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Leonardo da Vinci
Scris de Walter Isaacson
Povestit de Alfred Molina
Descriere
"Majestic...Isaacson takes on another complex, giant figure and transforms him into someone we can recognize...Enthralling, masterful, and passionate."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A monumental tribute to a titanic figure."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
He was history's most creative genius. What secrets can he teach us?
The author of the acclaimed bestsellers Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography.
Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves 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. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. 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.
His creativity, like that of other great innovators, came from having wide-ranging passions. He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, drew the muscles that move the lips, and then painted history's most memorable smile. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. Isaacson also describes how Leonardo's lifelong enthusiasm for staging theatrical productions informed his paintings and inventions.
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 of instilling, both in ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it—to be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different.
Recenzii
Okay, given could only rely on notebooks for most part. Not as good as other large scale biographies. Loved how much of a procrastinator LDV was. Remarkable for any time. Nice that was reading during whirlwind weekend in Rome.
Isaacson is a consummate biographer of scientific and technical men. This work on Leonardo da Vinci is a brilliant analysis of An exceptional man, someone who can easily be labelled ‘genius’.Isaacson tells us little about who da Vinci was and focuses much more on what da Vinci did. He has absorbed da Vinci’s extensive writings that survive and has clearly been astonished at the breadth, depth, the sheer wonder of what he found. The range of subjects covered from arts and science, the depth of da Vinci’s studies and the juxtaposition of his notes on the page that reveal he was often thinking deeply about five different completely unrelated things at once and then drawing out that these things are actually related in some deep and previously unseen way.This work led me to understand the artist and scientist in da Vinci better than any other biography of a similar figure has ever done. I was moved by Isaacson’s last chapter where he attempts to describe what genius is and how da Vinci’s character led him to be such a great man.This book deserves a five star rating, but loses half a star because of the rather poor quality of the illustrations (of which there are many). Often Isaacson’s detailed descriptions of da Vinci’s paintings and drawings cannot be followed through the illustrations because the definition is too low - we cannot see the detail that both da Vinci and Isaacson want us to see.
Nowhere as good as Steve Jobs or Einstein.
It took me almost one year to read this biography of da Vinci and it was not because it wasn’t interesting but because there was so much information about this genius to absorb.Isaacson takes a chronological approach to Da Vinci’s life which began on April 15, 1452 near Florence until his death in Amboise, France, May 2, 1519.What I retained from the story of his life were his insatiable curiosity, quest for knowledge, his perfectionism which led to procrastination and his ability to mingle the art of science and the science of art. He filled notebooks with ideas, engineering experiments, anatomical drawings and shopping lists. His curiosity regarding the natural world, household inventories, the human body and basic engineering showed how his mind searched for answers to questions that amazed him. His obsession with how water flows inspired his engineering and architecture.Dissecting corpses, drawing musculature, bones, fetuses allowed him to perfectly draw the human body and face. His curiosity regarding the human blood circulation system and his conclusions regarding the function of the heart was centuries ahead of other scientists.Da Vinci loved life, lived a very unconventional liberal lifestyle, was generous to his family, was almost always broke, had many friends and patrons and likely frustrated many of these with his inability to stay focused and finish projects. He spent his final years in Amboise at a home owned by King François I who wanted this renaissance intellectual to be comfortable as the “first painter, engineer and architect to the King”.
Rating based on readability of the book. Excellently written, never boring, very interesting - looking forward to reading more by Isaacson.
This was an amazing biography. In it is Leonardo da Vinci in all his majesty, and intimacy, pieced together from accounts, his notebooks, and supporting documents. All in all, it's a swooping masterpiece that abounds with technical skill as he entices it, and rewards it, with the fruits of what Leonardo da Vinci meant for history and what he stood for.Definitely recommended: 5 stars!
I've heard this book described so well this way: A book about a Renaissance man, by a Renaissance man. Walter Isaacson is a wonderful writer, and provides us with a nice mix of both Leonardo the man, and his accomplishments.I attended a lecture about Leonardo at a local university and learned that thousands of pages from his notebooks are missing. My mind boggles at what else Mr. da Vinci may have envisioned! This book is beautiful, with many drawings and illustrations. It is a tribute to the importance of curiosity.
I'm not sure that any book could adequately cover the achievements and creativity of Leonardo da Vinci. Though this book is over 524 pages, I am sure another 500 pages could easily be written on this amazing man. I rated this book four stars but if I had an appreciation for art history, sculpture and painting, I probably would rate it 5 . There is a lot of detail and analysis of various da Vinci paintings, art and sculpture that regrettably this reader has no appreciation. Nonetheless the biography of da Vinci is a fascinating story in itself. Da Vinci had incredible mental bandwidth – – he was an artist, painter, sculptor, military engineer, scientist, botanist, musician, theater director, mathematician, astronomer etc.
Da Vinci did provide examples and a paper trail of his creative work, projects and thoughts. He provided notebooks totaling over 7200 pages. His notebooks contained his to do lists, ideas, sketches and random thoughts on a variety of disciplines.
If readers are not intrigued in knowing about da Vinci they may be turned off by the sheer weight of the book. They can wait for the movie version which I understand is in the works.
Da Vinci did provide examples and a paper trail of his creative work, projects and thoughts. He provided notebooks totaling over 7200 pages. His notebooks contained his to do lists, ideas, sketches and random thoughts on a variety of disciplines.
If readers are not intrigued in knowing about da Vinci they may be turned off by the sheer weight of the book. They can wait for the movie version which I understand is in the works.
I don't think this is a great biography. While Isaacson does a good job at giving both details and a high-level big picture, and at trying to draw lessons from Leonardo da Vinci's life, I don't think that he does a great job in giving us a feeling for Leonardo or his time (perhaps because of a dearth of sources), Isaacson isn't insightful when writing about da Vinci's art, and he has a strange penchant for quoting Steve Jobs. Despite the flaws, though, I loved the book. Da Vinci was such an amazing person, truly inspirational. I learned so much. I don't know if the facts are on Wikipedia, but Isaacson does a good job tying them together into a strong narrative. > Yet another prolonged attempt involved dividing a circle into many sectors, which he then subdivided into triangles and semicircles. He arranged these slices into a rectangle and repeated the process with smaller and smaller slices, approaching the limit of infinitely small triangles. His impulses prefigured those that would lead to the development of calculus, but Leonardo did not have the skills that allowed Leibniz and Newton to devise this mathematical study of change two centuries later.
Whew! After quite a spell, I finished the book - well worth it, as it is quite detailed, with illustrations and images and explains the nature of Leonardo's genius. I was particularly taken with the discussion of Leonardo's interest in and knowledge of mathematics and various theorems which would not be [re]discovered for a couple of hundred years. A long read, but well worth it - enlightening and entertaining.
I listened to this on audio which might seem strange for a book where the illustrations matter but it actually works well. I don't know that I would have gotten through the detail when reading it but on audio it didn't matter so much. I did slightly speed up the narration as I found it a bit slow.Like most people I know a little bit about Leonardo and I have seen some of the notebooks in the British Library but a little was all it was.I now know a lot more and very interesting it was too. For a man who rarely completed anything he's pretty famous!!! Gives hope to all us procrastinators ;) Recommended read.
A great read, its only real drawback being Mr. Isaacson's predilection toward fawning over the individual pieces of art displayed in a book printing on photo-quality paper, which gave it the curb weight of a Greyhound bus. The history, however, was a wonderful tour of Da Vinci's world and, as much as was possible, the workings of the great man's mind.
Extremely well written by Isaacson. This book captures the importance of Leonardo's accomplishments. Most of the chapters filled me with excitement about Leonardo. This book represents the best in non-fiction biography.
This was a difficult book for me to get through, because there was so much detail about his art and how he did it and what it meant, etc. Those who want to know about that will find it in this book. There is also great detail about his life and the many other interests he had. That made it worth wading through the technical info about painting. One does get a chance to meet the man in this very comprehensive book.
Long read, but very fascinating along with photos of his art and scientific data. It's not a quick read, but one to be savored and appreciated.
A very solid, well researched biography of the painter, sculptor, inventor, architect, and all around genius. Isaacson delves into the connections between Leonardo and his family, patrons, lovers, rivals, and subjects. In exploring the paintings, he employs a standard art historian approach, analyzing the works and how they demonstrate DaVinci's artistic development. I gained a better understanding and appreciation for the artist, and my knowledge of politics and society in Renaissance Italy was expanded. I listened to the book on audio, admirably read by the actor Alfred Molina. It came with a downloadable supplement that was helpful--but I'd recommend springing for the print version, if you can afford it.
Excellent book that is enhanced with great writing. I particularly enjoyed the interaction of Da Vinci in history. Interacting with the father of double entry accounting, Pacioli, artists such as Michelangelo, traders and noblemen and rulers. Art, engineering, science, and religion. Walter Isaacson never believed that history should be dull and dusty. This book brings the era to life in full color.
I really enjoyed this book. Da Vinci was ahead of his time. he was passionate about learning and understanding the world. when his journals were studied it was found that his insights about nature were found to correct years later. his failing was that had no desire to put his thoughts into print.
An excellent biography that is somewhat non-traditional and not strictly chronological because out of necessity it focuses more on Leonardo's work than on biographical details. The solid information on his life is limited, but Isaacson makes up for it by wonderfully annotating his paintings and notebooks. Very well illustrated with Leonardo's work. The text ties into the illustrations beautifully. Four stars instead of five because the text is a little repetitious at times.
A masterpiece, never read such a well researched title. A masterpiece
It was the first biography I've ever read (actually listened to most of it) by Walter Isaacson and it is written beautifully. I'd suggest this book to anyone interested in Da Vinci, Renaissance and art.
This book is actually a life changer. It made me smile and laugh. The reading is superb and the insights by the author are just indescribable . Thank you Walter!
I love this author. He has an ability to illustrate how a genius thinks in simple way that a common man can understand.
Everyone has heard his name but no one can know the man until they've read this book. What an incredible talent in so many fields and yes..he paints too!
He was the greatest man of science, He drew engines we use nowadays
People throw around the word genius a lot these days and you can become pretty jaded about it. That’s why reading about someone as staggeringly brilliant as Leonardo can be a bit exhausting. Not only is it the sheer number of things he pioneered or perfected, but the detail Isaacson goes into. That is the main reason it took me most of a year to finish this book. Another is that it is a bit repetitive in the sense that his paintings, studies, notebooks and life circumstances didn’t differ that much and all received the same breathless awe. Not that he wasn’t deserving; he was. He more than many others. Here are a few things I learned and loved about Leonardo -> He was gay and almost out...as out as you could be at this time> He eschewed religion, but paid it lip service as the times and patrons dictated> He had a fine sense of frivolity and whimsy > He invented musical instruments, but didn’t play them> He didn’t complete a lot of paintings and left very few completed ones behind considering how revered he is as a painter> He is the first person to have understood and explained that arteriosclerosis is a function of time> He discovered that the blood itself makes heart valves work> He was often distracted and did not complete a lot of his work, or else bring it to its most logical conclusion> He hardly published anything> Some paintings are lost as are some notebooks, but surprisingly a lot survivedEarly on we understand that while Leonardo was a book buyer and had an extensive library, he wasn’t formally educated and considered it a benefit. He was of the opinion that rote learning stifled true discovery and thinking. He preferred to experiment and not just take someone else’s conclusions as the truth. Admirable and the genesis of the modern scientific method. It is too bad that he didn’t publish his findings as they could have been beneficial decades and even centuries before someone else found the same thing and it became commonly accepted or the de facto best practice. An amazing person and an interesting book, but one that tried my patience at times.
Leonardo was the quintessential Renaissance man, although not the first. Enamored with all things artistic, scientific, mathematical, and biological, he spent his life painting, engineering, and recording in his journals studies from the world around him. Only late in his life did he even leave Italy. His lifestyle was one that could be dangerous outside of enlightened communities, but such was his creative genius that he was a coveted associate of brutal warlords such as the Sforza's (Milan), the di Medici's (Florence) and the Borgia's (Valencia, Rome). Da Vinci was a perfectionist and procrastinator. The Mona Lisa was a commission he never actually finished. Other commissions similar were never completed. One masterpiece, The Last Supper, started degrading after just 10 years. Many of his engineering projects were never realized. He was even a consultant on warfare, but his siege ideas were never implemented. Unfortunately, the library audiobook doesn't include the PDF with all of the images referred to in the book. I might have to buy it because as good as this book was, it's probably 10x better with pictures.
The physical product, hardbound, is a 5 star item. The writing is a 3 star, so it averaged to 4 stars. The collection of illustrations is tremendous, really fantastic, not so much the text. It is adequate writing but not rivetting. I felt the same about his Franklin book, so apparently the author and I are not a great fit.
Isaacson put Da Vinci into sharp focus for me, not simply relaying the details of his life but describing the interrelationships among Da Vinci's art, engineering and scientific endeavors. In that context, Da Vinci's achievements seem even more spectacular but did not need Isaacson's occasional direct interjection of his favorite opinions into the text. Of the three biographies of Isaacson's I have read this one surpassed his Franklin book but not his Steve Jobs book.
Incredible book. I know so little about art! This book made me fully aware of exactly how little.What I did learn was how incredibly curious Leonardo was. How patient and how persistent. Now, I need to revisit the Mona Lisa....