Isaac Newton was born in a stone farmhouse in 1642, fatherless and unwanted by his mother. When he died in London in 1727 he was so renowned he was...
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Dec 26, 2007
Ben
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This is a very compelling look at the life of an extraordinarily brilliant and complex man who profoundly influenced the course of modern history. Living as we do in an era when science and religion tend to be seen as fundamentally contradictory, it is fascinating to read of the curious young theologian who truly believed God's greatest wish was for humanity to discover the mechanisms that drive the movements of the universe—to, as Newton described it, transcend the finite boundaries of our bein
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Dec 16, 2010
William
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With Isaac Newton, James Gleick once again reasserts his credentials as a scientific historian and writer of the first rank, as well as winning the National Book Award, and as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. But rather than concentrate on the likes of the father of Quantum Electrodynamics, the late Richard Feynman, or the originator of fractal geometry, Benoît Mandelbrot, Gleick's focus in this book is on Sir Isaac Newton, whose works on optics, and the creation of differential and integral
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Jul 08, 2011
Nicholas
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Perhaps I'm predisposed, keeping figures like Einstein and Feynman in mind, to the idea that great minds are inherently liberal. Not in politics necessarily, but in personality. It's hard to imagine someone of the intellectual stature of the inventor of the calculus and modern mechanics not being magnanimous, generous, giving and wanting to share his success with the world; being encouraging to fellows pursuing difficult questions and charitable in his political stances toward the accumulation a
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Nov 10, 2010
Steven
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This book taught me that Isaac Newton was not a one trick pony as many tend to describe him. He was influential in many realms including physics, philosophy, and the monetary system of England, for which he was knighted. While he essentially invented the modern formula for scientific thought, reasoning, and experimentation, he was a human who was subject to petty competition with colleagues and a propensity to cling to beliefs that were not supported by his observations.
A contemporar More...
A contemporar More...
Mar 11, 2011
Upom
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It's really astonishing what Isaac Newton did for the world. He applied mathematics to the problems of nature, and through it, created an order that defined physics without modification for 300 years, and is invaluable to this day. Furthermore, he was the son of a poor farmer, defining the tides, despite probably never actually seeing the ocean. Writing about the life of such a man is no easy undertaking. And yet Gleick does such a fantastic job of outlining the times, events, and accomplishment
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Jun 23, 2009
Joseph
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For such an interesting figure, I knew remarkably little about Isaac Newton, which is what led me to this book in the first place. In truth, I'm not sure how much there is to know; I assume his personal life is better documented than some of his contemporaries (I'm thinking predominantly of Shakespeare), but by how much, frankly, I'm still unsure.
Gleick, to be fair, doesn't seem particularly interested in details outside of what Newton accomplished, but he still manages to impart a More...
Gleick, to be fair, doesn't seem particularly interested in details outside of what Newton accomplished, but he still manages to impart a More...
Mar 16, 2011
Noiresque
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I listened to this book on CD over the last week.
I found the reader's crisp, Jeremy Irons-like British accent to be helpful sometimes, but distracting an equal amount of the time.
For a James Gleick book, I found this to be lacking in the insightful science that I'm used to from him.
That being said, this was a good biography. Engaging, interesting, and at times, entertaining. This book does give you a true sense of the absolutely fundamental nature of Newton' More...
I found the reader's crisp, Jeremy Irons-like British accent to be helpful sometimes, but distracting an equal amount of the time.
For a James Gleick book, I found this to be lacking in the insightful science that I'm used to from him.
That being said, this was a good biography. Engaging, interesting, and at times, entertaining. This book does give you a true sense of the absolutely fundamental nature of Newton' More...
Oct 23, 2011
Jason
rated it: 
A first rate biography of Isaac Newton. The biography is a relatively short, standard cradle-to-grave account, with significant discussions of Newton's scientific thinking and discoveries, starting with mathematics, then optics, and finally physics -- not counting alchemy, biblical studies, and his role as master of the mint.
James Gleick puts you directly into Newton's life and world through extensive quotations from letters and other documents, all with the original spellings. In some More...
James Gleick puts you directly into Newton's life and world through extensive quotations from letters and other documents, all with the original spellings. In some More...
Feb 03, 2010
Bradley
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Very fine introduction (or refresher) on the life of Isaac Newton. As a boy, my conception of Newton was of a man heroically revealing Truth to an awestruck world. This, of course, was a myth, made up in the years after Newton's death. The real Newton was far more interesting. Though perhaps we moderns obssess, without justice, over the darker aspects of his life, they are fascinating. The best parts of Gleick's treatment revolved around the gravity of Newton's alchemical pursuits: his feve
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Jan 26, 2010
Brett
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After reading Quicksilver, the first book in Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, I became very interested to learn more about some the historical figures around whom the story revolved – Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, John Wilkens, Christopher Wren, …, and Isaac Newton, the founders and early members of the Royal Society. Given my interest in physics, optics, and math, especially Isaac Newton.
Fortunately for me, James Gleick’s biography of Newton, simply titled Isaac Newton, was published More...
Fortunately for me, James Gleick’s biography of Newton, simply titled Isaac Newton, was published More...
Aug 04, 2011
The story of this man's life is flat-out amazing. Newton is one of those who qualifies to be on the very short list of the Smart People In History. This book gives one appreciation of Newton's intuitive brilliance. He described gravity, INVENTED calculus, figured out the inverse square law, understood and set out the rules for motion and on and on.
There is also interesting stuff about his personal life. Disappointments, demons, dreams, etc.
Some of this story was difficult to understand. I More...
There is also interesting stuff about his personal life. Disappointments, demons, dreams, etc.
Some of this story was difficult to understand. I More...
Dec 10, 2010
Kirsty
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I was enjoying this book, but it slowly bored me to death. Newton's work is (to put it very very mildly) really interesting and terribly significant. And there's lots of it. But writing about it without ever writing an equation makes it tedious to read. I just got bored.
And he had an interesting life too - rags to riches fairytale stuff. But we know so little about most of it and Gleick's made it so heavy with notes-at-the-back that I care less now than I did when I started the book.
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And he had an interesting life too - rags to riches fairytale stuff. But we know so little about most of it and Gleick's made it so heavy with notes-at-the-back that I care less now than I did when I started the book.
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Aug 07, 2011
Fabian
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Isaac Newton was the culmination of all mathematics and physics that had come before his time and had remained separate. He is to date the most influential scientist of all time. He invented one half of the Calculus. He was at the same time fervently religious, and a heretic denying the holy trinity. He was obsessed with alchemy, to the extent of creating for himself a tonic/elixir to drink daily to prevent illness, which contained as an ingredient quicksilver (mercury). He was the first to docu
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Jan 03, 2011
Alex
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This is one of those "torn between three stars and four" books. I did get a good sense of who Newton was. He was an asshole.
Gleick gets pretty technical. A lot of this book describes Newton's theories, including calculus, in no small amount of detail. I've been frustrated in the past by biographies that didn't go into enough technical detail about the discoveries of various scientists, so this may be a "Careful what you wish for" situation; I've always been sh More...
Gleick gets pretty technical. A lot of this book describes Newton's theories, including calculus, in no small amount of detail. I've been frustrated in the past by biographies that didn't go into enough technical detail about the discoveries of various scientists, so this may be a "Careful what you wish for" situation; I've always been sh More...
Oct 17, 2010
David
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 16, 2011
Todd
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Though a bit slow out of the gate, James Gleick's Isaac Newton soon hit its stride as it describes Newton's discoveries in mathematics, optics, physics and astronomy. Gleick chooses to focus on Newton's scientific accomplishments, but also includes details from his personal life that mark him as a bit of an odd duck. Newton was reclusive and secretive and his personal interactions, though they occurred infrequently, were marked by brinksmanship and confrontation. One is left with the impression
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Jan 12, 2011
Peter
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Information was not communicated well (midway through what I consider a normally attentive reading I was unable to answer questions about what his stepfather did and whether he had siblings). It wasn't clear what were his major accomplishments - nowhere does it say "first optics, then calculus, now gravity" (are those them? Did I get them in the right order?) The book reads too much like a journal, "in the shit" the whole time with little attention to the past and future. I f
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Feb 01, 2010
S.
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Gleick nestles Newton right into historical context and uncovers Newton the person while dazzling us with Newton, the mind behind the math.
He humbly walked a balance I find so beautiful I could cry:
"it may also be allow'd that God created particles of matter of several sizes and figures, and in several proportions to space and perhaps of different densities and forces, and thereby to vary the laws of nature and make worlds of several sorts in several parts of the un More...
He humbly walked a balance I find so beautiful I could cry:
"it may also be allow'd that God created particles of matter of several sizes and figures, and in several proportions to space and perhaps of different densities and forces, and thereby to vary the laws of nature and make worlds of several sorts in several parts of the un More...
May 01, 2011
Andy
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A nondescript biography of Isaac Newton that nearly exemplifies what I'd consider to be an average book. There's no particular focus on one aspect of his life or another; it's a fairly straightforward treatment, almost like a long Wikipedia article, with many tidbits brought up here and there but no particular facet explored too deeply.
This is not in and of itself a problem but I think that if a writer wants to take this approach, he has to do a really good job of grabbing the reade More...
This is not in and of itself a problem but I think that if a writer wants to take this approach, he has to do a really good job of grabbing the reade More...
Jul 19, 2011
Ash
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Sir Isaac Newton is regarded as a genius. I recently got hold of his biography written by James Gleick, who has also authored Genius and Chaos. I always wanted to know more about Newton’s life. Having known Einstein’s biography, I was curious to know how Newton’s life was. “Newton was not a pleasant man“, is a statement about him that always comes to my mind, after having read Stephen Hawking’s review about Isaac Newton. He had too many adversaries and never had any friends. He was very lonely i
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Feb 20, 2011
Ken
rated it:
Isaac Newton was born January 4, in 1643. He was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and natural philosopher. He was also an alchemist and theologian.
Newton is considered by many scholars and members of the general public to be one of the most influential people in human history.
His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" and usually called the Principia), published in 1687, is probably the More...
Newton is considered by many scholars and members of the general public to be one of the most influential people in human history.
His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" and usually called the Principia), published in 1687, is probably the More...
Sep 26, 2009
Hinch
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A book that places style ahead of content and clarity. The writing style often borders on poetic, and frequently favors broad brushstroke statements over anecdotal quips and detailed character sketches. The book excels when it places Newton within the context of the period, highlighting the prevailing cultural influences, and drawing out the details of peer relationships. However, i came away from the book feeling like i'd only glimpsed a fraction of the man, his intellect, and his legendary pec
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Oct 20, 2011
Kenneth
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This book added so much depth and texture to the picture I had in my mind of the guy who "discovered" gravity. This is a well-told story about a genius who was somehow able to imagine new sciences just by sitting and thinking. Newton possessed an intellect on a par with Einstein and came up with names for properties we all learn about in high school (and take for granted): mass, gravity, velocity. Gleick paints a detailed picture of an extraordinary man, drills down on the science but
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Apr 10, 2011
Bogdan
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A short but highly detailed book about the "last of the magician, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind which looked out on the visible and intellectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years ago" (J. M. Keynes) whose work "marked a fork in the road: thenceforth science and philosophy went separate ways" (J Gleick).
Aug 10, 2011
I never realized what the state of education was prior to Newton and the genius of Newton. After reading this book, it's clear he's one of the founding fathers of modern science. Possibly a greater scientist than Albert Einstein himself.
James Gleick tried to show Newton's ideas through Newton's words. This created an incredible impact but was difficult to read at times.
James Gleick tried to show Newton's ideas through Newton's words. This created an incredible impact but was difficult to read at times.
Jul 26, 2011
Andy
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A far more thorough account of the life of Newton than I had seen previously, this book certainly accomplished the task sought after by all authors of nonfiction - that of inspiring greater curiosity in the reader. After finishing, I feel like I've only scratched the surface of all there is to know about the complicated world of philosophy, politics, and science which existed during Newton's life.
This biography details the work of Newton and places it all within the context of his conn More...
This biography details the work of Newton and places it all within the context of his conn More...
Feb 09, 2009
Idyll
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This is not as complete a biography as I may have been craving - at times the author veers off into tangential almost poetic asides instead of telling us the who, what and why, but it left me with a feeling of insight into one of our Greatest Ever. (Can't claim to have followed all the mathematical explanations!!:-) His brilliance was astonishing; his prescience concerning posterity particularly touching.
Dec 30, 2008
Kent
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It was an interesting book to listen to for my last trip. I really enjoyed the process and iterations that it took for Isaac Newton to build the tools he would need to make his discoveries. It was disappointing to see that, like so many others, when he did have the power to do as he pleased, Sir Isaac abused that power like so many before him.
Aug 23, 2009
benebean
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too technical-- if I wanted to know about more of the scientific specifics of how he formed his theories and the details of what they implied I'd read a a technical book not a bio. It seems this book is a summary of Newton's scientific work with a little bio instead of the other way around. It also doesn't help that I'm listening to this as an audiobook.
May 15, 2011
Brian
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Slow going at times, but packs a serious punch. I had never thought through the fact that, when Newton defined his laws of mass, motion, and gravity, no one even had words like "laws," "mass," "motion," and "gravity," in their modern senses. So it's like winning the Boston Marathon while wearing firefighter boots.
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