Scan barcode
A review by dingakaa
Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
5.0
What to say but that this is a masterpiece, from the master himself, about a master.
Delivered with the deliberate touch we've come to expect of Isaacson, the topic is as well researched as one could hope for a topic -and character!- who could be unwieldy to discuss. He depicts Da Vinci with such high fidelity that you feel like you understand his emotions at each stage in his life. He also appropriately conveys when a topic is surrounded with some controversy. Finally, there is a distinct precision in the ideas he is putting on a page (notably, a style that was sorely absent from Andrea Wulf's Humboldt biography) that protects him from getting repetitive with conceptual ideas.
Oh and also, he has a charming (and very brave!) habit of putting his opinions down about issues that remain controversial. He does so with such well-researched support that his arguments feel not only plausible, but equal in authority to opinions from the titans whom he is referencing.
Delivered with the deliberate touch we've come to expect of Isaacson, the topic is as well researched as one could hope for a topic -and character!- who could be unwieldy to discuss. He depicts Da Vinci with such high fidelity that you feel like you understand his emotions at each stage in his life. He also appropriately conveys when a topic is surrounded with some controversy. Finally, there is a distinct precision in the ideas he is putting on a page (notably, a style that was sorely absent from Andrea Wulf's Humboldt biography) that protects him from getting repetitive with conceptual ideas.
Oh and also, he has a charming (and very brave!) habit of putting his opinions down about issues that remain controversial. He does so with such well-researched support that his arguments feel not only plausible, but equal in authority to opinions from the titans whom he is referencing.