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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci

Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci

1 rating: 3.0

A book by Bulent Atalay

In this readable, if less than compelling, disquisition on the close relationship of art and science, physics professor Atalay uses as his touchstone Leonardo da Vinci, of whom he says in his prologue: "Had [da Vinci] been able to publish the scientific … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Mathematics, Leonardo Da Vinci, Art And Science

Author: Bulent Atalay

Genre: Arts & Photography

Publisher: Smithsonian Books

1 review about Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science...

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Too many branches away from the life and accomplishments of da Vinci

Jul 5, 2010

by CharlesAshbacher
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

While this book pays tribute to the incredible talent of Leonardo da Vinci, the coverage moves into areas of science that have little connection to what da Vinci did. While da Vinci was very modern (for the times) in his model of the universe and that model was the intellectual forerunner of modern science, it is a flimsy connection between what he did and modern physics. Atalay draws a sequential connection between da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, Einstein and the developers of modern quantum mechanics.
The most important fact stated in the book is that most of da Vinci's notebooks have been lost, although there are references to them. This is both sad and exciting; sad in the case that they be permanently lost yet exciting because there is the possibility that additional notebooks may be found. Even though so much is missing, da Vinci still ranks as one of the greatest artists and greatest experimental and theoretical scientists of all time. One can only imagine the wondrous contents of what has been lost.
I consider Leonardo da Vinci to have been the most talented person of all time; he truly was the dictionary entry depicting the Renaissance man. That opinion tends to sour my view of this book because there are so many branches away from the life of da Vinci. To me, nothing could be more interesting than the description of his life and achievements.

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