Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I completed Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci this year, and I absolutely loved it.
Isaacson takes us through Leonardo’s life in a way that portrays him not simply as an artistic and mechanical genius, but as a vulnerable, complicated human being. At times, I felt as though I were back there with Leonardo, accompanying him through his trials, triumphs, obsessions, and disappointments.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is its extensive use of Leonardo’s astonishing notebooks. Through them, you begin to appreciate both the extraordinary breadth of his curiosity and the intensity with which he pursued it.
He could become fascinated by something as seemingly simple as how a dragonfly flies or how the mechanics of a human hand work, and then pursue the question with remarkable determination. His observations and dissections of animals and humans reveal a mind that seemed almost incapable of looking at something without wanting to understand how and why it worked.
I was also fascinated by how many things Leonardo pursued but never finished. Isaacson gives us not just Leonardo the genius, but Leonardo with all his foibles, distractions, vulnerabilities, and shortcomings. For me, that made him even more compelling.
By the end, I found myself wishing I could somehow go back in time and simply have a conversation with him.
Highly recommended. It is a wonderful, sweeping portrait of Leonardo’s life, not just his greatness, but the very human qualities that accompanied it.



View all my reviews