Leonardo Da Vinci

Reading a boring story is one step short of wasting one's time. Amusing, insightful and an ending that is truly the definition of 20/20 hindsight! Da Vinci himself was a misunderstood genius, waaaaaayyyy ahead of his time. This "biography" is a product of mature speculation and takes a reasonable stab at his life. Who would enjoy this book? Mostly people who enjoy Science and want to know more about the development of the field. Definitely some of Leo's lesser qualities rise to the surface, intertwined with a historical timeframe. I find that, as a teacher, relating some of the bizarre assumptions in the field of Science (before it was even named), mesmerizes students. This book, however, is not for a student under 7th grade. If you're infinitely curious, it addresses: Homosexuality, menstruation, dead bodies and the study/dissection there of. The details of this subject matter are not too deep, mostly one or two sentences for the first two. The latter would be covered, but not grotesquely. All in all, it is an outstanding book, definitely a worthy read.

Doing everything from dissecting humans to painting beautiful paintings, Leonardo da Vinci really was a man of wonder. Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in Tuscany, Italy. Throughout his life he had wondered about everything. He always kept everything he saw and observed in notebooks. He worked in art during his childhood and then mostly researched for the rest of his life. He did everything to gain knowledge including dissecting humans, looking at bugs, and staring at water for hours. After a long life, Leonardo da Vinci died in1519 at the age of sixty-seven. I liked this book because it contained many interesting facts, it included artwork, and it told of the many characters in Leonardo's life. One reason I liked this book is that it contained many interesting facts. For example, Leonardo used to stare at water for hours until he came up with the theory that everything travels in waves. Another example, is that he dissected forty different human corpses in order to find out more about the body. Lastly, he wrote down everything he discovered in notebooks. At his death there were more than 10,000 pages. Half were lost throughout history. Another reason I like this book is because it included vast artwork. For example, when the book said that he built a model of the solar system it included an interesting picture. Another example is that when it said that Leonardo used to buy birds just to let them go and study their flight, it included a picture. Lastly, when it said that he dissected bodies it included a picture of him leaning over a body. One other reason that I liked this book is because it told of many characters in Leonardo's life. For example, the book described the characteristics of his mother and father. Another example is that the people he worked with were described. Lastly, all of his friends were described. The last and most important reason that I like this book is that it covers Leonardo's life very well. This book has his birth date, his death date, the dates of most of his achievements, his friends, his parents, and his many interesting facts. I liked this book because it contained many neat facts, it included artwork, it told of the many characters in his life, and this book sums up Leonardo da Vinci's life up very well. C. Copeland

For over thirty years Leonardo Da Vinci was obsessive about investigating everything in the natural world, from the color of the sky to mountains and water sources. Packed with anecdotes and much research yet lively in tone and presentation, grades 4-7 will find a lovely coverage spiced with Boris Kulikov's drawings in this new 'Giants of Science' addition.

This book is wonderful! I recently purchased it at the Louisville Science Center for my sixth-grade son interested in science and math. The homosexuality concerns from another reviewer are ridiculous. The mention of Da Vinci's sexuality is slightly mentioned on page 38 only, and it is brief saying that historians disagree. It doesn't go into graphic homosexual details or such as you would think after reading one alarmist's review. I highly recommend this book to encourage the study of science and free thinking. Now we need the author to write one on Darwin and Newton.