[lepacheco]

Paper reading is one of the ways of learning what else is out there. You can substitute that with talking to other people. Which Feynman did a lot, judging from the stories in his books.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, it seems to actually be MUCH more efficient (if you have smart people to talk to): trying to find the good papers in the middle of the sea of publications/noise is a very time consuming task.

[ank286]

Publications from reputable journals are easier to find than to find smart people firsthand who are experts in the field.

[imgabe]

Unless of course you're Richard Feynman, and you happen to know them because you all worked on the Manhattan Project together.

[lepacheco]

I agree. finding smart, expert people who are willing to talk to you is left as an exercise for the reader ;)