by Mac a'Bhaird

Created on: January 18, 2010   Last Updated: March 29, 2010

In order to make people think you’re smart, or to give the impression you’re smart, first and foremost, you have to be. No, don’t be discouraged, smartness has little to do with IQ, it has more to do with applying one’s self. There are many people with a high IQ whose brains are in neutral- and many with an IQ that isn’t as high that are in hot pursuit of knowledge.  So what do you really want to do? Impress people? Put on the dog? That’s not a good enough reason to pursue knowledge. Smart people who pursue knowledge are people who are interested in the world around them. As they have interest, guess what? It transforms them into ‘interesting people’! And don’t we usually regard people who are interesting as smart?

You’re going to have to stop wasting time going nowhere watching television, bubblegum movies or novels and playing video games. Take up reading; read biographies about people who have made an impact upon our world. As you read biographies, it should pique your interest in other subjects or other persons you are reading about, connecting you to a never ending network of related topics. As you read about slavery in America, before long, you’re reading about the Civil War; then you read about the family of Robert E. Lee, and before you know it, you want to know more about the founding of Virginia. Now you’re into English history; and when you jump across the ‘pond’, you’ll have to know about English royalty… and you have a lifetime of reading before you. You’ll read about King Henry VIII and his unlucky wives. You cannot read about King Henry VIII without learning about Vatican history; the popes! And wow, before you know it, you’re into Roman and medieval history! It’s all connected; and you’ll kick yourself for wasting so much time reading those trashy novels, because you’ll realize no novel rivals real life.

Then something magical happens: your conversation with others takes on a new dimension. Instead of talking the usual drivel of soap operas and top box office movies which any brain dead person can yammer about, you’re telling fascinating things that most people don’t know, because they’ve been preoccupied reading cheap novels. No one is going to think you’re not smart because you’re not familiar with the evening lineup of television programs, but they’re going to not think, but

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