Leonardo’s “genius” did not come as a stroke of lightning from divine inspiration, contrary to the opinion of Giorgio Vasari, who wrote a biography of Leonardo in the sixteenth century. Isaacson chose to write about Leonardo because he is the “ultimate example of the main theme of my previous biographies: how the ability to make connections across disciplines-art and science, humanities and technology-is the key to innovation, imagination, and genius.” Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Ada Lovelace, and Steve Jobs, he continues, are prime examples of polymaths who are able to make and utilize these connections. Yet, when his mother married, Leonardo’s father brought them into his household and provided support for a time. Had his father married his mother, Leonardo would have been doomed to become a notary, just as his father and his family’s firstborn sons had been for generations. His illegitimate birth, Isaacson believes, was a key to Leonardo’s freedom to become the man we know today. Similarly, Isaacson brings Leonardo vividly to life. The paintings and drawings reproduced herein often seem to leap from the page since they are so vividly reproduced. As befits the subject, the book is printed on high quality, glossy paper such as one might find in the best art books. Leonardo is a slick, beautiful book, and “slick” is not a pejorative here. It is well worth the effort it takes to read such a comprehensive account of one man’s life. It has certainly received the most hype, and in this instance it rises to the level of approbation heaped upon it.
Leonardo da Vinci may be the best biography of the year.
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