I must admit that this is what I've been doing all in this time. Maybe because of the Hubris mentioned in the article and limited experience, I believe that it is still might be the better way. You are welcome to disagree. Here's an unorganized mess of what I think:
1) Making mistake is the whole point. At the point where you make a mistake, is where you learn about it most effectively. Reading in depth doesn't give you that experience and its boring. :/ http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/radical-teaching/200905/...
2) There's just so much to learn. When the time calls for you to apply your knowledge, if you have the big idea (or vague if you want to call it) of many things, you can decide most effectively which branch to go deeper into at that particular field. Might also be interpreted as making more mistakes in that field. That's why, experience is weighed more than education.
After few of those encounters, I think you will tend to become an "expert". Probably is the reason why hobby projects are quite healthy to have such encounters.
“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.” – Niels Bohr
And in the end, I'll leave you with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1RqTP5Unr4