Leonardo da Vinci

I feel like a had a pretty broad, but shallow understanding of Leonardo da Vinci's work before reading this (I used to play an old CD-ROM game on our Power Mac all the time when I was a kid that was all about his inventions and ideas). It was nice to have it filled out a little more.

I especially liked how this book highlighted his curiosity as a scientific mind and how it went into how he was received but others people at the time and how he interacted with them.

Polymath, scientist, artist, engineer and more indeed.

Isaacson does inject himself to the book a little too much, keep bringing up Steve Jobs unnecessarily at times (well yes he wrote the biography of him too) but does a great job to capture the essence of Leonardo imho.

Everyone should know about Leonardo and his skills, talent, view of life in the context of his times.

Inspired by Leonardo.

I didn't get to hear the author at the Texas Book Festival last November but it is the book I chose to buy and take home from the festival. It was a good pick. Who isn't intrigued by such a person? I love how the author focused on da Vinci's creativity as displayed in his journals and works of art, rather than spending a lot of print space speculating about his personal life. I also loved how the author took a very close look at the journals and art and reflected upon these.

What did I take away from the book?

Da Vinci spent a lot of time thinking and studying and investigating what interested him. When his interest changed, he dropped a line of thought.

His journals were the place he was able to explore ideas unreservedly.

He wasn't good at completing long projects. I find this very interesting.

He had free time to explore and create since he had few financial worries and no family.

Leonardo da Vinci é um gênio no sentido mais literal possível da palavra. A escrita de Walter Isaacson é leve e torna até os momentos monótonos da vida de Leonardo emocionantes. É satisfatório descobrir como Da Vinci lidava tranquilamente com questões sexuais, como era interessado em biologia, e que fez descobertas na medicina que nunca foram publicadas. Ele observava pássaros e tentava compreender como eles voavam. Isso tudo pelo prazer de conhecer. Para seu próprio mérito, até mesmo quando estudou óptica, era com o único objetivo de tornar suas obras artísticas mais belas — muitas vezes, essa obsessão pelo perfeccionismo o impedia inclusive de terminá-las. E é de extrema satisfação perceber Leonardo em seus manuscritos descrevendo que a história bíblica do dilúvio é extremamente improvável, e que o fato de encontrar conchas em montanhas, dispostas em estratos diferentes e organizadas, indica que provavelmente as montanhas já estiveram no nível do mar e por um processo lento e gradual, as conchas foram depositadas, contrariamente ao mito que relata uma tragédia divina vingativa e súbita, no qual, as conchas estariam espalhas de forma desigual, em um único estrato.
Como bem resumiu o próprio biógrafo:
“O maior gênio da história era filho ilegítimo, gay, vegetariano, canhoto, muito disperso e, às vezes, herético.”

Personally not much of an aesthete but the book gave me a newfound appreciation for art and Leonardo da Vinci's commitment to perfection. A brilliant and spellbinding biography which offers a window into the genius of Leonardo, capturing his voracious appetite for knowledge and relentless curiosity, making it a very inspiring read overall.

Tuto knihu vám nedoporučuji číst! Jednak si uvědomíte, že váš stávající vzor (pokud už jím není Leonardo da Vinci) vlastně tak moc geniální není. A za druhé (a to je mnohem důležitější) budete chtít navštívit Itálii a Francii (popř. další státy), abyste si mohli prohlédnout Leonardova díla na vlastní oči. Tentokrát však obohaceni o mnohem více vědomostí, jak a na co se ve skutečnosti dívat. Teprve díky této knize si uvědomíte skutečnou genialitu tohoto člověka a častokrát je vám líto, že Leonardo své zápisky nepublikoval, protože by to mohlo změnit koloběh dějin. Walter Isacson nezklamal a opět mi přinesl úžasný životopis, který vís nepřestane překvapovat, protože se díky zápiskům Leonarda toho tolik dochovalo a dal se tak bez “problémů” poskládat celý jeho život. To se u naší generace tolik říct nedá, když je všechno digitální. Měl bych se nejspíš vrátit zpět ke svým papírovým deníkům. A teď mě omluvte, musím si jít koupit vstupenku do Louvru.