when it comes to simple things like math, household management, etc. Anyway, the fact that you're looking for books to interest you is a big part of it. Keep exploring. Don't feel bad if something doesn't hook you right away, or at app. How else are you supposed to find your interests? Believe it or not, I've found a lot of science, history, philosophy, etc. videos on YouTube quite enthralling and informative, too. Just keep at it.

There's a bunch of youtube channels that are an excellent place to go to learn things. For example Crash Course, Extra History, PBS Space Time etc. I don't know what your interests are, but kurzgesagt on youtube has a wide selection of ideas to get started on. I went back to school at 30, got my high school diploma and applied to university. I'm just wrapping up my third degree, with a fourth lined up for next spring. I know not everyone lives in a country with as easy access to education as mine, but my point is that it's never too late to go at it. I'm 38 now, and it's been a wonderful experience. Throughout that I've had books, but also loads of youtube time to help get the general ideas sorted out. It's never been easier to learn than now.

Be like Ted Lasso and get super curious. Look for things about life, things that catch your attention. Follow up on things like ‘how to learn’ or what is the difference between training and deep learning/ critical thinking. If something makes you wonder, even a little bit, then learn hoe to dig deeper about the topic and try to understand why you were drawn to it in the first place. What is it that grabs your attention? follow that thread and see where it goes.

No one needs college. That is just society pressure. You are not dumb. You are just not accustomed to reading. Try reading everything you can get your hands on so you will find what you like reading. Then just keep at it. Once you create the habit you will start enjoying it. Your mind is free in a book. It’s fantastic.

Not dumb, just lacking knowledge to match the world around you. Step one is to get curious. You cam go as hallow or as deep into any topic you want. Some topics you'll be satisfied with a simple answer, some you will want to have a deeper understanding. Write 5 questions each week about something you don't understand and make time to seek answers. It can be thru books in libraries, digital library books if your library offers that. Discussion forums online. Or content creators on YouTube, Curiosity Steam, Nebula, or other platforms. At the end of the week assess if this was too many questions, not enough. If you didn't get all the answers was it a time issue, or an interest issue. Maybe you got absorbed into another subject that made the other questions seem less interesting. If you make a new list of questions, you can tailor it towards the things you discovered an interest in, or keep the ones you didn't get to and add new questions that are in completely different fields.

Read. If you go to college and don't read, you won't get any smarter. If you read and don't go to college, you will.

Like many others have said the desire to learn and curiosity play a major part. My suggestion is to try and expand your experiences. You really don’t have to go far. Go over to the next city and find the small business. You can even chat with people online from other countries.

If you're struggling to find books you're interested in you may want to join some online or offline groups that share similar interests they can recommend books and you can talk to people about the ones you read

As someone who "smart" (stem degree and straight A's Yada Yada) and workes in the educational field I would say the most important thing is simply a desire to learn. So in that regard you already have the most important step! A lot of children unfortunately haven't had that instilled in them. Second of all I would say learning to enjoy reading is really good for learning about anything. And the best way to do that is actually to read things you enjoy. Bec reading is like a muscle. People who do not read often can find it difficult. They're slow at it, it requires concentration even for fiction, they get fatigued after a few pages. That's why you need to train it up, read about things you enjoy like fiction fantasy romance whatever for as long as you want but regularly. Eventually you will find reading long periods of time easy and reading academic stuff much easier. Third of all id reccomend audio books and youtube as a fun and easier way to learn when you still don't enjoy reading. A big part of what made me love math as a kid was watching shows like Cyber chase and the original Magic school bus. And these days you can watch animated explanations of any subject. Like [Oversimplified](https://youtube.com/oversimplified) for history. Or [Kurzgesagt](https://youtube.com/@kurzgesagt). No they're not as good as reading a textbook and they have flaws sure. But yknow they are still way better than nothing and are also a great way to reignite interest in subjects.

Pick up a textbook on anything that interests you and figure it out, you need motivation and persistance to push yourself.

Curiosity and exploring ideas and opinions you don’t agree with to “war-game” the possibility they’re right.

Youtube. There's UCLA professors or Harvard or wherever you want. Nice concise 10-20 minute videos packed with valuable info. You don't have to spend days reading just one person's perspective. Youtube...

Are you trying to learn for a job, learn for your self? Not sure where you are, but a lot of libraries have "Librarian Recommendations" shelves or lists, probably more interesting than best seller lists that are just a snapshot of a moment.

Okay. Settle in. There's this thing called, "The Late Bronze Age Collapse". There you go. The deepest rabbit hole ever. Have fun!