Knowledge isn't intelligence.

>>2596637
better articulated, information is not intelligence.

If you think intelligence is earned through reading books, there is no hope for you

Get someone to set you in a deathtrap
Work your way out

>>2596637
>>2596643

Then how can I get smarter?

>>2596649
You can't. Intelligence is a largely biologically defined parameter, but take heart, it's really only a capacity to adapt to and understand your environment. It's a potential. Let's say you're born with an intelligence potential between 110 and 120, and the way in which you're raised, stimulated, etc, puts you somewhere in that range.

In other words, you'll never be more intelligent.

You CAN however increase your knowledge and change the way you consider information, which is what I think you're going for.

Start with some basic philosophy.

>>2596649
By being conceived by smarter parents. Anything that claims to make you more intelligent will probably be snake oil. There might be something out there that could make you smarter, some sort of drug maybe, but I wouldn't expect it to change a person from a Lennie to a George.

>>2596631

ignore the biology fags.

read shit by the smart people.
read kant, marx, bible(nt), mill, hume, ...

if the book you are reading makes you feel dumb it is working.

continue until everything bores you and you can identify fallacies minutes before they occur.
you are now smart and miserable.
congrats.

>>2596657
This post is completely unfounded, dangerous bullshit.

Intelligence really is something you can nurture in yourself and learn, if you are willing to spend the time and apply the right amount of humility. You can't transform yourself into Einstein, but there is nothing stopping you from becoming greatly more intelligent if you honestly apply yourself to it.

OP's concept of reading more books equally more intelligence, while being hopelessly crude, is actually a good start. Reading classic literature: fiction and philosophy, science and history, will have some effect on the mind, if you take it in. Your brain is not a simple computer for processing data, with parameters set at birth or childhood. If you excercise it by grasping new concepts, new ways of thinking and taking the time to meditate (as silly as this sounds) on human nature, your mind will alter, and the way you see the world will change.

By far the best route, better than reading any amount of books is to talk to and spend time with other people, at the same level or more intelligent than you. Learn and discuss. Debate, be educated, argue and be proven wrong. Anyone at any age can learn to do this. I've seen people in their 60s and 70s with the right attitude completely change their outlook on life, and, bluntly speaking, become more intelligent, through the study and discussion of philosophy and art.

This is actually the way people work. It is a wonderful fact, that some like to ignore. If you have the humility, and the curiosity (both of which OP seems to posses), then there is nothing stopping you.

Intelligence is nurture, not nature.
Biology fags gonna fag

>You can't get smarter.
>Reading books to gain knowledge is a waste of time.
>Here, you should read up on these shitty philosophers.
/lit/ confirmed for worst board of all time.

OP read Finnegans Wake until shit comes out your dick.

>>2597578

Pretty much this, and no, I'm not a goddamn samefag. One thing that I think is very helpful -- read debates.
Find a controversial issue you're interested in, not necessarily political, and read up on both sides. If you can find a place online where it's being discussed intelligently (so, not 4chan) then join in. People are pretty down on online argumentation here ("even if you win, you're still retarded") but I really think that the debate process is one of the best ways to improve your critical thinking and your ability to find and sort through information -- both of which are vastly more important than any one piece of knowledge.

How come you faggots always recommend philosophy? It's possibly the most useless nonfiction you could read. If you want to learn:
Math read Godel, Escher, Bach
Science read A Short History of Almost Everything
Social Studies read Guns Germs and Steel

It depends whether you just want to SOUND smarter or whether you actually want to BE more intelligent.

Reading classic literature and philosophy is a really good way to get yourself sounding smart. You'll speak more articulately, have more refined views and arguments and gain a lot of cultural capital.

If you actually want to BE smarter, however, you'll need to work a lot harder (if it's even possible). You'd have to read these things and actually engage with them - analyse them or whatever to get your brain working. It'd also help to learn maths and science. Knowledge doesn't equal intelligence, but doing these things will get your brain working and therefore (probably) improving.

I don't understand the question, intelligence cannot arise from simply reading books. Intelligence develops from a combination of life experiences and general learning. No amount of books, or genre of books will allow your intelligence to explain.

>>2597641

I sorta agree with this. Not that philosophy is worthless, but it's not what I'd recommend to get somebody excited about learning.

The books you recommended are great. It's worth noting that Guns, Germs and Steel is controversial, and A Short History of Nearly Everything has a few relatively minor factual errors in it. But OP, one of the first things you should learn is to question everything you read (actually, you seem pretty smart already... I'm sure you already knew that.)

>Intelligence develops from a combination of life experiences and general learning.

That's knowledge.