---
title: "Isaac Newton by James Gleick"
description: "Takeaway: Sometimes it is ok to give up. Purchase Links: Hardback , Paperback , Kindle Edition Audible.com Audiobook I am intrigued by science.  But I really do not know much about science.  My scienc..."
url: https://bookwi.se/newton-gleick/
date: 2011-05-06
modified: 2026-07-15
author: "Adam Shields"
categories: ["Book Reviews"]
tags: ["Scribd"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Isaac Newton by James Gleick

![Isaac Newton](https://bookwi.se/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cover-4377.jpg)Takeaway: **Sometimes it is ok to give up.**

Purchase Links: [Hardback](http://www.amazon.com/Isaac-Newton-James-Gleick/dp/0375422331), [Paperback](http://www.amazon.com/Isaac-Newton-James-Gleick/dp/1400032954), [Kindle Edition](http://www.amazon.com/Isaac-Newton-ebook/dp/B000XUBG28) [Audible.com Audiobook](http://www.amazon.com/Isaac-Newton/dp/B0009JOMZQ)

I am intrigued by science.  But I really do not know much about science.  My science education was either quite poor, or I am just a poor science student (or both.)  My high school biology class was taught by a teacher that had two sections, one was for people that had already failed biology once and the second was taught with the same outline.  I never received less than a 90 on any test or quiz, but I am not sure I learned anything either.  My chemistry class I remember distinctly people cheating off of me, but I have no memory of the class other than the oddity that was my teacher.  I took AP physics but remember it even less than the other two.  In college I had one science class which I hated.  It was filled almost entirely by music majors because of off scheduling and a professor that did not like students.

In spite of my lack of science understanding, I feel like I need more science.  If for no other reason, than I need to understand the basics of modern science to understand the basics of modern philosophy.  So I tend to read a lot of biographies of scientists to try and understand why what they did was important and to try and figure out what it was they actually did.

I checked this out from Overdrive as a library audiobook.  I listened to about 4 hours and honestly was a bit bored.  So I will not finish.  I was almost half way through the book and it had barely really started talking about science.  I read enough to learn that Newton was an odd man.  But I am not interested enough to keep reading (or to actually pay for the book to continue reading it.)