[sponaugle]

"No-one has ever learned skill just by reading/observing" - Except of course all of those people in Cosmology who, you know, observe.

[direwolf20]

what skill do they have? making stars? no they are skilled at observing, which is what they do.

[sponaugle]

I think understanding stellar processes and then using that understanding to theorize about other observations is a skill. My point was that observing can be a fantastic way to build a skill.. not all skills, but certainly some skills. Learning itself is as much an observation as a practice.