Becoming Supergenius has grown on the scorched earth that is the current state of learning, teaching, and education. This is no small matter.

I asked thirty-five people, with over 1,600 years of accumulated experience, how and why they learned. From their answers I resolved 328 learning secrets that are part of any person's journey to find their full potential.

Learning requires us to explore where our thinking comes from. Thinking is a complicated process. There is truth to every thought and some context in which every thought makes sense. We can't examine every idea, as many are unimportant, but we don't want to focus only on the important few. We need alternatives. We need directions.

Break the process down. There are places we learn in, people we learn from, situations we are subjected to, and resources we learn with. These books are a map through this chaos of possibilities.

Each of the 328 learning secrets open a world of its own. Some of these will nourish you, some may poison you, and others can heal you. They are spices and medicines. Don't use them all at once.

These secrets don't lead to paradise, they are training in the skills of the hero's journey. They are preparation for the real world, which is where you must go to learn, not to hallowed and protected halls.

These books map the territory of the real world. They tells you how to rig and trim your sails. No matter how glorious or miserable you feel about your journey, it's your journey, and you were made for it. The object is not happiness, it's more than that.

The first volume, The Outer World, addresses the environment in which we find ourselves. We consider the attitudes people have about learning, the actors and agents we encounter in our attempts to learn, where we find these people, and how they behave. These are the practical issues.

The second volume, The Inner World, considers the how, what, and why of our inner thoughts and feelings. The goal is to understand ourselves. The focus is on what we're doing, how we think, and why.

We associate genius with aptitude, skill, intelligence, and success. I've invented the term “supergenius” to refer to something deeper. If geniuses blaze the trails we follow, supergeniuses blaze trails that we're not yet ready to. Genius stands out; supergenius often does not.

The supergenius is someone who not only sees all sides, but also conceives of there being no side, the reality of the ambiguous, and even in this finds direction. Supergeniuses are inspired.

Becoming Supergenius, Part I