Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
continuous processing, the mechanization of unreliable hand processes, and John Hall’s style of reconceiving a process down through the finest-grained of production details. British visitors to American steel plants were astonished—not just at their scale and speed but by the “very conspicuous absence of labourers.”
Charles R. Morris • The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy
When Milan’s authorities in 1487 were seeking ideas for building a lantern tower, known as a tiburio, atop their cathedral, Leonardo seized the opportunity to establish his credentials as an architect. That year he had completed his plans for an ideal city, but they had engendered little interest. The competition to design the tiburio was a chance
... See moreWalter Isaacson • Leonardo da Vinci
remain stationary, move, or
Matthew Frederick • 101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School
Programming Pearls
It is no coincidence that, as Raymond Moley puts it, “from the pyramids of Egypt, the rebuilding of Rome after Nero’s fire, to the creation of the great medieval cathedrals…all great public works have been somehow associated with autocratic power.”
Robert A. Caro • The Power Broker
Mumford, Lewis. The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations and Its Prospects. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1961.
Steven Johnson • Where Good Ideas Come From
