The Commonplace Book

Notes from the table

The mentors, their lives and philosophies, and the craft of learning itself.

Filtered by “mentors” · clear

Meet John von Neumann: The Fastest Mind

Game theory, computer architecture, quantum foundations — colleagues who won Nobels said he was the smart one.

He defined the computer before one existed, shortened a world war — and asked the question AI still lives inside.

He pointed a telescope at the sky, and the sky stopped agreeing with the authorities.

From artillery lieutenant to emperor by pure merit — and the most studied case of overreach in history.

Undefeated at thirty-two, tutored by Aristotle, first over every wall — and a cautionary tale he'd tell you himself.

The rarest act in the history of power: winning it, and then giving it back — twice.

He sat on the most explosive idea in science for twenty years — collecting evidence until the case was undeniable.

Thirteen short chapters written 2,500 years ago — still the most practical book on strategy ever composed.

Plague closed his university, so a 23-year-old went home to a farm and invented calculus, optics, and gravitation.

Founder of the West's first university, and author of the most famous thought experiment ever written.

Journal posts, new mentors, and a weekly digest — pick your topics, leave any time.