The preface to "The Life of Isaac Newton" starts with "Few men have lived for whom less need exist to justify a biography." To this I would like to add that few books have been written which need to be read more than the "Life of Isaac Newton" by Richard Westfall.

A thorough research of the life and work of one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived, if not the greatest, Westfall paints a vivid picture of the life of Newton from childhood to old age. He describes Newton as not only a scientific genius, but as the person who revolutionized science, and thus influenced the way of thinking, and indeed the way of modern life.

Newton, to be sure, was not an easy person to live with, nor was he a perfect human being. All this however pales in comparison to his superior intellect and deep understanding of nature. The book gives ample accounting of Newton's two great works "Opticks" and "Principia" and how these two have influenced the world he lived in, and the effects they left forever since.

This book is a necessary reading not only for those interested in science, but for all who want to have a glimpse into the way of life in the 16th and 17th centuries, and especially the way science and philosophy spread throughout the world.

Read it!

Shab Levy
Portland, OR 2002

This is a condensed version of "Never at Rest: Biography of Isaac Newton" by the same author. In this new version he took away details that he thought were interesting just to the specialist, so this book was written for the general public (and it indeed succeed to be non-technical).

What is really important about Westfall's work is that he is the only REAL biographer of Isaac Newton, since he was the first (and the last) to make an intensive research about him, seeking Newton's ancestors, tracking all his way through; collecting letters from everyone that had a comma wrote by Newton. Sure, this is the full biography of Newton and everything that you read aside is based on this one (if it's not wrong). The goal of this biography is to be impartial: you certainly won't find the author arguing that Newton was a bad person or glorifying him; he will just narrate and point out the true, the facts, the letters, leaving the interpretation with you. My interpretation is: Newton was a great man, not only because he was a genius, but as an example of humanity. You can disagree... as long as you know the facts; not being influenced by some biographical essay that has more adjectives than verbs.

I couldn't agree with reviewer #1 more! As a doctoral engineer, I thought I knew everything about that greatest scientist that ever lived. But I was wrong. Westfall taught me plenty about his life and times.

'On the Shoulders of Giants' (which shall hereafter be referred to as OTSOG) is the quintessential study of the nature of academicism. It is thinly disguised as a dissertation into the origin (and originality) of Newton's famous aphorism 'If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.' However, once the reader finds himself confronted by what might or might not be an attack on Richard Burton (the one that wrote 'The Anatomy of Melancholy'), suspicions grow, and in short order one begins to understand that a leg or two is being pulled.

Of course, it does not end there. Displaying the kind of dazzling scholarship that most academics can only aspire to, Merton zigzags across the intellectual horizon on a quest for the lighter side of truth. In doing so, he exposes many of the pretensions of scholarly work, plagiarism and specious logic. Leaving no stone unturned, we are as likely to find ourselves in pursuit of Tristram Shandy as we are to be wandering through the transept of Chartres Cathedral. All in a mad search to uncover who really used OTSOG first.

It needs to be said that Merton is, on his own, an extremely respected sociologist, one who often has used the scientific and academic world as the focus of his remarkable eye. OTSOG sets out to make points by mimicking its subjects rather than lecturing about them. Whimsical and witty, it still touches on serious issues while exposing a great deal of fascinating minutia. Certainly it is a one of a kind work that enjoys a large cult following among those who are reluctant to take themselves seriously. Look out for Umberto Eco's foreword and Merton's riposte-face as well.

Every scholar should this wonderful, joyous book

with Sterne. He comes off third best. First, of course, is the master himself. Second, comes Umberto Eco for his witty, catholic and erudite Forward. Nonetheless, Merton treads where no others have dared in his re-creation of the "Shandean" style. For this, alone, he deserves credit (and reading.) Because Merton chose real characters it was inevitable he failed to reach the pinnacle achieved in Sterne's fictional master-creation: Uncle Toby--one of the great characters in all literature. Do read Merton, and Tristram Shandy.

This is a very important book, and a reprint edition would be welcome indeed. I have found it to be fascinating.

Take the following passage (pp. 168-169) from the chapter titled "Methodology", for example:

'Many of the annotations in Keynes MS 58 and at least some of the processes derive from John de Monte Snyders' "The Metamorphosis of the Planets". Snyders wrote other works, and apparently all of them were published in Latin or in German, but "The Metamorphosis of the Planets" had only German editions and seems to have existed in English translation only in manuscript. Newton somewhere acquired a copy of it and made a complete, carefully written transcript of it which included an elaborate title-page and a detailed symbolic frontispiece. Newton also numbered the pages and even the lines, for easy reference. By handwriting, Newton's transcript probably dates from early in the 1670s.

'Newton's autograph transcript of Snyder's work was one of the items that so horrified Sir David Brewster when he went through Newton's papers in the middle of the nineteenth century, it will be recalled. And truly it is a distressing document to read, being a complicated allegory that rambles on through thirty-one chapters. The whole comprises sixty-four pages, and in Newton's small early handwriting that is a substantial amount of material. Very little of it is couched in rationalistic language.

'Nevertheless, Brewster would perhaps not have been so horrified had he looked a litle further and seen what Newton did with the material. For the essence of Newton's approach to Snyders was exactly the same as that which he used in the interpretation of prophecy: a rational, matter-of-fact analysis aimed at finding the true "significations" of Snyders' allegorical figures and their actions. The only variation in method in the case of this alchemical study was that Newton, instead of checking his "significations" against actual historical events as in the case of prophecy, in alchemy checked them against experimental results.

'So that it may be seen just how great a distance Newton had to travel to get from Snyders to the laboratory, one passage in which Snyders treats of the eagle and scepter of Jupiter (or Jove) will be given here. . .'

If you have any interest in Sir Isaac Newton or in the early history of experimental chemistry, Dr. Dobbs' study is an essential part of your reading, well worth tracking down.

Was Newton an alchemist?

When John Maynard Keynes purchased a trunkful of Sir Isaac Newton's private papers at a Sotheby's auction early in this century, he was shocked to find out how much time and effort Newton had spent in alchemical pursuits. This book explores why Newton did so.

Keynes' reaction after reading Newton's alchemical notes was to label him "the last of the magicians".

Similarly embarrassed by alchemical writings in Sir Isaac's own hand they found among his papers, Newton's Enlightenment-era biographers had suppressed mention of his work in alchemy--or dismissed it as a recreation, pursued as a diversion from his "real" work in establishing the foundations of modern mathematical physics.

They all missed the point of Newton's alchemical work, because they only saw it through the lenses of their own eras. They projected the effects of the great man's discoveries backward into the years before the discoveries, when he and his contemporaries struggled to find ANY conceptual keys that would fit the locks of physical reality. Keynes and the biographers simply forgot that "the past is a different country: they do things differently there."

Dr. Dobbs' carefully researched study goes a long way toward correcting these misunderstandings of Newton. She explores Newton's extensive alchemical experiments in the historical context of his own era, and shows how this research influenced key elements in his discovery of testable physical laws.

In the last lecture of his 1964 series on "The Character of Physical Law", Caltech physicist Richard Feynman described what it takes to seek new such laws:

"...The truth always turns out to be simpler than you thought. What we need is imagination, but imagination in a terrible strait-jacket. We have to find a new view of the world that has to agree with everything that is known, but disagree in its predictions somewhere. . . . And in that disagreement it must agree with nature. If you can find any other view of the world which agrees over the entire range where things have already been observed, but disagrees somewhere else, you have made a great discovery. ...A new idea is extremely difficult to think of. It takes a fantastic imagination."

Newton had both that fantastic imagination and the incredible discipline it took to put it into Feynman's strait-jacket. As Dr. Dobbs shows in her book, his fine-grained experimental investigation of the claims of alchemy developed both his amazing powers of concentration and the broad range of ideas to try that he could bring to bear on a problem.

While Newton may well have been disappointed by his years of intense alchemical research, it was still an important part of the rigorous intellectual regimen he set for himself in pursuing verifiable truths. His alchemical studies fed his imagination fruitful ideas to be tried in his other areas of research. He tested some of these ideas mathematically against accurate observations and experimental results reported by Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, and changed the way we view the world forever. Read this book carefully, and you'll have a better understanding of how--and why--he did it.

-dubhghall

This is a great book, but you must read it for it's historical value not just for it's scientific value.

I was looking for scientific biographies for young readers. This book and I presume the entire Scientific Discoveries Series fits the bill. Its brief (32 pages) but substantive. Describes the 3 laws of motion as well as mentioning in a sidebar his priority debate with Leibnitz about the discovery of the calculus. It has a nice glossary and is well illustrated. Also has a 2 page chart about the world in Newton's time. Probably appropriate for third graders (maybe second) and up. I only wish there was a paperback version so that i could afford to buy the whole series.

This is a 'hard-to-read' book. The great mind builds up the world on his simple principles. He does not use his inventions that are now known as differentiation and integration. He only uses Euclid's geometry to build the world upon his three principles, with the majesty like God's. It's not so good as a course book for mechanics. He takes the hard but rigorous way than to take the way that is easy but yet lacks the rigour in his time. The Door to Heaven is narrow and hard to follow. But you can feel how a human mind can be great by just opening this book and look at the scratch of the lion's claw.

More than any other I have found, this book brought Isaac Newton to life: as a brilliant human being, but still just a human being, with as broad a spectrum of flaws, quirks and vulnerabilities as any of us have. It shows him more as some of his contemporaries may have seen him, before the publication of the Principia began to transform him into a shining demigod of the Enlightenment. It does shine a light on his admittedly obsessive (but still sensible, focused, meticulous and sincere) investigations of theological and alchemical claims that mattered greatly to his generation. Many of these investigations proved to be fruitless, but that does not diminish the man. For these claims lost much of their interest to later generations precisely because the new analytical tools that Newton published in the Principia enabled revolutionary advances in physical knowledge that rapidly pushed alchemy and theology onto the sidelines of intellectual history.

Truly a wonderful, balanced and satisfying collection of essays, each written by an expert in a particular perspective on Newton's life and work. I would welcome publication of similar collections of lucid, expert essays on Robert Boyle and Charles Darwin.

I can't think of a better book for young kids who love pulleys and other mechanical gadgets. This is not just about science (though it's lurking in the wings), nor about push-button machines which seem to do everything by magic.

Each double-spread forms one scene, showing the character describing his actions, and including notes on the actions of the various mechanisms he has set up to get up, get dressed, and catapult himself to the shops...yes, the gadgets ARE the plot, and for the kids who really love this stuff, they're probably the "love interest" as well!

If your house wasn't already festooned with strange string pulleys and gadgets, it soon will be -- the illustrations are detailed and attractive, in big, clear spreads flooded with color.

The perpetrator of all this Newtonian motion is "Harry Newton", who provides a brief speech-bubble narration to accompany the pictures. He won't tell you where to find the screwdrivers though...

I though Galileo's Daughter was the best book I read last year, and this one is a close second. Only James Gleick has the self-confidence and skill to synthesize the life of Newton down to 191 succinct and fascinating pages. The average author, full of himself, would probably write about 1,191 pages and you wouldn't be able to lift the book. This is a masterpiece of time, space, light and color. A reader in motion will tend to remain in motion. It was just great, I read it in one sitting. I hope this starts a trend!

I'm not a mathematician; I'm not even much good at arithmetic. Once when trying to count backward from 100 by 7's I started with 97, went to 93, and gave up. Of course I was lying in a hospital bed, but even at my best I wouldn't have gotten far. I tell you this because I approached "Isaac Newton," by James Gleick expecting to read the introduction, pick up a few bits-and-bobs, and bail out. What a surprise to find myself reading even while walking to the bus stop. Thank you, Mr. Gleick for a fascinating biography that doesn't bog down in numbers, but still imparts the scientific information salient to Mr. Newton's life.

Isaac Newton was a piece of work. A scientist, but also a student of biblical prophecy; a chemist, but also an alchemist; a public figure as well as something of a recluse; a fountain of learning who refused to publish. Isaac Newton was a man of his times, and Mr. Gleick points out the very interesting paradox that Newton lived in a pre-Newtonian world. Of course he would be filled with contradictions. Even so, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Newton's contemporary and a philosopher/mathematician in his own right who found himself at odds with Newton by independently inventing differential and integral calculus, told the Queen of Prussia that "in mathematics there was all previous history, from the beginning of the world, and then there was Newton; and that Newton's was the better half."

If you would like a better understanding of the laws of nature we take for granted, and an understanding of the life and times of the complicated man who formulated them for us, then I recommend this highly readable (and mathematically understandable) biography.

James Gleick's book Isaac Newton presents the life, the oddities and the great discoveries of the man who set the foundations of modern physics. Gleick has a unique talent for rendering science in layman terms. He preserves and sometimes amazingly expands the scope of the original ideas. When I read his book Chaos I wondered - Gleick seemed too vivid and comprehensible for a scientist and in the same time too penetrating for a writer who is not a professional researcher.

Maybe you would like to see what creates the observations described by Newton in his famous laws. Perhaps you have been sometimes puzzled by the enigmatic meaning of your life. Then you should read also Eugene Savov's Theory of Interaction the Simplest Explanation of Everything, James Gleick's Faster and Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz. The explorations and discoveries presented in these three books show a path toward a new knowledge in which the laws of Newton and his genius shine even brighter.