Article: The renaissance man: in praise of the well-read, intellectually fed, brave, strong, tuneful in song, chivalrous, never frivolous fellow.

IN THE 1991 film City Slickers, Jack Palance, as the rugged cowboy Curly, poses a question to a quivering urbanite played by Billy Crystal. "Do you know the secret of life?" asks Palance, looming in his saddle as Crystal, shaking his head, searches the cowboy's craggy face for the key to manly excellence. The secret, according to the hawkeyed Palance, is to focus on "one thing. Just one thing."

This is precisely the advice that a Renaissance man would never follow.

A Renaissance man's interests are multiple, and his ability to focus on--and to excel in--many subjects is astonishing. In short, his appetite for learning and his passionate curiosity will ...

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