Synopsis
Gleick, interpreter of science for the (serious) lay reader in such books as Chaos: Making a New Science, here turns his attention to the pioneering physicist. This narrative traces the emergence of Newton's vision and the fundamental impact his work has had on human consciousness. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The New York Times
[Gleick's] Isaac Newton is now the biography of choice for the interested layman. Gleick copes with the complex tapestry of Newton's interests by teasing them apart into individual chapters, assembled into a smooth chronological flow. For example, if we look at the extent of Newton's reading list in theology in the same years that led up to the writing of his Principia Mathematica, it is hard to imagine that he had time to do any science or mathematics at all. Gleick does not omit the theology, or Newton's long hours of experimental alchemy, but he partitions them into their own sections, a strategic decision that makes this multifaceted life remarkably accessible. — Owen Gingrich