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If you ask somebody to name a genius, the first name that would come to many people’s mind is Albert Einstein. As well as being one of the greatest scientists of all time, he is now probably the most recognisable, but it is his contributions that he should be most remembered for. His profound theories and predictions led him to be named Time magazine’s Person of the Century and many Nobel Prizes are being won in the present day by scientists proving the existence of things predicted by Einstein nearly 100 years ago.

Walt Disney was born on the 5th December 1901 in Chicago but his first memories are of the farm that his family lived on in Missouri, as his family moved there when he was young. Walter was the youngest of four sons (Herbert born 1888, Raymond born 1890, Roy born 1893, Walt born 1901) and he had a younger sister too (Ruth born 1903).

On the 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to ever travel into outer space. He was 27 years old at the time and would only live another seven years but in that time he received numerous awards, medals and titles whilst simultaneously becoming an international celebrity.

In 1901, 20-year-old William S. Harley designed a small engine to be used on a bicycle. He and his childhood friend, Arthur Davidson, worked on the motor for two years until in 1903 they completed it with the help of Arthur’s brother, Walter. It reached a speed of 6mph but when going up hills still required pedal power. They immediately got to work on an improved version and built their first entire motorbike with the help of Arthur’s eldest brother, William A. Davidson, who was a tool room foreman.

This book is about a man many have called the father of the modern world. His imagination led him to dare to dream about inventions that for many seemed impossible. In 1882 Nikola Tesla was struck by a vision of a working motor that produced an electric alternating current. He had suggested direct current generators could be modified to produce alternating current seven years previously whilst attending college, but he was ridiculed by his professor and he left college a year later.

When Scott Berkun accepted the job offer to become the 58th employee at Automattic, he did so under the proviso that he could write this book about his experience working there. This unusual request was only eclipsed by the even more unusual way people worked at the company. Here's a short animated summary of The Year Without Pants / Future of Work @automattic @wordpressdotcom #wordpress https://t.co/273Lzaw56K— Scott Berkun (@berkun) June 13, 2016

Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google for ten years. He became the CEO in 2001. At that point it was a successful three year old internet start-up, but was already preparing to compete with the giant Microsoft. Google was different to other places Schmidt had worked. Even as CEO he had to share his office. The company was growing in size and in 2002 Jonathan Rosenberg joined as Head of Products.

Derek Sivers started a hobby that a decade later turned into a business that he sold for $22 million. Unusually for an entrepreneur, when Sivers decided to sell his company in 2008, he transferred ownership of the company to a charitable trust which then sold the company on his behalf. The money kept in the trust pays Sivers only 5% of the trust’s value (the lowest figure legally possible), with the remainder of the money going to charity for music education upon his death. Wow! This is the best little summary of my book I've ever seen. https://t.co/dcLlWV6uzY— Derek Sivers (@sivers) June 2, 2016

This book show us how one builds companies that create something new. It came about when Peter Thiel was teaching a course in Stanford in 2012. One of his students, Blake Masters, took notes and these were then adapted into this book. Copying something is easier than creating something new. Adding more of the same takes us from 1 to n but by creating something new, we go from 0 to 1.

Sir Richard Branson has strived for success as a businessman and in his life in general. In this book he shares nine tips on how to achieve your goals and become as successful as possible in life.

Branson’s nickname from his staff is “Dr Yes”, because he can’t say no. If you want to do something, he believes you should just do it, even if people say it can’t be done. Thanks for making this delightful animation @oeudaimonia - 9 secrets to success https://t.co/IFlhTc06P4 pic.twitter.com/ikMdyXJWkk — Richard Branson (@richardbranson) May 24, 2016