I think I learned the value of research from a report I had to do in Grade 4. The unit subject was birds, boring birds like sparrows and swallows and stuff. It was killing me- I would way rather do another report on who would win in a fight between T Rex and Smilodon, or a science project on my findings on whether I had any inherent Jedi abilities or not (sadly, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't levitate objects with the Force), but my teacher was forcing us to learn about birds. Back then no one had considered the possibility that birds might be descended from dinosaurs, so I didn't even have that intriguing datum to spur me on.
I was assigned some strange bird I had never even heard of. It was called a shrike. Trudging to the library to look up 'shrike' in the Encyclopedia, I discovered that the shrike is probably the most kickass little bird ever invented. For one thing, they're predators, eating not only worms and insects but other birds and small mammals. But the kicker is what they do with their prey- they impale it on thorns and then peck away at their leisure. Vicious.
So, even though I've never seen a shrike, I've always felt an affinity for them, not because I'm some sadist little Vlad wannabe, but for helping me realize that the world is full of fascinating things you would never have known about if you just stayed inside your own little shell.
Anyways, I bring it up because an entity called the Shrike figures prominently in the Hyperion Cantos, and here are some cool pictures of it.