Yes indeed: confidently diagnosing deceased note-making writers with ADHD, while in possession of no medical qualifications myself, is a temptation I simply cannot resist.

For example I have wondered about:

  • Leonardo da Vinci, whose notes were “a collection without order”;

  • Leibniz, who created a haystack of notes (oh, and calculus);

  • Aby Warburg, who suffered from Verknüpfungszwang - the compulsion to find connections; and

  • Hermann Berger, a Swiss author who wrote a novel about a Zettelkssten (two actually) but didn’t publish it. 

  • Then there’s cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, who invented a whole new methodology for his Arcades Project, which he didn’t finish. Wikipedia. He’s certainly a candidate for unqualified posthumous ADHD diagnosis.

As I said, it’s interesting, but for now I’ll stop there. 

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