Will and Dragons

Diseases Of The Will

Maria Popova | Marginalian | 25th January 2026

Neuroscientist Santiago Cajal’s 1897 advice book for young scientists has a typology of intellectual weaknesses. There are the “bibliophiles and polyglots” with “encyclopaedic tendencies”. Then the “megalomaniacs” — “bedeviled by overconfidence” — and “serial ideators”, who never reach the execution stage. Also the instrument addicts with a “fetishistic worship of research instruments” (3,200 words)

Nomido is the Browser's daily word game. Play today's before it's gone!

There Is No Proto-Dragon

Alex Conroy | Typebar | 26th January 2026

Dragons appear in cultures across the world. Which one was the first? This seems impossible to determine. Whereas there is undeniably a proto-vampire — Dracula — dragons seem to be more of a loose collection of ideas, perhaps because the word appeared much later in the 13C. “By the time the very idea of a dragon was invented, there were already hundreds of proto-dragons” (3,000 words)