The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance (Hardcover)

by Fritjof Capra (Author)
Key Phrases: mechanical wings, senso comune, Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus, Anatomical Studies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Capra, author of the classic The Tao of Physics, makes the case in this fascinating intellectual biography for the great artist Leonardo being the unsung father of modern science. Drawing on approximately 6,000 pages and 100,000 drawings surviving from Leonardo's scattered notebooks, Capra explores the groundbreaking research of this quintessential Renaissance man. Illegitimate, born in a Tuscan village in 1452, Leonardo did not receive a classical education, a fact that, Capra notes, later freed him from the intellectual conventions of his time and allowed him to develop his own holistic, empirical approach to science. Apprenticed with Verrocchio in Florence around the age of 15, Leonardo became an independent artist when he was 25, but his intellectual appetites demanded more. He taught himself Latin and began the famous notebooks, a record of his artistic and scientific explorations. The recurring patterns he saw in nature led him to create what Capra calls a science of wholeness, of movement and transformation. Capra expresses his own intellectual kinship with Leonardo's multidisciplinary perspective on science, one that recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all natural phenomena—a view he sees as particularly relevant today. Illus. (Oct. 30)
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Review
Praise for Tao of Physics
 
"A brilliant best-seller."— New York Magazine
 
"A pioneering book of real value and wide appeal."— Washington Post
 
“I have been reading the book with amazement and the greatest interest, recommending it to everyone I meet. . . .[Capra has] done a magnificent and extremely important job.” —Joseph Campbell
 
Praise for The Web of Life

“[Capra] has reassembled the fragments of modern science into something that at last we can understand . . . a wonderful book we all need to read.” —James Lovelock, author of Healing Gaia
 
“This book, a rare blending of the heart and the head, should be required reading.” —Theodore Roszak, Director, Ecopsychology Institute, California State University, Hayward, and author of The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein

“A brilliant and sound assessment of Leonardo's approach to science, viewed in the cultural context of his time, and through the development of scientific thought in the succeeding centuries. Both deep and new, it is a bold and successful exploration of the working of Leonardo's mind.”

—Carlo Pedretti, Armand Hammer Chair of Leonardo Studies, UCLA --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385513909
• ISBN-13: 978-0385513906
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,477 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #5 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Capra, Fritjof
  #23 in	Books > History > Europe > Italy > Renaissance
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multifarious Man, November 30, 2007

By	Jeremy Mates (Seattle) - See all my reviews

Fritjof Capra provides fascinating insight into Leonardo da Vinci, his life, and his many accomplishments. No special knowledge is assumed: all terms, such as sfumato and chiaroscuro, are well defined. The Greek and Latin schools of thought are introduced, and how Leonardo variously accepted, rejected, or improved upon this body of knowledge.

Particular attention is paid to Leonardo's methods, a man so interested in the process and underlying principals as to be a renowned sculptor in his time without a sculpture, one who left a trail of magnificent (yet variously incomplete) artwork. Leonardo asked not just "how", but also "why", and tested these questions with detailed experiments in many fields: optics, anatomy, and fluid dynamics, to name a few.

The text does repeat itself, though like a arabesque rope, repeats back on the core strengths of Leonardo, and shows in turn how these strengths allowed Leonardo to advance the fields of art, science, and engineering. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good biography of da vinci's life and thought, January 29, 2008

By	Dan Arias (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I heard of this book during an interview of the author on NPR. The interview was fascinating and motivated me to get the book.

The book is wonderful for its balance and grace. It is a concise telling of da Vinci's life and his thinking gleaned from his manuscripts and from contemporary writers. It is interesting to discover that little is known about da Vinci's personal or inner life. However, we discover that da Vinci was truly one of the first scientists in the modern sense, predating Galileo. His gifts for observation, illustration, and painting combined with his energy and enthusiasm for experimentation led him to discoveries and conclusions that would not be widely recognized for centuries.

It was a good inspiring read! I'm looking forward to reading Capra's book on systemic thinking.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The science of Leonardo, December 22, 2007

By	Bill Shevlin - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well written, showing how ahead of his time Leonardo was. A great perspective on a true genius.