A les paul episode would be great. He was one of the most important inventors. (Invented multi track recording) and was an incredible musician who had his own tv show in the early 50s
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great” Mark Twain
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ~ Mark Twain My father and I have always loved to travel. The biggest quote that my father has preached to me my whole life was this one
Mark Twain actually had a fascinating relationship with Ulysses S Grant, he was amongst the friends who convinced Grant to write a memoir, having recognized Grant as an excellent writer with a story worth telling. He would also end up promoting Grant’s memoir, since Grant was in a financial hole that ironically Twain would find himself in a few decades later.
I knew of Grant’s fading health and money woes in his last years. And that he had written his memoirs to save his wife from financial ruin. I didn’t know of Grant’s connection to Mark Twain. I read your comment, and did some reading of the subject. It just goes to show how much we smaller the world was back then. Thanks for posting the information, learned something new today.
People who ban 'Huckleberry Finn' must never have read it. It was written in the vernacular of its setting, and is as anti-racist as any book ever written. In fact, Huck seriously chooses going to Hell, rather than turning his friend, Jim, over to the authorities. The book is a masterpiece of literature, and should not only be on the shelves of every library, it should be taught in every school.
@Ken Hudson Yes, Twain/Clemens spent a good deal of his boyhood hanging out with black people - especially an old black man who told great stories. He also loved their music. He was witness to nearly every aspect of slavery, living in what was considered a Southern town on the Mississippi. He saw men, women and children being sold. And, after he was living in the East and had a cook, I believe, who was Black, she told about how her husband and all seven children had been sold away from her. He knew the horrors of the system, even if growing up, he had taken it for granted. And I agree - what a writer! I think he might be the single greatest author the US has ever turned out.
I concur. It is one of the greatest anti-racist books ever written. It is difficult for me to fathom the thick-headed attitudes of so many who find so much fault with Twain’s use of the vernacular of the time, to tell a story of such magnitude. Twain was prescient, black lives certainly do matter.
@@guitarmike37308 Again; all I can assume is that people who have an issue with this book have either never actually read it, or have somehow missed the point entirely. Jim, and the brilliance in how Twain develops him as a character, and how deeply and poignantly he expresses Jim's sorrows and peril - along with Huck's moral epiphany regarding Jim - is an outstanding social commentary - presciently, as you say.
It's just like how they give bills stupid names that have nothing to do with the bill lol. Like doing a book report on a book you didn't read. Idk how people aren't embarrassed when they emotionally react to something they haven't read and are so confident in saying it's about things that it's not.
@@megancrager4397 Yes, and I see this on both sides of the aisle, as well. Like 'Right to Work' laws that mean 'no unions', and management's right to do as they please - workers' rights, be damned. That being said; obfuscation and censorship are often tools used by authoritarian governments, whether Left or Right, to exclude open debate, and to censor free speech and thought. That's why all literature should be available for those who seek it. And, controversial subjects should be taught in our schools - open discussion on sensitive topics needn't be a minefield. US public schools were once the envy of the world. Now, we lag behind nearly every developed nation. This hurts us economically, as well as intellectually.
He also be insulting the hell out of people on Twitter and Facebook. With such flair. That only ignorant stupid people get offended by not understanding.
@@jedison2441 Mark Twain would fight it. Hell, only nothing short of physically being there to threaten his life would make him stop. As on more than one occasion. Twain had felt towns and cities. All because he insulted the wrong person and they wanted him dead. Yet still he carried on doing what he did. Knocking those who think they are above it all. Down a peg with some witty remarks and in most times truthful statements.
“The problem isn’t that the world is full of fools. It’s just that lightning isn’t distributed right” one of Twain’s best... And just a suggestion but how about one on John Steinbeck?
I don’t know if it is a genuine Twain quote: “There's no sadder sight than a young pessimist. Except an old optimist.” My favorite line from the Adventures of Mark Twain, a 1985 claymation film.
"Young Lady, I come from a time, when men achieve power and wealth, by standing on the backs of the poor. Were prpredacious and intollarance are comon place. And Power is an end onto itself, and you are telling me, that is how it isn´t anymore? (Thats right) ....Mh maybe... its worth, giving up Cigars for all, after all?"
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog" Always been my favorite Mark Twain quote - no matter how bad the odds are stacked against you, if you have the determination you can succeed.
i read what twain said when he introduced churchill at the waldorf in 1900, and later twain signed books for churchill, and in one he wrote----- 'To do good is noble; to teach others to do good is nobler, and no trouble.'
The readers can handle it fine; the problem is that we have politicians. That is the way folks spoke, not only in his youth, but until after he died. Politicians are, as Ron White says, a special kind of stupid. When I lived in Florida in the 1980s the local school board banned some books. The mayor asked for a county commission meeting, where he asked the school board to stop all book banning because the national TV news shows were calling city hall asking about the book ban, and would you please stop, because you're embarrassing the whole town to the rest of the world.
I know. Seriously....I have a great idea! Let’s just burn any book that offends ANYONE. The real story is the friendship between Huck and Jim. Gee, that’s whatever. All they do is look at the bad word. And the real meaning of the story is completely different.
It's not just today's readers, really - Huckleberry Finn was first banned right after its publication, on the grounds of it being "racist, coarse, trashy, inelegant, irreligious, obsolete, inaccurate, and mindless". This was 1885. 100 years before us, a 1907 article in the Library Journal reported that Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had been banned somewhere every year since its publication.
Mark Twain is my favorite author of all time and also one of my favorite personalities of all times. I sometimes try to mimic his writing style with varying degrees of success. He was such a witty man.
Simon learns the information he's reading from the teleprompter at the same time we do. I don't think he practices or does any of the research himself. Harriet could easily be mistaken for Hamlet in the right font.
I was born and raised in Hannibal, still live here. Hannibal Missouri is “Mark Twains hometown”. In the book of Tom Sawyer, the town Tom is in is about Hannibal. Pretty cool to see a video about somebody that I know so much about. Thanks Simon for the amazing videos on this channel and business blaze and every channel!
We read Tom Sawyer in junior high and huckleberry Finn in highschool. How my teachers talked about Mark Twain’s use of the n word in the book was kind of a making fun of it. Showing how stupid racism is, and how stupid is it to treat others differently strictly by their skin color
I wish you had mentioned his part in editing and writing US Grant's autobiography. It's one of the best autobiographies ever written, and his and Grant's friendship is a great story.
Mark Twain: America's first great humorist {although Ben Franklin had some good lines). Now can you do a bio of America'a second great humorist: Will Rodgers?
I agree, it is obvious that will Rogers carry the torch that was first constructed by Mark Twain. Both amazing people who had a huge impact on American history. And perhaps most importantly the way they narrated history with their humor helps us understand that era much better.
Saw Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain several times. Performances were so well researched and acted that you thought you were transported to the past century and heard Twain lecture. A man for all times.
One of the elements of Twain's life that wasn't broached here is his interest in mysticism. He hosted a lot of gatherings and seances in the Hartford Twain House.
These days some schools won't allow some of his books in their libraries. But when I was a kid our grade school teacher read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to us over recess. How things have changed.
It's a shame that we can't accept the language that was in use at the time of writing to judge the merit of a work. All languages are in constant flux, particularly English, with its world wide spread. His liberal views and high regard for people of all races and nationalities make it pretty clear that most of his nomenclatures were not meant to be derogatory. The aviation industry has made English compulsory throughout the world to anyone involved in that industry. How far back do we want to go to "purify" the language? When will NAZI become a banned word? What about the term "chambermaid", surely the feminist movement must object to that. Strike it from the language?
History forgotten WILL repeat itself. Why do you think they are tearing “racist” memorials down, ridding our shelves of slave owning authors and racist books, etc.... The quicker we forget the quicker they can have slaves again. The best part is they’ve manipulated us into censoring our history 👀
I like to think that Samuel Clemens and Robin Williams finally got the chance to spar with their witty humors and share their sorrows, even if for just an instant.
Mark Twain has some of my favorite quotes of all time. He had a way of seeing through the mess, and describing what he saw on the outside to everyone else
Fantastic video. I always admired Sam's works, but never knew his history. I still admire him and feel for all his tragedy. Sure would have liked to have met him.
Thank you Simon for your quality videos and for providing a level of quality entertainment not many others do nowadays! You and your team are the best history/fact TH-camrs out there today! Would you consider making a BioGraphics on Simo Häyhä (The White Death) as well? I'm sure a lot of us would love to hear his story!
I had heard of Twain's being friends of inventors, but I did not know that Tesla was one of them. He really was a brilliant man. Enjoyed the program today. Vaughn
Wow, looking at the picture of Clemens makes me realize that the guy who played him in Star Trek the next generation when the crew went back to 19th century San Francisco was a very close match.
I'm from the mentioned calaveras county ...our county fair is "the jumping frog jubilee" and we actually have a competition to see whos frog can go furthest in 3 hops.....I had gone every year of my life until damn corona.....
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is one of the earliest books I remember reading, I must have been around 7 years old and the only reason I started reading it was because the main character was from the same state as I am (Twain's involvement as a resident in Connecticut couldn't have hurt either). In retrospect over 30 years later, it is easy to see how this was one of the first books that ignited my love of reading (along with, in order of reading them, Moby Dick, Enders Game & Dune) a love that still exists just as strong today as it was when I was in elementary school. I could argue that it was happenstance that it was this story in particular, but that does not change the fact that it was one of those formative events in my personal journey through life. Over the course of my life since then, I have only appreciated Twain more and more as I matured and understood more and more of these stories.... I still remember Moby Dick (not that this is from Twain but it illustrates my point) all the way back in 2nd grade (it took me a long time to make it through that book as so many words I had to look up), being just a great story about the sea, nothing more, I did not understand the more complex themes back then, it was simply a great naval yarn for me at first... the same is basically the same for the stories I have read from Twain. To be able to appreciate something as a child, as an adolescent and as an adult, for various reasons at different times, is a mark of truly great writing.
@Ken Hudson The line from Twain which has lodged itself firmly in my brain more than anything else is not from any of his stories but from an interview with him funnily enough. "Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." From things I've read on the nature of lying, this is precisely how the human brain itself works. It seems that the brain first needs to home in on the truth that it then alters it to form the lie and after-all what is fiction but a fun fabrication.
He managed to tell the whole story without mentioning that Clemens published and promoted the memoirs of U.S. Grant, a great success. How could he omit that?
...today I received an educational chuckle combined with historical facts. I am appreciative of your work. Thank you, from your now ever so slightly more educated and devoted follower. I always learn just a little something each day. Absolutely delicious.
Also interesting is that Mark Twain was not a believer in Palmistry until he met the world-famous palmist Cheiro and was amazed by his insights. He then became a firm believer in Palmistry. Also, his palm print is available in Cheiro's book Language of the Hand.
One of my favorite books, and my favorite Twain book is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court. Still love it. "You can't invent a locomotive until it's locomotive inventin' time"
The coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco, I understood this when I was down on that pier getting sunburnt but also freezing to the bone
I had distant family that lived in Sparks, and we'd always go to Virginia City when we visited!!! Mark Twain has been such a cool person ever since I started going to Nevada. You can even go into the publishing house that the paper he wrote for there!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
There was more, then, to his strange sorority than an elderly man’s yearning for grandchildren, more even than nostalgia for his daughters’ childhoods. “As for me,” Twain wrote at the age of seventy-three, “I collect pets: young girls-girls from ten to sixteen years old; girls who are pretty and sweet and naive and innocent-dear young creatures to whom life is a perfect joy and to whom it has brought no wounds, no bitterness, and few tears.”
If you've never ventured to Hannibal, MO, I'd highly recommend it. You can take a tour of the cave where Mark Twain used to write a lot of his poems and stories as a kid. It's an amazing experience.
Fascinating great bio,, I have only read two of his books .Obviously a complete visionary and thinker , imagine his comments on US politics now .Thank you, loved the interesting facts
Holy crow! Simon, I’ve been subscribed to TIFO and your other channels since, well, since before you had that beard. It is truly majestic. Regal even. Resplendent....
I watched this whole video with the hopefulness Elmira NY would get a shoutout because that’s the town where Mark Twain went when Simon said “Upstate NY”. Mark Twain’s famous study where he wrote many novels is less than a mile from me right now.🤙🏻
I'm just starting Innocents Abroad after finishing Life on the Mississippi and Roughing It. The funniest thing I've read was his description of the missionaries in Hawaii trying to get the natives to wear clothing. Have you read that? Anyway, now I'm really looking forward to Innocents Abroad!
I've read all this in Mark Twain's secret biography, to be released 100 years after his death. Still, I like to hear it from Simon. And it is a great way to support one of the greatest TH-camrs. Keep up the great work. I will SMASH the like button now.
I'm blessed to live in Calaveras county, California, home of the Jumping Frog Jubilee, and work in Tuolumne county, California, where Twain lived for a number of years on Jackass Hill, just outside Tuttletown on Hwy 49. Twain is a HUGE part of our culture and history here in the Motherlode.
His wife Olivia looks like Eva Green's character in Penny Dreadful! 😂 Please do videos on the following people: 1. Dennis Rader 2. Jack London 3. Upton Sinclair 4. Jack Ketchum 5. Jane Austen 6. Anton LaVey 7. Annalise Michel
You didn't mention that he spent time writing in Elmira, NY (Huck Finn and Connecticut Yankee) and that he and Olivia were buried in that city's cemetery.
One of my family's distant relatives claimed to be the namesake of Tom Sawyer, as that was his first and middle name, and he lived on one of the rivers (the Ohio) upon which Samuel Clemens navigated. In actuality, Tom Sawyer was suppose to have been inspired in some way by a firefighting hero Clemens met in San Francisco, but the connection nevertheless gave our family relative his own inspiration to write a couple books... that he had so many such short term interactions with so many people in the later years of his life fits well with our relative's story. Much appreciate the insight.
One of my fave undergrad classes was The History of the Mississippi River. It was a combo of biology, geology, and history! We spoke a lot about Clemens and read Life on the Mississippi!
MARK TWAIN was a great American author and humorist of the 19th century. But he was preceded in the 18th century by Benjamin Franklin; specifically in his "POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK". Its a collection of wit, humor, aphorisms, trivia, advice, satire and proverbs with a distinctly "American flavor". For example: "Fish and visitors stink in 3 days". "3 people may keep a secret- if 2 of them are dead" "Beware the young Doctor and the old Barber" These quotes could just have easily come from Mark Twain's pen,several decades later.
Limited time! Go to NordVPN.com/biographics or use code BIOGRAPHICS to get 70% off a 3 year plan plus 1 additional month free.
you should do a Stanley Kubrick episode
How did u get a topless pic of Twain. Strange.
A les paul episode would be great. He was one of the most important inventors. (Invented multi track recording) and was an incredible musician who had his own tv show in the early 50s
You should do a video about Josef Fritzl and Rammsteins song about his story
*it's humoUr
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience." Probably my favorite Mark Twain quote
That quote is so wrong 😉
This is probably the most famous of the Mark Twain quotes that can't actually be linked back to Mark Twain.
That's actually out of the Bible. The Old Testament book of Proverbs.
To "Never argue with a fool,..."
I always thought the quote was "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
So true,stay away from toxic persons.
"If you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
My favorite Mark Twain quote
@Manek Iridius Yes Mark is probably the person who has his quotes butchered more than anyone else. With Benny Frank as a close second
@Manek Iridius Nobody's perfect. Heroes can have flaws, too.
@@dyveira as long as they truly are minor flaws and not atrocities
The more knowledge Simon acquires the more intense his beard gets
It's getting pretty fucking glorious, isn't it?!?
that's where his knowledge and videos are stored ÙwÚ
could be however many channels he hosts
😂😂😂
He shaves his beard and becomes completely clueless 😆 fails to recognize any of the bonus facts anymore.
“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
― Mark Twain
That’s certainly topical
@@martinwilson8362 when has it not been
Everyone is sure everyone else has been fooled but them.
Politics in the age of Trump....
Human imagination has always allowed us to believe that the monster around the corner is more dangerous than the snake right in front of us.
"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."
--Mark Twain
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great”
Mark Twain
I've never heard of that one. I like it! Thanks for sharing.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ~ Mark Twain
My father and I have always loved to travel. The biggest quote that my father has preached to me my whole life was this one
Entirely agree...but Twain, like everyone I suppose, had his own prejudices.
Mark Twain actually had a fascinating relationship with Ulysses S Grant, he was amongst the friends who convinced Grant to write a memoir, having recognized Grant as an excellent writer with a story worth telling. He would also end up promoting Grant’s memoir, since Grant was in a financial hole that ironically Twain would find himself in a few decades later.
Twain was able to publish Grant's autobiography, which then saved Grant's family from financial ruin.
I knew of Grant’s fading health and money woes in his last years. And that he had written his memoirs to save his wife from financial ruin. I didn’t know of Grant’s connection to Mark Twain. I read your comment, and did some reading of the subject. It just goes to show how much we smaller the world was back then. Thanks for posting the information, learned something new today.
People who ban 'Huckleberry Finn' must never have read it. It was written in the vernacular of its setting, and is as anti-racist as any book ever written. In fact, Huck seriously chooses going to Hell, rather than turning his friend, Jim, over to the authorities. The book is a masterpiece of literature, and should not only be on the shelves of every library, it should be taught in every school.
@Ken Hudson Yes, Twain/Clemens spent a good deal of his boyhood hanging out with black people - especially an old black man who told great stories. He also loved their music. He was witness to nearly every aspect of slavery, living in what was considered a Southern town on the Mississippi. He saw men, women and children being sold. And, after he was living in the East and had a cook, I believe, who was Black, she told about how her husband and all seven children had been sold away from her. He knew the horrors of the system, even if growing up, he had taken it for granted. And I agree - what a writer! I think he might be the single greatest author the US has ever turned out.
I concur. It is one of the greatest anti-racist books ever written. It is difficult for me to fathom the thick-headed attitudes of so many who find so much fault with Twain’s use of the vernacular of the time, to tell a story of such magnitude. Twain was prescient, black lives certainly do matter.
@@guitarmike37308 Again; all I can assume is that people who have an issue with this book have either never actually read it, or have somehow missed the point entirely. Jim, and the brilliance in how Twain develops him as a character, and how deeply and poignantly he expresses Jim's sorrows and peril - along with Huck's moral epiphany regarding Jim - is an outstanding social commentary - presciently, as you say.
It's just like how they give bills stupid names that have nothing to do with the bill lol. Like doing a book report on a book you didn't read.
Idk how people aren't embarrassed when they emotionally react to something they haven't read and are so confident in saying it's about things that it's not.
@@megancrager4397 Yes, and I see this on both sides of the aisle, as well. Like 'Right to Work' laws that mean 'no unions', and management's right to do as they please - workers' rights, be damned. That being said; obfuscation and censorship are often tools used by authoritarian governments, whether Left or Right, to exclude open debate, and to censor free speech and thought. That's why all literature should be available for those who seek it. And, controversial subjects should be taught in our schools - open discussion on sensitive topics needn't be a minefield. US public schools were once the envy of the world. Now, we lag behind nearly every developed nation. This hurts us economically, as well as intellectually.
"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
if mark twain were alive today, he would surely be presented with the mark twain award.
He also be insulting the hell out of people on Twitter and Facebook. With such flair. That only ignorant stupid people get offended by not understanding.
Qardo okay Kevin
if mark twain were alive today, he would surly be trying to get out of his coffin.
Twitter would cancel him. Or at least try too.
@@jedison2441 Mark Twain would fight it. Hell, only nothing short of physically being there to threaten his life would make him stop. As on more than one occasion. Twain had felt towns and cities. All because he insulted the wrong person and they wanted him dead. Yet still he carried on doing what he did. Knocking those who think they are above it all. Down a peg with some witty remarks and in most times truthful statements.
“The problem isn’t that the world is full of fools. It’s just that lightning isn’t distributed right” one of Twain’s best...
And just a suggestion but how about one on John Steinbeck?
A John Steinbeck one would be fantastic! The lack of internet info on the man who wrote so many great books is honestly disappointing!
I agree on Steinbeck there is one on TH-cam interesting , but I would like to see your approach to Steinbeck life
@@alonzomosley7 I'd love to see that if you could send me the link.
I don’t know if it is a genuine Twain quote: “There's no sadder sight than a young pessimist. Except an old optimist.” My favorite line from the Adventures of Mark Twain, a 1985 claymation film.
I love that film
The film where is Satan
You forgot to mention that time when he met Commander Data and travelled to a starship in the future.
That was the best episode! I loved it
Was looking for this comment
"Young Lady, I come from a time, when men achieve power and wealth, by standing on the backs of the poor. Were prpredacious and intollarance are comon place. And Power is an end onto itself, and you are telling me, that is how it isn´t anymore? (Thats right) ....Mh maybe... its worth, giving up Cigars for all, after all?"
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"
Always been my favorite Mark Twain quote - no matter how bad the odds are stacked against you, if you have the determination you can succeed.
i read what twain said when he introduced churchill at the waldorf in 1900, and later twain signed books for churchill, and in one he wrote----- 'To do good is noble; to teach others to do good is nobler, and no trouble.'
Mark Twain: i have constipation problem...
Nicola Tesla: hold my tesla coil
😑
😁
When is Biographics going to cover Simon Whistler and his manly beard?
That is more megaprojects than biographics, I think. 😉
The problem isn't with Huckleberry Finn, it's with today's readers.
It's just so racist to depict people as they were in a time with different cultural sensibilities. /s
The readers can handle it fine; the problem is that we have politicians. That is the way folks spoke, not only in his youth, but until after he died. Politicians are, as Ron White says, a special kind of stupid.
When I lived in Florida in the 1980s the local school board banned some books. The mayor asked for a county commission meeting, where he asked the school board to stop all book banning because the national TV news shows were calling city hall asking about the book ban, and would you please stop, because you're embarrassing the whole town to the rest of the world.
I know. Seriously....I have a great idea! Let’s just burn any book that offends ANYONE. The real story is the friendship between Huck and Jim. Gee, that’s whatever. All they do is look at the bad word. And the real meaning of the story is completely different.
It's not just today's readers, really - Huckleberry Finn was first banned right after its publication, on the grounds of it being "racist, coarse, trashy, inelegant, irreligious, obsolete, inaccurate, and mindless". This was 1885.
100 years before us, a 1907 article in the Library Journal reported that Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had been banned somewhere every year since its publication.
I had no idea his life was so sad. He lost almost all the people he loved, except 1 daughter. 😥
My favorite quote is. He left home at 18 because his dad was an idiot. When he returned at 21 he was amazed at how wise his dad had gotten.
Even if that is apocryphal, first appearing five years after Twain died, and attributed to him.
So true a statement.
“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life… some of which actually happened “
Mark Twain is my favorite author of all time and also one of my favorite personalities of all times. I sometimes try to mimic his writing style with varying degrees of success. He was such a witty man.
7:03 Never heard of “Hamlet Beecher Stowe” 😂 Had to rewind a few times to make sure I didn’t hear it wrong.
*7:01
If you don't know, Stowe was an abolitionist and wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin", a best seller before the American Civil War.
He did say “Hamlet” and not “Harriet” I had missed that the first time 😂 It happens to the best of us.
Barquero Juan Carlos I knew. I was just being sarcastic.
Simon learns the information he's reading from the teleprompter at the same time we do. I don't think he practices or does any of the research himself. Harriet could easily be mistaken for Hamlet in the right font.
I was born and raised in Hannibal, still live here. Hannibal Missouri is “Mark Twains hometown”. In the book of Tom Sawyer, the town Tom is in is about Hannibal. Pretty cool to see a video about somebody that I know so much about. Thanks Simon for the amazing videos on this channel and business blaze and every channel!
We read Tom Sawyer in junior high and huckleberry Finn in highschool. How my teachers talked about Mark Twain’s use of the n word in the book was kind of a making fun of it. Showing how stupid racism is, and how stupid is it to treat others differently strictly by their skin color
I wish you had mentioned his part in editing and writing US Grant's autobiography. It's one of the best autobiographies ever written, and his and Grant's friendship is a great story.
1:10 - Chapter 1 - Midwestern beginnings
3:15 - Chapter 2 - "Twain" heads west
5:10 - Mid roll ads
6:40 - Chapter 3 - Setting down back east
12:45 - Chapter 4 - The final act
Your work is deeply appreciated and treasured. I ALWAYS look forward to watching your videos!!!!!!😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
I literally love all your videos! Watched some of them multiple times ! Keep it up
I recommend doing either Ned Kelly: The only armoured bushranger in Australia, or Ignaz Semmelweis: The man who promoted handwashing.
Such is life
Everyone should read Letters from Earth. It is an amazing book.
And the Mysterious Stranger
@Nemesis Physics Research one of my favorite parts is the diary of Satan. Also, the diary of Adam and Eve is entertaining.
Mark Twain: America's first great humorist {although Ben Franklin had some good lines). Now can you do a bio of America'a second great humorist: Will Rodgers?
I agree, it is obvious that will Rogers carry the torch that was first constructed by Mark Twain. Both amazing people who had a huge impact on American history. And perhaps most importantly the way they narrated history with their humor helps us understand that era much better.
EXCELLENT idea!
Agreed, in Germany nobody knows him. Only Bob Hope, Danny Kay, few others
Saw Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain several times. Performances were so well researched and acted that you thought you were transported to the past century and heard Twain lecture. A man for all times.
One of the elements of Twain's life that wasn't broached here is his interest in mysticism. He hosted a lot of gatherings and seances in the Hartford Twain House.
These days some schools won't allow some of his books in their libraries.
But when I was a kid our grade school teacher read Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to us over recess.
How things have changed.
It's a shame that we can't accept the language that was in use at the time of writing to judge the merit of a work. All languages are in constant flux, particularly English, with its world wide spread.
His liberal views and high regard for people of all races and nationalities make it pretty clear that most of his nomenclatures were not meant to be derogatory. The aviation industry has made English compulsory throughout the world to anyone involved in that industry. How far back do we want to go to "purify" the language? When will NAZI become a banned word? What about the term "chambermaid", surely the feminist movement must object to that. Strike it from the language?
History forgotten WILL repeat itself. Why do you think they are tearing “racist” memorials down, ridding our shelves of slave owning authors and racist books, etc....
The quicker we forget the quicker they can have slaves again. The best part is they’ve manipulated us into censoring our history 👀
What about Mark Twain being an activist and speaking out against the bad treatment of African Rubber workers in the Congo.
I went to school in Hannibal, MO. Everything is named after Mark Twain.
Hannibal is such a pretty town. It's a great place to visit.
Deirdre Gibbons yeah it is. You’ll have to check out the lighthouse!
Sheesh what a beautiful ending to his life and to your telling of it. Got me choked up. Awesome stuff.
I like to think that Samuel Clemens and Robin Williams finally got the chance to spar with their witty humors and share their sorrows, even if for just an instant.
Mark Twain has some of my favorite quotes of all time. He had a way of seeing through the mess, and describing what he saw on the outside to everyone else
I appreciate your work! Keep doing your thing, buddy!
Fantastic video. I always admired Sam's works, but never knew his history. I still admire him and feel for all his tragedy. Sure would have liked to have met him.
Simon my man! That is one epic beard coming along Sir! Keep up the great work and cheers from Las Vegas, Nevada USA
I thoroughly enjoyed this, thanks!
I loved Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. His beef with Merlin made my childhood
Thank you Simon for your quality videos and for providing a level of quality entertainment not many others do nowadays! You and your team are the best history/fact TH-camrs out there today! Would you consider making a BioGraphics on Simo Häyhä (The White Death) as well? I'm sure a lot of us would love to hear his story!
Very enjoyable, thankyou
I love this man work and how sarcastic he was. A real genius!
You are freaking cute.
Victor Martinez Thanks!
One of your best pieces Simon!
Beards getting so dope Mr Whistler.
Still waiting on this beard tips video. We need details/tutorial asap!
I had heard of Twain's being friends of inventors, but I did not know that Tesla was one of them. He really was a brilliant man. Enjoyed the program today. Vaughn
your videos always enlighten me.
Wow, looking at the picture of Clemens makes me realize that the guy who played him in Star Trek the next generation when the crew went back to 19th century San Francisco was a very close match.
Great vid... You oughta do one on Pliny the Elder
I'm from the mentioned calaveras county ...our county fair is "the jumping frog jubilee" and we actually have a competition to see whos frog can go furthest in 3 hops.....I had gone every year of my life until damn corona.....
Great post,, I love comments like this.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is one of the earliest books I remember reading, I must have been around 7 years old and the only reason I started reading it was because the main character was from the same state as I am (Twain's involvement as a resident in Connecticut couldn't have hurt either).
In retrospect over 30 years later, it is easy to see how this was one of the first books that ignited my love of reading (along with, in order of reading them, Moby Dick, Enders Game & Dune) a love that still exists just as strong today as it was when I was in elementary school. I could argue that it was happenstance that it was this story in particular, but that does not change the fact that it was one of those formative events in my personal journey through life.
Over the course of my life since then, I have only appreciated Twain more and more as I matured and understood more and more of these stories.... I still remember Moby Dick (not that this is from Twain but it illustrates my point) all the way back in 2nd grade (it took me a long time to make it through that book as so many words I had to look up), being just a great story about the sea, nothing more, I did not understand the more complex themes back then, it was simply a great naval yarn for me at first... the same is basically the same for the stories I have read from Twain.
To be able to appreciate something as a child, as an adolescent and as an adult, for various reasons at different times, is a mark of truly great writing.
@Ken Hudson The line from Twain which has lodged itself firmly in my brain more than anything else is not from any of his stories but from an interview with him funnily enough.
"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."
From things I've read on the nature of lying, this is precisely how the human brain itself works. It seems that the brain first needs to home in on the truth that it then alters it to form the lie and after-all what is fiction but a fun fabrication.
He managed to tell the whole story without mentioning that Clemens published and promoted the memoirs of U.S. Grant, a great success. How could he omit that?
...today I received an educational chuckle combined with historical facts. I am appreciative of your work. Thank you, from your now ever so slightly more educated and devoted follower. I always learn just a little something each day. Absolutely delicious.
Eloquent as usual, bravo !
Also interesting is that Mark Twain was not a believer in Palmistry until he met the world-famous palmist Cheiro and was amazed by his insights. He then became a firm believer in Palmistry. Also, his palm print is available in Cheiro's book Language of the Hand.
"Thank you for watching ..." and thank you for another video gem Simon
Loved the Fact Fiend cameo; keep up the great work, Simeon
I will not stop asking.
*Please do a video on the Civil War General William T. Sherman: Hero or War Criminal(Title Suggestion)*
One of my favorite books, and my favorite Twain book is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court. Still love it.
"You can't invent a locomotive until it's locomotive inventin' time"
The coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco, I understood this when I was down on that pier getting sunburnt but also freezing to the bone
I had distant family that lived in Sparks, and we'd always go to Virginia City when we visited!!! Mark Twain has been such a cool person ever since I started going to Nevada. You can even go into the publishing house that the paper he wrote for there!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️
Finally! A new video. Simon has been slowing down on the videos.
I love him
There was more, then, to his strange sorority than an elderly man’s yearning for grandchildren, more even than nostalgia for his daughters’ childhoods. “As for me,” Twain wrote at the age of seventy-three, “I collect pets: young girls-girls from ten to sixteen years old; girls who are pretty and sweet and naive and innocent-dear young creatures to whom life is a perfect joy and to whom it has brought no wounds, no bitterness, and few tears.”
I went to high school in a town called Rising Sun MD in Cecil county, class of 2004. We read Huck Finn.
Hey! Simon mentioned the county I grew up in. We still jump frogs at our county fair called The Frog Jump.
Minor point but, wasn't Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher, the miracle worker Twain was referring to?
Yes.
No mention of the role Twain played in the autobiography that Ulysses Grant wrote.
Please do Thucydides! We're studying his books in my upcoming semester.
Love the vids!
In Calaveras County, California there is a Jumping Frog Jubilee every year because of Mark Twain.
If you've never ventured to Hannibal, MO, I'd highly recommend it. You can take a tour of the cave where Mark Twain used to write a lot of his poems and stories as a kid. It's an amazing experience.
Fascinating great bio,, I have only read two of his books .Obviously a complete visionary and thinker , imagine his comments on US politics now .Thank you, loved the interesting facts
Holy crow! Simon, I’ve been subscribed to TIFO and your other channels since, well, since before you had that beard. It is truly majestic. Regal even. Resplendent....
This video should absolutely be showcased at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT.
I watched this whole video with the hopefulness Elmira NY would get a shoutout because that’s the town where Mark Twain went when Simon said “Upstate NY”. Mark Twain’s famous study where he wrote many novels is less than a mile from me right now.🤙🏻
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”-Mark Twain
My favorite wuote
The bit about kid gloves in Innocents Abroad is still the funniest thing I've ever read.
I'm just starting Innocents Abroad after finishing Life on the Mississippi and Roughing It. The funniest thing I've read was his description of the missionaries in Hawaii trying to get the natives to wear clothing. Have you read that? Anyway, now I'm really looking forward to Innocents Abroad!
can you make biography of Jack London or Kipling next please? :)
Proud to be related to him. His grandfather, and my great-great grandfather were brothers.
Dude, the beard is crushing it! Nice 🤘😁🤘
Mark Twain is my favourite english-speaking author.
Although mark twain may be dead, he helped me realize that I have dealt with death before and I shouldn’t fear it
I've read all this in Mark Twain's secret biography, to be released 100 years after his death. Still, I like to hear it from Simon. And it is a great way to support one of the greatest TH-camrs. Keep up the great work. I will SMASH the like button now.
I'm blessed to live in Calaveras county, California, home of the Jumping Frog Jubilee, and work in Tuolumne county, California, where Twain lived for a number of years on Jackass Hill, just outside Tuttletown on Hwy 49. Twain is a HUGE part of our culture and history here in the Motherlode.
Love these videos! Please do Dean Martin next!! he was awesome
I don't think you can underestimate how important Mark Twain was to the American literary scene.
I was alive when three videos featuring Simon (Biographics, TopTenz & Today I Found Out) were published/released within a span of 60 seconds.
Damn is this a good channel. Take my sub
I've been to his Study and his Summer home for lectures! :)
His wife Olivia looks like Eva Green's character in Penny Dreadful! 😂
Please do videos on the following people:
1. Dennis Rader
2. Jack London
3. Upton Sinclair
4. Jack Ketchum
5. Jane Austen
6. Anton LaVey
7. Annalise Michel
Jane Austen is definitely a must for me no doubt. And one on the 3 Brontë sisters.
You didn't mention that he spent time writing in Elmira, NY (Huck Finn and Connecticut Yankee) and that he and Olivia were buried in that city's cemetery.
One of my family's distant relatives claimed to be the namesake of Tom Sawyer, as that was his first and middle name, and he lived on one of the rivers (the Ohio) upon which Samuel Clemens navigated. In actuality, Tom Sawyer was suppose to have been inspired in some way by a firefighting hero Clemens met in San Francisco, but the connection nevertheless gave our family relative his own inspiration to write a couple books... that he had so many such short term interactions with so many people in the later years of his life fits well with our relative's story. Much appreciate the insight.
One of my fave undergrad classes was The History of the Mississippi River. It was a combo of biology, geology, and history! We spoke a lot about Clemens and read Life on the Mississippi!
MARK TWAIN was a great American author and humorist of the 19th century. But he was preceded in the 18th century by Benjamin Franklin; specifically in his "POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK". Its a collection of wit, humor, aphorisms, trivia, advice, satire and proverbs with a distinctly "American flavor".
For example:
"Fish and visitors stink in 3 days".
"3 people may keep a secret- if 2 of them are dead"
"Beware the young Doctor and the old Barber"
These quotes could just have easily come from Mark Twain's pen,several decades later.