ABSTRACT
What do Mozart and Christian Heinecken have in common? Both were prodigies. Mozart, as we all know, composed minuets at the tender age of four. Heinecken memorized the Pentateuch before the age of one, mastered sacred history before the age of two, and was a whiz at geography and history at age three. He spoke French and Latin, as well as excelling in religious studies, while little Mozart was hammering away at his piano. Sadly, he died when he was but five. Their brilliance was extraordinary. Because their expertise was so intuitive and appeared at such an early age, it would have been devilishly tricky to try to conceptualize knowledge acquisition in the 18th century. Fortunately, the rest of us do not exactly qualify as prodigies. However, the task of knowledge acquisition is still a tough one. So how do we do it?
