The third brilliant short biography in Peter Ackroyd’s Brief Lives series. Newton is a companion volume to Chaucer and Turner.Isaac Newton (1642-1727), the English genius, made his greatest contributions to original thought before the age of twenty-five while at home in Lincolnshire escaping the great plague of 1665, a period of which he “I was in the prime of age for invention.”Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, an MP, Master of the Mind and President of the Royal Society, Newton, the author of Principia, one of the most important books in the history of science, was fascinated by calculus, the planets and the laws of motion, and, in keeping with his age, blurred the borders between natural philosophy and speculation. He was as passionate about astrology as astronomy, and dabbled in alchemy, while his religious faith was never undermined by his scientific efforts.
Ackroyd's Brief Lives Series
This series delves into the lives and works of notable historical figures, uncovering their humanity and often unexpected personal details. Through a penetrating and occasionally provocative lens, readers encounter complex personalities who shaped history. Each installment offers a fresh interpretation of familiar faces, dismantling myths and presenting them in a new light. It's compelling reading for anyone interested in history and literature.
Recommended Reading Order
Wilkie Collins
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short- sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colourful clothes, Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women - and avidly read by generations of readers.
Charlie Chaplin
- 272 pages
- 10 hours of reading
He was the very first icon of the silver screen, and is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood, even a hundred years on from his first film. This masterful brief life offers fresh revelations about one of the most familiar faces of the last century and brings the Little Tramp into vivid... číst celé