Julian Worker's Reviews > Newton: Ackroyd's Brief Lives

Peter Ackroyd demonstrates the unique brilliance of Isaac Newton's perceptions, which changed the understanding of the world.

Having read this book, I'm startled by how much Isaac Newton was able to do during his life not only in science, but as an MP, as the Master of the Royal Mint overseeing the re-coinage of England, and as head of the Royal Society. And yet these activities account for less than half his time, because it seems that in his later years, his real interests lay in Alchemy and biblical prophesy and chronology.

Newton was also a devotee of Arianism i.e. a heretic.

Arianism is a heresy denying the divinity of Christ and originated with the Alexandrian priest Arius ( c. 250– c. 336). Arianism maintained that the Son of God was created by the Father and was therefore neither coeternal with the Father, nor consubstantial.

Newton didn't like people who disagreed with him and cast them into outer darkness, eminent people such as Hooke, Flamsteed, and Leibniz were treated like this.

Despite his vituperative attitude towards anyone who didn't agree with him completely, it should be remembered that he aligned inductive reasoning with mathematics and rigourous experiment. He revolutionised the study of optics and established the principles of celestial mechanics. He explained the nature of the tides, he discovered the laws of gravity, he discovered the infinitesimal calculus, he invented his own telescope.

This book is easy to read and full of anecdotes and information about the genius who was Isaac Newton.