# Leonardo Da Vinci - Hardcover

by **Walter Isaacson** (Author)

**The #1 _New York Times_ bestseller from Walter Isaacson** **brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is "a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it...Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life"** **(_The New Yorker_).**

Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson "deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo" (_San Francisco Chronicle_) in a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo's genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy.

He produced the two most famous paintings in history, _The Last Supper_ and the _Mona Lisa_. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in _The Last Supper_. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of _Vitruvian Man_, made him history's most creative genius.

In the "luminous" (_Daily Beast_) _Leonardo da Vinci_, Isaacson describes how Leonardo's delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance to be imaginative and, like talented rebels in any era, to think different. Here, da Vinci "comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson's ambitious new biography...a vigorous, insightful portrait" (_The Washington Post_).

### Author Biography

Walter Isaacson, a professor of history at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of _Time_. He is the author of _Leonardo da Vinci_; _The Innovators_; _Steve Jobs_; _Einstein: His Life and Universe_; _Benjamin Franklin: An American Life_; and _Kissinger: A Biography_, and the coauthor of _The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made._ Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu.

**Number of Pages:** 624

**Dimensions:** 1.7 x 9.4 x 6.5 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** October 17, 2017

## Details

- **Price:** 40.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 40.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Leonardo Da Vinci - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/leonardo-da-vinci-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-23