A philosopher ordered to commit suicide left behind letters so powerful, they're still changing lives today.

Meet Seneca, the Stoic who advised emperors and faced death with unshakeable calm.

His "Letters to Lucilius" aren't just philosophy—they're a master class in resilience: But first...who was Seneca?

Seneca was born in the same year as Christ & became Rome's greatest Stoic thinker.

He faced banishment, attempted murder, and was ultimately ordered to commit suicide by Emperor Nero.

Let's understand Seneca's not-so-discussed philosophy 👇

This man was the genius behind the atomic bomb.

But after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you would never believe how the US government treated him…

The story of how the Atomic Bomb killed J. Robert Oppenheimer... (thread)🧵
Oppenheimer was a prodigy born in New York City in 1904 to wealthy German Jewish immigrants.

• He spoke 8 languages fluently.
• At Harvard, he graduated in just 3 years.
• He earned a PhD in physics at age 23.

In 1997, Steve Jobs fired 4100 people, cut 70% of products, and simplified to 4 items on a 2x2 matrix.

Everyone thought Apple was doomed. But this was the turnaround of the century.

Every entrepreneur needs to understand why it worked & how Steve saved Apple from bankruptcy 🧵:
Most people think Steve Jobs was ousted by Apple due to internal conflicts, but it wasn't just that.

When Macintosh failed, Steve went into a deep depression.

Here's John Scully talking about it 👇

He is one of the most influential thinkers ever.

Ruled the Roman Emperor for 19 years and called "Philosopher-King"...

His private notes influenced Roosevelt, Washington, Ralph Waldo Emerson and millions over centuries.

His 5 warnings for modern Western society:🧵 At 40, Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man in the world.

• Wine • Women • Wealth

For 19 years of his reign, Aurelius chose to be a MAN...

I think Leonardo da Vinci is the most creative person ever alive.

He left us over 7000 pages of sketches and notes that 500 yrs later, historians yet to decode.

6 times Da Vinci predicted and invented the future:🧵
1/ Da Vinci's anatomical discoveries...

• First to describe the heart as a 4-chambered muscle
• Recognized coronary artery disease 150 years before physicians

He once dissected 30+ cadavers to understand anatomy:

I used to think the most influential thinkers were:

Einstein, Nietzsche, or Freud.

But then I found the “philosopher of pessimism” who influenced all three and millions for centuries.

Here's his forgotten story and his most important warnings for modern society: 🧵 Born in 1788 to a wealthy merchant in Gdańsk, Poland, Arthur Schopenhauer seemed destined for BUSINESS success.

But a childhood move to Hamburg, Germany at age 5 sparked a different path…

Everyone loves the same geniuses like:

Einstein, Tesla, or Hawking.

But I found a man who stands head and shoulders above all.

After research, I realized his legacy covered some dark truths forgotten by history. Here's his story... 🧵 Born prematurely on Christmas Day 1642, Isaac Newton seemed unlikely to survive.

His father died before his birth and his mother abandoned him at age 3.

But even as a child, Newton's mechanical inclinations shone through as he built sundials.

Since 2010s, Netflix has made a record $2.6 million in revenue per employee.

That's higher than Google, Starbucks, and Amazon combined.

Their secret? Reed Hastings' 2009 Culture Deck.

A blueprint to spot, create, and retain future billionaires: (thread)🧵 The one thing that Hastings values most, even more than success, is talent density.

His strategy? Build teams of exceptional performers only.

This "Olympic team" approach drives innovation, enables a culture of candor, and eliminates the need for most rules.

He was the most legendary samurai of all time.

Undefeated in 62 duels, he was worshiped as a sword saint.

His treatise The Book of Five Rings has guided 1000s of thinkers, inventors, and billionaires for centuries.

These 5 timeless principles will change your life: 🧵

Meet Miyamoto Musashi, a true renaissance warrior—undefeated swordsman, artist, strategist, and philosopher.

At 60, he withdrew to a cave to distill his life's wisdom into The Book of Five Rings—a guide so influential that Joe Rogan even has Musashi tattooed on his arm...

This man was one of the most influential thinkers in psychology.

His controversial theory has transformed millions of families worldwide.

Here's his story and ONE advice every parent should hear: He is John Bowlby.

Raised primarily by a nanny, Bowlby saw his mother for only an hour daily.

Only years later, he saw the damage this caused...

Elon Musk is a big believer in Mental Models.

Not only Musk— Charlie Munger, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs too.

10 most powerful mental models I've found from genius thinkers: 🧵 1/ The Bloom-Bilal Rule:

When bored and lacking ideas, keep walking until the day becomes interesting. (via @sahilbloom+ @bzaidi)

Adidas paid $150 million for exclusive sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics.

Everyone thought they had beaten Nike.

But then, Nike stole everything with one of the greatest marketing stunts in history: 🧵 Nike was under heavy scrutiny after their ambush campaign in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

For the 2012 Olympics, Nike marketing materials were VERY limited:

• No London Olympics
• No Olympic rings
• No 2012

So, they started the “Yellow Neon Shoes” campaign:

This is Mansa Musa.

Adjusted for inflation, he is still billions richer than Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg combined.

Yet history has forgotten him.

Here's the story of one of the richest people in human history... (thread)🧵 Historians estimate Mansa Musa's fortune at around $400 billion in today's dollars.

That's more than the GDPs of countries like South Korea and Canada combined.

With near-limitless wealth, here's what he did next...

The Nobel Prize is the highest award for the greatest contributions to humanity.

But in 1935, it was stolen* by Marie Curie's daughter (and no one said anything.)

Here's the story... 🧵 To understand this story, there are 2 characters...

1. Irène Joliot-Curie
2. Ștefania Mărăcineanu

Both were trailblazing women who contributed to radioactivity research in the 1920s.

But their upbringing was a different story.

Everyone talks about the same geniuses like:

Einstein, Hawking, or Tesla.

But this man was the Da Vinci of his time and highly admired by Tesla.

Sadly, his legacy was a forgotten heartbreaking tragedy. Here's his story... (thread) 🧵 Meet Walter Russell.

At 7, Russell had his first illumination experience.

At 14, he survived diphtheria & claimed to have an out-of-body journey.

These experiences were nothing compared to what happened next...

The CIA is the top intelligence organization in the world.

But in 2015, ONE prank call from a 15 y.o kid in his bedroom almost made them trigger a global cyber war.

Here's how...🧵 Meet Cracka.

At 15, he was already a seasoned hacker.

His biggest hack? Wiping out millions in student debt from a medical school's servers with one click.

What a legend!

The KING of mental toughness:

Wim Hof.

He swims 216 ft under ice, holds 26 world records, and climbs Mount Everest in shorts.

His message? "The mind under control is your best friend. The mind wandering is your worst enemy."

The Wim Hof Superhuman Protocol...🧵 "To me, God is cold." - Wim Hof

The 3 pillars of the Wim Hof Method are simple:

• Cold immersion
• Breathwork
• Mindset training

Hof used these to run a marathon in the desert without drinking water.

Everyone talks about the same geniuses like:

Curie, Tesla, or Hawking...

But this man with a 300 IQ was supposed to be smarter than Einstein.

Sadly, his legacy was a heartbreaking tragedy. Here's his story... (thread) 🧵 Imagine being compared to Einstein at 11...

William James Sidis was considered smarter than Einstein and among the top 0.0001% of most intelligent people in history.

His IQ was between 250-300. However, his name has faded into obscurity.

What went wrong?

"Nikola Tesla" is the most important innovator in history, whose brilliance illuminated the world we live in today.

Einstein referred to him as the 'Smartest Man Alive' for his advanced ideology which was strange and crazy for most people of that time.

Let's explore his past life which led him to such excellence... 🧵
1. Surprisingly, he came into the world during a lightning storm.

- Tesla, the man whose research focused on electricity, was born around midnight during a lightning storm.

- It is said that the midwife assisting Tesla's mother openly proclaimed the lightning to be a bad omen, claiming that Tesla would be a child of darkness. In response, his mother asserted, "No, he will be a child of light."

- This dramatic arrival foreshadowed his groundbreaking contributions to electrical engineering and his later experiments with light.

Everyone talks about the same geniuses like:

Einstein, Tesla, or Hawking.

But for me, there's one woman who stands head and shoulder above all.

Sadly, her legacy was a heartbreaking tragedy. Here's her story... (thread) 🧵 In 1927, Marie Curie was the ONLY woman among 29 top physicists at the prestigious Solvay Conference.

She was the:

• first woman to win a Nobel Prize
• first person to win Nobel Prizes in 2 fields
• pioneer of radioactivity, which saved millions of lives in WW1

But the tragic-devil was following her...

This man is the CRAZIEST CEO alive.

Microsoft stock dropped by 50% under his 14-year regime.

But he made ONE genius decision that made him $112 Billion... (thread)🧵 Meet Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft stock dropped 36% under his watch as they missed out on smartphones & bungled Windows 8.

Infamous clips of him laughing at the iPhone didn't make it better...