Walter Isaacson, who has written on Einstein, Benjamin
Franklin and Steve Jobs, says da Vinci is the ultimate example of
combining art and science, whose insights, innovations and inventions
were often decades, centuries and sometime half-a-millennia ahead of
their time.
The New Yorker’s Claudia Roth Pierpont was drawn to “ clear and absorbing pages about the Mona Lisa’s famously mysterious smile, particularly in relation to Leonardo’s studies of lip muscles, which he dissected, and drew, alternately, with skin on and skin off”. She was pleased “to have a major biography that (at last) presumes no need to put forth a reason for the artist’s sexuality”.
With the header, ''Isaacson's 'Leonardo da Vinci': Gay, and a Renaissance 'giant'', USA Today wrote, ''some of the things we learn about Leonardo the man, as opposed to Leonardo the cliché. He was gay, enjoying the company of two younger men who eventually split his estate. He was left-handed and wrote backwards, less for effect and more simply because it seemed easier. He was an inquisitive jack of all trades — painter, set designer, engineer — because that's what helped pay the bills.''
To Forbes Dan Schawbel's question : ''What can we learn from da Vinci about improving our own skills and leading a better and more creative life?''
Isaacson replied : By looking at he thousands of notebook pages he wrote, we can see him pushing himself to be more curious and more observant. He made a list each week of all the things he wished to learn or figure out, ranging from why he sky is blue to what the tongue of a woodpecker looks like. These are things that we can all learn to do. He also was open to fantasy. He loved producing plays with magical effects. This is something we can nourish in ourselves and our kids: how to daydream and embrace mystery.
Source : New Yorker, USA Today, Forbes
The New Yorker’s Claudia Roth Pierpont was drawn to “ clear and absorbing pages about the Mona Lisa’s famously mysterious smile, particularly in relation to Leonardo’s studies of lip muscles, which he dissected, and drew, alternately, with skin on and skin off”. She was pleased “to have a major biography that (at last) presumes no need to put forth a reason for the artist’s sexuality”.
With the header, ''Isaacson's 'Leonardo da Vinci': Gay, and a Renaissance 'giant'', USA Today wrote, ''some of the things we learn about Leonardo the man, as opposed to Leonardo the cliché. He was gay, enjoying the company of two younger men who eventually split his estate. He was left-handed and wrote backwards, less for effect and more simply because it seemed easier. He was an inquisitive jack of all trades — painter, set designer, engineer — because that's what helped pay the bills.''
To Forbes Dan Schawbel's question : ''What can we learn from da Vinci about improving our own skills and leading a better and more creative life?''
Isaacson replied : By looking at he thousands of notebook pages he wrote, we can see him pushing himself to be more curious and more observant. He made a list each week of all the things he wished to learn or figure out, ranging from why he sky is blue to what the tongue of a woodpecker looks like. These are things that we can all learn to do. He also was open to fantasy. He loved producing plays with magical effects. This is something we can nourish in ourselves and our kids: how to daydream and embrace mystery.
Source : New Yorker, USA Today, Forbes
