Business writer Dan Miller in his book Wisdom Meets Passion reveals some fascinating information about the brilliant artist, sculptor and inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci, the ultimate “Renaissance Man,” was interested in about anything of consequence. He had an intense curiosity about birds and how they flew. He studied their wings and modeled helicopters, parachutes, and flying machines based on their anatomy. The freedom and movement of birds served as a metaphor for da Vinci’s life. He observed poetically that a mother goldfinch, seeing her babies in a cage, would feed them a poisonous plant. Da Vinci explained, “Better death than to be without freedom.”

In the course of his frequent strolls through the streets of Florence, da Vinci often encountered merchants selling caged birds.…