Michael White
Reader: Christopher Kay

"This story deals almost exclusively with Leonardo the man and Leonardo the scientist," admits British science writer Michael White, who touches only lightly on da Vinci's more famous achievements as a painter. Providing an extensive analysis of Leonardo's notebooks, White argues persuasively that da Vinci (1752-1519) made important discoveries in the fields of optics and anatomy, particularly the anatomy of the eye, and "worked methodically and with scientific precision centuries ahead of his time in the areas of geology and geography." Only the notebooks' dispersal in pieces across Europe after Leonardo's death, White believes, kept him from being properly acknowledged as "the first scientist." Informative though these sections are, it's the author's multilayered portrait of da Vinci the man that really fascinates. He was intensely social and charming, gaining the friendship and patronage of many of the great Renaissance princes while enjoying the companionship of beautiful boys. Yet Leonardo could also be distrustful and defensive, frequently expressing a jaundiced view of human nature that may have originated in the stigma of his illegitimate birth and a frightening court trial on charges of sodomy when he was 23. Without indulging in overly reductive psychologizing, White suggests that da Vinci's "almost psychotic need to discover, to unravel the mystery of life" had its roots in personal experiences that taught Leonardo to be wary of his fellow man and to seek his deepest fulfillment in the life of the mind.

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