Isaac Newton
“The biography of choice. . . . Newton the man emerges from the shadows.”The New York Times Book Review
“A masterpiece of brevity and concentration. Isaac Newton sees its angular subject in the round, presenting him as scientist and magician, believer and heretic, monster and man. . . . It will surely stand as the definitive study for a very long time to come. Fortunate Newton!”John Banville, The Guardian
The New York Times
“Gleick [is] a clever tour guide to the minds of great geniuses. . . . Isaac Newton sheds new light on the difficult personality of a deeply enigmatic figure.”
Seattle Post-Intellignceer“Elegant, jewel-like…he does not waste a word… Gleick has given us the man and his mind in their full crazyness.”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer“A compelling page-turner. . . . Gleick [is] a clever tour guide to the minds of great geniuses. Isaac Newton sheds new light on the difficult personality of a deeply enigmatic figure.”
Freeman Dyson, The New York Review of Books“For the casual reader with a serious interest in Newton’s life and work, I recommend Gleick’s biography as an excellent place to start. It has three important virtues. It is accurate, it is readable, and it is short…. Gleick has gone back to the original notebooks and brought [Newton] to life.”
Toronto Globe and Mail
“The best short life of science’s most perplexing figure.”
New Scientist“[Gleick is] one of the best science writers of our time. . . . He has exhumed from mountains of historical documents and letters a compelling portrait of a man who held the cards of his genius and near madness close to his chest. Gleick’s book [is] hard to put down.”
The Times (London)“Marvellously rich, elegant and poetic. . . . [Gleick’s] great talent is the ability to unravel complex ideas without talking down. Books on Newton abound, but Gleick’s fresh, intimate and beautifully composed account succeeds where many fail, in eloquently dramatizing the strange power of his subject’s vision.”
The Observer“James Gleick makes the most of his extraordinary material, providing us with a deftly crafted vision of the great mathematician as a creator, and victim, of his age. . . . Isaac Newton is a perfect antidote to the many vast, bloated scientific biographies that currently flood the market–and also acts a superb starting point for anyone interested in the life of one of the world’s few, undisputed geniuses.”
