After Issacson's botched Steve Job's biography, I have a difficult time trusting him for any historical figure. Issacson had unprecedented access to Steve Jobs, yet the biography really didn't provide any new insight into what made him who he was.
He did certainly not. LDV has been asleep for years. He is dead. His remains are but dust.<p>Isaacson has more likely been using his great imagination to write an exciting read. He has performed wonderfully at this in the past with other long-dead individuals. But in the cases where the person was only recently deceased and still present in first-hand memories of living individuals, Isaacson has been found to do a dismal job.
What troubled me about the article is that it implies Leonardo was a peaceful man yet these are points 4, 5 and 6 in in his resume:<p>"... 4. Again, I have kinds of mortars; most convenient and easy to carry; and with these I can fling small stones almost resembling a storm; and with the smoke of these cause great terror to the enemy, to his great detriment and confusion.<p>5. And if the fight should be at sea I have kinds of many machines most efficient for offense and defense; and vessels which will resist the attack of the largest guns and powder and fumes.<p>6. I have means by secret and tortuous mines and ways, made without noise, to reach a designated spot, even if it were needed to pass under a trench or a river. ..."<p><a href="http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/leonardo-da-vincis-handwritten-resume-1482.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/leonardo-da-vincis-handwr...</a>
I remember a fun discussion Isaacson once had about Benjamin Franklin. After finishing a 608-page biography about Franklin's life, Isaacson was asked "Would Ben Franklin be a blogger if he were alive today?"<p><a href="http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/12/11/what-if-ben-were-one-of-us/" rel="nofollow">http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/12/11/what-if-ben-were-one-...</a><p><i>Isaacson, who'd written a 608-page biography of Franklin, insisted that the answer was no — "not a blogger." The distinction was that Franklin "polished every word." But the question was too provocative to leave without more discussion. Ben Franklin would have a web site, Isaacson speculated. "It would be carefully crafted. It would be more like Andrew Sullivan than your normal blogger in pajamas."</i>
Isaacson recently gave a promotional talk on the KERA Think podcast: <a href="http://think.kera.org/2017/10/18/the-strange-and-wonderful-mind-of-leonardo-da-vinci/" rel="nofollow">http://think.kera.org/2017/10/18/the-strange-and-wonderful-m...</a>