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Comments (30)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 30 items
Jan 13, 2024Rendezvous_point rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Inspiring and moving. Isaacson has a fairly straightforward writing style but the sketches and the artworks speak for themselves. What a character, and centuries ahead of his time.
Sep 10, 2023The_Most_Casual_Observer rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Please note: Leonardo's name was just 'Leonardo.' He's not referred to as 'Da Vinci,' which just means he was from Vinci, and was not his last name. (He didn't have a last name.) His parents were not Mr. & Mrs. da Vinci, any more than…
Sep 08, 2023PHILLIP GARY SMITH rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
From the times I spent at libraries as a kid to now as a senior adult, I have read no book that can ever push this one off the No. 1 spot in my listing and likely forever more as the most important. Leonardo Da Vinci proved his genius in…
Aug 04, 2023socaldallas rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Very well done. Thoroughly detailed yet compellingly interesting. Time well spent.
May 04, 2023
Multiple recs! "It's a thorough, well-written, and entertaining account of the life and works of one of history's widest and most creative thinkers. Da Vinci was a man driven by a pure and inexhaustible curiosity for everything in the…
Dec 22, 2022ryner rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Leonardo da Vinci remains a household name, despite having lived more than half a millennium ago, due to the legacy of beauty, creativity and innovation he bequeathed to the world. Beyond his name, though, how much does the average person…
Sep 11, 2022bpbiblio rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Very good bio on one of my favorite artists. Even though I have read numerous books and bios on Da Vinci, I gained some interesting new insights into him, his art and his life. I was especially intrigued by his relationship with Salai –…
May 12, 2020writermala rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I liked Walter Isaacson's Biography of Steve Jobs and that is what made me opt to read this Bio. It was a pleasant surprise since I learned a lot about Leonardo da Vinci that I previously did not. For example, even though I had herd about…
Apr 19, 2020carolwu96 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Have you ever encountered a book that you enjoyed while actually reading but balked at the thought of continuing?⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ Well, this is that kind of book.⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ It is well researched and carefully compiled. Its sources span from the…
Feb 21, 2020conpenn rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Excellently researched, but the caveat is that it's extremely technical and detailed which makes it arduous to plow through.
Feb 04, 2020bothelllibro rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A long read but well worth it, I hope to have the time to re-read!!
Jan 26, 2020L_Napier rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Not what I thought it’d be. I wish more was known about da Vinci, but the take away from this is that he is still a big mystery.
Oct 01, 2019IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, wise, and beautiful biography of Leonardo. It is hard to imagine a better one. Isaacson has spent years traveling the world and reading all of the notebooks of Leonardo to give the fullest portrait of the artist, engineer,…
Feb 19, 2019
I cringe when I read Leonardo referred to merely as “da Vinci.” Vinci is a town in Tuscany. Knowledgeable/credible historians always refer to the artist as simply "Leonardo" or "Leonardo da Vinci" but never "Da Vinci". Leonardo did not…
Dec 16, 2018asishskaria rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Epic tale of singular inferno of talent and curiosity. The variety and depth of his work is awe inspiring. Walter Isaacson have put in work to collect and decode Leonardo's work. Every body should be gifted this book, the pictures…
Sep 30, 2018bette108 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I've read several biographies on Leonardo da Vinci, but this was the most pleasant to read because it's well organized, full of interesting details and illustrations, and well written. In other words, I not only didn't have to struggle…
Sep 11, 2018
It seems a little strange to read a somewhat "celebrity" style biography of Leonardo (Isaacson is a fanboy!), but the author's contention that Da Vinci shares a lot with Steve Jobs is not that far fetched. Isaacson does a good job…
Sep 02, 2018Steve_49 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The wait for this excellent book was over a month, but definitely worth it. The explanations of each of Da Vinci's art masterpieces was very helpful to me, someone who is very ignorant about art. It made me appreciate just what an…
Jul 24, 2018TSMary rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Leonardo da Vinci continues to intrigue and mystify us. I have been fascinated by da Vinci since childhood, so I was eager to read this new biography. Although I was hoping for something a little more well-written and scholarly, on the…
Jul 19, 2018
What a beautiful book! Even apart from content, the book is weighty and uses fine quality glossy paper the better to display the art illustrations within. It is a pleasure to hold and to behold. In a day when we are getting farther away…
Apr 18, 2018gofleming rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
love the subject matter but did not enjoy the writing style of Isaacson. I don't think the author removed himself enough from his awe of his subject to avoid some of his writing coming across like a fawning fan boy. I also felt he was…
Apr 06, 2018orange_lobster_23 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Truly an inspiring insatiably curious self-taught explorer whose passions span drawing, painting, set-design, mathematics, physics, architecture, music, biology, geology and their inter-relationships. Isaacson's challenges readers to…
Mar 30, 2018ChrisMcMil rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
In vividly describing the life and times of Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaacson was incredibly thorough in his research and insightful in his analysis, providing copious references for the serious student but keeping the text accessible and…
Feb 25, 2018kwsmith rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Famous biographer Walter Isaacson offers his candid opinions on the life and legacy of famous artist/inventor Leonardo da Vinci. Although much of Leonardo's life has been covered before, Isaacson offers some insightful gems, especially in…
Feb 25, 2018Zifr rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
As an avid Da Vinci reader I learned a lot from Isaacson's biography. However I did find him to repeat himself a lot such as repeating about how Leonardo loved to dress fashionably and have men in his bed.