L0in

When reading a book on a topic/field you are unfamiliar, how do you validate that what you are reading it's not BS? For example, i want to read a book about geopolitics that makes statements about a certain phenomenon. How do i know the arguments are not completely BS vs different position/views/opinion of the phenomenon?

I've always been a person with vast interests: math, history, security, woodworking, etc. I like learning but my study of any topic or field is disorganized and leads to nowhere.

I'm not a phd or write a MA thesis. I'm not academic publishing papers but i find the process of deeply studying something fascinating.

I'm trying to read discussion from a thread with 133 comments, on a topic i find interesting, but after a few comments i get overwhelmed. How do you do it?