James Gleick has long been fascinated by the making of sciencehow ideas order visible appearances, how equations can give meaning to molecular and stellar phenomena, how theories can transform what we see. In Chaos, he chronicled the emergence of a new way of looking at dynamic systems in Genius, he portrayed the wondrous dimensions of Richard Feynmans mind. Now, in Isaac Newton, he gives us the story of the scientist who, above all others, embodied humanitys quest to unveil the hidden forces that constitute the physical world. In this original, sweeping, and intimate biography, Gleick moves between a comprehensive historical portrait and a dramatic focus on Newtons significant letters and unpublished notebooks to illuminate the real importance of his work in physics, in optics, and in calculus.
