In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times

by Gale E. Christianson

Book Overview

A biography of Newton probes the scientist's reclusive personality, recreates the turbulent intellectual atmosphere of seventeenth-century Europe, and lucidly describes Newton's epoch-making... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0029051908
• ISBN13: 9780029051900
• Release Date: June 1984
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 623 Pages
• Weight: 2.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

The life of the greatest abstract thinker of all times.

Every one has heard of Isaac Newton. His laws of motion, how an apple fell on his head to help him understand gravity, etc. Those who go on to college to study science or engineering hear more of his work in optics, calculus, and a myriad other fields. When you understand how his work is at the very foundations of modern science, you begin to appreciate his genius. This book by Gale E. Christianson is based on about 4 millions words (approximately 8000 pages on a standard 8 inches by 11.5 inches paper) written by Newton himself. The author succeeds in presenting everything that is known about Newton in less than 600 pages. Throughout the book, considerable amount of time is spent in outlining the external environment (political, religious, social and scientific) in England to help the reader understand Newton's life better.The book starts off with Newton's ancestry and his own very difficult birth (prematurely born). His life is traced all the way to his education at Trinity College (University of Cambridge) and beyond as a Professor of Mathematics. The controversy regarding who is the originator of Calculus (Leibniz being the contender) is addressed in great detail. Everything you may want to learn about the origins of 'Principia Mathematica' is also covered in this book. Of course, there is no substitute for reading a copy of the original 'Principia Mathematica' itself if you are interested in exactly what it comprised.I have yet to finish reading the entire book and it has been about 10 years since I purchased my copy. I skipped a few chapters when I first read the book and I have never been able to find the time to go back and fill in the blanks. The 600 pages are quite daunting to read yet thoroughly enjoyable if you can relate to his life in any way. Even otherwise, the life of one of the greatest abstract thinkers of all times is absolutely fascinating. What makes the book difficult to read is not the complex mathematics or physics (there is none of that in this book) but the pages and pages devoted to painting a picture of life in England at that time. There is so much information that you also need to find British History interesting in order to appreciate the entire book. If you are deeply interested in Physics or Mathematics, you will enjoy this book thoroughly. Otherwise, it will make a good addition to your biography collection. The effort that the author spent on putting this book together is absolutely monumental. I plan on keeping this as part of my library collection and someday pass it on to my progeny. I hope you find it as enjoyable a book to read as I did.

By the method of fluxions...

Although not very detailed on the scientific aspects of Newton's work, this biography places him very well in his historic period, where we find a tadpole spectacle-between two worlds--of an age in transition, and the arch-innovator, shaking the foundations. That said, and the tale makes it clear, Newton was still very much a man of another age, if not another world, and we can also forget his discretion towards what he had achieved, never mistaking it for a complete metaphysical system. The theologian competes with the tinkerer turned blazingly sharp intuiter of the method of fluxions. The issue is important because the monumental genius of his deed tends to induce imitation in the sciences to come, but this never suceeds, for a reason Newton might have found obvious as he expended a majority of his labors poring over theological and alchemical treatises. I shan't further, as is my wont, crack jokes about 'mad scientists'. Newton was the real McCoy, and so much more compellingly fascinating than the caricature. We might learn his system of the world, but never grasp the 'system' of his mind, where sanity and madness integrate as a mystery. The depiction in the book of the world of Newton's England, Cambridge, and in the period of a classic political passage, leaves only wonder at the pinnacle of accomplishment starting from such rough-scrabble beginnings.

Faithful, Insightful, Definitive, Delightful!

This book breathes life into the very complex figure who is a progenitor of Science, and to an extent, Western civilization as we know them today. From Newton's correspondence and the memoirs of people who knew him, Christianson tells the story of the quiet child who revolutionized theories of light and mechanics, invented calculus (much controversy there), served brilliantly as Master of the Mint, and presided over the Royal Society while privately holding heretical views and practicing alchemy. I got a great sense of the interrelatedness of the works of Newton and his contemporaries such that he seems neither untouchable and divine nor merely "in the right place at the right time", two attractive poles for biography. His interaction with many other contemporaries, such as Halley, Leibniz, and (Johann) Bernoulli were a reality check for my notions of genteel integrity among the lights of the age. This is the first work of history and biography I've read in a long time. I'm now inspired to find more reading of this caliber. If only my formal education in history could have been this engaging! Macmillan, please print this again so I can have my own copy!