Saw this on the Reddit AMA with Elon Musk today and he is talking about the value of understanding fundamentals before you become an expert.

[–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 5103 points1 month agox2

I do kinda feel like my head is full! My context switching penalty is high and my process isolation is not what it used to be.

Frankly, though, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying.

One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree — make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.