Book: Leonardo da Vinci
Author: Walter Isaacson
Year published: 2017
Date finished: Jan 28, 2018
Genre:Biography
Rating: 9/10
Review: He frequently failed to finish what he started. He reneged on contracts. He wrote backwards. He was one of the greatest geniuses of all time and the embodiment of a "Renaissance Man". He was Leonardo da Vinci and Walter Isaacson captures many aspects of the man in this wonderful biography.
Leonardo was, of course, one of the great painters of all time. And an anatomist. An engineer. A scientist. An inventor. But did you know that he pioneered in such fields as dentistry, industrial efficiency (he made a time and motion study of a plan to divert a river), and cartography (he improved on military maps). Did you know he anticipated some of the ideas of Copernicus (he wrote that the sun does not move) and Newton?
You will after reading this book.
I have only two negative things to say: First, the reproduction of the paintings could be better; of course, that isn't the author's fault and making better reproductions would have greatly increased the cost of the book, but it was hard to see the truth of some of Isaacson's comments because of the quality of reproductions. Second, Isaacson sometimes repeats himself.
But overall, a magnificent effort.
About the Author: In addition to writing biographies of Einstein, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin and, now, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaacson is the head of the Aspen Institute, a professor of history at Tulane and the former chair and CEO of CNN.
Sources: Wikipedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment