Product Description

A new biography of Isaac Newton that reveals the extraordinary influence that the study of alchemy had on the greatest Early Modern scientific discoveries. In this 'ground breaking biography' Michael White destroys the myths of the life of Isaac Newton and reveals a portrait of the scientist as the last sorcerer. According to traditional accounts, Newton was the first modern scientist . As creator of the theory of gravity, calculus, modern theories of light and devisor of the three laws of mechanics, his methods are perceived as the genesis of modern science. Yet the traditional version of his life fails to tell, by some considerable margin, the full story. How for example could Newton's apparent empiricism be married with his interest in alchemy and magic? What had inspired him in his discoveries? How did he reconcile his scientific discoveries with his religious faith? And, most of all, who was this man who, historians tell us, remained a virgin all his life and who seemed to be an argumentative ego maniac on the one hand and a kindly old man on the other? In this revelatory biography, White paints an original picture of Isaac Newton completely at variance with the traditional portrait.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116112 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

About the Author
Michael White was a science lecturer before becoming a full-time writer and journalist. He is the author with John Gribbin of the bestselling Stephen Hawking -- A Lifetime in Science. He is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times, the Observer,the Daily Telegraph, GQ, Focus and New Scientist.

Customer Reviews

Good read for the mathematically baffled
I've always been interested in how magic and alchemy was perceived and practised in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and was slightly weary of ordering this biography, terrified of the potential countless incomprehensible equations inside the book - luckily for me, there were none, and even the scientific aspects of gravity weren't given much coverage. So if, like me, you're interested in Newton's life, rather than his theories and what they all mean, you will certainly enjoy this biography. It focuses more on his time at Cambridge and his relationships with various people rather than dwelling on the physics, so for someone who doesn't really "get" the technical side of things, this was truly a breeze :) 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought more space would be given to Newton as alchemist, as the title suggests, but a lot of the 'sorcery' was simply in passing.

Not engaging enough, bland writing of a great story.
Although I can not put a finger on any single fault, I found this book a very bland biography of Newton and for me added nothing to what I already knew of the great man (which wasn't much more than you can find in A-level physics texts). In the title I was expecting a little more on the alchemical persuits of Newton, however, little is really added to his life story that has not already been published many times elsewhere in a more erudite and concise form. There is nothing particularly wrong with the writing, although it is a little long winded in places, but it just didn’t engage me in a way I expected the biography of whom I personally rate as the greatest scientist in history.

The best biography of Newton I’ve read to date
I've read other biographies of Sir Isaac Newton, and this is the best. As the title suggests, there is an emphasis on his interest in Alchemy.

I worried (unnecessarily as it turned out) that other aspects of his life would be neglected. But his time at the Royal Mint, and his clashes with Huygens, Hooke, Leibniz etc are well covered.

The only disappointment for some readers might be that this is not an overtly scientific/mathematical biography - there are no formulae : so if you want to know that little more detail about Newton's discoveries, such as the Laws of Motion, Laws of Gravity, and Differential Calculus, you won't see any of that in here. In fact the word 'Gravity' (perhaps his most famous discovery) doesn’t even appear in the Index (although the 'Apple' does).