Isaac Newton: Giants of Science  (Giants of Science (Viking))
Starred Review.Grade 5-7–Krull fulfills the promise of the outstanding previous volume in this series,Leonardo da Vinci(Viking, 2005) with this follow-up. Writing in a style aptly described in the blurb as juicily anecdotal (a tone reflected in Kulikovs witty illustrations), she offers a multifaceted portrait of a genius who was both brilliant and several slices short of a loaf, capable of revolutionary insights into science but also rude, jealous, and secretive. Along with presenting lucid, animated descriptions of Newtons major achievements, from calculus and the laws of motion to the reflecting telescope (a cool new toy that earned him instant election to the Royal Society), the author carefully takes on such speculative topics as his religious beliefs, his homosexuality, and the possibility that his emotional imbalance was a result of poisoning caused by his obsessive alchemical experiments. Though Krull gives Newton more credit than he probably deserves for validating the scientific method, in general her assessment of his stellar position in the history of science is right on target.–John Peters, New York Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.