Leonardo Da Vinci

　　

　　《賈伯斯傳》《愛因斯坦傳》作者的新傳記以最新史料帶來生動的達文西，透過他犀利的分析與分享，我們不再只是景仰偉人，也能從中獲益良多。

　　

　　根據數千頁達文西驚人的筆記本與關於其人生與作品的新發現，艾薩克森將他的藝術與科技成就結合成發人深省的故事。達文西的才華源自於我們也可以自我增進的能力，像是熱情的好奇心、小心謹慎的觀察與遨遊馳騁於幻想中的想像力。

　　

　　窮極一生的新知探索

　　

　　達文西留下兩幅史上最知名的畫作：最後的晚餐與蒙娜麗莎的微笑。但他只自覺為一名研究科學與科技的人。極富熱情（有時變成迷戀），他追求解剖學、化石、鳥類、心臟、飛行機器、植物學、地質學與兵器等創新的研究。他的能力座落在人性與科學的十字路口，維特魯威人使他成為歷史上最創意的天才。

　　

　　藝術與科技相輔相成的天才

　　

　　他的創造力，像其他偉大的發明家一樣，由廣泛多面向的熱情而來。他剝下屍體的臉皮，描繪嘴唇運動所牽引的肌肉，繪製成了史上最知名的笑容。他探究光學的奧秘，展現光線如何撞擊眼角膜，並產生視角變化的幻覺應用在最後的晚餐中。

　　

　　達文西以得自多重熱情的欣喜來維持源源不絕的創造力輸出。所以，他也很容易被歸為異類：私生子、同性戀、素食者、左撇子、容易分心且有時是異端的。他的人生提醒我們逐步培育的重要，無論是我們還是我們的孩子，不要僅止接收知識，更要願意提出疑問。像任何領域中富有才華的異類與叛逆者一樣，我們必須成為有想像力的人，think different.

　　

　　「宏偉壯闊… 艾薩克森著手研究另一個複雜的巨人並把他改觀成我們可以理解的角色…十分引人入勝、出色且熱情的。」–《科克斯評論》（文/博客來編譯）

The #1 New York Times bestseller

"A powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life...a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it." --The New Yorker

"Vigorous, insightful." --The Washington Post

"A masterpiece." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Luminous." --The Daily Beast

He was history's most creative genius. What secrets can he teach us?

The author of the acclaimed bestsellers Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography.

Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves 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. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. 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.

His creativity, like that of other great innovators, came from having wide-ranging passions. He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, drew the muscles that move the lips, and then painted history's most memorable smile. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. Isaacson also describes how Leonardo's lifelong enthusiasm for staging theatrical productions informed his paintings and inventions.

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 of instilling, both in ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it--to be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different.

Walter Isaacson, a professor of history at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He is the author of Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu