The myth of the myth of the well read person

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I worked for ten years with John Tukey at Bell Labs. He had tremendous drive. One day about three or four years after I joined, I discovered that John Tukey was slightly younger than I was. John was a genius and I clearly was not. Well I went storming into Bode’s office and said, “How can anybody my age know as much as John Tukey does?” He leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, grinned slightly, and said, “You would be surprised Hamming, how much you would know if you worked as hard as he did that many years.” I simply slunk out of the office!

Share this post The myth of the myth of the well read person www.dwarkeshpatel.com Copy link Twitter Facebook Email The myth of the myth of the well read person "Perhaps in that unimpeded air he will see all philosophies as but one groping, all faiths as but a single hope" Dwarkesh Patel Mar 20 17 6 Share this post The myth of the myth of the well read person www.dwarkeshpatel.com Copy link Twitter Facebook Email I worked for ten years with John Tukey at Bell Labs. He had tremendous drive. One day about three or four years after I joined, I discovered that John Tukey was slightly younger than

The myth of the myth of the well read person

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