Leonardo Da Vinci

1. What is the book about as a whole?

The biography of Leonardo da Vinci - both personal and professional life. By Walter Isaacson

2. What is being said in detail, and how?

Leonardo da Vinci is the ultimate Renaissance man. He experiments, he moves science forward and he improves the state of the art in several disciplines. The book goes through his whole life and is rather long, so I'm compiling some highlights here:

• the book is written by compiling biographies written by his contemporaries as well as his personal notes - that survive to this day
• his discoveries are personal and never make it public - even though they would drive science forward, if published
• He's a perfectionist. He attempts many projects that never see the light of day in his lifetime - including the Mona Lisa
• Leonardo keeps working for decades on some paintings that never get finished
• He tends to work irregularly - he's notorious for doing a brushstroke or two for the whole day
• He's employing tricks of perception to make his paintings and murals appear natural
• Leonardo likes to capture a snapshot of emotions in 2D
• Leonardo thought of Sfumato - the blurring of lines instead of hard contours around objects
• He tended to procrastinate and this often caused him trouble with patrons
• Leonardo is extremely curious and pursues interests that are much beyond painting
• He dissects and studies animals and humans; he has genuine and unprecedented understanding of the way blood flows through the body
• He is interested in the flow of water - the way eddies are formed and diverting rivers. Though this is mostly an interest that doesn't see fruition into actual projects
• He finds out about the layers of the earth and fossils
• He designs concepts of many war machines and feats of engineering (again no fruition)
• Leonardo is born as the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary in Florence - just when Florence is at its peak and top artists and artisans live there. Also, just at the right time - when books are becoming available
• He's eccentric - gay, often dressed in pink, a vegetarian
• Leonardo makes most of his money from organising pageants and occasionally completing a commission

3. Is the book true, in whole or part?

As always with Isaacson, he's doing a fantastic job of compiling a biography from multiple sources. The books appears true, as much as this is possible when writing 500 years after the events.

4. What of it?

The biggest takeaway is curiosity. Leonardo perfected his art and became that famous for curiosity. He pioneered painting techniques, he experimented with hues and with characters. He dissected people and learnt about how the muscles work from the inside - and he used the findings on paper. He attempted many projects, often failing to produce an output. But it takes curiosity to be regarded as genius - and I should stay more curious and go down rabbit holes more often.