In order to be better able to understand and interact with the technical aspects of our modern world, young people need to learn about the scientists whose work made it all possible. Sir Isaac Newton is generally acclaimed as the greatest scientist who ever lived, and this is his biography written at the level of the late middle school student.
While Newton's scientific accomplishments are covered in detail, the authors quite correctly also cover the major events of the time, such as the great plague that swept through England. It is ironic that such a tragic event helped push Newton out to a location where he could do his incredible work without distraction. Newton's battles with his colleagues over priority of discovery are also covered in detail. Scientists are often portrayed as unemotional, yet here you read about some of the petty battles that go on in the profession. Rather than distracting from the story, it makes Newton appear more human.
I found the book to be an excellent biography of Newton and his times. The writing is clear, sequential and it imparts the essence of Newton's discoveries without using mathematical explanations. I strongly recommend that it be included in all middle school libraries.

I reckon the book gives a very good measure of Sir Isaac Newton's interests in philosophy. One shoulk ask why philosophy? Well we have to say that this writings contain some of the best arguments ever used in defense of God's existence. Moreover, the "Four letters to Mr. Richard Bentley" contain what should be considered the argument of "imperfection" for the existence of a Voluntary Agent in the Universe. Nobody before Newton dared to say that from the imperfection of this world it follows that God neccessarily exists. This argument will be, of course, a great subject for the criticism of Leibniz and Descartes' disciples. Then again, the book contains a very good paper on the natural and un-natural motion of celestial bodies, a very good treatise in itself on inertia and gravity, which makes us wonder whether our modern view on the universe is a Newtonian or a Cartesian one. After all the theme is very actual and it has not lost it's strenght.

This non-fiction book is interestingly written with details from Newton's childhood and adult life. He said, "If I have seen further than most men, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." The author spends much of the first chapter discussing how the writings of these giants, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes, influenced Newton.

Boys who are into building models will delight in the model of a windmill that young was powered by a treadmill run by a mouse. He used his model-building experience later in life when he built a reflecting telescope.

The final chapter contains a few experiments for the budding young scientist. Upper elementary aged students will be inspired by Newton's dedication to science and mathematics.

This academic work is not only palatable, it's delicious. I devoured it! Goldish has gone to great lengths to make his work accessible to those of us mortals who are not quite as well read in 17th century Hebraism. Goldish finally gives us a good strong look at Newton's lost work, Of the Church. The same mind that unlocked the riddles of our physical universe made great pains to unlock the riddles of the spiritual kind. All told, an exciting addition to an excellent series.

The great German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also an enthusiastic amateur scientist saying that of all his work he considered his scientific work to be the most important. This is no trivial matter considering the great works of prose and poetry Goethe produced eg Faust, Erlkoenig etc etc.

Probably the most well developed of his scientific investigations is his book on colour theory which studied many aspects of the formation of colours. Proskauer in this book reviews and also extends some of Goethe's work on colour as well as allowing the reader to experience the phenomena first hand through a small prism attached to the book with special cards to serve as "light/dark" sources.

The book starts with an introduction to Goethe's work which contradicts Newton's theories such as the notion that ordinary "white" light is constructed from a combination of the colours and that the prism separates the colours already present in it. Proskauer demonstrates that the spectrum observed by the prism is in fact a construction which arises due to two distinct spectra overlapping and that a spectrum is noticed only in the presence of a light/dark boundary. Further fascinating aspects are disclosed and provide a strong argument for a scientific approach akin to Goethe's. The colour phenomenon is observed without abstraction used to construct a colour theory.

These are the good aspects of the work, however the writing is at times speculative and goes counter to Goethe's original approach to "never leaving the phenomenon". Somehow it never quite convinces but nonetheless it certainly wakes up the mind from the mechanistic slumber of ordinary science. Perhaps a deeper approach would remove some of these problems.

A good book with great potential.

I expected this to be a walkthrough for people like myself who have a knowledge of physics but are far from being experts and are interested in reading the classics of science. This is a guide for the modern Professor of Physics, not a guide for the common reader as it says. If I had known that I wouldn't have bought it. I get the impression that there is certainly a demand for such a walkthrough. I thought this would be it.
A BIG disapointment!

I have not read this book, but would love too. But the price is just too high for a book that is intended for the common reader. It is unaffordable for the common reader.

(NOTE: My stars rating is meaningless because I have not read the book.)

Chandra translated Newton's Principia from the geometric language that Newton was forced to use into language that is immediately familiar to a modern audience. As such *every* physicist should be forced to read this book from cover to cover, or else face the *shame* that they have not. This is truly a piece that every physicist will enjoy and find thought provoking at the deepest level.

This is not a detailed biography of Newton, nor is it a "pure" technical text dealing with Newton's great accomplishments. Rather, the author takes a quick bite at the overall accomplishments of Newton- which is inventing Calculus, propounding the laws of gravitation and the particle theory of light, with Newton's life story as the frame of reference. The result is a book which is a useful source for a quick introduction to the Life, time and accomplishments of Newton, even for the average reader without any background in physics or maths. My quibbles are the author should have put effort in explaining the science of Newton, rather than getting self-involved in writing charming prose. The author's intention was to give a "sense of Newton" to the reader, at which he succeeds. But, it doesn't give a feeling a satisfaction. It is an cross between reading a story , where some physics concepts are thrown in in a broad manner and punctuated by ornate writing. Obviously, i need to read other books on Newton to know more.

Some of the "superficial" knowledge i gleaned from the book, which i quote at random are:

Newton's enlargement of the binomial theorem made use of mathematical expressions known as Infinite series, which is a series of numbers that goes on forever.

He invented Calculus (Leibiniz also has claim to this honour).

He extended the forces of gravity to the orbit of the moon.. i.e established a connection of sameness between the gravity on earth which brings a apple down to the mystery force which keeps the moon orbiting around the earth without falling into earth.

He advanced the particle theory of light, which said that light was a stream of particles moving in a straight line through space.

He elucidiated his grand ideas on the nature of gravitational forces in his masterpiece "Principia". The universe revealed by principia containts particles, forces and mathematical structures. It has three specific laws of motion, two general principles of time and space. The three laws are familiar to any high school student- the law of inertia, law of acceleration and the law of action and reaction. The second law is the mysterious one which needs further explanation.; The principles of time and space wre absolute time and absolute space i.e time and space are measurable.

Why doesn't moon crash into the earth, instead of orbiting around it?? - Newton's analysis begins with the law of inertia. The moon's natural trajectory in the sky is a straight line. It travels in a fixed velocity, because no forces are inducing acceleration in it. But, since the moon is orbiting circularly around the earth, there is a force on it which is continuously deforming it's path. Since the resulting path is circular, the force must be centripetal whose origin is at the centre of the earth. (eg: carousel). Based on the second law, the force makes the moon accelerate continuously towards the centre of the earth. It does not fall into the earth because it's natural trajectory (straight line) and the centripetal force of the gravity from the earth balance out, due to which the moon falls forever without falling into the earth. (rotates).

Newton's universal gravity law states every material object attracts every other material object, with a force that is proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of distance between them.

Note, gravity is explained for what it does, what it affects, but there is no explanation for what gravity actually is. It remains a mystery.

Regarding Newton's personal life- his spars with Robert Hookes, Leibiniz shows him in poor light - as somebody vindictive, vain and secretive. His successful stint as the Master of Mint, in a bureacractic role of crushing counterfieting which was profuse at that time, is an achievement unique in the sense that we do not often find a great scientist and Govt official in the same person! Also, another curious aspect of Newton's life was he never married and is widely considered to have lead a celibate life; and yes, the apple boink on his head is apocryphal.

David Berlinski has created a marvelous intellectual history focusing on the progression of Newton's epic breakthrough thinking. He does this in a way that is totally accessible to those who are phobic about mathematics. The explanations are achieved through a skillful combination of simple sentences, symbols, pictures, and diagrams. The presentation is so effective that most readers will find their understanding of important mathematical and scientific principles greatly improved. This is a great book!

Newton was a seminal thinker in the areas of mathematics (developing calculus), physics (with his propositions about gravity and motion), and optics (with his conceptualization of light as being comprised of particles moving in parallel). He also did much work in theology and alchemy, which are recounted here.

A key challenge for David Berlinski was presented by Newton's reticence. He was not a very social person, and wrote almost nothing about how he developed his ideas. Berlinksi does a magnificent job of locating and sharing hints and clues about the bases of these intuitive leaps. This result is enhanced by considering the continuing themes in Newton's thinking, and assuming a connection to his intuition. I suspect that Berlinski is right in connecting the dots that way, but we will never know for sure.

The centerpiece of our story turns out to be the tangent to a curve. From that humble beginning, most of our modern understanding of how physical motion takes place follows.

I also enjoyed better understanding how Newton's thinking was aided by the careful observations and conclusions of Kepler.

If the history of science were always this entertaining, this subject would be one of the most popular majors in colleges.

As Berlinksi tells us in the beginning his purpose in the book is "to offer a sense of the man without specifying in details his . . . activities." This allows us to see the other sides of Newton, but without spending too much time on them. Newton was not perfect. We get glimpses of places where he wasted his time, such as his unsuccessful experiments with alchemy. We also see his flirtations and infatuations. Beyond that, we see what could enrage him, and how he took his revenge. This fleshing out of the whole man makes the scientific history all the more compelling.

If you liked David Berlinski's book, The Birth of the Algorithm, you will probably like this one even better. The asides are much more contained and relevant here.

For those who want a little more math with their scientific history, Berlinski has provided supplementary materials that are quite entertaining.

After you have finished enjoying this wonderful romp, I suggest that you think about where everyday events are unexplained in your life. For example, why do the people you meet with act the way they do? Why is progress slow in many areas, and rapid in others? By looking for connections, you, too, may isolate fundamental principles that can expand our own appreciation as a species of how we achieve understanding. The mysteries of how to improve thinking are still mostly unsolved, and many are relatively unexplored. Perhaps you can be the Newton of this important "last frontier" of self-limiting progress for humans.

Think about it!

In his book Newton's Gift - How Sir Isaac Newton Unlocked the System of the World David Berlinski presents us with an engaging biography of Newton. What I personally liked was the fact that Berlinski avoided the trap of many biographies that merely present names, dates and places. In this book we see the person that Newton was and how it affected his study of mathematics.One of the main reasons that one should study the history of mathematics is to appreciate the human side of its creation. Berlinski presents Newton's human side quite well.

If you are looking for a lot of detailed mathematics, you probably won't find it here. The mathematics is presented at a very readable and understandable level. This is certainly accessible to the average undergraduate math/physics major.

I recommend this book without hesitation.

Having done a Ph.D. in optics, I have read quite some books on optics and out of curiocity I bought this book, but I am not very pleased with it. First, it is difficult to read because of the old English language and structure. For native English speakers this carries perhaps not so much weight, but for me it did. Second, because it is a collection of Newton's works, it contains of course also many not-so-interesting discussions which you have to 'consume' before realising it was not so interesting.

What is nice though, is that the book contains many so-called queries, which are possible explanations of various optical phenomena, explanations/assumptions Newton could not prove/disprove at the time. This is fascinating reading, because many of these turned out to be true (or false, but even then: still interesting to know what he thought).

Overall impression: if you are interested in the history of optics/Newton then it is a nice book. But just for browsing in the evening: no.

"Though Mr. Newton is no physicist, his book is very interesting." -- Father Nicolas Malebranche (1707)

This biography of the discoverer of gravity and inventor of calculus by the co-author of a similar work on Einstein misses the mark. Michael White concentrates on filling the gaps in Newton's personal life - mainly focusing on all his feuds but also offering unprovable speculation about a relationship with another man and with a widow - but offers little insight into the science. It's as if White assumes everyone understands how gravity works and what calculus is. There's little here that shows me how great a scientist Newton was, but too much to tell me that he was not much of a human.

There is also the author's contention that Newton's extensive dabblings in alchemy directly influenced his success as a thinker. Little evidence offered by White backs this up. White also undermines himself by connecting Newton's alchemy and Newton's unorthodox but deeply-felt Christian beliefs, thereby joining the far-too-long list of science writers who denigrate religion along the way to worshipping at the feet of Science.

Beyond all that, this book is competently written if wordy. White clearly needs Gribbin's help to succeed as a biographer.

True, Newton was a "man of science" and certainly among the
greatest. But "science" was not in the 17th Century what it
is to us today and like many of his contemporaries, Newton
inherited a scientific legacy which was steeped in alchemistic
mysticism dating back to the Ancients.

White cites the undeniable alchemistic, mystical influences in
Newton's thinking not to stir up controversy or serve up "gossip"
as some would superficially contend.

Rather he intends to point out the quasi-magical, occult leanings
in Newton's thought which enabled him to dream of or "conjure"
such unseen forces as gravity while other minds remained trapped
in commonplace and hence unfruitful modes of thinking.

Basically, Newton's ability to shift his view of physical reality
to a new paradigm, White's book seems to be saying, was as much
a product of his sub-conscious imaginings as well as his
conscious, rational thought.

Einstein purportedly said [and I paraphrase] that imagination
was more important than knowledge because new knowledge comes
to us nascently through sheer imagination.

If this book seems to delve too much into Newton's mystical
beliefs then it is simply to compensate for the two-dimensional
and in some cases, untruthful "rational" biographical depictions
that have coloured our view of the man and ignored the role of
non-rational philosophies in driving modern science to where it
is today.

The interesting question is: we speak of modern science as a
rational endeavor today but in another hundred years, how
superstitious and primitive will we appear to posterity?

This is an excellent account of Newtons life, including not only detailed antecdotes about Newton himself but we also find in this book detailed context. This includes a nice explanation of the state of physics, mathematics and astronomy at the time Newton went to college as well as a very interesting historical account of the development of these fields. The environment and state of affairs at Cambridge at the time is also detailed quite nicely. I think the other reviewers are not being fair, Newtons interest in alchemy lasted a long time and was hardly a "one time thing". I do agree that the passage about Newtons religious views was a bit ridiculous, the claim that Newton may have seen himself as Christ is ridiculous and based on flimsy evidence. But that is only one paragraph in the book and shouldn't deter a potential reader from getting this book. The excellent descriptions of Newtons early years and the historical developments of the sciences alone make this book worth reading. An excellent description on graphs of equations and tangent lines and how these provided problems for scientists and mathematicians at the time is also very interesting, and you can see how Newton used this to invent (or discover) calculus. The history of alchemy is also very interesting, and enlightening--the author shows that the art was not all quackery and many of the instruments of basic chemistry came from it. All in all I would say this book reveals Newton for what he was, a human being with faults and complexities just like everyone else. Highly recommended.

Strathern's summary of the life of Issac Newton is less than 90 pages of unusually large print -- a very quick read indeed. At best, it is a superficial glance that provides little insight into the life or work of Newton.

In many ways, the book is a contradiction. Strathern's approach is more suited to a children's book, but his writing style is intended for an educated adult. For me, the result was fast-paced boredom.

This book told me several significant points about Issac that I (and most other people) are not aware of. It also inspired me to learn more. It requires a small amount of time to read. For me that is an advantage.

This is a great book for people that avoid fat books which are padded with trivial details that can't be remembered anyway.