Sorry to disappoint, if it was easier we would perhaps have a wider base of expertise on which to rely upon. On the plus side, the more areas you develop the faster the new ones are to develop as the base subject (math, physics, chemistry, biology, Etc.) overlap a bunch of different disciplines. I've been working through some tomes on Organic Chemistry for a plastic waste processing idea/project and that is a pretty slow slog. Beyond its use in semiconductors I've not been a huge chemistry fan.