Newton's Notebook

Book excerpt: Newton's Notebook is a biography of the great man, but a biography with a difference. As you would expect, it provides a full and detailed account of Newton's life and discoveries, but it is written, designed and illustrated to look like - as the title suggests - a personal notebook or journal.By mining the rich sources of his own journals and incorporating a wide range of quotations and primary sources, Newton's Notebook brings its subject to life more vividly than any ordinary history book or biography, revealing the man who 'discovered' gravity. Additional chapters examine Newton's early life and education, his achievements in mathematics and optics, the publication of the Principia and the long-term impact of his revolutionary theories.