What are some books, letters, autobiographies, or memoirs of great people, polymaths of the past that future, aspiring polymaths can learn from?
It will be better if the book focuses more on the becoming, growth part rather than polished words of a made, established person.
The last book is more serious than the first. Both are still good. The best about these books is that they explain how one of the best physicists of the 20th century (i.m.o. the best after Einstein, and arguably the best teacher who have ever lived) thinks and how he copes with the world around him. His life story is a sad one, he helped developing the atomic bomb in the Manhattan project (which he regrets later on in his life) and lost his first wife from tuberculosis on a young age, and died from a rare type of cancer at age 69. Still, these books are one of the funniest books I've ever read.
On the contrary, most of the great people I learned about were focused on producing, rather than consuming. Books too.
Even though some great people (like Franklin) emphasized the importance of reading and self education, barely I saw any particular books recommendations.
That isn’t to discount action. Reading books alone won’t make a person successful, but taking some time to read and then put the lessons into practice can greatly increase a persons chances of success and speed reaching the goal.
Bill Gates basically created the idea of a software company and has been hugely successful. He is a big reader, has a blog dedicated to the books he is reading, and gives yearly recommendations of the best books he’s read from the past year. He reads a few hours each day and takes a vacation each year to just get away, read, and think. I’m pretty sure he did this while he was still at Microsoft as well.
Because I can make even better case for ping pong or some other hobby some famous dude is known for.
>> What took them decades to learn through trial and error can be read in days.
Outside of domains of specific professional knowledge — there is nothing new to learn about human nature for the past couple thousand years. And it’s usually not the goal of a decent memoir (not to teach you something).
It doesn’t mean of course you can’t learn anything from such books, or reading them is worthless.
But it’s naive and ignorant to expect some miracle breakthroughs or sacred knowledge found in memoirs of the greatest.
Most of the time they just work as a good inspiration to go and do something about your life, make your share of mistakes and learn your own lessons. If the authors character and values resonate with yours.
That's why the search for the books.