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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
What an engrossing book, about the iconic genius who was engrossed by our world. Isaacson shares his subject's relentless curiosity, eye for detail, and ability to analogize, so reading this biography, his best yet, is like hearing about Da Vinci from a soulmate. Read this with a screen at hand to see the works described as clearly as possible, and definitely get this book in hardcover form, for the same reason. I love my Kindle but abandoned reading the book on it halfway through because the greyscale reproductions just aren't good enough.
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Isaacson’s writing style in this book is eminently readable. I was consistently surprised by how many pages I had to turn back to get another look at an image after reading for what felt like seconds. I loved the inclusion of the figures, Leonardo’s paintings and journal entries. This truly brought the story to life, especially because I am not so well-versed or even appreciative of art and art history. In fact, even with the images and Isaacson’s explanations, I did not see all of what made Leonardo’s art exceptional.
However, this biography granted me a new admiration of Leonardo’s widespread curiosity and brilliance. Though the biography did not offer quite the portrait of Leonardo’s life, which I tend to enjoy in biographies, it did expound on his notebooks and journals which contain endless troves of information and surprising questions. I did not realize how extended Leonardo’s scope of interest, research, and accomplishment spanned, and it was fascinating to read about him.
I always like when a biographer’s love for his subject is evident in the writing. This was definitely true in this case, though at times it felt like Isaacson approached Leonardo as an inspiration more than as a subject, granting me a bit more insight into Isaacson’s personal hopes and aspirations than I particularly cared about. Furthermore, Isaacson took some of the Freudian and psychological analysis a bit too far for my tastes, though he always made it very clear when he was expressing his own opinions or suspicions.
Overall, this is definitely worth the read, and I am willing to read other Isaacson biographies, but I’m not sure if I will read all of them.
However, this biography granted me a new admiration of Leonardo’s widespread curiosity and brilliance. Though the biography did not offer quite the portrait of Leonardo’s life, which I tend to enjoy in biographies, it did expound on his notebooks and journals which contain endless troves of information and surprising questions. I did not realize how extended Leonardo’s scope of interest, research, and accomplishment spanned, and it was fascinating to read about him.
I always like when a biographer’s love for his subject is evident in the writing. This was definitely true in this case, though at times it felt like Isaacson approached Leonardo as an inspiration more than as a subject, granting me a bit more insight into Isaacson’s personal hopes and aspirations than I particularly cared about. Furthermore, Isaacson took some of the Freudian and psychological analysis a bit too far for my tastes, though he always made it very clear when he was expressing his own opinions or suspicions.
Overall, this is definitely worth the read, and I am willing to read other Isaacson biographies, but I’m not sure if I will read all of them.
I loved learning more about da Vinci but not sure I’m drawn to the authors writing style.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A great biography of a relentlessly curious person. A lot more about art history than I expected, though maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. Well now I know.
Describe the tongue of a woodpecker.
Describe the tongue of a woodpecker.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced