Skip to main content
Home
plus.maths.org

Secondary menu

  • My list
  • About Plus
  • Sponsors
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Log in
  • Main navigation

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Collections
  • Podcasts
  • Maths in a minute
  • Puzzles
  • Videos
  • Topics and tags
  • For

    • cat icon
      Curiosity
    • newspaper icon
      Media
    • graduation icon
      Education
    • briefcase icon
      Policy

      Popular topics and tags

      Shapes

      • Geometry
      • Vectors and matrices
      • Topology
      • Networks and graph theory
      • Fractals

      Numbers

      • Number theory
      • Arithmetic
      • Prime numbers
      • Fermat's last theorem
      • Cryptography

      Computing and information

      • Quantum computing
      • Complexity
      • Information theory
      • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
      • Algorithm

      Data and probability

      • Statistics
      • Probability and uncertainty
      • Randomness

      Abstract structures

      • Symmetry
      • Algebra and group theory
      • Vectors and matrices

      Physics

      • Fluid dynamics
      • Quantum physics
      • General relativity, gravity and black holes
      • Entropy and thermodynamics
      • String theory and quantum gravity

      Arts, humanities and sport

      • History and philosophy of mathematics
      • Art and Music
      • Language
      • Sport

      Logic, proof and strategy

      • Logic
      • Proof
      • Game theory

      Calculus and analysis

      • Differential equations
      • Calculus

      Towards applications

      • Mathematical modelling
      • Dynamical systems and Chaos

      Applications

      • Medicine and health
      • Epidemiology
      • Biology
      • Economics and finance
      • Engineering and architecture
      • Weather forecasting
      • Climate change

      Understanding of mathematics

      • Public understanding of mathematics
      • Education

      Get your maths quickly

      • Maths in a minute

      Main menu

    • Home
    • Articles
    • Collections
    • Podcasts
    • Maths in a minute
    • Puzzles
    • Videos
    • Topics and tags
    • Audiences

      • cat icon
        Curiosity
      • newspaper icon
        Media
      • graduation icon
        Education
      • briefcase icon
        Policy

      Secondary menu

    • My list
    • About Plus
    • Sponsors
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    • Log in
    • 'Isaac Newton'

      1 November, 2003
      November 2003

      Isaac Newton

      In this well-written book, James Gleick (author of Chaos) tackles the life and work of Isaac Newton. He focuses on the man and his life in the historical context of Britain in the 17th Century, and, although the book is not a light read, he explains Newton's science well without the use of any equations.

      Newton was born in 1642 in the time of the civil war (King Charles was beheaded when Newton was six years old). His family were reasonably well-off farmers, although his illiterate father died before Newton was born. He seems to have had an unhappy childhood. His mother remarried and lived in her husband's house, leaving Isaac in the care of his grandmother at their family home. Notes scribbled in his school books imply that he was lonely and perhaps bullied at school.

      Newton's achievements are incredible - binomial series, calculus, explanations of gravitation and light refraction and more. He believed that everything could be described mathematically and tried to do so. Hypotheses were not good enough - he wanted proof! And by proof, he meant a mathematical description of a phenomenon.

      Newton was also a keen alchemist. The science of chemistry had not been invented but many alchemists experimented with melting, distilling and reacting substances. This alchemy often involved mercury (called "quicksilver") which was an exciting substance to alchemists. Sadly, mercury poisoning can cause damage to the nervous system, leading to trembling, sleeplessness and perhaps paranoid delusions. (This is where the phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from - hat-makers used to wipe the hats over with mercury to make them shiny.)

      Before reading this book I had never considered a world without Newton's laws. There was no word for pressure, and no way to describe light or sound as waves (waves were only found in the sea in the vocabulary of the time!). It wasn't possible to describe how distance related to velocity or how velocity related to acceleration. We take these mental tools for granted, but it was Newton who explained these relationships.

      This book doesn't require any prior knowledge of maths or physics and is a great read about a mysterious and influential man. Perhaps those who use Newton's equations will appreciate the magnitude of his work better than those who don't, but James Gleick's main achievement has been to provide a fascinating insight into the personal life, as well as the science, of the great mathematician and scientist.

      Book details:
      Isaac Newton
      James Gleick
      hardback - 288 pages (2003)
      Fourth Estate
      ISBN: 0007163177

      About the reviewer

      Frances Gibson is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. She is researching the flow of water around coastlines, which is relevant for pollutant dispersal. Frances is an enthusiastic engineer/applied mathematician, with an active interest in science communication.
      • Log in or register to post comments

      Read more about...

      book review
      University of Cambridge logo

      Plus Magazine is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.
      Copyright © 1997 - 2025. University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.

      Terms