Newton

November 12, 2007
While the prolific Ackroyd (London
, among many others), in this addition to his Brief Lives series, doesn’t provide new insights into one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, he does present a well-written distillation of the life and accomplishments of Isaac Newton (1642–1727). Newton’s scientific achievements are legend, from the creation of calculus to the formulation of the theory of gravity. Ackroyd asserts that the devout Newton, acting largely alone, institutionalized modern scientific method by demanding data and experimentation rather than supernatural explanations based in belief. Even though Newton studied alchemy, it was always within the construct of science, says Ackroyd. The biographer presents the other side of Newton as well: his quirky personality, the insecurity that made it difficult for him to tolerate any criticism and kept him from publishing many of his ideas for extended periods. And he shows how Newton, a loner as a young man, left the isolation of Cambridge University for London and the public sphere as master of the mint and president of the prestigious Royal Society. The vindictive Newton held extended grudges for slights, real or imagined, and Ackroyd summarizes the decades-long disputes with Robert Hooke and Royal Astronomer John Flamsteed. In short, Ackroyd does a commendable job in this introduction to a very complex genius. Illus.

January 15, 2008
In describing the intellectual vigor that Isaac Newton applied to developing mathematical models of the physical world, to alchemy, to spiritual questions, and to his work with the Royal Mint, as well as his fierce defense of his status as a leading scholar, novelist and accomplished biographer Ackroyd draws a finely detailed miniature of the man renowned for his genius and for his ambition. In this third book of his "Brief Lives" series (after "Chaucer" and "Turner"), the author provides his portrait with a richly drawn background of the scientific culture of 17th-century Britain that includes the Royal Society of London and Cambridge University. Those looking for fuller treatments of Newton may be directed to Gale E. Christianson's "In the Presence of the Creator", James Gleick's popular "Isaac Newton", which includes illustrated discussions of some of Newton's mathematics (Ackroyd steers clear of the math), and "The Cambridge Companion to Newton" (edited by I. Bernard Cohen and George E. Smith), an accessible collection of essays by Newton scholars. Ackroyd's book is recommended for public libraries and undergraduate collections.Sara Rutter, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa Lib., Honolulu

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2007
The acclaimed biographer of Blake here contemplates the scientist whom Blake blamed for reducing the world's beautiful mysteries to sterile geometry. But it is no mere geometer Ackroyd delivers to his readers in this wonderfully humane biography (the third installment in his Brief Lives series). Readers will indeed marvel at how many logic-defying complexities fill the life of the genius famous for recognizing in the fall of an apple the force unifying the universe. For, as it turns out, the same intrepid mind that parsed the mathematics of the planets also secretly delved into the occult arts of alchemy. And the same spirit who emboldened atheists by propounding an empirical model of the cosmos devoted himself to intense scripture study. The keen eye of a novelist even allows Ackroyd to probe the dark recesses of a tangled psyche, scarred by the childhood trauma of being abandoned by his mother, wary of any intimate sexual entanglement. Readers will recoil from the wrath of a youthful Newton threatening his mother and stepfatherwith a fiery death and will grieve at the paranoia of a mature Newton hurling unwarranted accusations at a friend. Though lacking in the detail required by scholars, this compelling portrait will delight general readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)