Rating: 
Summary: Intimate view of Newton
Review: Gleick's "Isaac Newton" presents us a portrait of one of the greatest scientific minds in history. We learn that Newton is a tempermental man, often isolated and cared little for social life. He laid down some of the most important natural laws we have and accumulated a vast sum of wealth and various honors for his efforts.The only flaw here is Gleick's prose. It often does not flow very well and the author tends to jump from one idea to the next with few connections in between. Nonetheless, thanks to Gleick, the reader has a better view of Sir Isaac Newton and that makes this book a worthy read.
Rating:
Summary: Intimate view of Newton
Review: Gleick's "Isaac Newton" presents us a portrait of one of the greatest scientific minds in history. We learn that Newton is a tempermental man, often isolated and cared little for social life. He laid down some of the most important natural laws we have and accumulated a vast sum of wealth and various honors for his efforts. The only flaw here is Gleick's prose. It often does not flow very well and the author tends to jump from one idea to the next with few connections in between. Nonetheless, thanks to Gleick, the reader has a better view of Sir Isaac Newton and that makes this book a worthy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging and accessible story of a great man and his science
Review: Gleick's biography of Isaac Newton covers the gamut of the man's life, science and impact. Although under 200 pages of text, the book weaves a complete tale and goes beyond to give a popular account of the basics of calculus as well as Newton's contributions to physics (I could have used the quote of Newton's statement on the meaning of the infinitesimal in my calc class had I finished the book a day earlier.) It's a testament to Gleick's writing ability that the book imparts so much in an engaging and succinct read.
Rating:
Summary: An Insightful Look at a Monumental Figure
Review: Gleick's biography of one of Western Civilization's most influential figures is insightful and excellent in both its avoidance of cliches and sensationalism and its use of primary source material. While the book may seem esoteric to some, it does a fine job of tracking the process by which Newton slowly arrived at his three laws of motion as well as the Universal Law of Gravitation. Additionally, it explores some of the personality traits and, more often, flaws that lead newton to live a solitary and occasionally confrontational life. A good read for those who enjoy biography, history of science or an examination of the creative process within the scientific community.
Rating:
Summary: Top-notch sci-tech writing
Review: Gleik's book is an engaging synthesis of top-notch sci-tech writing and biography. But it lacks the same thing another genre best-seller--Galileo's Daughter-- does, at least for me. It gives no perspective on what might be called the moral status of Newton's ideas in light of the subsequent centuries of philosophical inquiry and scientific investigation. In recognizing Newton and Galileo as giants of science we should also understand them to be figures of enormous influence in the West's positivist, mechanistic, scientistic worldview. They each had a powerful moral impact on the West. It can be seen not only in positive scientific advances, but also in the worst excesses and errors of the scientific enterprise. A book that sheds light on this aspect of Galileo's genius and that I greatly enjoyed is Wade Rowland's Galileo's Mistake.
Rating:
Summary: So much promise, such little production
Review: Great writers are experts at conveying complex, abstract ideas with great ease and simplicity. James Gleick does quite the opposite. He is to science writing what Bob Dylan is to folk music. His mastery of the material and concerted attempt to impart it upon us is undeniable, but his prose is obtuse and often incomprehensible. Knowledge that should be intracate becomes intractable. Before writing another book, Gleick's publisher should compel him to read _Elements of Style_ by Strunk and White and test him on it. They should also fire the "editor" and find someone willing to impose upon him the basic rules of syntax and grammar (more particularly, punctation. One could infer from his writings that he has commaphobia.) Nonetheless, the material itself is wonderful. Gleick brilliantly portrays the greatest scientific mind of all time, not through common biography, but through a unique blend of history and character study. The reader will become equally familiar with Newton's tumultuous environment and his eccentric proclivities. I give this book an ambivalent four stars. Were it not for the illustrious story, I would give it only two. (I haven given five stars to both _Genius_ and _Faster_, while only three stars to _What Just Happened_. Gleick should count his lucky stars on that one.)
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Summary: Great for Physics Students as well..
Review: I am majoring in Physics at Ball State University. Looking to strenghen my historical background of Physics, I decided to start with the earliest scientists and read my way through to modern times. I couldn't have picked a better book to start my historical readings. James Gleick's expressive writing skills with a scientific flavor boasted me into reading this biography from cover to cover non-stop. While skimming through various biographies of Newton in the university library, no book even compared to the creative writing skills of Gleick. To be honest, this book inspired me to further my studies in Optics and go on to read Newton's books, "Principia" and "Optiks." Thanks a lot Gleick, your writings inspired my soul with scientific enlightenment.
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Summary: Honesty meets rationalism
Review: I found this book hard to follow in places, but because James Gleick places you so close to Isaac Newton, I found it impossible to give up reading it. According to other reviews, the struggles between Newton and the philosophy of Descartes, and the personality of Hooke, and the possible plagarism of Leibnitz, are not new or unknown. They were to me. Another thing that I didn't understand about the times that Newton lived in was how his society and culture was so steeped in mysticism and the occult. Newton set his philosophy apart from the rest by strictly defining all of the terms that he used. So, while religions and other faith philosophies thrive on the dishonesty of wordplay, science, as defined by Newton's approach, rules the day.
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Summary: Great overview of Newton and his work
Review: I had the brilliant notion that I could make good use of my commute times by listening to audiobooks. It turns out this is an excellent idea, but I learned that perhaps I shouldn't have begun with a book that deals largely with science, since by listening to a CD you are deprived of any visual tools the author may have used. In this case I think I missed a lot of charts and diagrams explaining Newton's discoveries. That fact aside, however, I found this experience to be a highly enjoyable and profitable one, and while it by no means made me an expert on Newton, it did succeed at providing a broad overview of the man and his accomplishments. Gleick is the stereotypical modern biographer in that he points out the great achievements of his subject while also telling the reader about all his faults: his petty disagreements with colleagues, his eccentricities, and the errors in his work. Gleick may go a bit overboard in this area, but the book more than makes up for it by showing the enormous impact of Newtonian science on the world.
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Summary: This was a pleasure of a book to read
Review: I just finished reading a terrific book (Joel Hayward, FOR GOD AND GLORY) that conveyed the full richness of Lord Nelson's life in a mere 250 pages. Now I read this jewel of a book on Issac Newton that also "brings it home" in only a few hundred pages. I wish all scholars learned this technique: say what's important, don't say what's not, give some original insights, and wrap up with a strong, even-handed and thoughtful conclusion. I applaud the author of this book, which has made science interesting and scienTISTS, widely considered boring and bookish, even more interesting. Newton's genius shines out from every well-written page. What a great man. Newton and Einstein are the Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing of science!
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