Edison as I know him, by Henry Ford, in collaboration with Samuel Crowther.

EDISON As I KNOW HIM
the character of the curiosity of the candidate.
He dislikes men with single-track minds or
single-track interests.
In his own work he will not have specialists or
single-subject men around. He simply cannot tolcrate a man of narrow interests. His own interests
in things are today just as lively as they were
more than half a century ago, when as a boy he
decided to read the Detroit Public Library
through-shelf by shelf and regardless of
subject.
So far as I have ever been able to make out,
he is not only interested in everything but also he
is a specialist in everything. Everyone knows that
he is a specialist in the sciences, but I was surprised to discover on the first trip that ever I took
with him-and have continued to be surprised on
every subsequent trip, and in fact at every meeting with him-the extent of his knowledge of
birds, of trees and of flowers. Also he is wholly
informed on geology and astronomy.
His knowledge of history and politics is very
wide and, although it is not generally suspected,
he has much more than a casual interest in the
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