Leonardo da Vinci

I’ve read many other titles by Walter Isaacson before, yet this one stands out as the most detailed (even sometimes literal) dissection of the interests of one of history’s greatest polymaths. If you can say one thing with certainty about Leonardo (of Vinci), it’s that he knew what he was curious about and was relentless in his pursuit of knowledge and the necessary skills to satisfy those curiosities. I think this latter point is important to emphasize, because it is a pattern we can all emulate to some degree in our lives: identifying tasks we are good at and for which we would enjoy honing our skills further. Perhaps not coincidentally, this idea ties right into Cal Newport’s discussion of “knowledge work” in So Good They Can’t Ignore You and Slow Productivity. But I think it’s also worth noting that Leonardo, as a true artist and scientist, sometimes was interested in a topic for the sake of discovery and nothing else. To me, that’s a trait that’s also something worth importing into our everyday lives, with a true Leonardo-style litmus test: “Can you describe the tongue of a woodpecker”?