The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life” (The New Yorker).Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, … and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson “deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo” (San Francisco Chronicle) in a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy.
He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history’s most creative genius.
In the “luminous” (Daily Beast) Leonardo da Vinci, Isaacson describes how Leonardo’s delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance to be imaginative and, like talented rebels in any era, to think different. Here, da Vinci “comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson’s ambitious new biography…a vigorous, insightful portrait” (The Washington Post).
more
I can’t imagine there’s anything one would like to know about Leonardo that is not addressed in this fine biography written by one of the greatest contemporary masters of the craft.
Sometimes a little wordy. May have exaggerated some of Da Vinci’s contributions to art while diminishing some of his predecessors. Explained Da Vinci’s exploitation of very young boys as part of the prevailing culture.
This book is one in the author’s genius series of biographies. A good writer who knows what “surprises” to emphasize
I loved this book. After reading it, I felt like I knew Leonardo personally. I went on to read about Michelangelo and the Italian Renaissance and am still reading more books and becoming pretty knowledgeable about this period. I highly recommend.
What a refreshing tale of such a dynamic personality! The ‘newness’ brought to these pages is interesting and a breath of fresh air. Will we ever truly ‘know and understand’ this man Leonardo Da Vinci?
An in depth study in one of worlds most interesting humans by arguably the greatest biographer writing today.
Before reading this biography my perception of Leonardo da Vinci was of the bearded genius behind a handful of remarkable paintings, and endless pages of drawings devoted to either anatomy or futuristic but impracticable machines. The challenge for Isaacson was to coax the man from behind the work. Five centuries of time and a paucity of sources beyond the work itself, presented the author with considerable difficulties. In spite of these, this book largely succeeds in revealing Leonardo as a charming and well-liked polymath who was also deeply frustrating.
The frustration stems from all the paradoxes of the man, and the thought of what he might have achieved. He was endlessly hard working, yet only completed a dozen paintings. He was considered to be an expert architect, who built almost nothing. A far-sighted inventor who constructed none of his gadgets. A gifted scientist who published no findings. A vegetarian disector of animals. A person with extraordinary gifts, who devoted much of his energy to organising pageants to keep idle Milanese courtiers amused.
This is a fascinating and well-researched biography. Isaacson does, on occasion, fall prey to the biographer’s sin of idiolising his subject, but in the case of Leonardo da Vinci this can be forgiven.
I learned a great deal about a truly unique person.
Walter Isaacson is a great writer. Every time I find a book he has written I snatch it up. I know I will learn many interesting things about that person as well as the times in which he lived.
Insightful, mind-bending artistry, and Renaissance man. Worth reading though you should do it over time to take it all in.
There isn’t a lot new in this biography, but if you haven’t read much about Leonardo, Isaacson is a pleasant read on the man.
A keen look into the life of one of the world’s geniuses, and hard to put down, it’s written so beautifully.
Interesting and so well written.
He is the best biographer around!!!
It was a difficult read but informative.
Da Vinci was brilliant and fascinating.
Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo Da Vinci paints an illuminating portrait of the quintessential Renaissance Man. Everyone knows about the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. Less well known is his rivalry with Michelangelo or his friendship with Machiavelli or the breath of his scientific studies. He was fascinated by military actions and invented lots of new weapons including the first example of aerodynamically stabilized artillery shells. He made the most thorough and insightful study of human anatomy including understanding how the human heart valve works (which was only verified in the 1960s). His theories about plate tectonics and the Earth being older than a few thousand years, anticipated the birth of modern geology. His study of hydrodynamics (especially the flow of water) was equally ahead of his time. He was an extraordinary, creative genius. My only complaint about the book is the amount of time spent on the minutiae of each of Da Vinci’s paintings. Otherwise, it is a terrific biography.
An excellent portrait of da Vinci and his time.
What a book! Best on the science and history aspects. Really long, and really worth it.
Excellent bio of the master.
all of his books are great