Isaac Newton by Kathleen Krull

Here is another short biography by Kathleen Krull. Once again, I like her writing style, and I like that fact that she does a "warts and all" approach to the depiction of her characters. But as with her biography of Leonardo DaVinci, I don't like the fact that she tries to make the case that Newton was gay. The only evidence she puts forth is that he never married, and he had several close friends that were male. Why does that make him gay? Can't people have close friendships without there being a sexual component? Anyway, I am about to give up on Kathleen Krull.

On the other hand, this biography helped me appreciate what an awesome intellect Newton had. He came up with all his most famous ideas during one summer when he was 24 years old, and then spent the rest of his life investigating and polishing them. That one man could have such an expansive world view in so many topics is amazing. He made major, world changing, discoveries in physics, optics, astronomy and mathematics. (126 p.)