> When the book’s plates required an illustrator, and he was unable to find a satisfactory one, he taught himself perspective drawing, then published a 1770 tutorial for aspiring artists titled A Familiar Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Perspective.

Shades of Knuth.

(For anyone unfamiliar with Donald Knuth’s prodigious dives into mathematical topography and related subjects, https://yakshav.es/the-patron-saint-of-yakshaves/ is a highly entertaining read. Even for those who are familiar it’s entertaining.)

I always thought of Joseph Priestley as a strictly English figure and was surprised to learn that he spent his final years in Pennsylvania. Though Priestley discovered oxygen in England in 1774, a centennial gathering at his house in Pennsylvania in 1874 led to the founding of the American Chemical Society [1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Chemical_Society#Hist...

> Take, for example, A Chart of Biography, which is considered to be the first modern timeline.

Huh, TIL. I made a timeline that shows all of time: https://www.timepasses.net

(not updated recently — really should get back to it)

> Priestley’s “Pyrmont water”—or what’s commonly known today as carbonated water—was an instant hit in England and France

So, it’s this guy’s fault that carbonated water became a thing?

Priestly also wrote about psychology, namely Hartley’s theory of association in the mind, which was based on electrical vibrations (following Newton).

Not to be confused with the novelist John Priestley, who also wrote about time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Priestley%27s_Time_Plays

Is it just me, but when I see a reference to a map of time, I get a vivid flashback to a scruffy band of little people pushing a bedroom wall back into a portal.