Do Not Underestimate Knowledge

Introduction

This time, I would like to share my thoughts on this book.

The reason I picked up this book is that I had previously read another book by the same author, and I recently had the opportunity to re-read it. This is it.

The titles are similar, and it seems as if they were written by the same person. Regardless of that, I recently noticed that the book I am reviewing this time, 'The Illusion of Knowing' (Shitteru Tsumori), is listed in the recommended books on the back of the book 'The Illusion of Understanding' (Wakatta Tsumori). I am the type of person who, when I see something that looks like a sequel, wants to see or read it, so I was very curious. Also, since I had some questions about the content of 'The Illusion of Understanding' (though the book itself is excellent), I thought this might provide some answers, so I purchased it.

From this point on, spoilers ahead.

Main Chapter

Initial Impressions

It was a very interesting book. My perception of knowledge has changed. As I will explain in detail later, this is another book that every citizen in Japan should pick up. It also raises issues with school education, and there were parts I agreed with. (Well, that might also be because I am anti-school...)
Also, perhaps because the author is the same, there are many parts that connect to the content of 'The Illusion of Understanding,' and thanks to that, it was easy to understand. 'The Illusion of Understanding' and 'The Illusion of Knowing' should be read as a set.

Perception of Knowledge

First, there is a part that I found interesting. It is the idea that "the more you know, the more you realize what you don't know.." At first glance, this might not make sense (at least I thought so at first), but after reading the explanation, I was convinced. This means that when you gain knowledge, you first realize what you don't know about this field. Knowing what you don't know is what it means to have more things you don't understand. And that becomes an opportunity to gain knowledge in that field, and the knowledge gets updated. (The quality of knowledge improves.)
I thought this was paradoxical and very interesting. I am clearly aware that I have had this experience myself. If you are a reader, you will understand that when you read a certain book, you want to read books that seem related to its content. Have you noticed? My motivation for reading this book is exactly the motivation for reading this book is "the more you know, the more you realize what you don't know." I felt like the author was playing with me before I even read the book. (I'm sorry🙇‍♀️ )

"The more you know, the more you realize what you don't know." Conversely, "if you don't know knowledge, you have fewer things you don't understand." To put it another way, it means remaining ignorant of the world you don't know. The author calls this state the 'illusion of knowing' state. The downside of the 'illusion of knowing' state is that knowledge becomes isolated,
which leads to misunderstandings in how things are perceived. Because the quality of knowledge is poor, it also affects problem-solving and output. By the way, current school education is promoting this. Sometimes some shady organizations hold strange demonstrations, and I thought it's not impossible that they have a wrong perception of things because the quality of their knowledge is low. I also think that falling for scams might be influenced by the quality of one's own knowledge.
The importance of knowledge really sinks in..

Final Chapter

No, it was a good book. In addition to the above, this book is full of topics such as how to input high-quality knowledge, how to break through the 'illusion of knowing,' and why current school education is flawed. Please read it. If you want to acquire culture through reading, it is worth knowing.