A biography of the foremost scientist of his time Isaac Newton. Gleick provides a good historical account, mixing pure scientific discovery with the culture and rivalry between fellow scientists.
I did not appreciate his relationship with the Royal Society, first a distant contributor and then a more central role. Also becoming the custodian of the Royal mint and combating currency fraud was an interesting departure - probably fuelled by his interest in metals from alchemy experiments.
One thing you really get the sense of was the reasoning that went into the invisible force of gravity, something we just take for granted today - but needed a lot of justification back in his day. Similarly for the nature and behaviour of light.
I've read Gleick's other books on Feynman and Chaos, and this one is shorter and feels a little less detailed. I put that down to the era it is describing, Newton's unpublished works went on into wealthy families and only came into the public domain at auction as the aristocracy struggled to pay their way in the 20th century.
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