` To read this magnificent biography of Leonardo da Vinci is to take a tour through the life & works of one of the most extraordinary human beings of all time in the company of the most engaging, informed, & insightful guide imaginable. Walter Isaacson is at once a true scholar & a spellbinding writer. & what a wealth of lessons there are to be learned in these pages.` David Mc Cullough Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo`s astonishing notebooks & new discoveries about his life & work, Walter Isaacson weaves a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo`s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, & an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper & the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science & technology. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, & weaponry. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities & the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history`s most creative genius. His creativity, like that of other great innovators, came from having wide-ranging passions. He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, drew the muscles that move the lips, & then painted history`s most memorable smile. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, & produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. Isaacson also describes how Leonardo`s lifelong enthusiasm for staging theatrical productions informed his paintings & inventions. Leonardo`s delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a mis
Fit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, & at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance of instilling, both in ourselves & our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it-to be imaginative &, like talented misfits & rebels in any era, to think different.