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True Learning is Free: A History of Autodidacts
74 Famous Autodidacts
Average Formal Schooling: 8.2 years
Here’s what they tell us about real education.
Autodidact: noun, a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.
6 Presidents
1 Foreign head of State
4 Nobel Prize Winners
4 Pulitzer Prize Winners
5 Academy Award Winners
2 Golden Globe Winners
9 Multi-billion dollar company founders
Including Politicians:
Average Formal Education: 4 years
George Washington — President — 0 years
Martin Van Buren — President — 7th grade
Zachary Taylor — President — 7th grade
Abraham Lincoln — President — 1 year
Andrew Johnson — President–0
Benjamin Franklin — 4th grade
Grover Cleveland — President — 4 years
Henry Clay– House of Representatives — 4 years
harry Truman-president — 12 years
David Ben-Gurion — Head of State — 0 years
Patrick Henry — “Give me liberty of give me death”/architect of Bill of Rights — 4 years
The creators behind:
Average Formal Education: 9.5 years
The First flight:
–Wilbur Wright–12 years
–Orville Wright–10 years
The telephone:
–Alexander Graham Bell–3 years
Beautiful Houses:
–Frank Lloyd Wright–13 years
Movie Directors:
Average Formal Education: 11.6 years
Quentin Tarantino — Academy Award/Golden Globe — 10 years
Steven Spielberg — Academy Award — 12 years
Stanley Kubrick — Academy Award — 12 years
Woody Allen — Academy Award/Golden Globe — 12 years
Walt Disney — Academy Award — 12 years
Scientists:
Average Formal Education: 10.6 years
Leading to advancements such as:
Radio, X-rays, Alternating current:
–Nikola Tesla — 13 years
Knowledge of of Primates:
–Jane Goodall — 12 years
Light bulbs, phonographs, nickel-iron batteries:
–Thomas Alva Edison — 7 years
Fashion:
Average Formal Education: 10 years
Founding fashion juggernauts such as:
Ralph Lauren — 13 years
Estee Lauder — 12 years
Jimmy Lai — 5 years
Literature:
Average Formal Education: 8.2 years
Bringing you classics such as:
Leaves of Grass (Whitman)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway)
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner)
War and Peace (Tolstoy)
Jorge Luis Borges — 7 years
Walt Whitman — 8 years
Edith Wharton — Pulitzer Prize — 3 years
Ernest Hemmingway — Nobel Prize — 12 years
George Bernard Shaw — Nobel Prize — 10 years
Jose Saramago — Nobel Prize — 7 years
J.D. Salinger — 13 years
Carl Sandburg — Pulitzer Prize — 7 years
Leo Tolstoy — 13 years
Shelby Foote — 14 years
F. Scott Fitzgerald — 13 years
William Faulkner — Nobel Prize — 12 years
Gore Vidal — 12 years
Robert Frost — Pulitzer Prize — 2 years
Washington Irving — 10 years
Thomas Henry Huxley — 7 years
Charles Dickens — 8 years
Truman Capote — 10 years
Joseph Conrad — 7 years
Samual Clemens — 6 years
Agatha Christie — 12 years
John Cheever– Pulitzer Prize — 11 years
Robert Browning — 6 year
Elizabeth Barrett Browning — 0 years
Ray Bradbury — 12 years
William Blake — 0 years
Jane Austen — 2 years
Maya Angelou — 12 years
Louisa May Alcott — 0 years
Business:
Average Formal Education: 10.1 years
Soichiro Honda — Honda — 0 years
Ted Turner — Turner Broadcasting — 14 years
Steve Jobs — Apple — 13 years
Bill Gates — Microsoft — 14 years
William Lear — Motorola/Lear Jet — 11 years
Henry Ford — Ford — 7 years
Michael Dell — Dell — 13 years
Andrew Carnegie — United States Steel Corporation — 5 years
Lawrence Ellison — Oracle — 14 years
Other:
Average Formal Education: 7 years
John Cage — 12 years
Benjamin Banneker — 2 years
Abigail Adams — 0 years
Ezra Cornell — 2 years
Emma Goldman — 8 years
Kevin Kelly — 13 years
Matt Drudge — 12 years
Henry George — 7 years
Richard Grasso — 14 years
Frederick Douglass — 0 years
Citations:
