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Walter Isaacson

Leonardo da Vinci

by Walter Isaacson (Author) Format: Hardcover

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Now a docuseries from Ken Burns on PBS!

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, 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).

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Print length

624 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

October 17, 2017
Dimensions

6.13 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

1501139150
ISBN-13

978-1501139154

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Leonardo da Vinci; Ken burns documentary; PBS book club; Walter Isaacson; biography; Mona Lisa

	The Greatest Sentence Ever Written	Elon Musk	Steve Jobs	Benjamin Franklin: An American Life	Einstein: His Life and Universe	The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human ...

Customer Reviews	2,156	23,456	26,744	5,939	6,286	13,877
Price	$11.64	$18.32	$10.89	$9.58	$11.74	$11.67
Read about some of the most influential people in history from Walter Isaacson!	“A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.” —Kirkus Reviews	From the #1 NYT and global bestseller from Walter Isaacson is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating, controversial innovator of modern times, Elon Musk.	Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.	In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.	From patent clerk to genius, Einstein comes alive in this engaging, deeply researched biography—blending clear science with a vivid portrait of the man. A compelling look at how curiosity, rebellion, and creativity can change the world.	A “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of October 2017: With biographies of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs under his belt, and a reputation as one of our premiere nonfiction writers, Walter Isaacson is the right person to take on a monumental figure like Leonardo da Vinci. To write this biography Isaacson immersed himself in da Vinci’s 7,200 pages of notebooks, which these days are spread across the map. Da Vinci’s interests were even more divergent, and Isaacson’s empathetic and deeply researched portrait illustrates how he willed himself to genius through endless curiosity and a creativity that sometimes crossed over into fantasy. Much like Isaacson’s previous subjects of Ben Franklin and Steve Jobs, da Vinci was a polymath-- he was passionate about art, science, nature, and technology, and he never stopped questioning, practicing, or experimenting. This is what made him the great innovator and historical figure that we recognize today—and Isaacson points out that this is a particular form of genius that can teach us how to live our own lives. -- Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review

Review

"As always, [Isaacson] writes with a strongly synthesizing intelligence across a tremendous range; the result is a valuable introduction to a complex subject. . . . Beneath its diligent research, the book is a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it. . . . Most important, Isaacson tells a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life."
—The New Yorker

“To read this magnificent biography of Leonardo da Vinci is to take a tour through the life and works of one of the most extraordinary human beings of all time and in the company of the most engaging, informed, and insightful guide imaginable. Walter Isaacson is at once a true scholar and a spellbinding writer. And what a wealth of lessons there are to be learned in these pages."
—David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Wright Brothers and 1776

“Isaacson’s essential subject is the singular life of brilliance. . . . Isaacson deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo . . . a masterpiece of concision.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“I’ve read a lot about Leonardo over the years, but I had never found one book that satisfactorily covered all the different facets of his life and work. Walter—a talented journalist and author I’ve gotten to know over the years—did a great job pulling it all together. . . . More than any other Leonardo book I’ve read, this one helps you see him as a complete human being and understand just how special he was.”

—Bill Gates

“A captivating narrative about art and science, curiosity and discipline.”
—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Originals

“He comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson’s ambitious new biography . . . a vigorous, insightful portrait of the world’s most famous portraitist...Isaacson’s purpose is a thorough synthesis, which he achieves with flair.”
—The Washington Post

“Walter Isaacson is a renaissance man. . . . Rather like Leonardo, he’s driven by a joyful desire to discover. That joy bubbles forth in this magnificent book. In Isaacson, Leonardo gets the biographer he deserves—an author capable of comprehending his often frenetic, frequently weird quest to understand. This is not just a joyful book; it’s also a joy to behold. . . . Isaacson deserves immense praise for producing a very human portrait of a genius.”
—The Times of London

“The pleasure of an Isaacson biography is that it doesn’t traffic in such cynical stuff; the author tells stories of people who, by definition, are inimitable....Isaacson is at his finest when he analyzes what made Leonardo human.”
—The New York Times

“Monumental . . . Leonardo led an astonishingly interesting eventful life. And Isaacson brilliantly captures its essence.”
—The Toronto Star

"Majestic . . . Isaacson takes on another complex, giant figure and transforms him into someone we can recognize. . . . Totally enthralling, masterful, and passionate.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Illuminating . . . This is a monumental tribute to a titanic figure."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Isaacson uses his subject’s contradictions to give him humanity and depth.”
—Anthony Grafton, The New York Times

“Encompassing in its coverage, robust in its artistic explanations, yet written in a smart, conversational tone, this is both a solid introduction to the man and a sweeping saga of his genius.”
—Booklist, starred review

“A fresh and enthusiastic reading of the extraordinary da Vinci notebooks, written in a way that makes them both accessible and contemporary. Absorbing, enlightening and always engaging.”
—Miranda Seymour, author of Mary Shelley

“Isaacson's biography is linear enough to follow easily, yet it returns, as did the artist, time and again, to the highly concrete, enticingly yet rigorously investigable mysteries of the human and natural world. Model . . . . This beautiful book, on coated stock, showing text and illustrations to the best advantage, is a pleasure to hold.”
—Bay Area Reporter

“Isaacson, to his credit, helps us see Leonardo’s artistic vision with fresh eyes. . . . He writes simply and clearly, and even though his principal character hails from antiquity, the narrative hums like a headline from the morning paper, alert to topical parallels between then and now . . . we finish the book with a renewed conviction that the world’s most famous Renaissance man was, in essence, inimitable.”
—Christian Science Monitor

“A full and engrossing profile of the artist . . . The author moves fluidly between the scientific inquiries of Leonardo’s notebooks and the artistic achievements in his sketchbooks, and carries the same themes, such as the artist’s boundless curiosity and inquiry, through them in a way that does not seem too facile or overapplied.”
—East Hampton Star

“A 21st century page-turner."
—USA Today

“Exuberant . . . a richly illustrated ride through the artist’s life . . . a fascinating, bonbon-size tribute to the man who thought to ask.”
—Newsday

“Beautifully produced and illustrated, the biography is an ideal match of author and subject. . . . Fascinated by Leonardo’s genius, Isaacson lucidly and lovingly captures his stunning powers of observation that spanned so many disciplines. . . . Isaacson’s monumental and magnificent biography does succeed in helping us understand what made da Vinci’s paintings so memorable, and in making Leonardo much more accessible, as a genius, a man of and outside of his times, and as a 'quirky, obsessive, playful, and easily distracted' human being.”
—Tulsa World

“In some ways this is Walter Isaacson's most ambitious book. He uses the life he recounts in a wonderful way to speculate on the source of geniuses...always you are informed, entertained, stimulated, satisfied. This has to be the most beautifully illustrated and printed book I've seen in recent years.”
—Fareed Zakaria GPS

“[A] splendid work that provides an illuminating guide to the output of one of the last millennium’s greatest minds.”
—Guardian US

"Leonardo da Vinci's prowess as a polymath — driven by insatiable curiosity about everything from the human womb to deadly weaponry — still stuns. In this copiously illustrated biography, we feel its force all over again. Walter Isaacson wonderfully conveys how Leonardo's genius unified science and art."
—NATURE

"Dazzling"
—HARVARD GAZETTE

"Luminous . . . Leonardo Da Vinci is an elegantly illustrated book that broadens Isaacson’s viewfinder on the psychology of major lives – Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs are the subjects of his previous biographies, best-sellers all."

—THE DAILY BEAST

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 2017
Edition ‏ : ‎ Later prt.
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 624 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501139150
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501139154
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #20,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2 in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers (Books)
- #4 in Historical Italy Biographies
- #11 in Scientist Biographies
Customer Reviews:
(11,243)

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Walter Isaacson

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Walter Isaacson newest book is The Greatest Sentence Ever Written He is also the author of Elon Musk; The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race; Leonardo da Vinci; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution; and Kissinger: A Biography. He is also the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He is a Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine. In 2023, he won the National Humanities Medal.

Customer reviews

11,243 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this biography of Leonardo da Vinci to be a fascinating read with well-researched content and excellent writing style. The book features beautiful full-color photographs and provides a detailed personal picture of the artist. Customers describe da Vinci as a remarkably self-taught artist with interests in everything, and Isaacson as a master biographer. While many find it an exceptionally readable biography, some mention it can be difficult to read.

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998 customers mention content, 898 positive, 100 negative

Customers find the content of the book fascinating and entertaining, describing it as a must-read that is a pleasure to read.

...it because several people whose opinions I value said it was a great book and because the other books I’ve read by Walter Isaacson were excellent....Read more

Great read although is historical, it's not dry nor do you have to slog through chapter after chapter.Read more

Excellent book. The only thing is disappointing is the hard cover binding literally detached as I read. Not good for 1st edition especially.Read more

...so, however this book is well written, lucid, entertaining, informative and it gives the reader a real sense of Leonardo's character and the culture...Read more

366 customers mention informative, 347 positive, 19 negative

Customers find the book informative and well-researched, providing fascinating facts and serving as an excellent history lesson.

Well researched. Gives you a glimpse into Italy during the Renaissance. We could learn a few things as a modern society about tolerance and talent....Read more

Very informative and presented in a easy to read manner; sometimes a bit too simplistic and repetitive, but it is a wonderful study of a unique...Read more

Excellent biography combining the human aspect of Leonardo and his art which leads to better able to look at, appreciate and understand his art and...Read more

Beautifully written and very well researched, gives you a clear picture of Da Vinci as a human being and as perhaps the greatest genius in the...Read more

217 customers mention writing quality, 203 positive, 14 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, describing it as an excellent and well-written memoir that is easy to follow, with one customer noting how the prose flows gently into the mind.

Marvelous work. Well written and Master Leonardo's life and achievements are covered from various points of view, art, science, engineering,...Read more

Like the Jobs book this is very well written and researched, if fact I was really amazed at the amount of quality research done by Isaacson in this...Read more

...with all of Isaacson's other books, this is well-researched and well-written.Read more

Very well researched and written. Delved a bit deeper than I would have liked on several occasions and I had to take breaks to finish it....Read more

167 customers mention illustrations, 140 positive, 27 negative

Customers praise the book's beautiful full color photographs and amazing illustrations, with one customer noting the detailed view into his art.

...The book is beautifully illustrated, perfectly written and bound. It is indeed a keepsake as well as a reference book of the first order!Read more

This is a beautiful volume with wonderful research and pictures but a little on the dry side for a study of such a lively genius.Read more

A brilliant combination of science, art and history all in one....Read more

...But it has great artwork and illustrations and does a good job at systematically going through his life.Read more

94 customers mention author, 86 positive, 8 negative

Customers praise the author as a master biographer who presents Leonardo da Vinci as a remarkable self-taught artist with interests in everything.

Great author. Especially as Einstein book. He struggled with this oneRead more

...Issacson is a talented author and is easy to read and understand.Read more

Isaacson is an engaging author and this biographyof Leonardo does not disappoint.Read more

...to life for the reader, a fascinating man gifted with brilliance and talent, rarely found in multiple human beings much less in one person....Read more

94 customers mention story, 82 positive, 12 negative

Customers praise the narrative of the book, describing it as a spectacular and well-told story of Leonardo da Vinci's life.

Outstanding piece of literature. Well researched. A fascinating story of one the world’s greatest minds!Read more

A good story that explains what you're looking for in the paintings and why Leonardo was important. Good read!Read more

Thoroughly enjoyable and interesting read. Amazing story.Read more

Loved reading about this painter genius who is unique in history. Great story.Read more

74 customers mention person, 73 positive, 1 negative

Customers describe Leonardo da Vinci as a uniquely amazing person who was an extraordinary Renaissance Man, and they praise Isaacson as a great biographer.

...What an amazing man and what he might have achieved if born with the medical knowledge of our times or a good editor who might have put things...Read more

Everybody knows that Leonardo da Vinci was a great painter; many also know of his inventions -- those that worked and those that didn't....Read more

Well written and researched book about a brilliant man. I keep it on my nightstand so I can reread parts of it again.Read more

Great man! Great history! Great writing. A great example of beautiful book publishing. A masterpiece!Read more

132 customers mention readability, 86 positive, 46 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it an exceptionally readable biography while others describe it as a difficult read.

This book was easy to read and moved quickly. The author provided insight into the reasons why Leonardo da Vinci has been considered so remarkable....Read more

Not an easy read....Read more

Easy read well researched. Will buy the hard cover book, highly recommend as ultimate DaVinci book.Read more

The flow of book ,while not a page turner , is very readable and keeps your interest. I can not think of a negative to writeRead more

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