The Commonplace Book

Notes from the table

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

Filtered by “invention” · clear

Meet Thomas Edison: Ten Thousand Ways

Three months of schooling, 1,093 patents — and the invention that mattered most was the invention factory itself.

He imagined complete machines in his head, powered the modern world — and died broke, decades ahead of schedule.

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