I was looking through Amazon's list of best-selling items, in research for you all, as I often am, and BOOM! There it was. The book I've been waiting for! Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Now, you have to understand that when we're looking for stuff to share with you on this site, while we do have you in mind, we're really mostly sharing stuff we're into. Sorry! That's just the way it happens. If I like something, I'm more inclined to want to recommend it to you than if I've just heard of something that lots of people are interested in, but in which I have no interest. But I digress.
I've had a long fascination with Leonardo da Vinci, and why not? The man is easily one of the most interesting people, if not the most interesting person ever to walk the earth. And finally, Walter Isaacson, best-selling author of Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin has turned his talents onto the most creative mind in history. Based on thousands of pages from his own notebooks, and new discoveries about da Vinci's life and work, Isaacson makes connections between da Vinci's art and science.
Da Vinci, the epitome of a Renaissance man, like many other great innovators, had wide-ranging interests, which included everything from painting to architecture, to inventor, to scientist. His delight at combining his diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for his genius. Isaacson informs readers that da Vinci's ease at being a bit of a "misfit" (for example, he was illegitimate, gay, left-handed, and a vegetarian, to name a few ways he was "different" at the time) should remind us of the importance of not only receiving knowledge, but questioning everything, at all times.
If you're like me, and are interested in the life and works of the 15th century artist and engineer, Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson is definitely a must-read. I know I'm certainly adding it to my Christmas list.
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