Thanks for that info.
Funny, although I have never really read up on him, I have always pictured him as the absent-minded professor type.
As for being successful by sleeping less, I have my doubts. I have known too many people who burn the candle at both ends, and it’s not pretty.
Some people can get by with less sleep than others, but I find it hard to believe that anyone can be healthy on 5h/night.
It’s probably something they have and most of us don’t. :’)
The canal story comes from “Fortune Is A River”, which is at least ten years old now, I highly recommend it, it’s two biographies in one, Leonardo and Machiavelli. There’s a description of an actual event which actually sold me on the book. Like most people, I’ll see an unfamiliar (often new, not always) title, pick it up, and either check the index to see how (or whether) the author deals with some issue, or, I just open it at random and start reading.
I happened to flip it open to this scene — Machiavelli and Leonardo are discussing some project, perhaps the canal. While they’re in this large room in a sumptious palace, Michelangelo walks in and joins the conversation.
That one is always in my top three hypothetical fly on the wall moments.