Hernando Colón

Summary

• Hernando Colón (Fernando Columbus) was the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus
• 1488–1539
• He had the ambition to create a library of every single book in existence. He got up to 20,000 books

Details

• Not only did he collect the books, he hired scholars to read them and write summaries of roughly 2,000 of them: the Libro de los Epítomes.
• Some summaries were brief: a few lines, others pages and pages.
• This index ended up being 16 volumes, some of which survive till today

References

• wikipedia
• smithsonian
• The Idea Machine - How Books Built Our World and Shape Our Future - Joel Miller

Related

• A book is a machine to think with - I A RIchards
• Process information to make it useful
• Process information deeply by having a structured note system
• Processing more important than motivation for remembering information
• Zettelkasten Principles