Lack of education becoming apparent

[Maltesters]

I'm hoping to get some tips of how to better my general knowledge. The older I get, the more apparent my lack of knowledge becomes.

Further education after High School was never an option for me. I grew up in a very toxic, abusive household so education was never a priority.

Despite my disadvantaged start in life I've done okay for myself. I have a good job and a fairly stable life however I have always longed for a profession, something I can be confident in and proud of. A degree/profession might be an option in the future but it's not something we can budget for at the moment. I don't know what I would even study so I'd need to do a ton of research first before I could consider choosing a subject.

Dh is an educated professional and when we chat the gaps in my knowledge are becoming more and more visible. I find that I really struggle to hold a conversation with him or with anyone because I really don't know a lot. The problem is that I don't know what I don't know and I don't know how to fix this.

I try to read up on news and research anything that I don't understand but I'm really struggling. I am really clueless on everything basically and I'm incredibly embarrassed by how little I know.

Can anyone suggest some books to read or topics that I could look up to help me? I have no idea where to begin really. I'm so sick of feeling unintelligent and unable to join in conversations because I don't have a clue what people are talking about.

Hi OP, if you get the Dorling Kindersley books The Economics Book, The History Book, The Politics Book and How Money Works, I think they will be at exactly the right level for you. Also Tim Harford's series on the BBC Making the Modern World (there are nearly 100 of them but they're only 9 minutes each - audio recordings).

If you look in AMA on here you could revive my thread, I'm an Economics teacher, ask me anything.

Thanks for the recommendations. This is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll have a look for your post later.

I'm not really sure where to begin with economics. I'd like to have a basic level of understanding to start off with. I'm guessing the book you recommend will help with that?

Have a browse through Coursera and see what courses catch your eye. There's a "Learning How to Learn" course that you might find useful.

I'm sure that you know more than you think. Who said that 'the ultimate knowledge is self-knowledge?'! Anyway, I think I have learned - and continue to learn - lots from reading the Times cover to cover every day. I also think Bill Bryson's 'A short history of nearly everything' is fantastic.

I'm not really sure where to begin with economics.
Same as anything: wikipedia. It has nearly 6.5 million articles so most things are covered and it has extensive links and references.

@Maltesters economics: a users guide by ha joon Chang. Best book on the subject, and eye opening.
Economics IS politics....

FutureLearn is a good place to start. Or you can visit the local library in order to find books and old newspapers etc. I did a really interesting course on FutureLearn about country houses and literature a while back during the lockdown. Listen to podcasts and watch TV shows on science, art and so on. Take lessons, attend talks and the like rather than a pub or a bar for drinks or food. I know that there are tutors who accept adult clients, try searching reviews and profiles online.

The replies to this post have been wonderful I'm very thankful that a bunch of strangers have taken the time to help me and the advice I've received has been fantastic!

I've listened to BBC 4 radio for the past few days and I've leaned loads! I've also picked up a few good topics for conversations.

I also ordered myself a kindle so I can work my way through some of the suggested books on here.

The Internet is just amazing.

I used to consider myself to be pretty intelligent, but ignorant.

I left school at 16 with 4 O levels and worked in an office environment. At about 28 years old I decided that as well as being ignorant I was becoming stupid. That was nearly 25 years ago and access to information is totally different now, especially as I was living in a undeveloped country then.

At the time I had only ever read about 4 books and seriously struggled to read a whole one. I decided I needed lots of little bits of interesting information. This worked for me and when YouTube and Wikipedia became available to me I was like a child in a sweet shop.

I suggest reading, watching YouTube videos and documentaries. I have tried to study what my son has been studying (BBC Bitesize is pretty good).I have never kept up with him, but I have definitely broadened my knowledge considerably. Because of this I now know thousands of words in foreign languages, have a good knowledge of history and geography, know quite a lot about art and recently bought a GCSE maths book to see if I can keep up with my son, once more.

I have found that the more I know the easier it becomes to learn more. Indeed, about 10 years ago I graduated top of my class on an executive MBA (I was the oldest in the class by some way and they let me on the course because of my 10+ years of management experience despite my lack of qualifications. I still had no idea what to do when I had to write my first paper, however). I wouldn’t actually say that it thought me that much, but it did make me much more confident.

I still have a list of words and meanings on my phone that I add to on an almost daily basis. These words are there to teach me meaning or to just remind me to use them. Yesterday, I added the word Lusophone and today it was Ribald.

Watch Youtube videos. Lots on interviews on topics of relevance to you.

OP, if it’s any comfort I have an English degree and still feel ignorant when people are discussing books and authors I’ve never heard of.