70%

That graph of what a PhD is reminded me of why I've dodged graduate school for so long -- because I like the idea of keeping my sphere of knowledge relatively regularly shaped, without that awkward growth protruding from it. I would rather know a lot about everything than everything about one tiny fraction of the whole of knowledge. Or, that's how I've been feeling for the past 29 years or so. Recently, though I've succumbed to this craving to be an expert in something. Just last week I looked up from the table in Doe Library where I was working to watch mindlessly as someone on the other side of the stacks was rolling the book cases back and forth to find just the right volume, and I was reminded of the library in terms of its being a physical manifestation of the internet, which I had at my fingertips. I thought about my small book case at home and the amount of space it might take to house every book I've ever read and compared that mental shape to the vast expanse of Doe and its endless supply of books and my goal of learning 70% of everything felt an even more herculean task than ever. Even compared to absorbing the contents of 70% of just the volumes in Doe library, applying to graduate school and even pumping out a PhD seemed like simple things one can accomplish in due time. It has been a comforting thought.