Category: Heroes

  • Robert McKee

    I first became aware of Robert McKee when I read Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principals of Screenwriting. This book alone impressed me enough to consider him one of my heroes. Even as a kid, I wanted to understand stories. I wanted to be able to create stories at least somewhat similar to the…

  • Steven Pressfield

    Here is a post about another one of my heroes. Steven Pressfield has the distinction of introducing us to the personification of RESISTANCE. Resistance is the part of us that resists forward motion. I think the first Steven Pressfield book I read was The War of Art. The struggle to do creative work is real.…

  • Morris Kline

    One of my favorite non-fiction books is Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty, by Morris Kline, another one of my heroes. It starts with this amazing quote: “There are tragedies caused by war, famine, and pestilence. But there are also intellectual tragedies caused by limitations of the human mind. This book relates the calamities that have…

  • Julia Cameron

    Julia Cameron is another one of my heroes. She is best known for her book, The Artist’s Way, which I read a long time ago. It inspires me to this day. I love that she shares tools to help unblock us when we feel stuck. I love her understanding of the creative process and her…

  • Dr. Ismail Zahed

    I’ve been lucky enough to have many great teachers. I can never forget Mrs. Flannigan (3rd grade), Mr. Kerr (4th and 5th-grade science and sex education), Mr. Shea (English and my Newspaper elective), Mrs. Fithian (HS English), Mr. Danhouer (HS math and physics), Dr. Hammerly (College physics), Dr. Edgerton (Great Traditions of Asia and College…

  • Albert Einstein

    There are several reasons why Einstein is celebrated as the most well-known physicist. He revolutionized physics with his work on the photoelectric effect, his special theory of relativity, and his general theory of relativity. The impact of this work cannot be overstated. Of course, he made other contributions to physics, including work on Brownian motion,…

  • Dr. Samuel Aronson

    I met my Advisor at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) at the beginning of a Science and Engineering Research Semester (SERS) in 1991. The first thing he did was to make sure that I had an office with a nice desk and a computer. He made me feel very much at home. Next, he started having…

  • Greta Gerwig

    This morning, I watched an interview about Greta Gerwig on YouTube. Here’s the link. She’s so amazing! And here’s the thing. Greta Gerwig is a relatively new director. I loved what she did with Lady Bird. I haven’t seen Little Women yet. Nevertheless, I am confident that I can look to Barbie to understand who…

  • Euclid

    Euclid is another one of my heroes. It’s not because I know much about his personal life. He may or may not have discovered things that no one knew previously. What makes him extraordinary is that he is a great systematizer of knowledge. Apparently, he lived in Alexandria around 300 BC. He presented the entire…

  • Michael Lewis

    This author is one of my heroes. He is very good at presenting complex material in an understandable way. He also does a great job of making the characters in his books come alive. When you read one of his books, you feel like you know the people and situations almost as if you had…