Newton's Notebook: The Life, Times, and Discoveries of Isaac Newton

by Joel Levy

This unique format brings Sir Isaac Newton, the man who “discovered” gravity, to life in vivid form. An intimate look at his writings, correspondence, and life events, the Notebook examines his early life and education, his achievements in mathematics and optics, the publication of the Principia, and the long-term impact of his revolutionary theories. Illustrated with letters, journals, photographs, and more, Levy’s close look into the life of Newton includes his personal relationships, his schooling and work among colleagues, and his lasting legacy to science. Each spread is a self-contained story or anecdote, revealing some specific event in the scientist’s life. Newton’s Notebook is bound like a personal journal, giving it the custom feel of a personal possession, and better than any biography, reveals the whole scope of Newton’s life and times.

Genres: Biography, Science, History, Physics

160 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

Joel Levy is a writer and journalist specializing in science and history. He is the author of over a dozen books, including The Little Book of Conspiracies and Scientific Feuds: From Galileo to the Human Genome Project. Phobiapedia is his first book for children.

Reviews

[Jsrott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the life of a very peculiar character. While I am familiar with Newton's life, most of my knowledge was in the form of trivia bits and anecdotes. This book's format leads to a really strong overview of Newton's life and his beliefs, and also does pretty well at presenting speculative information about his life as speculation. After reading I think I would like to read a biography of his life in greater depth.

[Brady O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newton’s Notebook by Joel Levy is a compilation of information of the great Sir Isaac Newton. There wasn’t much of a story in the book, it was more of a documentary of his entire life, not just his achievements and accomplishments in science. It also talked about how he acted and used many quotes for reference.
Newton’s Notebook was very interesting and helpful. I was surprised about how much we actually know about someone who lived in the mid 1600’s to early 1700’s. The information was very well organized, and easy to read and understand. Joel Levy did a great job with this book, and still made it look like a notebook by putting in pictures and drawings.
I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. It was very well written and presented. I don’t know of anyone who could have done a better job than Joel Levy did.

[Paul Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about Newton and his works. In addition to covering his greater achievements, such as calculus and discovering gravity, some of his other passions were also discussed such as alchemy and his unique religious beliefs. The book is a short work that doesn't go into too much detail on any one topic, but it was well written and easy to read.

I found the descriptions of how he dealt with people to be perhaps the most interesting; from the devotion to family, to the contempt and petty retributions for those that he disagreed with, to the years when he would basically hide from people so that he could just do his work.

There is a much fuller accounting of the Newton in this book than most know about. He was more then just the man who the apple fell on.

[Jack Laschenski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing, quite compete bio of Newton in only 169 pages!

The format consists of quotations from Newton's notebooks and from letters to and from, interspersed with just the right amount of narrative.

A tour-de force!

Newton was at least as interested in theology and alchemy as in physics.

Brilliant book!

[Dasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

liked it as all biographies go this one i liked. took exactly one year to finish it, since, nicely put together by the author, the book is divided into small sections of what newton did, was, liked, had feuds/loves with. what. . . makes me want to read into descartes the mathematician and aristotle the philosopher, to get the whole backdrop story here.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Isaac Newton. This book is a nice addition to my book collection... every two pages introduces a new topic from his life and includes artifacts and illustrations to bring to life his accomplishments and the times in which he lived, and as such is a different and very entertaining and enlightening biography.

[Drew Swearingen]

For a small book it covers a lot of territory. Nice layout and easy read.

[Jason Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read about Newton's life and research with pictures and excerpts from his notebook. I always enjoy learning some of the human elements in the lives of brilliant and influential people.