
I tell people,
I don't know much at all - my
books, magazines and reference sites know it all. I simply know enough to know where to look in the books and sites.
I joined a coin club over ten years ago. Besides all the knowledge the old guys in the coin club can offer a new collector, they drummed into me this wisdom: first the books, then the coins.
Of course, having books sitting on your shelf doesn't do me much good, if I don't read them. My brother laughs at me because whenever I buy a new coin catalogue like a Krause or Sear, I'll read it, cover to cover, as if it was a gripping novel. I gain the true benefit from this later; when I see a strange coin, I'll remember seeing something like it, and have a rough idea which part of which book I was reading when I saw it.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis