Another of Isaacson's biographies, this one of a great renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci. He was a controversial man in many ways. Was not a mathematician or physicist, yet he derived so many rules correctly by experimenting and observing the nature.
Interesting facts:
- He was a master of not finishing. Da Vinci was interested in so many things, that he jumped from one to another, many times without finishing. I realized that this made him who he was, and he remained constantly curious until the end of his life.
- He had an eye for details. Three examples:
- In a painting he was depicting a person turning towards a light. He capture the exact moment by actually drawing the pupil further away from the light source bigger than the one closer.
- He usually drew person's hair hair-by-hair.
- Landscape, behind the motives in his paintings was mostly made up, but still done with an amazing attention to details. The rock formations were correct, the plants and animals were the ones that could be found in the same place and in the same time of year etc.
- Amazing observer of nature and events. In his observations he came to some conclusions that were validate only centuries later with techniques much more advanced than the ones available in da Vinci times, in fields such as human anatomy, dentistry, fluid dynamics, cartography, astronomy etc.
Overal personal score: 10/10
http://stefanfurlan.com/2018/01/08/books-leonardo-da-vinci-by-walter-isaacson/