The Problems with the DH movie.

[Carol]

> Carol, suspecting that Tom Riddle, despite his natural brilliance, was not an intellectual
> 
> //////////////////////////////
> 
> Intellectual's a vague word. Anyone who studies a subject to mastery is definitely an intellectual. Just because you're tactile and not a book learner doesn't change anything, Einstein was Dyslexic - he didn't read books either! T<snip>
> 
> I certainly think he's intellectual, very learned, certainly a master in his field of study.

Carol:
I meant that he's not a scholar, like Snape, who surrounds himself with books. The post I was responding to suggested that LV spent a lot of time reading, which I don't think was the case.

As you'll note, I didn't deny his natural brilliance or power or his interest in pursuing particular subjects of interest to him (immortality and the Chamber of Secrets) in books if they would help him. He must have consulted the Restricted Section of the library even before he reached NEWT level, probably charming a teacher other than Dumbledore into giving him permission. But he seems to me to have been more interested in practicing magic than in reading about it. And, as I said, unlike Ron, he would not have been familiar with Tales of Beedle the Bard. Even if the orphanage had a library, that book would not have been part of the collection. Like Hermione and Harry, also raised by Muggles, he would not have heard those stories, and I doubt that he'd have consulted a book of children's tales in his quest for glory and immortality.

My point was that, like Einstein in your example, he relied on his own natural abilities and experimentation, not on books, to develop his powers, except in specific instances like those I mentioned.

Substitute "scholar" for "intellectual" and we seem to agree. I would class Hermione and Snape as "intellectuals" in the sense that I was using the term ("scholars," if your prefer) and Voldemort as an expert in his field, Dark Magic, who develops his already substantial powers through ruthless determination and experimentation, consulting books only as needed and not for pleasure.

Carol, doubting that Tom Riddle in his B&B period had a library resembling Snape's