History helps us understand the present and can be a starting point for understanding what happens next. Bearing in mind a view of history as a series of discontinuities rather than a straight line, narratives of the journey to the present can be helpful tools for anticipation. When one of the early pioneers of online learning, Morten Flate Paulsen, writes a history of his journey as a leader, innovator and champion of online learning, we should all pay attention. He worked for NKI Distance Education in Norway, the American Centre for the Study of Distance Education, the Athabasca University in Canada, the European Association for Distance Learning (EADL), the European Distance and E-learning Network (EDEN), the Universidade Aberta in Portugal, the Nordic open online Academy (NooA), the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). This is a collection of fragments, woven together to tell the story of Morten’s journey both as an educator, technology innovator and systems pioneer. He encounters many other pioneers, imagineers and risk takers and also documents the numerous encounters with “naysayers” and “laggards”. This is a cross between a scrap book, a history and a biography – more like the log books of Captain Morten Paulsen than a dull history – and it will be of lasting interest to those who wish to know “how the heck did we get here!” There are more editions to come.