h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are two categories of people. The theoretical and the practical. Illustrated by two stories I have gathered along my way through life.

1. My father and his friend, in their teens or early twenties, both bought themselves a guitar. The friend bought a load of books and studied them all before starting to play. My dad just kept on playing until he got it right. They stayed good friends and made music together for years.

2. A chap I once met at a seminar told me about his brother, a lawyer, who was incapable of hammering in a nail. So this bloke, his brother, sat down and wrote out all about the theory of hammering in nails - filled a whole page. After reading this, the lawyer-brother was able to hammer in nails perfectly.

Questions to ponder: is there a right way and a wrong way to approach things? Why are people different? What is the definition of this different make-up in people? Does anybody else have any illustrations and which was the best answer in that case?

I saw a amusing mind-boggling quote: In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.

Hi again TC
I think it's to do with right and left brain dominance.The left people follow sequential instructions and the right are holistic,for example. Thank you for the examples - I'm supposed to be preparing a lecture on learning styles.