Passing our knowledge on well by Claire Musters
In the last issue of Together magazine, Andy Peck was looking at the book Made to Stick; why some ideas stick and others die by Chip and Dan Heath. It was his explanation of their idea that knowledge can be a curse that really struck me. Andy said that they showed how research in economics and psychology points to the fact that when we know something it becomes hard for us to imagine not knowing it. This results in us becoming bad communicators; especially to those engaging with the facts for the first time. I was immediately reminded of my first job as an editor in the General Reference department of a big publishing company. Most of my work centred around finding experts in their field (on subjects ranging from interiors to mountaineering to fly fishing!) and then helping them to craft a beginner’s guide to the subject. I found a lot of the manuscripts were like gobbledygook to me; it made me feel a little foolish, but working on a subject I wasn’t an expert in enabled me t...