How Leonardo da Vinci’s Procrastination Contributed to His Creativity
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall2 Sept 2026
At the height of their productivity as Beatles, neither Paul McCartney nor John Lennon could read or write music notation.
Open Culture
openculture.comadded August 2026
top 55%Watch the Completely Unsafe, Vertigo-Inducing Footage of Workers Building New York’s Iconic Skyscrapers
Open Cultureby OC2 Sept 2026
Would anyone in their right mind sign up for a job that had a high risk of mortality/disability? Or a job where red hot metal is being hurled directly at your face?
How Phone Addiction Keeps You from Achieving a Productive “Flow State”
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall1 Sept 2026
If you have an iPhone, try pushing its side button three times in a row. Just like magic, the screen should turn from color into black-and-white, or rather grayscale.
Milton Glaser’s 10 Rules for Life & Work: The Celebrated Designer Dispenses Wisdom Gained Over His Long Life & Career
Open Cultureby OC1 Sept 2026
“None of us has really the ability to understand our path until it’s over,” the celebrated graphic designer Milton Glaser mused less than a minute into the above video.
Tim Curry (RIP) Breaks Down His Most Iconic Roles: Rocky Horror, Clue, Muppet Treasure Island & More
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall31 Aug 2026
Upon hearing of Tim Curry’s death last week, some of us could recall having seen him on stage: in Amadeus or Spamalot on Broadway, perhaps, though he also drew acclaim in the work of Stoppard...
Why AI Companies Are Buying—And Then Destroying—Old Books
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall28 Aug 2026
We’ve long joked about delaying bedtime in order to read the entire internet, but the prospect of actually doing so doesn’t sound as appealing as it used to.
The Art of Splendor Solis, the Most Glorious Illuminated Alchemical Manuscript of Them All
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall27 Aug 2026
When it was published in the United States in 1998, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Isaac Asimov Explains His Three Laws of Robots: Do No Harm, Follow Orders, Survive, in That Order
Open Cultureby OC27 Aug 2026
A number of futurists, philosophers, and technophiles believe we are approaching what they call the “singularity”: a point in time when smart machines become much smarter, stronger, and faster than...
Why Reading Egyptian Hieroglyphics Is Easier Than You Think
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall26 Aug 2026
We’ve featured Egyptologist Ilona Regulski here on Open Culture a few times before. Once, she explained how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs; another time, she told us what the Rosetta Stone...
Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” Slowed Down to 33 RPM Sounds Great and Takes on New, Unexpected Meanings (RIP)
Open Cultureby OC26 Aug 2026
Note: We were sad to see the news that Dolly Parton passed away. Today we are bringing back one of our favorite Dolly Parton posts. She will be missed. The Walrus is… Dolly Parton?
The Wisdom of David Bowie: On Art, Religion, Technology and More
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall25 Aug 2026
It doesn’t quite ring true to call David Bowie a rock star. Ziggy Stardust, the neon synthetic-clad alien alter ego he both created and retired in the early seventies, was, of course, rock stardom...
The Very First Film Adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a Thomas Edison Production (1910)
Open Cultureby OC25 Aug 2026
The story of humans creating monstrous beings in their image may have perennial relevance, even if it seems specific to our contemporary cultural moment.
The Daily Routine of Marcus Aurelius: How to Live Like a Stoic
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall24 Aug 2026
Marcus Aurelius did not have a smartphone. In fact, he didn’t have a phone of any kind, owing to the fact that he lived in the second century, though we can be reasonably certain that he commanded...
The Women of the Bauhaus: See Hip, Avant-Garde Photographs of Female Students & Instructors at the Famous Art School
Open Cultureby OC24 Aug 2026
Take a look at photos of Bush Tetras — a three-girl-one-guy No Wave/Post-Punk band from the early 1980s downtown Manhattan scene.
Why Americans Stopped Reading Books
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall21 Aug 2026
The kids can’t read. Such has been the implication, even the declaration, made by a wave of articles in recent years.
Discover the Mundaneum, an Early 20th-Century “Internet” That Put the World’s Knowledge on Millions of Index Cards
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall20 Aug 2026
Pitch to friends or family the idea of a trip to Mons, Belgium to visit the Mundaneum, and you may be met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception.
A 1932 Illustrated Map of Harlem’s Night Clubs: From the Cotton Club to the Savoy Ballroom
Open Cultureby OC20 Aug 2026
Harlem’s undergoing another Renaissance, and has been for years now. Crime’s down, real estate prices are up, and throngs of pale-faced hipsters are descending to check the area out.
The Complete History of the Beatles as Told By Conan O’Brien
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall19 Aug 2026
The world ended in the nineteen-sixties. Or rather, one world ended in the nineteen-sixties and gave way to another, a transition personified by no human beings more clearly than the Beatles.
NASA Enlists Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Norman Rockwell & 350 Other Artists to Visually Document America’s Space Program
Open Cultureby OC19 Aug 2026
It’s hard to imagine that the space-crazed general public needed any help getting worked up about astronauts and NASA in the early ’60s.
The Secret History of the Antichrist
Open Cultureby Colin Marshall18 Aug 2026
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has spoken publicly on a variety of issues from contrarian entrepreneurship to technical stagnation to geopolitical struggle.