How to be disgustingly educated

A chaotic guide to becoming the most interesting person in the room

Letters I never sent (No.9)

Hello my love,

There’s a kind of person who’s so well-read, so frighteningly articulate, so mentally juicy that you want to both date them and punch them in the throat.

You know the type.

They quote Baldwin mid-conversation.

They listen to podcasts at 1.5x speed while annotating a book.

They drop phrases like “epistemic frameworks” and somehow make it work.

This is your guide to becoming that person. Not for clout. Not for Instagram aesthetics. But for the sheer, indecent pleasure of being disgustingly educated.

Let’s begin.

1. Treat Curiosity Like a Religion

Ask questions. Relentlessly.

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?

Why did the Roman Empire fall (again)?

Why is Taylor Swift’s marketing team so terrifyingly good?

The disgustingly educated are not “know-it-alls.” They’re “want-to-know-it-alls.” They collect questions like souvenirs and chase answers like lovers. Google should be tired of you.

2. Listen to People Smarter Than You (aka Podcasts and TED Talks)

You don’t need a PhD. You need AirPods.

The world’s best thinkers are giving out free knowledge. Take it.

Start with:

• The Ezra Klein Show – politics, culture, why everything is weird

• Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell – rethinking the obvious

• On Being with Krista Tippett – spiritual, poetic, essential

• TED Talks Daily – a buffet of ideas in 18 minutes or less

  Listen while you walk. While you fold clothes. While you pretend to like the gym.

3. Read, But Like, Actually Read

Read books. Real ones. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir.

Read across genres. If you only read productivity books and self-help, I’m worried about you.

Read a romance novel. A war memoir. A book on mushrooms.

Let your brain become a house with many rooms.

And here’s a dirty secret: you don’t have to finish every book. Life is too short for boring chapters.

4. Articles Are Your Superpower

Books are deep dives. Articles are sharp little knives.

They keep you updated, opinionated, and maddeningly informed.

Make it a habit:

• Skim The Atlantic, New Yorker, Nautilus, Aeon, and The Cut

• Save what you can’t finish to Pocket or Instapaper

• Try this: Read one long-form article every Sunday morning. It’ll ruin brunch conversations in the best way

5. Befriend the Librarian Energy in You

Curate your own syllabus. Make monthly learning goals.

This month? Feminist economics.

Next month? Indigenous storytelling.

Start collecting knowledge like it’s Pokémon cards. Share it. Obsess over it. Make people wonder if you’re secretly working on a thesis.

6. Say “I Don’t Know” Loudly and Often

The most educated people admit ignorance. They ask questions like, “Can you explain that to me?” or “Where did you read that?” or “What am I missing here?”

This isn’t humility for show ,it’s the real secret to learning. Curiosity is loud. Ego is dumb. Choose curiosity.

7. Bonus Level: Create. Talk. Teach.

Disgustingly educated people do something with what they know.

They write. They host book clubs. They post Substack essays (ahem). They debate kindly, disagree well, and connect ideas across time, culture, and emotion.

You don’t just absorb knowledge, you remix it.

That’s when it becomes part of you.

Final Word: You Don’t Need to Be Rich or Privileged or Ivy-League

You need Wi-Fi. A library card. A slightly obsessive nature. And the will to spend 20 minutes down a Wikipedia rabbit hole at 2 a.m.

Being disgustingly educated is not about degrees or titles. It’s about being wildly alive to ideas. It’s about feeding your mind until it glows.

So go ahead. Download that obscure podcast. Ask weird questions. Read about quantum physics and 18th-century love letters.

Then walk into a room with your head held high and ruin everyone’s small talk.

With knowledge and chaos,

Amira

For those who want to go beyond the essay, How to Be Disgustingly Educated: The Guide offers a romanticised blueprint and resource list to help you begin your intellectual journey.

Access the guide here →

For deeper essays and to join our monthly book club, tap (Join here) to become a paid member. If you’re in the Substack app, open the page in Safari or Chrome to complete your upgrade.