Isaac Newton was born in a stone farmhouse in 1642, fatherless and unwanted by his mother. When he died in London in 1727 he was so renowned he was given a state funeral—an unheard-of honor for a subject whose achievements were in the realm of the intellect. During the years he was an irascible presence at Trinity College, Cambridge, Newton imagined properties of nature and gave them names— mass , gravity , velocity —things our science now takes for granted. Inspired by Aristotle, spurred on by Galileo’s discoveries and the philosophy of Descartes, Newton grasped the intangible and dared to take its measure, a leap of the mind unparalleled in his generation.

James Gleick, the author of Chaos and Genius , and one of the most acclaimed science writers of his generation, brings the reader into Newton’s reclusive life and provides startlingly clear explanations of the concepts that changed forever our perception of bodies, rest, and motion—ideas so basic to the twenty-first century, it can truly be said: We are all Newtonians.

詹姆斯・格雷克，美国最伟大的科普畅销书作家，1954年生于纽约，毕业于哈佛大学。毕业后先到明尼亚博利斯市创办《Minneapolis》周报，于1977年返回纽约，在《纽约时报》担任编辑及采访记者十年，成为著名的科技专栏作家。格雷克目前已出版数部十分畅销科普著作，其中《混沌》，《费曼传》以及《牛顿传》（以上三本书都由高等教育出版社引进出版）等书多次获得美国国家非文学类图书奖提句，英国非文学类最佳畅销书等奖项，被译作近30种语言，行销全球。