ABSTRACT
All learning is based on experience. There is much that we can learn from reading and from others, but there remains a great virtue in learning from experience. Indeed, arguably the greatest mind in recorded history-Leonardo-had little formal education, at least by comparison with his peers. He described himself as an ‘omo sanza lettere’—a man without letters, and expressed contempt for those who favoured book learning over direct experience (Turner 1995:12). For Leonardo, experience was to become his mistress.
