#187 Albert Einstein

What I learned from reading Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.  ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- [0:01] In a drama that would seem fake were it not so horrifying, Einstein’s brain ended up being, for more than four decades, a wandering relic. [4:22] Einstein remained consistent in his willingness to be a serenely amused loner who was comfortable not conforming. [6:49] “In teaching history,” Einstein replied, “there should be extensive discussion of personalities who benefited mankind through independence of character and judgment.”  [8:33] It is important to foster individuality, for only the individual can produce the new ideas. [11:39] He had an allergic reaction against all forms of dogma and authority. [14:37] It made me clearly realize how much superior an education based on free action and personal responsibility is to one relying on outward authority. [20:24] It would be an astonishing nine years after his graduation and four years after the miracle year in which he upended physics before he would be offered a job as a junior professor. [26:24] How To Win With People You Don't Like [35:22] Had he given up theoretical physics at that point, the scientific community would not have noticed. There was no sign that he was about to unleash a remarkable year the like of which science had not seen since 1666, when Isaac Newton, holed up at his mother’s home to escape the plague developed calculus, an analysis of the light spectrum, and the laws of gravity.  [41:41] To dwell on the things that depress or anger us does not help in overcoming them. One must knock them down alone. [44:30] He responded by saying that he planned to “smoke like a chimney, work like a horse, eat without thinking, go for a walk only in really pleasant company.” [54:25] The whole affair