Quote of the Day- Who’s an Expert?
By Paul
“Now that I was writing on public policy issues, I was surprised to discover how fast and how easy it is to become known as an ‘expert’ on a number of subjects. The only subject on which I considered myself an expert was the history of economic theory, but others apparently considered me an expert on all sorts of other things.
Someone associated with writing of The Harvard Encylopedia of American Ethnic Groups phoned me at the Center of Advance Study because, as he put it, “You are considered the leading authority on West Indians in the United States.” Taken aback, I replied:
“Everything I know about West Indians in the United States could be said in ten typewritten pages, double spaced.”
“ But who else could write five typewritten pages?” he asked.
Apparently there must be an expert for every subject, even if no one knows very much about it.”
A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell ( p, 263, emphasis mine)
Related; Unofficial Thomas Sowell Fan Page