American poet Robert Frost.

Robert Frost

(1874 - 1963)

Curtis White

Image of Platonic philosopher, rhetorician, and author Lucius Apuleius.

Lucius Apuleius

(c. 124 - c. 171)

Jina Moore

Wang Zhen

(c. 1271 - c. 1333)

Tom McNichol

Flann O'Brien in an overcoat standing next to a Dublin Diversion sign

Flann O’Brien

(1911 - 1966)

Bhaskara II

(c. 1114 - c. 1185)

Andrew Blum

Andrew Blum

Xiaowei Wang

Spanish soldier and author Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo

(c. 1495 - 1584)

Vitruvius

(c. 80 BC - 15 BC)

George W. Murray

(1853 - 1926)

French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline

(1894 - 1961)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Photograph of Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen

(1857 - 1929)

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

(1667 - 1745)

Abdul Rahman Munif

(1933 - 2004)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Chong Yagyong

(1762 - 1836)

Rebecca West

(1892 - 1983)

J.M. Coetzee

Color image of English novelist Charlotte Brontë with book in hand.

Charlotte Brontë

(1816 - 1855)

Tench Coxe

(1755 - 1824)

Lame Deer

(1903 - 1976)

Black and white photograph of a young Marshall McLuhan with a think mustache.

Marshall McLuhan

(1911 - 1980)

Ousmane Sembène

(1923 - 2007)

Adrienne Mayor

Adrienne Mayor

Samuel F.B. Morse

(1791 - 1872)

Walter Ong

(1912 - 2003)

Hugh of Saint-Victor

(1096 - 1141)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Daniel Susskind

Thomas Carlyle

(1795 - 1881)

Michael Moritz

Thomas F. Farrell

(1891 - 1967)

Samuel Butler

(1835 - 1902)

Greek dramatist Sophocles.

Sophocles

(c. 496 BC - 406 BC)

Pearl S. Buck

(1892 - 1973)

Black and white photograph of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar.

Julio Cortázar

(1914 - 1984)

Title page of A Dissertation on Locks and Lockpicking, 1856

Linus Yale Jr.

(1821 - 1868)

Claudian

(c. 370 - c. 404)

Black and white photograph of French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

(1900 - 1944)

Depiction of Mughal dynasty founder Babur.

Babur

(1483 - 1530)

George Dyson

Adrian Chen

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

English mathematician and writer Ada Lovelace.

Ada Lovelace

(1815 - 1852)

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

(1646 - 1716)

Jacques Ellul

(1912 - 1994)

Photograph of British writer and journalist Simon Winchester.

Simon Winchester

Engraving of a bust of Lucretius.

Lucretius

(c. 95 BC - c. 50 BC)

Arthur C. Clarke

(1917 - 2008)

William Paley

(1743 - 1805)

Henry Ford

(1863 - 1947)

Lewis Mumford

(1895 - 1990)

Roger Bacon

(c. 1220 - c. 1292)

Black and white photograph of a young Mark Twain with dark hair.

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes.

René Descartes

(1596 - 1650)

Frederick W. Taylor in suit and tie

Frederick W. Taylor

(1856 - 1915)

Photograph by George M. Bergman (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ted Kaczynski

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Stanley Kubrick

(1929 - 1999)

German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel.

Georg Simmel

(1858 - 1918)

Google

Portrait of E.M. Forster by Dora Carrington.

E.M. Forster

(1879 - 1970)

American writer Ray Bradbury.

Ray Bradbury

(1920 - 2012)

Black and white photograph of Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi.

Primo Levi

(1919 - 1987)

Al-Jazari

(c. 1136 - c. 1206)