Let there be more biographies of failures, people who were ignored by the world, whose ideas came before their time, whose great work was left in ruins. The point of biography is to set an example, to teach us how other people did the things we want to do. That might be something grand like live a good life, or it might be something more mundane like manage a small company. Whatever it is, the genre suffers from selection bias. Only the successful get biographies.
Great article. True news, unlike the rubbish just read a moment prior posing as news of a 'martyr' curator at BAM in Washington demanding the world recognize what a martyr she is. Thank you for your thoughtful and well written piece.
Failure is part of life but having a vision of doing good for people and working hard to keep the vision alive despite struggles and hurdles is key. There must be so many people out there who fall in this category and yes their biographies must be written as well.
Great article. I often wonder about all the people, works and ideas that have been “forgotten”. History is not written by the victors, just A history. Let there be more
Wow, thanks this was worthwhile reading. I cannot help but think of the bicycle; with us for two centuries although the technology and need has been with us for millennia... maybe humanity needs a bureaucratic apocalypse (death by paperwork), nothing better nothing worse :-)
We improvise, we experiment, we take chances, we take risks, we iterate, we falter, we fall, we rise, we try. Not because success is guaranteed but, becuase the work is worth doing.
Love this. Highly recommend Stephen Marche's new book "On Failure and Writing" as a sort of companion piece to this...weirdly inspiring, considering it's about the perpetual sense of defeat even the most successful writers experience.
People who put in effort, and try new ways of doing things, aren't failures in my eyes.
I'm reading Neil Simon's memoir, "Rewrites," and I like this quote:
"Your horizons can expand, however, if you allow yourself the possibility of failure. You must, in fact, court failure. Let her be your temptress. There must be danger in the attempt and no net strung across the abyss to break your fall. And then there are the lucky few who have the innocent ignorance of not even realizing that danger exists"
You know in like 2000 or 2001 I remember reading a book review in the Washington Post of a book that was all about failures of note, cataloging the losers. There web archive only seems to go back to 2005 though and honestly I don't think I could come up with a search string that would find it.
Great article. True news, unlike the rubbish just read a moment prior posing as news of a 'martyr' curator at BAM in Washington demanding the world recognize what a martyr she is. Thank you for your thoughtful and well written piece.
Enthralling article that is very educational, gut wrenching, hopeful and full of truth and wisdom. So very well written.
Failure is part of life but having a vision of doing good for people and working hard to keep the vision alive despite struggles and hurdles is key. There must be so many people out there who fall in this category and yes their biographies must be written as well.
Great article. I often wonder about all the people, works and ideas that have been “forgotten”. History is not written by the victors, just A history. Let there be more
Wow, thanks this was worthwhile reading. I cannot help but think of the bicycle; with us for two centuries although the technology and need has been with us for millennia... maybe humanity needs a bureaucratic apocalypse (death by paperwork), nothing better nothing worse :-)
Fascinating and heartbreaking.
We improvise, we experiment, we take chances, we take risks, we iterate, we falter, we fall, we rise, we try. Not because success is guaranteed but, becuase the work is worth doing.
I've had this thought so many times. Thanks for articulating it.
Love this. Highly recommend Stephen Marche's new book "On Failure and Writing" as a sort of companion piece to this...weirdly inspiring, considering it's about the perpetual sense of defeat even the most successful writers experience.
People who put in effort, and try new ways of doing things, aren't failures in my eyes.
I'm reading Neil Simon's memoir, "Rewrites," and I like this quote:
"Your horizons can expand, however, if you allow yourself the possibility of failure. You must, in fact, court failure. Let her be your temptress. There must be danger in the attempt and no net strung across the abyss to break your fall. And then there are the lucky few who have the innocent ignorance of not even realizing that danger exists"
I actually wrote a book about people who ran for the U.S presidency and lost - https://trope.com/products/in-the-arena
Great piece.
I first heard about Otlet via this online exhibition from a few years ago: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/towards-the-information-age%C2%A0%C2%A0/QQ8iak0D
Very good point of view. Thanks for an article. I will include you in my today's ReHacked newsletter here on Substack (rehacked.substack.com)
You know in like 2000 or 2001 I remember reading a book review in the Washington Post of a book that was all about failures of note, cataloging the losers. There web archive only seems to go back to 2005 though and honestly I don't think I could come up with a search string that would find it.