They never knew how he did it. Few composers write more than one or two symphonies in their lifetimes. Beethoven spent a year on his shorter symphonies but more than six years on his 9th Symphony. But Georg Philipp Telemann composed at least 200 overtures in a two-year period. Over his lifetime Telemann's oeuvre consists of more than 3,000 pieces, although “only” 800 survive to this day.
He was not the only person whose productivity defied all reason. Greek scientist Archimedes discovered mathematical phenomena that weren't confirmed for 17 centuries. Isaac Newton invented classical physics and was one of the inventors of calculus. Benjamin Franklin wrote, published, politicked, invented, experimented, and humored, sometimes all at the same time. Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to earn a belt in judo, hunted, wrote numerous books, and read four hours a day, even during the busiest moments of his political life.
This book will explore the lives of the 18 most productive people in history. We will look at the cultures into which they were born and see the methods that they used to achieve such sweeping results. Perhaps we can also create enough time to focus on the tasks in life that are truly meaningful.
This book debuted in the top 1,000 of Kindle's rankings and has held steady in the top of its sub categories for the last two months. Its sales dward any of my other 11 books.
Nobody drank as much coffee as 19th-century French novelist Honoré de Balzac. He wrote
thousands of words a day by drinking up to 50 cups of bitter coffee, usually on an empty stomach.
Balzac was displeased with the state of literature in his country. He was surrounded by
Romantic poets and playwrights who emphasized intense emotion. Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo,
and Walter Scott fetishized epic poetry and verbose language. Syrupy prose flooded the bookshops
of Paris. On the other hand, Balzac preferred real human experiences to abstractions. And he
preferred lots of them – he wrote about everything and everyone in French society from 1815
onward. Balzac presented a massive panorama of French society, painstakingly reconstructing the
French urban working class and provincial life. With a journalist's eye, he recorded details of the
lives of thousands from every trade, profession, background, and level of social respectability.
Balzac described soldiers, aristocrats, workmen, spies, mistresses, and scoundrels. He described
décor, clothing, and possessions. His settings included cities, countryside, ports, schools, churches,
and prisons.
“If you knew how I work!” he wrote to a friend in 1832 after finishing another volume of his
descriptive analysis. “I am a galley slave to pen and ink, a true dealer in ideas.”
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Julie Loison
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Italian
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Elisa Mengozzi
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Shana Silva
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Aurora
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