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John Woltjer

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John Woltjer is currently reading

Leonardo da Vinci

by Walter Isaacson (Goodreads Author)

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John Woltjer said: " I am very glad that I am reading this book, though I would not say it is an easy read. There is absolutely no doubt but that this book brings the reader as close as possible to understanding the singular genius like da Vinci. His insatiable curiosity I am very glad that I am reading this book, though I would not say it is an easy read. There is absolutely no doubt but that this book brings the reader as close as possible to understanding the singular genius like da Vinci. His insatiable curiosity about many different elements of life is truly breathtaking. Everything he came across that had any relevance at all to his interests became the focus of his need to understand it as completely as possible. He was an engineer, a painter, an impresario, an anatomist, and the list goes on. One of the effects of this book is that I have become a much more careful observer of art. One can look at da Vinci's paintings and marvel at the beauty, but honestly, any one of his great paintings could be the subject of a semester long University course. Isaacson generates through his exhaustive treatment of his paintings a sense that there are levels of skill and study and brilliance behind them that is almost beyond belief. I have become aware of his skill at chiaroscuro and sfumato--his ability to meld colors into each other and develop the softness at all of his edges within his paintings that eased transitions from one plane to another. The detail of The Last Supper is simply staggering--how he makes 2 dimensional surfaces appear to be three dimensional and how he uses real and imagined perspective to create paintings that seem to come alive. And here is my struggle with the book at times: it gets so technical that for the lay reader, the detail gets burdensome. Here is a sample of his treatment of da Vinci's study of how to deal with the various ways light and its shadow need to be calculated:

"Having become, by now, a lover of received knowledge as well as a disciple of experience Leonardo studied Aristotle's work on shadows and combined it with a variety of ingenious experiments involving different sizes of lamps and objects. He came up with multiple categories of shadows and plotted chapters on each; primary shadows that are caused by direct light hitting an object, derived shadows that result from ambient light diffused through the atmosphere, shadows that are subtly tinged with light reflected from nearby objects, compound shadows cast by multiple sources of light, shadows made by the subdued light at dawn on sunset, shadows make by light that has been filtered through linen or paper, and many other variations. With each category, he included striking observations, such as this: There is always a space where the light galls and then is reflected back towards its cause; it meets the original shadow and mingles with it and modified it somewhat."

Fascinating but a bit technical for non-artistic readers perhaps. I will though, definitely finish the book. It feels like I am bumping up against true and singular genius.

I have decided to put this one down for awhile. I found myself starting to drift off during technical explanations of his techniques. I will finish it, and most definitely will, if I ever see a Leonardo painting again (I saw Mona Lisa at the Louvre in 2001), I will spend much more time appreciating his masterful techniques. ...more "

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(page 300 of 600)
"I have mixed feelings about this book. I read Walter Isaacson's bio of Steve Jobs and found it fascinating. This book, not as much. That da Vinci is someone in history nonpareil is beyond question. And Isascson certainly details elements of his genius. But somehow, the book feels like it gets bogged down in detail. It lacks the page-turning quality of the Jobs biography. Somewhat disappointed." — Dec 31, 2017 10:56AM

Jan 14, 2018 09:16PM · see review

John Woltjer is currently reading

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

by Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author)

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John Woltjer said: " There are a few books I have read in my life that have completely altered in fundamental and profound ways the way that I look at the world. In this, the information age, we are bombarded with new information much of it trivial and insignificant. And There are a few books I have read in my life that have completely altered in fundamental and profound ways the way that I look at the world. In this, the information age, we are bombarded with new information much of it trivial and insignificant. And of course, any good book we read changes the way we look at the world. But Steven Pinker's book profoundly alters the reader's view of the world because it flies in the face of so much of what particularly the political world has to say about the state of human existence on the planet. This current, particularly odious administration has simply taken the we-live-in-dangerous-times meme and magnified it to an absurd degree. Even without this book we know that this is simply hype to capture the public's attention and manipulate for political or personal advantage. But Pinker's book absolutely turns the notion that we live in violent times completely on its head.

With a journey that goes back to what we know of more "primitive" times and then reviewing the levels of violence throughout history (I particularly like his treatment of the almost singularly vicious and divinely ordained violence of the Old and New Testaments) he takes us to the present and makes a very compelling case that we live in perhaps the most peaceful period in human history. And that includes all of the 20th century wars and nuclear weapons that kill 70-100,000 people per bomb. The most transformative part of the book for me dealt with the rise of the "Leviathan", Hobbes' view of the rise of centralized governments and how that fundamentally changed the relationship of human beings to each other because a concomitant power of the new governments was the exclusive right to mete out punishments that would have, in earlier times simply been the prerogative of anyone with the will and ability to mete out their own injustice.

I am only about 150 pages into this 700 page tome and am finding it both dense with information and eminently readable. Pinker has that gift of writing a book filled with facts and information and making it as pleasurable as reading a great novel. I think a significant part of what makes this book so fascinating is the simple power of altering deeply held beliefs. A good subtitle might have been, "Putting the lie to everything you "know" about violence in our times." I actually keep a small notebook with me while I read so that I can jot down some of the most salient and compelling insights.

I will read this one a few pages at a time, meaning it will take awhile to get through it. The sheer density of the book requires a slower approach. And, each time I pick it up I like to go back a couple pages to pick up the thread that I was in the middle of.

A deeply satisfying and edifying book. ...more "

Jan 14, 2018 10:01PM · see review