An Interesting Academic Field

I’m troubled by not only how much I don’t know, which is legion, but how much that I don’t know that I don’t know. There’s so much out there that I’m not even aware of most of my ignorance; it’s as dark matter, lurking unseen and unknown.

Today, I stumbled on an entire scientific field that I wasn’t even aware existed: intellectual history, which is “the study of intellectuals, ideas, and intellectual patterns over time.” I must admit that I’m not much for history, but this seems very useful, and I’d love to get my hands on a decent textbook covering the “greatest hits” of ideas. Alas, I’ve as of yet been unable to track down quite what I’m after, but this looks close.