Everyone hates a know-all

摘要

Know-alls can be maddening. Polymathy, however fascinating, may be a vice as much as a virtue in this age of specialization. In his book The Last Man Who Knew Everything, Andrew Robinson attempts only an introduction to the life of the polymath Thomas Young (1773-1829) — a full biography of 'Phenomenon Young', as he became known, would have required a team of specialists.