Lists of Note

Shaun Usher

Hardcover | 20.9 x 3.2 x 28.9 cm | 384 pp

Cannongate | 2014 | 9781782114529

Humans have been making lists for even longer than they've been writing letters. They are the shorthand for what really matters to us: our hopes and aspirations; likes and dislikes; rules for living and loving; records of our memories and reminders of the things we want to do before we die.

Shaun Usher has trawled the world's archives to produce a rich visual anthology that stretches from ancient times to present day. From a to-do list of Leonardo da Vinci's to Charles Darwin on the pros and cons of marriage or Marilyn Monroe recording all the men she'd like to spend the night with, Lists of Note is a constantly surprising A-Z of what makes us human and a collection of 125 of the most memorable and illuminating lists ever created, including:

1. The 19 year-old Isaac Newton's list of the 57 sins he'd already committed

2. Galileo's list of parts needed to build his telescope

3. A handwritten list of supposed witches from the Salem Witch Trials

4. Michelangelo's illustrated shopping list

5. Einstein's punitive list of conditions imposed on his first wife

6. The anti-sexism rules laid down by the woman's Anti-Flirt Club in 1923

7. Anne Frank's handwritten list of pseudonyms used to protect her family

8. Walt Disney's list of 47 possible names for the seven dwarfs

9. Martin Luther King's advice for black people starting to use buses

10. Johnny Cash's list of 'things to do today'