Books - Isaac Newton

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Product Description
In 1695, Isaac Newton--already renowned as the greatest mind of his age--made a surprising career change. He left quiet Cambridge, where he had lived for thirty years and made his earth-shattering discoveries, and moved to London to take up the post of Warden of His Majesty's Mint. Newton was preceded to the city by a genius of another kind, the budding criminal William Chaloner. Thanks to his preternatural skills as a counterfeiter, Chaloner was rapidly rising in London's highly competitive underworld, at a time when organized law enforcement was all but unknown and money in the modern sense was just coming into being. Then he crossed paths with the formidable new warden. In the courts and streets of London--and amid the tremors of a world being transformed by the ideas Newton himself had set in motion--the two played out an epic game of cat and mouse.

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A Q&A with Thomas Levenson, Author of Newton and the Counterfeiter

Q: Why did you decide to write Newton and the Counterfeiter?

A: I first encountered the connection at the heart of Newton and the Counterfeiter when I was working on a very different project in the mid '90s. A long out of print book quoted from one of the few letters between my counterfeiter, William Chaloner, and Isaac Newton--and on reading it I wondered: what on earth was such a scoundrel doing in correspondence with the greatest mind of the age? The question stuck with me for a decade, and finally I made the time to dig a little deeper. Once I did, I discovered two things that made this book both possible, and from a writer's point of view, inescapable. The first was a trove of original documents that chronicled Newton's involvement in the pursuit and prosecution of not just Chaloner, but dozens of other currency criminals. The second was the insight this one story gives into Newton himself--and of the real extent and impact of the revolutions (plural deliberate) which he so prominently led. Isaac Newton is best remembered, of course, as the man at the vanguard of the scientific revolution--a status established by his discoveries: the laws of motion, gravity, the calculus, and much more. But I found that this story gave me a sense of what it was like to live through that revolution at street level. It provided an example of Newton's mind at work, for one, and for another, it involved Newton in the second of the great 17th century transformations, the financial revolution that occurred in conjunction, and with some connection to the scientific one.

Newton, I found, was a bureaucrat, a man with a job running England's money supply at a time with surprising parallels to our own: new, poorly understood financial engineering to deal with what was a national currency and economic crisis. He was asked to think about money, and he did--and at the same time, he was given the job of Warden of the Mint, which among other duties put him charge of policing those who would fake or undermine the King's coins. So there I had it: a gripping true crime story, with life-and-death stakes and enough information to follow my leading characters through the bad streets and worse jails of London--and one that at the same time let me explore some of critical moves in the making of the world we inhabit through the mind and feelings of perhaps the greatest scientific thinker who ever lived. How could I resist that?

Q: Are there comparisons to be made to the financial times we are living in today in this country?

A: When I started writing this book, (c. 2005) the American and the global economy was seemingly in robust health. The American housing market was booming; financial markets the world over were trading happily back and forth, the Dow in June, when I started working in earnest on the project, stood comfortably over 10,000, with a 40% rise to come through the first and second drafts of the work. And then, of course, things changed--and by that time (too late to do my own financial situation any good) I realized that in the story of Newton's confrontation with Chaloner I could see many of the pathologies that define our current predicament. England's currency and its system of high finance--the big loans and big banks behind them needed to fund government--were both under increasing strain when Newton arrived at the Mint.

Part of the damage was being done through imbalances of trade, as silver flowed out of England to the European continent and ultimately to India and China. (Sound familiar?) That loss of metal had huge economic consequences when you remember that money itself was made of silver back then. No silver, no coins. No coins--and how are you going to buy a loaf of bread, a pound of beef, a barrel of beer (which was a staple, and not a luxury given the state of London’s drinking (sic) water). At the same time, England was waging a war it could not pay for. (Sound familiar?) The Treasury was broke. Financial engineering got its start in the ever more desperate attempts by the government to raise the money it needed to keep its army in the field against France. Newton and his counterfeiting nemesis William Chaloner both found themselves operating on unfamiliar territory, with paper abstractions standing in for what used to be literally hard cash. This was when bank notes were invented--and Chaloner forged some. This was when the government began to issue what were in essence bonds--and Chaloner forged some of those too. Personal cheques were coming in, and--you guessed it--Chaloner passed a couple of duds. Most significantly, the Bank of England invented fractional reserve lending--lending out a multiple of the actual cash reserves it held at any one time. This was the birth of leverage. Put it all together and you have most of the crucial ideas in modern finance appearing at almost the same instant. These are fantastically useful tools; the enormous expansion of wealth, of material comfort, of human well being that we’ve seen over the last three centuries, derives in part from the fact that the English and their trading counterparties were so impressively inventive in those decades. But at the same time, as we know now all too well, each and every one of those financial ideas are capable of abuse. Now add to the usual temptations to financial sin the besetting danger of ignorance, of the sheer unfamiliarity of the new instruments, and you have the makings of an almost inevitable disaster.

In 2009, we are dealing with that double trouble: deliberate frauds combining with the larger problem that the complexity and sheer deep strangeness of new financial products allowed a lot of so-called smart money to make big bets they didn’t understand. Exactly the same kinds of pressures were building in Newton's day, and the financial crisis that Newton helped resolve in the 1690s kept spawning sequels, until in the 1720s, Newton himself got caught up in a disaster that in many ways eerily anticipates the one we are living through now. The South Sea Bubble of 1720 was born of a good idea--what we would now call a debt-for-equity swap--but rapidly turned into a fraud and then at the last a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme. What I found most striking is that Newton, who of all men had the mathematical chops to figure out that the South Sea promises couldn't possibly be met, still got sucked in by the promise of outsize returns. Avarice, desire, or perhaps in Newton's case just the agony of the thought that others were getting richer while he was not, propelled him into investing in the bubble at its very peak. According to his niece, he lost 20,000 pounds in a matter of months--which in today’s money would be roughly three million pounds, or close to five million dollars. The moral, at least the lesson I took from this personally? No one, not even Newton, and certainly not me, is smart enough to be smarter than one's own emotions. And that grim fact, as much as any specific financial innovation, lies behind our current economic woes, and surely caught that great thinker Isaac Newton in its grip as well.

Q: Tell us about your research.

A: I was fortunate in this project--in fact, I only took on the book--because there was a rich lode of little-known documents that told the story of the clash between Newton and Chaloner. Five large folders survive of Newton's own notes, drafts and memos covering his official duties at the Mint. Examining them, especially drafts of replies to some of Chaloner's most audacious attacks on him at Parliamentary hearings, it is possible to see across time to Newton's mounting frustration and anger at his antagonist: his handwriting gets worse, more cramped, swift, and in general ticked off as he works through his responses. I was also able to find the handful of documents that can be unequivocally attributed to Chaloner: a couple of pamphlets he had printed to display his expertise in the making and manipulation of coin, and to allege incompetence, or worse at Newton's Mint. To that I added a marvelous, if not entirely reliable, moralizing biography of Chaloner, hastily written and published within days of his execution. That was one of the early examples of what became a staple pulp genre--edifying and titillating accounts of the wicked, in which any admiration for the rascals being chronicled were carefully wrapped up through the appropriate bad ends to which all the subjects of such works were doomed.

But of all the wellsprings of this book, none were more important than the file it took me over a year to find. I knew that some of the records Isaac Newton's criminal interrogations survived, because I found reference to them in a couple of the older biographies and other secondary sources. But in the reorganization of British official records that took place in the decades after World War II, the cataloguing systems for Mint files had undergone enough changes that this crucial set of documents had slipped out of sight of the contemporary Newton scholarly community. I managed to track it down to its current location in the Public Records Office, and then I had writer's gold: more than four hundred separate documents, most countersigned by Newton himself, that allowed me to retrace his steps as a criminal investigator informer by informer. Most fortunately--Newton’s nephew-in-law reported that he helped his wife's uncle burn many of his Mint interrogation records. But the entire Chaloner case remained in the one surviving folder, and it made for fascinating, gripping reading. Once Newton realized how formidable an opponent he had in Chaloner, he proved relentless in reconstructing not just particular crimes, but the whole architecture of counterfeiting and coining as it was practiced in London in the 1690s. You get to see, smell, hear how the bad guys worked, in their own words, as elicited by a man who (surprise!) proved to be exceptionally good at extracting the evidence he needed to solve a problem.

(Photo © Joel Benjamin)

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Customer Review: Newton The Great:
A little known life experience of one of our truly great scientist of all time.

Customer Review: newton and the counterfeiter:
I appreciate the communal glee over this book but i found it slow and moderately informative. There really is no need for such extensive quoting throughout. I felt i was back in college reading a dated text. With defter prose and more authorial creativity this book would have been a gem. Instead the dust it will gather may well be as heavy as Newton's.

Customer Review: Head of the Mint?:
This book reads like a novel, but it is all true. I particularly like the very early history of Newton's life. I did not know he was a poor boy from a rural farm.

Customer Review: Another Side of Isaac Newton -:
In 1696, seeking refuge after the collapse of his long secret pursuit of alchemy and the ensuing nervous breakdown (possibly explained by the large amounts of mercury found in his body after death), Isaac Newton left 35 years of university life to become Warden of the Royal Mint in London. During the next four years he tracked, arrested, and prosecuted dozens of counterfeiters - the most challenging of which was William Chaloner, requiring two years to resolve.

After this introduction, Levenson takes us through Newton's life in chronological order, while also illustrating the widespread desperation and brutality of the times. Newton was an obviously bright, though easily distracted young lad, who was admitted to Cambridge through the urging of an uncle, and over the objections of his mother (needed at home). There Newton immediately found the focus on Aristotle as irrelevant and instead focused on mathematics and basic physics. After finishing his B.A., Newton was forced to leave school in 1665 during the plague - over 1,000 died/day in London alone out of a population of about 80,000. He continued his thinking - developing calculus, and moving on to also understand the mathematics of planetary motion and experiment extensively with optics. However, even after Newton's return to Cambridge he published nothing for two decades. In 1669 his former teacher resigned the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics in Newton's (age 26) favor.

Much less is known about William Chaloner, born to poor parents, lacking a formal education, and about a decade younger than Newton. Chaloner was apprenticed to a nail-maker and soon learned the fairly common counterfeiting technique of clipping off part of English coins and re-rounding them. (At one point Chaloner enticed two printers into producing seditious works, and then turned them in for the reward. They were both hung.) The result of widespread 'clipping' and melting down coins because they were worth more in ingot form buying gold from France was that England's ability to finance its war with France was seriously impaired. Newton, who had briefly served in Parliament, was asked to become Warden of the Royal Mint in 1696, at 4X his Cambridge salary.

Newton accelerated and completed the already underway effort to replace England's coins with new, less counterfeit-able stock, and then turned to capturing the criminals who had debased the coins. He hired informers, street muscle, and undercover agents to pursue the thieves; jailhouse snitches were another important source of information. Some of his henchmen became blackmailers and had to be dismissed. Newton spent considerable time interviewing witnesses and having them sign statements.

Eventually Newton acquired enough background information to convince a jury that Chaloner was guilty, and the miscreant was hung. After four years as Warden, Newton was appointed Master of the Royal Mint in 1699 upon the incumbent's death, at a salary of 16X that of his Cambridge position. Here he remained for the last 27 years of his life. Surprisingly he lost a considerable amount in the South Seas stock bubble.

Bottom Line: Newton performed competently in his Royal Mint duties, but hardly at a level comparable to his early days at Cambridge - the position simply didn't allow anything near the full use of his faculties. (Conversely, Einstein began his career as a low-level patent examiner, but was then able to move to more appropriate settings.) Readers are left to wonder how many other stellar geniuses are trapped and unable to use their full talents.


Customer Review: Proscribed Reading:
If you are in the business of securing documents, law enforcement or just interested in the importance of a secure means of exchange and the challenges of getting there, this is an excellent book.

Information collection and management for purposes of public security is an obvious yet extremely challenging requirement whose need becomes clear in the course of reading this book.

How do legitimate issues of currency, be it coin or banknotes, make these products difficult to counterfeit, easy to use and engaging for the public to verify?

These issues are still with us and a look to the late 1600s is very informative.

Product Description:

England, 1714. London has long been home to a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist, Isaac Newton, and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level as Half-Cocked Jack hatches a daring plan, aiming for the total corruption of Britain's newborn monetary system.

Enter Daniel Waterhouse: Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, Daniel has been on a long and harrowing quest to help mend the rift between adversarial geniuses. As Daniel combs city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers, political factions jockey for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen, and the "holy grail" of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton.

As Newton, Waterhouse, and Shaftoe each circle closer to the object of Daniel's quest, everything that was will be changed forever ...

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.



Customer Review: Book delivered on time:
It was the book I needed for an upcoming trip and was delivered in good condition and well before I needed it. Thanks much.

Customer Review: Even better on the second reading - Dense but worth the effort!:
Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is one of the most ambitious series of historical fiction in recent years and he does an excellent job of bridging the distance between 17th century and today by focusing on putting the ideas and persons in the context of their time. Having read through the voluminous series when it came out, I was a little hesitant to re-read the three books (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World) but my curiousity won out. I'm glad it did. There is so much information packed into the series that the second reading really made me appreciate the ideas and historical personalities invovlved.

I also noticed something that had slipped by me the first time. Daniel Waterhouse, rather than just being a neutral participant in the storyline, really came out as a catalyst for all the events in the book. Even more, his transformation from a person scared into inaction by the fear of others' disapproval into a man capable of exerting his will to make the world a better place is absolutely central to the storyline and I'm sad to say that I missed it the first time. This slow transformation permeates all three books and I think it must something very personal to Mr. Stephenson.

The other arguement for a second reading is that the events are so complex and the historical descriptions of warfare, economics and natural philosophy are often so detailed that catching everything after only one reading is difficult. I think of this as a strength of the book rather than a weakness, although some people probably do not appreciate the density of background material in the books.

The Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon form an interwoven historical narrative and I think that they will stand as a great literary achievement. I do wish he'd intersperse more of his shorter novels Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book) and The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book) alongside his large works (Baroque Cycle, Cryptonomicon, Anathem) but I'll happily read anything Neal Stephenson writes since he has a gift for conveying complex ideas in an exciting and compelling way.

Customer Review: I read it on the Kindle2:
Enough people have commented on the substance of the book that I can't add anything new, so my 5-star rating will have to suffice. I do have a couple of observations, however, related to the Kindle2. I read all three novels of the trilogy on my brand-new one, and was delighted with it.

1. Stephenson loves words, and the trilogy is loaded with obscure (to me!) and archaic ones. Fortunately, the Kindle2 comes with a dictionary, and it's a simple matter to point and click, to look up a word in mid-read. It's certainly a lot easier than carrying around a thousand-page dictionary with a thousand page novel. The dictionary is quite good, and contained most of the words I fed it, along with their sources.

2. Where the Kindle2 suffers is in its poor display of graphics; I think this is part of a larger problem that also leads to poor rendition of pdf files. The maps provided in the trilogy are fuzzy and pretty much useless. That's annoying, given the geographical scope of the books. In particular, System of the World focuses on early 18th century London, and I found myself wanting a good map to orient myself. I finally settled on this one, and printed out a copy to keep with the Kindle2 as I read the book:

http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/dickens_london_map.html

Granted, it's of a London more than a century later than the period of the novel, but it did contain most of the buildings and streets mentioned, plus very brief descriptions and histories of key locations.

A better solution would be for the Kindle to have a comprehensive atlas to complement its dictionary. But that will require a major upgrade to the graphic display capabilities, and probably a faster processor. Maybe we can look forward to it in the Kindle4.


Customer Review: Excellent...a stew of Ideas with a melange of historical and philosphical spices:
Read this book, and all of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, and be amazed at this man's acumen, storytelling wizardry, and of course adroit sense of humor. Highly recommended for those who enjoy books that educate as well as tittilate.

Customer Review: Epic History Made Readable:
This three-volume, 9-book set is, believe it or not, a *prequel* to his previous massive effort, Cryptonomicon. In the Baroque Cycle we find the ancestors of no less than NINE characters of that modern day tale of cryptography. But the Baroque trilogy covers much more ground. The fictional characters are used to take the reader through the lives of very real historical characters. The topics that Stephenson deals with in detail are the history of banking, medicine, international finance, cryptography, espionage, mathematics and computing. Not a light read by any stretch of the imagination, it is still enjoyable.

On a personal note, I gained great insight into the turbulent period when William of Orange chased the Jacobites out of Ireland. I had always wondered why my ancestors departed Ireland for Penn's Colony in 1689 until Stephenson documented William's march across Ireland in that same year. My pacifist Quaker ancestors had seen enough.

Product Description:
A Cambridge historian, Elizabeth Vogelsang, is found drowned, clutching a glass prism in her hand. The book she was writing about Isaac Newton’s involvement with alchemy–the culmination of her lifelong obsession with the seventeenth century–remains unfinished. When her son, Cameron, asks his former lover, Lydia Brooke, to ghostwrite the missing final chapters of his mother’s book, Lydia agrees and moves into Elizabeth’s house–a studio in an orchard where the light moves restlessly across the walls. Soon Lydia discovers that the shadow of violence that has fallen across present-day Cambridge, which escalates to a series of murders, may have its origins in the troubling evidence that Elizabeth’s research has unearthed. As Lydia becomes ensnared in a dangerous conspiracy that reawakens ghosts of the past, the seventeenth century slowly seeps into the twenty-first, with the city of Cambridge the bridge between them.
Filled with evocative descriptions of Cambridge, past and present, Ghostwalk centers around a real historical mystery that Rebecca Stott has uncovered involving Newton’s alchemy. In it, time and relationships are entangled–the present with the seventeenth century, and figures from the past with the love-torn twenty-first-century woman who is trying to discover their secrets.
A stunningly original display of scholarship and imagination, and a gripping story of desire and obsession, Ghostwalk is a rare debut that will change the way most of us think about scientific innovation, the force of history, and time itself.



Customer Review: A really disappointing and disjointed book:
I wanted so badly to like this book because the premise sounded really interesting. But the author tried WAY too hard to be "literary" here. Between the overblown prose and the pretentious narration, I found it really hard to keep focused on the plot. And, the plot itself could have been laid out a lot better--it basically gets lost in the shuffle because it seemed like Rebecca Shott was much more interested in the writing itself than in telling a good story.



Customer Review: Say what?:
This nonsense wandered here and there to no apparent point, and little interest. It was fatally crippled to start with, with her game-y presentation, as talking to her boyfriend. As she described the goings on to him, that he'd been present at and part of, it was just too lame to bear. And even without that, people's actions and reactions didn't ring true. The ghosts were also unconvincing. Either the plot or the subplot could have been very interesting, but ended up limp and flabby.


Customer Review: asi asi:
I both loved it and hated it. It has way too many details and twists which rather than making it fascinating, made it cumbersome. I did enjoy the very imaginative working of true historical details, but must admit, that I am uncomfortable using the reputations of long-dead individuals as fodder for speculation of the most lurid sort without any proof. Is Ezekiel no less a fellow human being just because he is long dead that we may accuse him of murder most foul with no proof other than a good author's vivid imagination? I would have preferred it if the characters who did the evil deeds were sheerly fictional, I do not believe in sullying anyone's name.

So did Lydia kill herself? That was a bit too melodramatic for me... leaving that hanging. Trite. I did not enjoy the pretentious tone that the narrator infused into all her depictions of male characters. Her very tone made Cameron unlikeable just from that, and perhaps that was the intent, but ALL the male characters had that tone. If Lydia was supposed to be sympathetic, she wasn't, as an unabashed mistress. I guess what I didn't like is that none of the main characters were likeable. The modern witch was the most likeable, I should have liked to sit down and speak with her over drinks and look over her garden.

I gave it three stars rather than two as it was VERY original.

(I listened to an audio version)

Customer Review: Quick, entertaining, enlightening read!:
This book has some excellent, and intelligent insights into England in the Middle Ages. It also entertains with information about Isaac Newton's scientific inquiries, and for this alone is worth the read. I found that there were some suspenseful moments, and intriguing plot points that made it hard to put down.

The author's voice is particularly compelling, and creates solid imagery of each character and situation. The book is wrapped up neatly, although a little too quickly for my tastes, at the end, and all the plot points are explained nicely.

While the book has some questionable logic to it (but don't all ghost stories have questionable logic?), I found the book interesting, insightful, and at times eerie. I recommend this book to anyone looking for an intelligent book that educates and entertains at the same time.

Customer Review: Take the 'ghost' part to heart...:
Not what I was expecting from this book at all. The back of the CD led me to believe it was more of a straightforward mystery, and it started off that way. But about half-way through the book, supernatural elements started seeping in, and by the end, that's all it was. The premise was interesting, and a lot of the history was fun to read, but I found the more mystical elements disconcerting. Not because I don't enjoy supernatural fiction (I read quite a bit of it) but because it felt very out of place in the story. Maybe because I wasn't expecting it, or maybe because it felt too convenient, as if the author couldn't find any other way to wrap up the story.

The style it was written in was also very different - a very laid back, almost journaling approach. The main character spends time speaking to other characters through narration, using 'you' a lot. I think this was one of the things I enjoyed about the book, especially listening to the audiobook. It made it feel somewhat personal, like you were really getting a glimpse into someone's life and thoughts. And it was a style that worked very well for this particular story line.

The history and interesting tidbits, combined with the writing style, could have made this a fascinating book. Unfortunately, the weirdness factor towards the end was a huge let-down, so I'd only recommend this to someone who has a lot of time on their hands (not a book to waste your 'only book this month' pick on) and is up for something fairly different.

Product Description:
Isaac Newton was born in a stone farmhouse in 1642, fatherless and unwanted by his mother. When he died in London in 1727 he was so renowned he was given a state funeral—an unheard-of honor for a subject whose achievements were in the realm of the intellect. During the years he was an irascible presence at Trinity College, Cambridge, Newton imagined properties of nature and gave them names—mass, gravity, velocity—things our science now takes for granted. Inspired by Aristotle, spurred on by Galileo’s discoveries and the philosophy of Descartes, Newton grasped the intangible and dared to take its measure, a leap of the mind unparalleled in his generation.

James Gleick, the author of Chaos and Genius, and one of the most acclaimed science writers of his generation, brings the reader into Newton’s reclusive life and provides startlingly clear explanations of the concepts that changed forever our perception of bodies, rest, and motion—ideas so basic to the twenty-first century, it can truly be said: We are all Newtonians.

Amazon.com Review:
As a schoolbook figure, Isaac Newton is most often pictured sitting under an apple tree, about to discover the secrets of gravity. In this short biography, James Gleick reveals the life of a man whose contributions to science and math included far more than the laws of motion for which he is generally famous. Gleick's always-accessible style is hampered somewhat by the need to describe Newton's esoteric thinking processes. After all, the man invented calculus. But readers who stick with the book will discover the amazing story of a scientist obsessively determined to find out how things worked. Working alone, thinking alone, and experimenting alone, Newton often resorted to strange methods, as when he risked his sight to find out how the eye processed images:

.... Newton, experimental philosopher, slid a bodkin into his eye socket between eyeball and bone. He pressed with the tip until he saw 'severall white darke & coloured circles'.... Almost as recklessly, he stared with one eye at the sun, reflected in a looking glass, for as long as he could bear.

From poor beginnings, Newton rose to prominence and wealth, and Gleick uses contemporary accounts and notebooks to track the genius's arc, much as Newton tracked the paths of comets. Without a single padded sentence or useless fact, Gleick portrays a complicated man whose inspirations required no falling apples. --Therese Littleton



Customer Review: Revealing Picture of the Early Days of Western Science:
A concise picture of Isaac Newton that avoids the two extremes of scientist biographies that tend to turn people off: (1) the middle school gossip approach that focuses primarily on rivalries and sexcapades and (2) the rigorous and mathtastic summary of the scientist's major papers. This is not only a well-balanced portrait of Newton the man, thinker, and scientist, but is a superb characterization of the early days of western science, the scientific journal, and the novel idea of sharing information with your fellow researchers (something that surprisingly many in those days were loathe to do, Newton included).

Customer Review: If you are a scientist or just curious, this is a a useful book:
At various times of his life Newton was a reclusive, paranoid, antisocial cleric/scholar at Cambridge who as he rose in esteem, grew increasingly ambitious, autocratic and demagogic. It seems he travelled very little, probably never saw the sea , yet set down the answers to tides and the creation of tide tables. He struggled to reconcile his theological research with the preachings of the day, having decided that the "Holy Trinity" was just not based on the ancient writings he had translated and that the Church had manufactured stories over the years.

The trials of an author, trying to recapture the life of persons who lived at that time in what was a very rural England with only had one large city London, can only be imagined. Records were scant to nonexistent, most of the population was illiterate, books were published rarely and read by few. The language was Old English yet most of what Newton discovered required new words to describe it. Lesson learned for me was the extent that Newton explored alchemy (which became very useful when he was put in charge of the Royal Mint) . Newton also hid the bulk of his findings away for many decades, refusing to publish them, yet railiing against those who "rediscovered" the materials on their own and published them. Letters flew across the country, positions were taken, hatreds grew. When Newton grew in esteem and power, he became a real tyrant in his positions against all others. It was pretty heady stuff in its day.

If you are a scientist or just curious, this is a a useful book. Not an easy read, through no fault of the author. But it is short.

Customer Review: Newton in a nutshell.:
Newton's impact on modern physics is almost impossible to overstate. He was also a fascinating character. Gleick's treatment is excellent and thoroughly researched. Perhaps his best work since _Chaos_. At times I could hardly put it down. I highly recommend it.

Customer Review: Good book but a pain to read:
Great book but written in a way that isn't "casual" reader friendly. After reading a few pages my eyes tire and become heavy. Part of the reason for this is because the style of writing is very wordy and uses vocabulary that isn't typical quite often.

I do not challenge the merit of this book in a scholarly stand point, but in a literary stand point, it leaves a lot to be desired. When I bought this book, I was hoping for something insightful and also fun to read, instead I find my self reading a book that feels like a wordy essay on Isaac Newton.

My suggestion is to sample other books on the topic before buying this one, while keeping in mind its written style.

Customer Review: a fascinating read of an intellectual titan:

Gleick's writing style is lean, taut, and has a high power-to-weight ratio - this is a very accessible overview of a very private man, a genius powered by many contradictions. Because this is more a narrative gloss than an in depth biography, the reader will have to go elsewhere for that.

From our perspective two hundred years later, Newton comes across as a polymatic mutation; in addition to his studies in physical, chemical, and optic phenomena, he researched the intricacies of biblical history, and probed the terra incognita of the alchemists. His contributions to mathematics are a subject unto themselves.

James Gleick has done a commendable job of distilling the life, times, and accomplishments of this strange personality that was Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was very definitely a complex man - some would say with "abandonment issues". His solitary childhood fostered a hermetic disposition until mid-life, when he cautiously engaged with the social mainstream. Yet even then, he maintained a psychic distance to all those who came within his orbit; to say that he was opaque would be an understatement.

Appointed by the King, Newton entered public service as the Master of the Mint, while later serving briefly as a member of Parliament. When his scientific nemesis Robert Hooke died, he assumed the secretary's chair of the Royal Society of London. All the while, Newton continued with his experiments on the nature of light and the behavior of the planets and comets that led to his notion of gravitational attraction.

This may be the best book around for initially accessing what we presently know of Isaac Newton. The compiling of Newton's writings continue to keep contemporary scholars busy, so there may be further biographical developments ahead. James Gleick has provided us with multifaceted snapshots of an intrepid mystery; even Newton's conjectured nervous breakdown and his personal foibles make this a fascinating read of an intellectual titan.

Parataxis

The Cloud Reckoner

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

Product Description:
In his monumental 1687 work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, known familiarly as the Principia, Isaac Newton laid out in mathematical terms the principles of time, force, and motion that have guided the development of modern physical science. Even after more than three centuries and the revolutions of Einsteinian relativity and quantum mechanics, Newtonian physics continues to account for many of the phenomena of the observed world, and Newtonian celestial dynamics is used to determine the orbits of our space vehicles.

This completely new translation, the first in 270 years, is based on the third (1726) edition, the final revised version approved by Newton; it includes extracts from the earlier editions, corrects errors found in earlier versions, and replaces archaic English with contemporary prose and up-to-date mathematical forms.

Newton's principles describe acceleration, deceleration, and inertial movement; fluid dynamics; and the motions of the earth, moon, planets, and comets. A great work in itself, the Principia also revolutionized the methods of scientific investigation. It set forth the fundamental three laws of motion and the law of universal gravity, the physical principles that account for the Copernican system of the world as emended by Kepler, thus effectively ending controversy concerning the Copernican planetary system.

The illuminating Guide to the Principia by I. Bernard Cohen, along with his and Anne Whitman's translation, will make this preeminent work truly accessible for today's scientists, scholars, and students.

"This new, vastly better translation of the Principia is the perfect work for illustrating how science, at its best, succeeds in turning data into decisive evidence." --George E. Smith, Tufts University

"This translation is deeply impressive and will be the definitive version for a century to come. Cohen's guide is up-to-date on matters of Newton scholarship and free from discarded conjectures of the past." --Curtis Wilson, St. John's College



Customer Review: NEWTON IS A GENIUS:
I've got this book, and all I have to say is that Sir Isaac Newton is a true scientific genius. He has helped advance physics, and I will enjoy every page of this book!

Customer Review: Beyond the Classroom...NOT Before!:
I'm a high school math teacher. I love this book. IT STAYS IN MY OFFICE AT HOME because BC calculus students, as gifted as they may be, are nevertheless ill prepared to conquer this.

The student who failed to test out of Calc I and II is a lot like a lawyer who represents himself (he has a fool for a client). Students, take the risk and ASK A FEW PEOPLE WHO KNOW! We want you to succeed--especially those of us who aren't in lock-step with the dumbing down proces.

Here's the good news for this student, if (s)he actually managed to grasp just 20% of "The Principia" (s)he will absolutely fly through calc and may well walk away with a better, deeper grasp of the material than his/her teacher.

I think I read it at the right time, after I began teaching. Had I tried to read it before answering the same questions I might not have understood it enough to continue. This is THE EPOCHAL MATHEMATICAL WORK of it's century and perhaps of a few nearby ones as well! It is on par with Euclid (another amazing book that is NOT for children).

All that being said, I have no problem with highly motivated youths and super-geniuses making a go of it. I grew up in Palo Alto and went to school with all sorts of super-smart people (such Bobby Fisher's family and the children of many Stanford Professors for instance). I know that some kids can handle anything and exist WAY above their teachers. What I also know is that discovering things that are totally beyond their comprehension can be profoundly unsettling to significantly bright children (120
Instead, I advocate assigning controversial literature reports (as extra credit) and letting that drive their lit. and social studies teachers crazy! It's much more fun and we can always find tie ins to math.

Tschuss

Customer Review: brilliant:
I FINALLY UNDERSTAND CALCULUS.I RECOMMEND PEOPLE TO TAKE THEIR TIME READING AND UNDERSTANDING THE PHILOSPHY OF ISAAC NEWTON.

Customer Review: A time of Science and Philosophy together:
"I hope that, decades from now, when I and my other books have been forgotten, this will still be useful to scholars and students". So spoke Harvard University Professor I. Bernard Cohen some years before his death in 2003. His co-translator Anne Whitman had died in 1984. The translation and the extraordinary commentary is 974 pages long and took 15 years to complete. I have had this edition for many years and in reading it again I decided to write this review. I feel grateful to Cohen and Whitman for what they accomplished.

This particular edition by Cohen and Whitman of The Principia stands alone (as far as I know) in making one feel that a teacher, guide, and historian are holding your hand while exploring and understanding one of the most dramatic and powerful scientific and mathematical treatise ever written. I am surprised at some of the reviews here in that they seem to discuss the applicability or utilization of The Principia as a Physics or Math textbook. This is certainly not a textbook in the modern sense in any respect. This is not a book you would use to prepare for any normal Physics or Math examination. It must be kept in mind that this book by Newton was a human accomplishment and this particular edition with its extensive commentary by Cohen lets one be exposed to both the scientific rigor and social aspects of the world of Isaac Newton. And due to the fact of Newton's extraordinary scientific and mathematical accomplishment it caused historical alteration in the course of human events as does each great expansion of human knowledge. Sometimes when mathematical expressions and concepts of Physics are portrayed we forget that the ideas are first and foremost a human experience, it is not some distant and inscrutable theory but part of our most intimate life. We try to understand what we are and where we are. In the days of Isaac Newton Natural Philosophy was thought of as an expression and search for the truth and mathematics was sometimes able to be the handmaiden of this exploration. Unfortunately, from my point of view, philosophy has become detached from much of mathematics and this has done a disservice to both Physics, Math and what is currently thought of as Philosophy. I see no advantage in this current day separation and when immersing yourself in this edition of The Principia, there is a longing for those days now past when there was a unification of science and philosophy.
There is little reason in this review to explain the significance both mathematically and historically of the writing of Isaac Newton. Whether a student is using a conventional Physics textbook to master the understanding, laws and calculations described in The Principia or is exercising physics problems to show facility and prepare for an examination, each and every aspiring learner is obligated to master the ideas and knowledge as expressed in The Principia one way or another. Certainly our current day Physics textbooks do not teach as Isaac Newton taught and wrote. The Principia is not a book normally used to prepare for any Physics examination whether in High School or University. But the law of science and math as expressed in The Principia is as valid in general application today as it was in 1729. Our understanding of the laws of Newton as they relate to later discovered equations and expressions, including Relativity, does alters our knowledge of applicability of Newtonian physics. It does show the limitations of our belief in the immutable Laws of Nature, including those mathematical laws. In some respects radically so. So, it really depends upon the demands you put upon the math and knowledge as expressed in The Principia. Do not read Isaac Newton in the light of Albert Einstein and others. First read Newton in the light of his age, then step back and remember how we have continued along this amazing path to knowledge. So The Principia is another place in our human endeavor. This is not just a book for mathematicians. As related on pages 297 and 298 that wonderful contemporary of Newton, John Locke, without benefit of full mathematical understanding was still able to comprehend the ideas within. So will you. This is by far the best edition of The Principia I have ever read. Kenneth Ellman. ke@kennethellman.com



Customer Review: The classic, what did you expect? :-):
At least if you read this book, you will know where it all started. Nothing more than basic calculus and mechanics is required, but the book is still tough going for those of us who aren't physics studs. The style is archaic, and Newton even includes the occasional theological comment (for example, in one of the Lemma's he refers to God as "an infinite and elastic spirit)." But for those with the patience, determination, and discipline to make it to the end, you can pride yourself on having read one of the most important founding works of modern science, and perhaps the most important and revolutionary single science book ever written.

My edition of this book was part of the famous Great Books of the Western World set, and it was one of my favorites. The only work in the set to require any higher math, there is no doubt it had to be included in the set because of it's importance. But unfortunately I suspect it's the most neglected work in the entire set of 54 volumes and over 300 works because of the level of technical difficulty.

Product Description:
Originally published in 1733, this book is more than an interpretation of some prophecies contained in the Bible. It also reveals Newton had knowledge of many aspects regarding history and the first followers of Christ.



Customer Review: Good Interpretation from a Great Scientist:
Isaac Newton's interpretation of the prophecies of Daniel and John's Revelation of Jesus Christ was a great surprise. He loaded his points with historic reference rather than 'This is what I feel is true' views that we read and hear so often today. Although I was impressed with his historic views of these prophecies, I was most impressed with his Christian faith. To think one of the greatest scientists of all time was a strong believer in Christ is simply awesome!

Customer Review: A Disappointment.:
While some of Newton's theories regarding Daniel and Revelation were very good, the inclusion of Latin text was a major disappointment for me!
If you are a layperson like myself,the Latin serves no purpose.Now if a reader can read Latin, that may be a plus for them.

There were however, some highlights in the book that I gleaned.

Mr. Newton connects the four living creatures(in Newton's day they were referred to as "beasts")of Ezekiel and Revelation to the 12 tribes of Israel. He recognizes the faces of the creatures as symbols employed by the tribes in their encampment standards.Judah- a Lion, Ephraim- a Bull or ox, Dan- an Eagle, Reuben- a Man. On page 132 he wrote,"Whence were framed the heiroglyphicks of cherubims and seraphims to represent the people of Israel."

He defines the differences between cherubim and seraphim.

The author also provides a thoughtful argument against Antiochus Epiphanes being the horn in Daniel.

Like Uriah Smith and others, he identifies the little book in Revelation as the sealed book from Daniel.

For any reader looking to study a historicist view of Daniel and the Revelation of John, I would recommend "The Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation" by Uriah Smith as a much better choice.


Customer Review: Eschatology 104:
This book gives you a great viewpoint from Newton on Christian Eschatology. However Newton is not easy reading and might require some prior knowledge of biblical prophesy. I would love to see any writings Newton did on the book of Ezekiel.

Customer Review: unrequited:
I will not be the recipient of these books, I have gifted them to my relation who is a theology student,

Customer Review: One of humanity's greatest minds brought to bear on Prophecy:
The mastermind of Sir Isaac Newton yields results just as brilliant when studying Bible prophecy as when he turned his attention to the physical universe! There is in this book a consistency of interpretation in all the details of the prophecies of Daniel and of Revelation that I have not seen in any of the works of modern-day scholars. Isaac Newton seems to be completely true to the message of the Bible when providing his own thoughts on the Antichrist, the Beast, the Woman called "Babylon", and the "Great Tribulation". The integrity of Newton's scholarship and skills of exegesis give the reader a distinct impression that, unlike most writers on end-times prophecy today, when faced with a detail of interpretation that conflicted with his existing views, Newton would have gladly given up his prejudices in exchange for something better: the Truth. He presents an excellent example--perhaps the best I have read--of what is known as Premillennial Historicism. This is essentially the same view held by H. Grattan Guinness, E.B. Elliott, Matthew Henry, and Charles Spurgeon. In my opinion every pastor or teacher who preaches or teaches on the subject of the Last Things should have a copy of "Observations..." on his or her desk.

Product Description:
Translated into English by Andrew Motte in 1729, this book is a complete volume of Newton's mathematical principles relating to natural philosophy and his system of the world. Newton, one of the most brilliant scientists and thinkers of all time, presents his theories, formulas and thoughts. Included are chapters relative to the motion of bodies; motion of bodies in resisting mediums; and system of the world in mathematical treatment; a section on axioms or laws of motion, and definitions.



Customer Review: An awe-insipring work, but not a useful source of information:
A few years ago I was bored with most of what was available in book stores, and it seemed as though I had read through everything interesting (a few things that were not). My desire to be intellectually wowed lead me to purchase this book, and it served its purpose. Newton's ideas are not that difficult to follow if you take time to think about them, but Newton did not simply have to follow these principles; he had to derive them himself, and within a single lifetime I might add. This work allowed me to appreciate the brilliance of Newton in a similar manner as one appreciates an impresseive work of art, and like many fine works of art, its ability to display the impressive magnitude of its creator's abilities far outshines its ability to teach the observer something new. In a world void of any other books on physics or mathematics I suppose The Principia would be adequate as an educational resource, but in a world where far better textbooks exist, this book no longer retains much pedagogical value.

Customer Review: Poor Quality Rendition of Newton's Masterpiece:
I can hardly believe Hawking lent his credibility to this edition. Although his motivation of getting people to read classics is great, this edition barely contains any Hawking commentary, is riddled with errors and omissions, and fell apart after just a couple of months of use. Buy the Green Lion or the big Blue edition instead!

Customer Review: This is a key masterpiece in the history of Science.:
I bought this book not for the purpose of learning Classical Mechanics from it, but for the scientific curiosity of learning how the great Isaac Newton presented his revolutionary scientific ideas to the world. Of course, it is difficult to read. This is an old translation of a book written in Latin more than 300 years ago!

This book is a jewel. Just like the original works of Einstein, Maxwell, Heisenberg, Schroedinger and all those giants. The person buying this book should not expect to find a clear didactic textbook when originally it was not written for the layman, but for the expert scientific community of its time. Buy this book, sit back, scan through it, and enjoy a true piece of history.

Customer Review: Difficult. I am not in a position to comment.:
I read up to Prop 6 and could not quite carry on. His language is not easy to understand. I hope someone will publish a Dictionary of it. Anyway, his proof of Kepler's 2nd theorem is clever, and he is very rigorous mathematically for his time. ...

Product Description:




Customer Review: Stories for Children Magazine 5 Star Review:
Who do you think is the greatest scientist of all time? Various people will likely have different opinions in answer to that question, but certainly everyone should be able to agree that one of them is Sir Isaac Newton. Born in 1642, Newton is perhaps best remembered for the story, which may or may not be true, of how he developed the law of gravity after watching an apple fall to the ground. However, Newton was truly a phenomenal figure in the history of science who contributed to the study of optics, calculus, astronomy, and chemistry in addition to the study of physics. Additionally, he served his country both as a Member of Parliament and first Warden and then Master of the Mint.

Author Kerrie Logan Hollihan not only chronicles the history of Newton's life and work but also introduces students to the methods of scientific discovery, including rational questioning, systematic experimentation, and rigorous exploration, by including 21 activities with step-by-step instructions and detailed illustrations to help stimulate interest in science. Some of the activities include building a sextant, conducting a series of tests with a pendulum, and mixing up a batch of homemade ink. There is also information about many of Newton's Enlightenment contemporaries and friends, such as mathematician Galileo Galilei and architect Christopher Wren. Newton was certainly not a "perfect" human being, and this book does not gloss over his faults.

Two things stand out about Newton: First, "he firmly believed that God was the creator of all things" (p. 70). Also, in spite of what some revisionist historians have concluded, "Newton's reputation as a great man of science stands firm" (p. 120). [...] Otherwise, Isaac Newton and Physics for Kids is a fascinating look at a great scientist who, despite his personal weaknesses and failings, contributed much to our understanding of the physical universe.



Customer Review: Fascinating Pictures and Brilliant Narrative:
Hollihan's story of Isaac Newton is as brillant as the man himself. Placed within the context of 17th and 18th century England, the story is fascinating and honest - presenting all sides of Newton's personality in a way that children and young adults will understand and want to read more. The pictures, many from England, represent the depth of Hollihan's research in preparing this manuscript. The complex scientific principles that Newton discovered are made easy to understand by the various activities included within the book. I highly recommend Isaac Newton and Physics For Kids.

Customer Review: Fascinating man! Fascinating book!:
Kerrie Logan Hollihan has written an amazing book about a fascinating and complex man. She brings Newton to life and makes his ideas accessible to young readers. Excellent visuals and fun activities add to this already rich work, making the book a great resource for teachers, parents, and home-schoolers!

Product Description:
This richly detailed biography captures both the personal life and the scientific career of Isaac Newton, presenting a fully rounded picture of Newton the man, the scientist, the philosopher, the theologian, and the public figure. Professor Westfall treats all aspects of Newton's career, but his account centres on a full description of Newton's achievements in science. Thus the core of the work describes the development of the calculus, the experimentation that altered the direction of the science of optics, and especially the investigations in celestial dynamics that led to the law of universal gravitation.



Customer Review: A Review of Isaac Newton's Life:
Thoroughly researched. Perhaps a little heavy with footnotes that might have been incorporated into the text. Although over 20 years old, it is probably one of the most definitive biographies of Isaac Newton, although, I believe that later books do a better job of defending Leibniz in the debatee over the priority of the discovery of the differential and integral calculus.The modern consensus os that Leibniz independently formulated his own version of the valculus, without plagiarizing Mewton.
The book is well worth the time it takes to read and fully comprehend Newton's life.

Customer Review: Not for the mathematically challenged:
After looking at various biographies of Isaac Newton I finally decided to purchase this one as it was thought to be the most thorough. And it is thorough indeed. Too thorough.
I realize that it might sound silly to criticize a biography for giving me too much information concerning a topic I wanted to learn about, but that's my honest opinion. There were stretches of this book that contained massive amounts of mathematical equations interspersed with barely a sentence or two of text. As someone who has a hard enough time figuring out the tip on his dinner bill I found these giant chunks of numbers and symbols to be utterly meaningless and downright headache inducing.
I wanted to hear more about Isaac Newton the man. I realize that he discovered calculus but that doesn't mean I want to read calculus problems in his biography. It has to be possible to get across his life's story without page after page of equations. And not only that, but there was no attempt made to take these discoveries of his and show how they related to and affected the rest of the world. I didn't understand the point of calculus in high-school, and after reading this book I still didn't understand the point of calculus. I had to go do further research. It was like reading a biography of Edison and getting no notion of why the light bulb was such a revolution. No information about what people did for light before this invention or where it was put to use or how widespread it became. It was frustrating for me as I felt like I was missing out on the larger context.
That being said, if you are capable of reading math then I'd have to assume you already know why calculus is so important and where it's used, in which case I can't imagine a more thorough biography being written. For me, though, massive chunks of it might as well have been in ancient Greek and I came away a bit more puzzled then when I went in.


Customer Review: Superb:
A first rate biography should include a good description of the important achievements of the subject, give a good sense of the subject's personality, provide the appropriate historic context in which to view the subject, be well written, and have good documentation. Westfall's biography of Newton is first-rate in all these dimensions. Newton is arguably the most important person in modern history. His work inaugurates both modern mathematics and modern physics. His achievements as a physicist set the pattern not only for physics but also for the other natural sciences. Newton's impact in larger culture extended also beyond the world of sciences. The historian of religion George Marsden wrote that Newton was the most important individual in the founding of the 18th century Enlightenment. Though Newton cannot be considered a member of that movement, his example of demonstrating universal natural laws understandable by human reason was immensely influential in European intellectual culture.
Westfall provides a detailed chronological account of Newton's life that covers all his major (and minor) achievements and is simply excellent at integrating the relevant historical background information. As Westfall writes, we regard Newton as a scientist and the emphasis in on Newton's career as a working scientist and mathematician. But, this is described very clearly within the context of late 17th century Europe. Westfall, for example, devotes ample pages to Newton's study of alchemy and theology. Since Newton spent a large fraction of his life working in these areas, it would be imposing an anachronistic perspective to minimize attention to these topics. Westfall is excellent at describing both the intellectual and social milieu in which Newton functioned. The sections detailing the history of mathematics and physics of Newton's important predecessors and contemporaries are first-rate, particularly his analysis of the impact of Descartes analytical geometry and mechanistic philosophy. His descriptions of 17th century Cambridge, with its concentration of pseudo-academic placemen, and of the generally patronage driven world of Caroline Britain are excellent. Never at Rest provides a vivid impression of the nature of scientific work in Newton's time. Westfall does not shirk from presenting complex mathematical and physical topics. These sections are tough going for those who don't recall a lot of math and physics but very worthwhile because they give an excellent sense of Newton's transforming effects on these disciplines.
Westfall delineates Newton's difficult personality very well and is fair in dealing with the numerous conflicts in which Newton became enmeshed, particularly the famous priority dispute with Leibnitz. Some of Newton's behavior is shown also to have stemmed from unexpected sources. Newton's theological researches led him to the conclusion that much accepted Christian theology is wrong and he had to conceal his Arianism and anti-Trinitarianism for much of his life. Some of Newton's achievements are shown as stemming from unexpected sources also. Westfall shows that Newton's alchemical researches, with their rather mystical element, probably contributed to freeing him from dogmatic mechanistic philosophy and facilitated his development of the idea of a universal, intrinsic gravitational force.
Newton is a fascinating figure and this biography will remain the standard for the foreseeable future.

Customer Review: Awesome!:
I just finished Westfall's biography of Sir Isaac Newton. The man was way more amazing than I ever expected. For myself, being neither a mathematician nor a physicist, the most fascinating and surprising thing was his in depth and, for the time, out of the box examination of religion.

As with his scientific studies, Newton's religious studies were relentless in the pursuit of Truth. Between the end of the Bible and the nineteen century, I can find no one who concluded more precisely such doctrines as the nature of God, the relationship of the Father and Son, the relationship of God and man, the nature of early Christianity, or the magnitude and meaning of the then extant departure of Christianity from the original. Obviously, this is from an observer who agrees with his conclusions.

Newton's prodigious talent for leaving no stone unturned in his examination of his subject matter, coupled with his utter genius leaves me entirely in awe.

Westfall's 20 year effort in writing this biography has yielded a masterpiece!

Customer Review: A magnificent book about a great life:
This is a remarkable biography because it so thoroughly tells the story of Sir Isaac Newton in all its various aspects. Newton's determination to know, his science (breathtaking science, his awesome brilliance), the religious and alchemical investigations, the cranky aloofness, are all carefully and fully drawn; by the end of the book, you feel, along with the author, that you have got to know the subject (at least to the extent one might get to know the great man).
This is a great biography, because it is so detailed, so in depth and so successful at bringing Newton in view. It is also likely that it will for many years surpass any other biography of Newton because of its thoroughness.
I think it is worth reading not only because the reader learns so much about the science and life of one of history's great thinkers, and to some extent how he thought, but also because the reader gains an appreciation of the hard work of invention even for one so gifted as Newton, and some insight into the hard work of turning observations into theoretical constructs.
A magnificent biography.

Product Description:
Describes the life and scientific contributions of the famed English mathematician who changed our perception of the universe.

Amazon.com Review:
Science writer Michael White's subtitle, The Last Sorcerer, echoes John Maynard Keynes's assertion in 1942 that Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was not the Olympian rationalist portrayed by his worshipful early biographers. Newton was a great scientist, the author acknowledges; he was also an "obsessive, driven mystic," deeply involved in the pseudoscience of alchemy, subscriber to a heretical sect of Christianity, and damaged survivor of childhood traumas that rendered him a difficult, egotistical, quarrelsome adult. White makes recent research accessible to the general reader in lucid prose that knocks the academic dust off a towering historical figure.



Customer Review: dreck:
I completely hated this book.

I gave it more than a chance, reading it patiently all the way nearly to the end.

But it simply wasn't what I wanted. I wanted a straightforward biography of Newton: this book instead focuses not on the development of optics and the calculus, but rather on Newton's dabblings into mystical arcana, such as secret Biblical messages and alchemy.

A good biography of Newton wouldn't shy away from mentioning this, but since those things are hardly why Newton is famous it seems inappropriate that they should form the chief emphasis of a biography of him, as they do here.

If you're looking for a biography of Newton that more or less tells it like it is, don't buy this. Go elsewhere.

Customer Review: A Good Start:
If previously you have not read a biography of Isaac Newton or lack rigorous training in Physics, then this is a good place to start. The book covers his life, his passions & sufferings, his triumphs and failures, his foibles and his idiosyncrasies. This is not a hagiographic book.

One strength of the book is that it discusses Newton's other interests such as Alchemy and Biblical Prophecy. The book is written for a popular audience and thus does not cover Newton's intellectual endevours and interests in depth. Those interested in Alchemy and Mechanics will not find a deep & learned discussion of either Alchemy or the development of science of Mechanics here.


Customer Review: Really enjoyed this book:
I am about halfway through this book. I really appreciate the balanced way he presents Isaac Newton's life. The book is very well written, and presents both sides of Mr. Newton - the brilliant scientist that laid the foundation for modern science and engineering, as well as the alchemist - the mystic - and the flawed individual and his various feuds with some of his contemporaries. I also appreciate the time the author spends discussing the world Mr. Newton lived in - what were the dominant paradigms, and who were the people that contributed to them. As such, the book fulfills a secondary purpose of providing an overview of how we arrived at our current scientific paradigm. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Sir Isaac Newton, and also learn about the evolution of the thinking behind modern science.

Customer Review: Fascinating!:
I was attracted to this book by a moronic blogger on another site who tried to rationalize the idiocy of "Intelligent Design" by arguing that Isaac Newton believed God created the universe! Another blogger recommended "The Last Sorcerer" as a rebutal to that comment.

Michael White's scholarship is well-researched, incisive and thoughtful. He reveals the history of the awakening of scientific thought and inquiry of the 17th and 18th centuries in a readable and interesting manner.

His descriptions of Newton, Hooke, Waterhouse, Huygens, et al, who opened the doors to the modern scientific method are easy to follow and carefully organized. Sir Isaac, indeed as much a man of God as he was a man of his time, was nonetheless largely responsible for the beginning of the end of superstition and ignorance and the awakening of inquiry and experiment.

This is a good read for anyone interested in where we've been and how we got to where we are.

Customer Review: The Last Sorcerer:
The Last Sorcerer begins with the theories of past philosophers and thinkers like Aristotle and Galileo. It also gives experts about Newton's life through out the entire novel. I found the book a little hard to follow and understand as it jumped from one chapter to the next without much connections between each. However, it is a good source of information on Newton's family, life, and how he grew up to be the great physist he became. Although hard to understand, it is easy reading because the novel is written in a story-book format. It is more engaging and interesting, while still presenting factual information than most biographies.