Reading and Early Questioning

I was a child that was always curious and searching for answers. Even before I knew what the words, Science, Philosophy, and Truth were I was trying to figure out answers to these kind of questions.

A lot of this came from my reading. I learned how to read at a pretty early age. Once I did I began absorbing as much information as I could. I remember having a children’s dictionary that I would spend a lot of time reading. At the back of the book it had a number of stories and fairy tales. I really enjoyed reading about monsters, heroes, princesses, and curses. Having read the original stories as a young child it colored my perception when Disney would later produce animated films based upon these stories, and I could easily point out major changes.

In addition to the children’s dictionary we had, my family owned an entire encyclopedia set. I would open various volumes and read about all kinds of different topics. Yes, I read the encyclopedia for fun, what can I say, I was a weird kid.

During this part of my childhood I remember the first major question or mystery I tried to find the answer to. It was about the matter of why Brian’s birthday was celebrated before mine even though I was older. For the life of me I couldn’t figure it out, it made no sense. To be perfectly honest, over 20 years later and a much more expanded knowledge of the calendar system, this question has not been sufficiently resolved for me.

I also remember being in the car going to places with my family. Being raised in Southern California I was used to being in urban type settings. I've always been fascinated with geography and this was true even at a young age. When on the freeway at times I would ask my dad were we were and he stated that we were between such and such town and this other city. I would protest and say that I didn't care what cities we were between but what city we were currently in. I couldn't fathom being in a place that wasn't within a city's limits. My dad put up with my naivete and eventually I understood there was more than just city.

So what were big questions or mysteries that you tried to find answers to from your childhood?