On April 15, 1452, 572 years ago today, Leonardo da Vinci was born in the small town of Vinci, about 20 miles from Florence, Italy.  We all know the da Vinci name—he was one of the greatest geniuses ever to live.  While at first known mostly for his painting, da Vinci was also a draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect.  Few, if any, in human history have matched his breadth and depth of knowledge about the world.  He is quoted as having said, “Learning never exhausts the mind,” and also that, “the noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.”

Now, you may think, “Of course Mr. Gibson is telling us how much da Vinci loved learning, so we should love learning—we’re at school, after all.”  But my purpose is not to tell you to enjoy physics more, or to never be exhausted by the 72 phonograms.  Da Vinci is interesting precisely because he had such an insatiable desire to know more…about everything.  He was fascinated by just about anything he observed and studied it incessantly, including even the human foot, which he described as “a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.”

Now, I love knowing things as much as the next guy, but da Vinci got me thinking: Is the all-consuming desire to know more and more necessarily a good thing?  Or is there a point at which, even if—or maybe especially if—the world regards you as a genius, that the love and pursuit of knowledge above all else is just a little too much of a good thing?

Have a wonderful day.