"Most people's to-do lists are, almost by definition, pretty dull, filled with those quotidian little tasks that tend to slip out of our minds. Pick up the laundry. Get that thing for the kid. Buy milk, canned yams and kumquats at the local market. Leonardo Da Vinci was, however, no ordinary person. And his to-do lists were anything but dull."
"Da Vinci would carry around a notebook, where he would write and draw anything that moved him. "It is useful," Leonardo once wrote, to "constantly observe, note, and consider." Buried in one of these books, dating back to around the 1490s, is a to-do list. And what a to-do list. NPR's Robert Krulwich had it directly translated."
Leonardo da Vinci carried notebooks in which he wrote and drew observations and practical tasks. One notebook from around the 1490s contains a to-do list that mixes field measurements, searches for specific books, and requests for instruction from experts. Items include measuring Milan and its suburbs, finding a book about Milan's churches, measuring Corte Vecchio and the ducal palace, and learning geometry and proportion from local masters. The list records consultations with specialists in arithmetic, medicine, law, mechanics, and military construction, reflecting systematic inquiry and interdisciplinary curiosity.
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