Book Notes: Pt 1: Book Summary (From Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson)

Reading Time: 11 minutes

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

ISBN-13 : 978-1501139154

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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💡Three Main Ideas

The Power of Curiosity and Interconnectedness

  • Leonardo da Vinci was a true polymath whose boundless curiosity and ability to connect diverse disciplines were key to his creativity and genius. He was both a skilled artist and engineer who used his knowledge of science to inform his art and his understanding of art to inform his scientific inquiries. He believed art and science combined to allow exploration of humanity’s place in the universe. 
  • Leonardo saw recurring patterns and analogies across seemingly disparate fields, from the proportions of the human body to the flow of water. His mastery of perspective in painting was rooted in a deep understanding of optics, while his fascination with machinery stemmed from a fascination with motion as a fundamental element of both biological and mechanical design.
  • Leonardo’s insatiable thirst for knowledge was the driving force behind his multifaceted accomplishments. “His distinguishing and most inspiring trait was his intense curiosity” (497, loc. 7609-7610). His notebooks, filled with questions, observations, and sketches spanning various disciplines, demonstrate his relentless pursuit of understanding the interconnectedness of all things – from the natural world to the human experience.
  • Despite having little formal education, Leonardo was a lifelong learner who avidly read and accumulated knowledge from the rapidly expanding resources made available by Gutenberg’s printing press. His notebooks are filled with lists of books he owned or wanted to borrow. He was constantly making lists of things he must do and learn. His endless lists of topics to study and learn reflect a mind that was always expanding, always seeking new connections and insights.
  • At the heart of Leonardo’s genius was his belief in the inherent harmony and wholeness of nature. By observing the patterns and principles that repeated at every scale, from the microcosm to the macrocosm, he was able to make groundbreaking discoveries and innovations that continue to inspire and influence us today.

 

Balance Experience and Theory

  • While initially skeptical of formal education, Leonardo eventually came to recognize the immense value in combining experiential knowledge with robust theoretical frameworks. He became a disciple of both practical experience and received wisdom, understanding the importance of an ongoing dialogue between the two.
  • Leonardo believed that practical applications needed to be grounded in a solid understanding of underlying principles and mechanisms. This perspective highlights the importance of seeking a well-rounded education that judiciously balances hands-on experience with rigorous theoretical knowledge. Leonardo wrote in his notebook:
    • “Those who are in love with practice without theoretical knowledge are like the sailor who goes onto a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whither he is going,” he wrote in 1510. “Practice must always be founded on sound theory.” (179, loc. 2742-2743)
    • As a result, Leonardo became one of the major Western thinkers, more than a century before Galileo, to pursue in a persistent hands-on fashion the dialogue between experiment and theory that would lead to the modern Scientific Revolution. (179, loc. 2744-2746)
  • Leonardo’s approach to learning, which foreshadowed the core tenets of the scientific method, involved a continuous cycle of keen observation, rigorous experimentation, and incremental theoretical refinement. This iterative process, which he applied across both his artistic and scientific pursuits, serves as a model for tackling challenges in any field.
  • By embracing this cyclical approach to learning and discovery, Leonardo encourages us to cultivate a mindset of continuous exploration, constantly testing our assumptions, and refining our understanding through a combination of empirical experience and critical thinking. 

 

Strive for Perfection, but Also Ship

  • There exists an inherent tension between the relentless pursuit of perfection and the fundamental need to “ship” or complete and deliver a product. Leonardo was a notorious perfectionist, often leaving his works unfinished due to his unyielding desire to incorporate ever-evolving insights and achieve ideal forms.
  • This perfectionism, while admirable in its aspiration towards excellence, also resulted in a lengthy list of abandoned projects and unrealized potential. 
  • This struggle between perfectionism and completion is perhaps best exemplified by Leonardo’s entry in one of his notebooks: “Tell me if anything was ever done. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me if ever I did a thing. . . . Tell me if anything was ever made. (494, loc. 7572-7573)” 
  • Ideas, no matter how brilliant and visionary, remain largely theoretical until they are translated into concrete forms. Leonardo’s notebooks are brimming with sketches and descriptions of innovative machines, architectural designs, and scientific theories – many of which were centuries ahead of their time. However, without the crucial step of execution, these ideas remained confined to the realm of imagination, with limited capacity to influence the world.
  • For instance, while Leonardo’s conceptual designs for flying machines and submarines were groundbreaking, they did not lead to practical advancements during his lifetime. Similarly, his plans for an ideal city, replete with innovative sanitation and urban planning concepts, also remained unfulfilled. Execution is the important bridge that connects vision to impact, enabling ideas to take shape and meaningfully influence the course of events.
  • Had Leonardo completed more of his ambitious projects, he may have enjoyed greater acclaim and influence during his lifetime. In contrast, Michelangelo’s success in completing the Sistine Chapel ceiling, while Leonardo abandoned the Battle of Anghiari, allowed Michelangelo to cement his status as a more accomplished artist. Even though Leonardo “skirted the edge of fantasy with his flying machines and water projects and military devices, he envisioned what innovators would invent centuries later,” (495, loc. 7576-7577 ) his legacy might have been even greater had he translated more of those visions into reality
  • Ultimately, it is crucial to strike a balance between visionary thinking and a commitment to bringing ideas to life. The act of “shipping” – translating concepts into tangible outcomes – is not merely a practical necessity, but an integral part of the creative process itself. It is through execution that ideas gain traction, refine themselves, and ultimately leave a lasting impact on the world.

 

🔑Five Key Takeaways

  1. Take Notes. Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are full of ideas, insights, and observations that demonstrate his intellect and relentless curiosity. He was always taking notes and drawing pictures. 
    1. Spanning over 7,200 pages, the notebooks contain sketches and observations on subjects ranging from anatomy and mechanics to hydrodynamics and aeronautics. 
    2. From the early 1480s in Milan, he developed a lifelong habit of recording his observations, ideas, and sketches. He saw patterns and connections everywhere, driven by a conviction in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. 
    3. Leonardo’s notebooks offer a window into the mind of a true polymath – part scientist, part artist, part philosopher, always probing, always questioning.  
  2. Pay Attention. Leonardo was obsessed with how things worked. He loved building machines and figuring out how they moved and worked. He was a self-taught engineer who drew lots of pictures of gears, levers, and pulleys. 
    1. His notebooks are full of sketches of all kinds of contraptions, from simple machines for grinding needles to more ambitious endeavors like flying machines inspired by his observations of birds. 
    2. Leonardo thought that machines and the human body were both like complex systems that were designed for movement. He compared cords in machines to sinews in the body and applied his understanding of mechanical principles to his anatomical studies. 
    3. He was always curious and wanted to understand everything about motion. This led him to discover important ideas about friction, momentum, and how fluids flow. His ideas helped shape how he saw the world.
  3. Innovate. Leonardo was an extremely talented artist who came up with new ways of painting. 
    1. He invented things like sfumato, which is a way to make colors blend smoothly, and chiaroscuro, which is the use of contrasts of light and shadow to achieve the illusion of three-dimensional volume. 
    2. Sfumato, derived from the Italian word for “smoke,” allowed Leonardo to create subtle transitions between light and shadow, resulting in soft and enigmatic forms, as seen in his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa. 
    3. Leonardo thought that shadows were more important than lines for making things look real on a flat surface. ““Your shadows and lights should be blended without lines or borders in the manner of smoke losing itself in the air,” he wrote in a series of maxims for young painters. (51, loc. 771-772) “. He studied shadows carefully and drew many detailed pictures to show how they worked.  
    4. These artistic innovations had a profound impact on painting and influenced generations of artists.
  4. Make connections. Leonardo believed that everything in the natural world was connected, and this helped him see the big picture and learn about many different things. 
    1. He used comparisons to show how different things had similar patterns and rules. For example, he compared the human body to the “microcosm” reflecting the “macrocosm” of the earth, highlighting the parallels between the flow of blood in veins and the movement of water in rivers. This helped him study geology and how the earth’s surface was formed. 
    2. Leonardo also saw a connection between machines and the human body. He thought they were both complex systems that were made to move. He studied muscles and bones like they were levers and pulleys and drew them in layers to show how joints worked.
  5. Execute. Execution is the process of “shipping” or delivering tangible outcomes, and it is a critical component of innovation and impact. 
    1. Completion, while not always necessary for every idea, is often crucial for realizing the full potential of a creative endeavor. The act of execution itself can be a catalyst for refinement and improvement. 
    2. Leonardo’s meticulous drawings of machines, often depicted in exploded views to reveal their inner workings, suggest that he used drawing as a tool for thinking through the practical challenges of engineering. 
    3. Similarly, his anatomical studies, which combined detailed dissections with artistic renderings, demonstrate how hands-on engagement with a subject can deepen understanding and lead to new insights. 
    4. The process of bringing an idea to life, of wrestling with the constraints of materials and techniques, can expose unforeseen problems and inspire innovative solutions that might not have emerged through purely theoretical contemplation. “Practice must always be founded on sound theory,” Leonardo wrote (179, loc. 2742-2743).

 

✍🏾Top Quotes

  • As he aged, he pursued his scientific inquiries not just to serve his art but out of a joyful instinct to fathom the profound beauties of creation. His curiosity was pure, personal, and delightfully obsessive. Together they served his driving passion, which was nothing less than knowing everything there was to know about the world, including how we fit into it. (10, loc. 150-154)
  • Skill without imagination is barren. Leonardo knew how to marry observation and imagination, which made him history’s consummate innovator. (13, loc. 186-187)
  • If the painter wishes to see beauties that charm him, it lies within his power to create them; and if he wishes to see monstrosities that are frightful, buffoonish, or ridiculous, or pitiable, he can be lord thereof. (129, loc. 1973-1976)
  • Be curious, relentlessly curious. “I have no special talents,” Einstein once wrote to a friend. “I am just passionately curious.” (497, loc. 7607-7608)
  • Tell me if anything was ever done. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me if ever I did a thing. . . . Tell me if anything was ever made. (494, loc. 7572-7573)
  • Start with the details. In his notebook, Leonardo shared a trick for observing something carefully: Do it in steps, starting with each detail. A page of a book, he noted, cannot be absorbed in one stare; you need to go word by word. “If you wish to have a sound knowledge of the forms of objects, begin with the details of them, and do not go on to the second step until you have the first well fixed in memory.” (498, loc. 7627-7630)

About Leonardo da Vinci

  • Born on April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was a polymath genius whose creativity stemmed from his ability to connect art and science. He considered himself an engineer and scientist as much as an artist. He was a master of observation and imagination, and his work blurred the lines between reality and fantasy.
    • “On turning thirty, Leonardo da Vinci wrote a letter to the ruler of Milan [Ludovico Sforza]  listing the reasons he should be given a job. In the first ten paragraphs, he touted his engineering skills, including his ability to design bridges, waterways, cannons, armored vehicles, and public buildings. Only in the eleventh paragraph, at the end, did he add that he was also an artist. “Likewise in painting, I can do everything possible,” he wrote.”(9, loc. 133-136). 
    • What also distinguished Leonardo’s genius was its universal nature. The world has produced other thinkers who were more profound or logical, and many who were more practical, but none who was as creative in so many different fields. (496, loc. 7594-7595)
    • Leonardo’s brilliance spanned multiple disciplines, which gave him a profound feel for nature’s patterns and crosscurrents. His curiosity impelled him to become among the handful of people in history who tried to know all there was to know about everything that could be known. (496, loc. 7596-7598)
    • Leonardo was a genius, but more: he was the epitome of the universal mind, one who sought to understand all of creation, including how we fit into it. (496, loc. 7602-7603)
  • Leonardo was a lifelong learner who constantly sought new knowledge and experiences. His insatiable curiosity drove him to explore a wide range of subjects throughout his life, and he continuously sought out new challenges and opportunities to expand his understanding of the world.  Leonardo’s notebooks are filled with to-do lists that reveal his constant desire to learn and explore new things. 
    • “Ask Benedetto Portinari how they walk on ice in Flanders,” reads one memorable and vivid entry on a to-do list. (177, loc. 2699-2700)
    • “Ask Maestro Antonio how mortars are positioned on bastions by day or night. . . . Find a master of hydraulics and get him to tell you how to repair a lock, canal and mill in the Lombard manner. . . . Ask Maestro Giovannino how the tower of Ferrara is walled without loopholes.”(177, loc. 2700-2702)
  • Despite his genius, Leonardo was also a chronic procrastinator and perfectionist who left behind a trail of unfinished projects. His pursuit of perfection often led him to abandon works rather than settle for something merely good enough. 
    • There are numerous instances where Leonardo’s projects remain incomplete. Paintings like the Adoration of the Magi, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, and the Battle of Anghiari exemplify his struggle to reconcile his ambitious visions with the practicalities of execution. 
    • One of his most famous works, the Mona Lisa, is unfinished. Leonardo never even delivered the painting to its commissioner, choosing instead to keep it with him for over ten years, while continuously making updates to it.  
    • Consequently, only fifteen paintings are fully or mainly attributable to Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Timeline

Vinci: 1452 – 1464

  • Born in Anchiano, near Vinci, Italy.
  • Early childhood spent in the Tuscan countryside.

Florence: 1464 – 1482

  • Apprenticed to the artist Andrea Verrocchio.
  • Became a member of the Florentine painters’ guild.
  • Created notable works like “The Annunciation” and “The Adoration of the Magi.”

Milan: 1482 – 1499

  • Served as court painter and engineer for Ludovico Sforza.
  • Painted “The Last Supper” and “The Virgin of the Rocks.”
  • Conducted scientific studies and designed innovative machines.

Florence: 1500 – 1506

  • Painted “The Mona Lisa.”
  • Continued scientific research and exploration.

Milan: 1506 – 1513

  • Returned to Milan as a military engineer and architect.
  • Worked on various projects, including canal designs.

Rome: 1513 – 1516

  • Served as court painter to Pope Leo X.
  • Focused on anatomical studies and scientific research.

France: 1516 – 1519

  • Lived at the court of King Francis I at Amboise.
  • Continued his artistic and scientific pursuits until his death

🗒️Summary

Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) was a true Renaissance polymath, excelling in art, science, engineering, and more. His most defining trait was an insatiable intellectual curiosity that drove him to constantly observe, experiment, and seek knowledge.

Leonardo was a student of nature, captivated by patterns, motion, and subtle details that others often overlooked. This informed both his groundbreaking artistic techniques like sfumato and chiaroscuro, as well as his pioneering scientific work in anatomy, hydrodynamics, and engineering. Leonardo believed that the artist has the power to not only depict reality but to shape and create new forms of beauty and expression. Some of his most famous works include The Last Supper, Mona Lisa, and The Virgin of the Rocks.

Leonardo also had engineering aspirations. He designed bridges, canals, fortifications, and all sorts of innovative machines. “Another proposal he drew was for a machine with many cannons, one with racks of eleven cannons each. While one set of cannons was cooling off and being reloaded, the other sets could be firing. It was the precursor to the machine gun. (109, loc. 1668-1670)”. He was fascinated by motion and used drawing as a tool to understand the principles of mechanics.

While Leonardo da Vinci left behind many unfinished projects, his interdisciplinary approach allowed him to make transformative innovations that bridged art and science. His anatomical drawings, for instance, combined medical insight with artistic mastery. His work changed how we think about art, science, and engineering. 

Ultimately, Leonardo’s voracious curiosity and willingness to explore connections across diverse fields made him one of history’s most visionary and influential thinkers. His life offers a lesson in the power of open-minded inquiry and a refusal to be constrained by disciplinary boundaries. Leonardo’s willingness to embrace the unfinished, to constantly learn and refine, is a key part of his enduring appeal.


Read the whole series

Part 1: Book Summary 
Part 2: The Outsider Who Revolutionized Art and Science
Part 3: Key Elements of Leonardo’s Genius and Actionable Insights
Part 4: The Interplay of Art and Science in Leonardo’s Work
Part 5: Technology and Culture
Part 6: Note-Taking
Part 7: Leonardo, Macchiavelli, and The Prince