THE LIBRARY
PEOPLE
WORTH
STUDYING.
Lives, decisions, failures, habits, and ideas—grounded in real sources.
Political Leader
Abraham Lincoln
1809–1865 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Alexander Graham Bell
1847–1922 ADOpen profile →
Political Leader
Alexander Hamilton
1757–1804 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Amos Lawrence
1786–1852 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Andrew Carnegie
1835–1919 ADOpen profile →
Philosopher
Aristotle
384–322 BCOpen profile →
Athlete
Babe Ruth
1895–1948 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Charles Darwin
1809–1882 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Charlie Munger
1924–2023 ADOpen profile →
Clockmaker
Chauncey Jerome
1793–1868 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Cyrus McCormick
1809–1884 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Edward Henry Harriman
1848–1909 ADOpen profile →
Philosopher
Epictetus
50–138 ADOpen profile →
Activist & Reformer
Frederick Douglass
1817–1895 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Galileo Galilei
1564–1642 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
George Pullman
1831–1897 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
George Stephenson
1781–1848 ADOpen profile →
Political Leader
George Washington
1732–1799 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Henry Bessemer
1813–1898 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Henry Ford
1863–1947 ADOpen profile →
Philosopher
Immanuel Kant
1724–1804 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Isaac Merritt Singer
1811–1875 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Isaac Newton
1642–1727 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
James Buchanan Eads
1820–1887 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Jay Gould
1836–1892 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Jeff Bezos
1964–PresentOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
John Jacob Astor
1763–1848 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
John Rennie the Younger
1794–1874 ADOpen profile →
Military Leader
Julius Caesar
100–44 BCOpen profile →
Philosopher
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
4 BC–65 ADOpen profile →
Philosopher
Marcus Aurelius
121–180 ADOpen profile →
Religious & Spiritual
Martin Luther
1483–1546 ADOpen profile →
Activist & Reformer
Moses Montefiore
1784–1885 ADOpen profile →
Military Leader
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769–1821 ADOpen profile →
Political Leader
Niccolò Machiavelli
1469–1527 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
P. T. Barnum
1810–1891 ADOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Peter Cooper
1791–1883 ADOpen profile →
Shipbuilder
Phineas Pett
1570–1647 ADOpen profile →
Philosopher
Plato
427–347 BCOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Robert Fulton
1765–1815 ADOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Samuel Morse
1791–1872 ADOpen profile →
Philosopher
Socrates
470–399 BCOpen profile →
Business & Entrepreneurship
Steve Jobs
1955–2011 ADOpen profile →
Military Leader
Sun Tzu
544–496 BCOpen profile →
Scientist & Inventor
Thomas Edison
1847–1931 ADOpen profile →
Political Leader
Thomas Jefferson
1743–1826 ADOpen profile →
Political Leader