Kindle Price: $14.99

Save $7.01 (32%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $19.68

Save: $6.69 (34%)

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Walter Isaacson
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Leonardo da Vinci Kindle Edition

by Walter Isaacson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
#1 Best Seller in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers
See all formats and editions
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
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).
Previous page
  1. Print length
    808 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  5. Publication date
    October 17, 2017
  6. File size
    174876 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
Popular Highlights in this book
What are popular highlights?
Previous page
  1. But I did learn from Leonardo how a desire to marvel about the world that we encounter each day can make each moment of our lives richer.
    Highlighted by 4,293 Kindle readers
  2. The glory of being an artist, he realized, was that reality should inform but not constrain.
    Highlighted by 3,185 Kindle readers
  3. His ability to combine art, science, technology, the humanities, and imagination remains an enduring recipe for creativity. So, too, was his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical.
    Highlighted by 3,155 Kindle readers
  4. Largely due to his work, dimensionality became the supreme innovation of Renaissance art.
    Highlighted by 2,735 Kindle readers
Next page

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of October 2017: With biographies of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs under his belt, and a reputation as one of our premiere nonfiction writers, Walter Isaacson is the right person to take on a monumental figure like Leonardo da Vinci. To write this biography Isaacson immersed himself in da Vinci’s 7,200 pages of notebooks, which these days are spread across the map. Da Vinci’s interests were even more divergent, and Isaacson’s empathetic and deeply researched portrait illustrates how he willed himself to genius through endless curiosity and a creativity that sometimes crossed over into fantasy. Much like Isaacson’s previous subjects of Ben Franklin and Steve Jobs, da Vinci was a polymath-- he was passionate about art, science, nature, and technology, and he never stopped questioning, practicing, or experimenting. This is what made him the great innovator and historical figure that we recognize today—and Isaacson points out that this is a particular form of genius that can teach us how to live our own lives. -- Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review

Review

"As always, [Isaacson] writes with a strongly synthesizing intelligence across a tremendous range; the result is a valuable introduction to a complex subject. . . . Beneath its diligent research, the book is a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it. . . . Most important, Isaacson tells a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life."
—The New Yorker

“To read this magnificent biography of Leonardo da Vinci is to take a tour through the life and works of one of the most extraordinary human beings of all time and in the company of the most engaging, informed, and insightful guide imaginable. Walter Isaacson is at once a true scholar and a spellbinding writer. And what a wealth of lessons there are to be learned in these pages."
—David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Wright Brothers and 1776

“I’ve read a lot about Leonardo over the years, but I had never found one book that satisfactorily covered all the different facets of his life and work. Walter—a talented journalist and author I’ve gotten to know over the years—did a great job pulling it all together. . . . More than any other Leonardo book I’ve read, this one helps you see him as a complete human being and understand just how special he was.”

—Bill Gates

“Isaacson’s essential subject is the singular life of brilliance. . . . Isaacson deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo . . . a masterpiece of concision.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“A captivating narrative about art and science, curiosity and discipline.”
—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Originals

“He comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson’s ambitious new biography . . . a vigorous, insightful portrait of the world’s most famous portraitist...Isaacson’s purpose is a thorough synthesis, which he achieves with flair.”
—The Washington Post

“Walter Isaacson is a renaissance man. . . . Rather like Leonardo, he’s driven by a joyful desire to discover. That joy bubbles forth in this magnificent book. In Isaacson, Leonardo gets the biographer he deserves—an author capable of comprehending his often frenetic, frequently weird quest to understand. This is not just a joyful book; it’s also a joy to behold. . . . Isaacson deserves immense praise for producing a very human portrait of a genius.”
—The Times of London

“The pleasure of an Isaacson biography is that it doesn’t traffic in such cynical stuff; the author tells stories of people who, by definition, are inimitable....Isaacson is at his finest when he analyzes what made Leonardo human.”
—The New York Times

“Monumental . . . Leonardo led an astonishingly interesting eventful life. And Isaacson brilliantly captures its essence.”
—The Toronto Star

"Majestic . . . Isaacson takes on another complex, giant figure and transforms him into someone we can recognize. . . . Totally enthralling, masterful, and passionate.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Illuminating . . . This is a monumental tribute to a titanic figure."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Isaacson uses his subject’s contradictions to give him humanity and depth.”
—Anthony Grafton, The New York Times

“Encompassing in its coverage, robust in its artistic explanations, yet written in a smart, conversational tone, this is both a solid introduction to the man and a sweeping saga of his genius.”
—Booklist, starred review

“A fresh and enthusiastic reading of the extraordinary da Vinci notebooks, written in a way that makes them both accessible and contemporary. Absorbing, enlightening and always engaging.”
—Miranda Seymour, author of Mary Shelley

“Isaacson's biography is linear enough to follow easily, yet it returns, as did the artist, time and again, to the highly concrete, enticingly yet rigorously investigable mysteries of the human and natural world. Model . . . . This beautiful book, on coated stock, showing text and illustrations to the best advantage, is a pleasure to hold.”
—Bay Area Reporter

“Isaacson, to his credit, helps us see Leonardo’s artistic vision with fresh eyes. . . . He writes simply and clearly, and even though his principal character hails from antiquity, the narrative hums like a headline from the morning paper, alert to topical parallels between then and now . . . we finish the book with a renewed conviction that the world’s most famous Renaissance man was, in essence, inimitable.”
—Christian Science Monitor

“A full and engrossing profile of the artist . . . The author moves fluidly between the scientific inquiries of Leonardo’s notebooks and the artistic achievements in his sketchbooks, and carries the same themes, such as the artist’s boundless curiosity and inquiry, through them in a way that does not seem too facile or overapplied.”
—East Hampton Star

“A 21st century page-turner."
—USA Today

“Exuberant . . . a richly illustrated ride through the artist’s life . . . a fascinating, bonbon-size tribute to the man who thought to ask.”
—Newsday

“Beautifully produced and illustrated, the biography is an ideal match of author and subject. . . . Fascinated by Leonardo’s genius, Isaacson lucidly and lovingly captures his stunning powers of observation that spanned so many disciplines. . . . Isaacson’s monumental and magnificent biography does succeed in helping us understand what made da Vinci’s paintings so memorable, and in making Leonardo much more accessible, as a genius, a man of and outside of his times, and as a 'quirky, obsessive, playful, and easily distracted' human being.”
—Tulsa World

“In some ways this is Walter Isaacson's most ambitious book. He uses the life he recounts in a wonderful way to speculate on the source of geniuses...always you are informed, entertained, stimulated, satisfied. This has to be the most beautifully illustrated and printed book I've seen in recent years.”
—Fareed Zakaria GPS

“[A] splendid work that provides an illuminating guide to the output of one of the last millennium’s greatest minds.”
—Guardian US

"Leonardo da Vinci's prowess as a polymath — driven by insatiable curiosity about everything from the human womb to deadly weaponry — still stuns. In this copiously illustrated biography, we feel its force all over again. Walter Isaacson wonderfully conveys how Leonardo's genius unified science and art."
—NATURE

"Dazzling"
—HARVARD GAZETTE

"Luminous . . . Leonardo Da Vinci is an elegantly illustrated book that broadens Isaacson’s viewfinder on the psychology of major lives – Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs are the subjects of his previous biographies, best-sellers all."

—THE DAILY BEAST

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B071Y385Q1
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Unabridged edition (October 17, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 174876 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 808 pages
  • Customer Reviews:

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Walter Isaacson is writing a biography of Elon Musk. He is the author of The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race; Leonardo da Vinci; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution; and Kissinger: A Biography. He is also the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He is a Professor of History at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
10,393 global ratings
Strive to think, and live, like Leonardo da Vinci.
5 Stars
Strive to think, and live, like Leonardo da Vinci.
Perhaps the finest test for a non-fiction book is whether reading it sparks a desire for more information. Leonardo da Vinci, as written by Walter Isaacson, is as good as it gets in this regard. Both the man and the writer share credit, but one gets the feeling that even a novice writer would have a hard time diminishing the fascinating life of Leonardo.Strive to think, and live, like Leonardo da Vinci. He was a man that never lost that childlike wonder we all seem to grow out of. What does a woodpecker's tongue look like? When you next see a bird, do its wings flap downward faster than upward? Does this vary from bird to bird? These are the types of questions that filled his notebooks.A surprising trait of da Vinci, one that in my estimation makes him more accessible and understandable, was his tendency to leave work unfinished. He would regularly set out to create vast manuscripts of detailed analysis on the human body, or hydraulics or even how to paint. None of which would ever reach publication. Luckily though, a large percentage of his notebooks have survived and we can see his unfinished genius at work. He left a similar trail of unfinished artistic works, including paintings and sculptures, which if completed would no doubt stand next to the Mona Lisa and his other works as some of the greatest in all of human history. Understanding why this was his tendency is key to understanding his genius.As is typical of an expert biographer, the history of Leonardo da Vinci is not written as if it is a sure thing. Isaacson clearly presents the known information on a particular topic and offers what he considers to be the truth of the matter. In the end it is up to the reader to decide what to believe.I have never read a book that analyzed art in such depth. I have gained a new respect for art history and wish I could revisit all the museums I have been to in my life. I would be doing so with a newfound appreciation as well as a more critical eye thanks to Isaacson. Of course, I wish more than anything else that I could see the Mona Lisa again. My knowledge and respect of the painting when I was luckily enough to see it was severely lacking (to say the least, but can you blame a 20 year old?).Mona Lisa smile... the depth of this subject is astounding. Sfumato, maybe the most important word when it comes to understanding what made da Vinci different. To understand the genius of Leonardo is to understand sfumato. There are no clear delineations between subjects, whether in a painting or in life and philosophy. How much of life is a Mona Lisa smile... shifting... unclear upon inspection... confounding... ever changing.I could go on and on... suffice to say, read this book. You'll be better off for it.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Alexander Floyd
5.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2024
Verified Purchase
Walter Isaacson offers a comprehensive, well-written, intimate, and riveting biography on one of the world’s most misunderstood geniuses. Throughout the book, Isaacson sought to convey the thoughts and motivations of Da Vinci in a fathomable manner — and he achieved just that. The book was replete with pictures and elucidations of both his art work and scientific endeavors, with most of which found in his notebooks of 7000 surviving pages. Despite the inherent obscurity of Da Vinci, Isaacson presented us with a veracious and chronological dissection of his 67 years as a painter, polymath, inventor, architect, engineer, writer, musician, sculptor, mathematician, geologist, botanist, and anatomist; most importantly, Isaacson described the interplay between all of Da Vinci’s disciplines and, with his profound imagination, how he interweaved the numerous fields, producing astonishing results. The book sucessfully imparted to the reader the hallmarks that made Leonardo Da Vinci a singular genius — a genius with traits that starkly contrast with that of the renowned intellectuals of the past. One of which, perhaps the most important, was that he was imbued with an insatiable curiosity, an affinity for the aspects of nature that most people lack the interest for. Another was that he was able to dance across the smudgy line between fantasy and ingenuity, which is the perfect blend to fuel innovation
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ernie
5.0 out of 5 stars Isaacson is good author and da Vinci is great subject
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2024
Verified Purchase
Chernow, Isaacson... thin air up here. Great reading, entertaining and informative. da Vinci is an interesting person who lives in interesting times and Isaacson makes both aspects come alive. Glad I bought hardback, looking forward to discussing this book with my son in 20 years.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Bernardo
4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
A little too much detail of his paintings for me, but certainly a well research and thoroughly insightful narrative about one of the great geniuses mankind has produced.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting biography about a fascinating man.
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
Verified Purchase
Although I was surprised about the repetition in the text and the relative poor quality of the illustrations, the life of Leonardo is totally fascinating. A good read.
Helpful
 Report
Robert P Gelms
5.0 out of 5 stars da Vinci He Be Duh Man
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
The Smartest Person Who Ever Lived
By Bob Gelms
In my “it does not count” opinion, the smartest person who ever lived was, unquestionably, Sir Isaac Newton. An awful lot of people disagree with me. The preponderance of their opinions puts Leonardo da Vinci in the number one spot.
For the purposes of this issue we will confine our investigation to da Vinci as number one. Mostly because America’s number one biographer, Walter Isaacson, has just published Leonardo, the best biography I have ever read on Leonardo da Vinci.
When I was in 4th grade in St. Thomas Moore grade school on the south side of Chicago, we had a series of biographies written for grade school kids. Most of the series was taken up with the saints. They had, however, a few biographies of famous people in history. The bookcase that housed this series was right next to my desk.
One day, as was usual, I was bored so I reached over and pulled out the book on da Vinci. It didn't take long before I was hooked. The term “Renaissance Man” was new so I asked the kindly, ever so patient, Dominican nun who was only interested in the welfare and intellectual growth of her students. (sarcasm) She pronounced it for me and told me what it meant. Up to that point in my life it, for sure, was the coolest thing I had ever heard. From that point on I was fixated on Leonardo da Vinci.
There were a lot of surprises in store for me because the biography I read in that Catholic grammar school of course didn’t mention that da Vinci was vegetarian, gay, illegitimate, left-handed, a heretic who produced some of the finest religious paintings in history and the world’s leading procrastinator.
When I heard that Walter Isaccson was publishing a new biography, Leonardo, my first thought was, “Does the world really need ANOTHER biography of Leonardo da Vinci? After all there are only about 32,000 of them!” My second thought was that if there was any writer who could bring something fresh, exciting, and surprising to the subject of da Vinci's life, it was, without a doubt, Walter Isaccson.
Mr. Isaccson does not shy away from difficult subjects. He has written about Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin. His biography of Leonardo da Vinci is dazzling.
In Leonardo, Mr. Isaccson gives us a superb scrutiny of of the master's paintings. It is to our everlasting benefit that the author seems to possess an extraordinarily discerning eye for these works in addition to an erudite mind capable of critical analysis. This brings a whole new aspect to the career of Leonardo da Vinci.
According to Mr. Isaccson, da Vinci looked at the world around him and saw that everything was related to everything else, something of a theme during the High Renaissance. Da Vinci, however, took it to regions unknown.
For example, he didn’t see that there was much of a difference between science and art or between art and the study of nature. All you need to get an idea of the relationship between art and science is to take a look at his breathtaking rendition of Vitruvian Man. The sensitive viewer will see a spectacular work of art but also the ideal of human proportions and geometry.
Sfumato is a painting technique invented by da Vinci to give depth to the edges of his subjects. It gives a sense of three dimensions. Coupled with the glazes he used, he got that smoky hazy feeling that seems to pervade his paintings.
Mr. Isaccson points out that da Vinci got this effect by carefully smearing the paint. It has been thoroughly documented that on a few of his works, Leonardo da Vinci inadvertently left his fingerprints, which have been used to confirm that he painted a few that weren’t, at first, attributed to him. This book is filled with little gems like that. The amount of detail Mr. Isaccson provides is prodigious.
Buy Leonardo, if for no other reason than to read the chapters on the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. They are just riveting and well worth the price of admission. I can’t fit all of da Vinci's interests in this review but the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark’s comment on Leonardo da Vinci seems to encapsulate his whole personality. Clark called him, “the most relentlessly curious man in history.”
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Sarah alafandi
5.0 out of 5 stars Un libro excepcional
Reviewed in Mexico on June 2, 2023
Verified Purchase
Todavía no lo termino pero cada página es mejor que la anterior. Si eres fan de da Vinci, no dudes en leerlo porque te hará todavía más fan.
Está muy fácil de digerir y súper bien explicado, sientes que te sumerges en el mundo de Leonardo
Customer image
Sarah alafandi
5.0 out of 5 stars Un libro excepcional
Reviewed in Mexico on June 2, 2023
Todavía no lo termino pero cada página es mejor que la anterior. Si eres fan de da Vinci, no dudes en leerlo porque te hará todavía más fan.
Está muy fácil de digerir y súper bien explicado, sientes que te sumerges en el mundo de Leonardo
Images in this review
Customer image
Customer image
Report
TB
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in Canada on December 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
Though I've only read a third of the book thus far, the author is a skilled writer and keeps the reader engaged in the story. Furthermore, he did his research and referenced the ideas and concepts that he mentions throughout the chapters I read.
Report
Rodrigo
5.0 out of 5 stars A true masterpice
Reviewed in Brazil on April 6, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book is a true masterpiece. Very well written and the hardcover edition is great, high quality paper and print. One of the finest books I've ever read.
3 people found this helpful
 Report
Anglolena
5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant evocation of how Leonardo's mind was allowed to develop in so many interesting directions
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2024
Verified Purchase
This is one of the best books I have ever read: fascinating, fabulously well illustrated (every painting mentioned is illustrated on the page!), wide-ranging, complete, and chock full of interesting facts and observations about Leonardo's world: the nature of his illegitimacy, the roles of his parents at different times in his life, the effects of his homosexuality (not many!), the nature of his apprenticeship and the innovations in painting that he worked out for himself (sfumato, e.g.) I LOVED how Isaacson completely disregarded any line between "art" and "science" (the so called two solitudes), and showed how Leonardo and his contemporaries used observation to inform both their paintings and sculptures, and their works of stagecraft and engineering. I also loved how patronage was described, how the various patrons courted Leonardo and his fellows, cut them slack, rewarded them, etc. etc. The economic context was brought in: the cost of keeping our hero in food, clothing and wine, for example. A masterpiece. Too bad the author has since wasted his time on a jerk like Elon Musk... though I may buy it in case he has worked some magic on that person.
8 people found this helpful
 Report
Christina Smirnova
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in Spain on December 13, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very well written. I am not very much into biograpfies, but after this book I decided to read other books of this author.
Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report