#357: How to Be a Creative Genius Like da Vinci by The Art of Manliness published on 2017-11-17T02:54:18Z Leonardo da Vinci has become the ultimate archetype of the creative genius. Besides his famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa, da Vinci had insights into anatomy and optics that would take science a few hundred years to verify. While Leonardo's genius seems like a gift from the gods, my guest today argues that it was actually the result of years of human effort and toil. Today on the show I have the pleasure of speaking with famed author Walter Isaacson about his latest biography called "Leonardo da Vinci." We begin the show talking about what has drawn Isaacson to write about innovative individuals like da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs, and how Isaacson has discovered that it’s at the intersection of science and the humanities that all great innovations are made. We then dig into the life of da Vinci and lessons we can take away from him. Walter tells us about da Vinci’s famous notebooks and what he kept in them, and makes the case that all of us should be carrying around a little notebook for ideas too. We then dig into the the myth of the solitary genius and how Leonardo collaborated all throughout his life on some of his greatest works. We then discuss one of the great paradoxes of da Vinci's life: that he could be both intensely focused and hugely flighty, and how both sides of this character were key to his genius. We end our conversation talking about how we can develop the same kind of power of intense concentration that da Vinci wielded, even in our distracted, digital world. Genre Learning Comment by Sandeep Krishnan (Sandy) Great Podcast. I have read all his books (Walter Isaacson). I wonder what's the meaning of delatone(38.52) ? 2018-01-08T11:28:05Z Comment by Guillaume Drolet I don't agree. I don't think he was interested in things just for the sake of curiosity. I think he saw purpose in every bit of knowledge he could possibly earn and found interest in things that he had reasons to think would have a use in one or the other fields that he worked in. I think that, as someone who wanted to accomplish a lot of things, he wouldn't have wanted to do something that he thought was useless or had no purpose. 2017-11-17T17:53:08Z Comment by Guillaume Drolet I think we penalty have more distractions, more easily accessible and cheaper but you inlays have the choice in life to be productive or not. I think the key is to learn to teach yourself not to be lazy and to entertain yourself not any more than you "need" it. it's a bit like learning not to overeat. my opinion 2017-11-17T17:48:18Z Comment by Guillaume Drolet I haven't checked the accuracy of what I've been told but someone said to me that he was bipolar. 2017-11-17T17:39:29Z