Let Newton Be!

More than any other I have found, this book brought Isaac Newton to life: as a brilliant human being, but still just a human being, with as broad a spectrum of flaws, quirks and vulnerabilities as any of us have. It shows him more as some of his contemporaries may have seen him, before the publication of the Principia began to transform him into a shining demigod of the Enlightenment. It does shine a light on his admittedly obsessive (but still sensible, focused, meticulous and sincere) investigations of theological and alchemical claims that mattered greatly to his generation. Many of these investigations proved to be fruitless, but that does not diminish the man. For these claims lost much of their interest to later generations precisely because the new analytical tools that Newton published in the Principia enabled revolutionary advances in physical knowledge that rapidly pushed alchemy and theology onto the sidelines of intellectual history.Truly a wonderful, balanced and satisfying collection of essays, each written by an expert in a particular perspective on Newton's life and work. I would welcome publication of similar collections of lucid, expert essays on Robert Boyle and Charles Darwin.