On the Shoulders of a Giant: Isaac Newton

Brilliant. Isaac Newton was simply brilliant. I confess I knew very little about Newton other than a story about an apple falling on his head and his discovering gravity -- just like that. Apparently, that story isn’t quite right. However, it is true that he was able to learn and discover so much in a short amount of time.

Isaac Newton was a mathematician, philosopher, chemist, and physicist. That should be enough to scare anyone away, right? But on top of that, he was actually a theologian. In a nutshell, this guy’s mind was intimidating. He was a diligent student bent on creating a worldview that encompassed all of these things so that they fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. Ambitious, to say the least!

Mitch Stokes’ book, Isaac Newton (part of the Christian Encounters series), is not as intimidating as the man. I enjoyed getting to learn about this brilliant man who’s aim was actually to glorify God with his discoveries and studies. That’s rare. He had some interesting views on God, including the Trinity. Personally, I would have enjoyed the book more if it had included more about his personal and religious views and less on his scientific findings. But trigonometry and geometry were enough to drive me mad in school, so I might be biased. Perhaps if I understood those things, I could truly appreciate the man who invented calculus.  I do believe people with a mathematical or scientific background could appreiciate this more than my pitiful mind, but it was good to stretch it.  I plan on passing it on to my dad, a lover of science.

This much I gathered:  the rest of the world stands on the shoulders of this giant.




(I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as a part of http://www.booksneeze.com/.)

On the Shoulders of a Giant: Isaac Newton