Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind

Book Description

As the success of blockbusters like The Da Vinci Code shows, the incomparable and enigmatic Leonardo da Vinci continues to captivate. In this widely acclaimed biography, Charles Nicholl uncovers the man behind the myth of the Â“Renaissance master.Â” Painter, sculptor, inventor, draftsman, anatomistÂ—LeonardoÂ's life and career encompassed so many of the creative achievements that made his era spectacular. Nicholl skillfully captures it all while tracing his subjectÂ's journey from an illegitimate child in Tuscany to his service with some of the most powerful families of Renaissance Europe. Rich with historical background, packed with black-and-white and color illustrations, and utterly engaging, this is the definitive look at a figure whose genius reaches out to us through the centuries.

Customer Reviews:

Maybe it's just me.......2007-02-15

There are more life details in this book than I ever wanted to read. This made for a bit of a slow, boring read. I'm still looking for a good biography on Da Vinci.

A winner...!.......2006-04-03

It has been a long time since my survey of art history and architecture classes, and so, in preparation for a trip to Italy, it seemed like a good idea to read about the great Leonardo. This book served as a window in my planning as well as a way to gain greater understanding of the five-hundred years worth of tradition and scholarly debate surrounding da Vinci.

First of all it is important to say that Charles Nicholl has done a fantastic job of ferreting out obscure documents and records that give us facts and clues to untangle the misinformation about Leonardo da Vinci. One has a sense of being in the hands of a master of the art of separating wheat and chaff, as Nicholl sifts until we, the readers, are given only that which is worthwhile. The rest lightly falls away.

As a result, the reader gets to know much about da Vinci's family, his hometown and early years; much about his training and his methods of working; much about his likes and dislikes--in short, we get to know da Vinci the man as well as da Vinci the artist. Nicholl discusses the developmental impact of da Vinci's illegitimacy and its possible influence upon his subsequent choices in subject and themes as an artist. While not shying away from these or other details of da Vinci's personal life, he does so in a way that these serve as windows into the man and his work.

The book is well-illustrated, especially so for what is not a coffee table book-it has two generous selections of color plates and a profusion of black and white photography as well, that helps the reader see the interrelationships between da Vinci's well known and lesser known works. While there is an excellent quantity of information about da Vinci's speculative explorations of anatomy and his work on machines ranging from warfare to flying, the book centers upon his brilliance in the art of painting and drawing.

There is a first-rate overview of each of the best known works, and much to help the reader appreciate the background of the Mona Lisa and Last Supper, as well as the Annunciation, the Adoration, the Madonna of the Rocks, and the different versions of the Virgin with St. Anne, et al. The antecedents, models, and borrowings from one work to another provide a harmony of understanding. Many of the less well known works are also brought to the fore so that the reader has a larger sense of da Vinci's oeuvre.

The account of the concealed fresco of the Palazzo Vecchio is gripping, with the research still-evolving; it is the kind of chronicle that sends the reader looking for supplementary information. Nicholl relates the friction between the two Florentine geniuses, da Vinci and Michelangelo, showing a clash of temperament that fleshes out the character of both men.

One comes away from the book with a profound sense that da Vinci, while adding beauty and wonder to the lives of many, and while exhibiting a boundless curiosity about all things, was nonetheless a man whose life was also fraught with a self-imposed distancing from others, and a measure of melancholy.

Throughout, the interrelationship between da Vinci and his contemporary Renaissance artists, as well as political leaders, is so well presented that the reader is given a large tapestry of the life and times of da Vinci.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Wow.......2006-01-30

I haven't read many biogrpahies on Leonardo Da Vinci. In fact this is the first one but based on other reviews here and from what I've read in the book myself - this has to be one of the very best Biography book on Leonardo Da Vinci, so I would highly recommend it to all.

Flying above and beyond.......2006-01-06

Although lengthy enough to use as a satisfactory doorstop, it was worth the reading. Not only a biography of Da Vinci's life, the author traces the evolution (sometimes convolutions)of his thought processes, as well as the social background of his more famous artistic works. Nicholl's inclusion of information on the subsequent history and restorations of paintings helped to anchor it in the present. While Fruedian interpretations are always murky at best (as oft pointed out: sometimes a cigar is just a cigar) their inclusion was also entertaining. Highly recommended - an excellent launching into the 1400's.

Renaissance Leadership.......2005-08-26

Renaissance leadership created by the d'Medici but was propelled by da Vinci from drawings to designs to catapults. "His brillance must have been noticed but one senses a note of exclusion: a young man who doesn't quite fit." (p. 167) Da Vinci was different. The book analyzes in detail the major portion of his work as a study of art and circumstance. From birth to death, the book folds itself around every aspect, every friend and every patron of da Vinci's art. The book is exhaustive. it shows what a world a half-millennium in the past could have been. The author suggests that world was scruffy but sophisticated at the same time. Eric J. Lindblom PhD Harvard

Leonardo. El vuelo de la mente (Leonardo da Vinci : Flights of the Mind)

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Leonardo. El vuelo de la mente (Leonardo da Vinci : Flights of the Mind)
Charles Nicholl
Manufacturer: Taurus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Artists, Architects & Photographers | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Biografías y memorias | Libros en español | Formats | Books

Product Description

This biography traces the endlessly curious individual behind the legendary Renaissance genius and universal man. It traces Leonardo's remarkable journey from his obscure beginnings as an illegitimate child to his final days. Nicholls discoveries penetrate Leonardo's personality, homosexuality and the extraordinary "flights" of his mind. He also paints a vivid recreation of the day-to-day minutiae of his life. Description in Spanish: Leonardo da Vinci es el artista más importante, más polifacético y más misterioso de todo el Renacimiento, pero, sorprendentemente, ésta es la primera biografía extensa que se ha escrito sobre él desde hace décadas. Charles Nicholl ha buceado durante cinco años entre todos los manuscritos, pinturas y artefactos para crear un «retrato íntimo» de Leonardo. A través de materiales de la época los cuadernos y bocetos del pintor, relatos de testigos y las primeras biografías, se introduce en el espíritu y la textura física de su vida y descubre infinidad de nuevos aspectos sobre su vida, su obra y su círculo de amistades

Book Description

The third volume in the "Living History" series, MUSTANG uses historical reenactors and magnificently restored aircraft to show cockpits, flight dress, gun ports, engines, and ground service responsibilities of the Mustang, perhaps the most important fighter of WWII. 58 color photos, 47 b&w photos and illustrations. b&w photos and illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful.......2000-06-15

This was a great book, very good pictures. Really depicts the decade!

North American P-51 Mustang (Warbirdtech Series , Vol 5)

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North American P-51 Mustang (Warbirdtech Series , Vol 5)
Frederick A. Johnsen
Manufacturer: Voyageur Press (MN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The WarbirdTech series is the first new, innovative look at military aircraft to arrive in the marketplace in the last fifteen years. Individual volumes in this series provide a first-ever "layman's technical" analysis and review of the world's most exciting combat aircraft. Included are photos, drawings and excerpts from previously "secret" and "restricted" technical manuals produced by the government and the aircraft manufacturers. Included are vintage photos of aircraft during prototype and manufacturing stages, exploded views, cutaways and phantom drawings form tech manuals, disassembled aircraft, rare variants and experimental models etc. Special emphasis is placed on the unique and ground-breaking design and performance aspects of each aircraft.

Book Description

Osprey Modelling Manual 19 covers the best-known US fighter of WWII - the long-range escort that made possible the USAAF’s bombing of Germany by day. This classic fighter would go on to have a significant postwar history too. With detailed step-by-step model photography, specially commissioned walkround photography, scale drawings and wartime shots, these books will provide all the details needed to model the main P-51 version, the P-51D (nearly 8,000, over half the total number of P-51s, built) and its variants. There is a full roundup of the models available on the market, details of where you can see the real thing, a select bibliography, and survey of websites of interest.

Customer Reviews:

Very frustrating.......2003-09-21

This is one of those books that will drive you crazy. This book is full of some very well done 1/48th models of the various marks of Mustangs. Typically, they are built straight from the box with the addition of aftermarket cockpit detail sets and, in one example, a full engine. What makes this book so frustrating is that the cockpits are so well done in the book, as are the beautiful metal finishes yet they don't give much instruction on how they were done. Since the models seem to have been built by several different modellers there are several different styles of cockpit detailing and painting and most every modeler has something that you will want to emulate on your own models. Too bad, because nothing in the text will tell you how to do it. For example, there is a cockpit in there that has a stunningly good natural wood cockpit floor achieved by paint alone. Think that they'll tell you how to do it? Nope, they don't. There is a cockpit frame that has a great shadowing detail done between the natural metal frame and the glass. Nothin in the text even mantions it, much less tells you how to do it. Subtle shading around a colorful paintjob on a tail or nose and again, nothing in the text even mentions it.

In effect, the title of this book is incorrect, this is not really a modelling manual since it gives very little instruction on how to actually improve your technique. What it is is a collection of photos of some very well painted models (interestingly, little to nothing is improved on the model outside of the cockpit, some gunbays, and the one engine so that poorly fitting parts are still poorly fitting, the panel under the nose being a prime example) that will hopefully inspire you but will lead to some real frustration as to how to learn the techniques used.

Product Description

Interactive CD-ROM featuring archive and contemporary film footage, 360-degree panoramas of interiors and exteriors, scale plans, camouflage and marking guides, technical data files, development and service histories. This CD takes you as close as you'll get to the pilot's seat of a Mustang! Includes everything but the smell...!

AIR AGE TECHNICAL LIBRARY WARPLANE RESEARCH NORTH AMERICAN P-51 MUSTANG

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AIR AGE TECHNICAL LIBRARY WARPLANE RESEARCH NORTH AMERICAN P-51 MUSTANG

Manufacturer: Air Age, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I3NO1G

Camouflage & Markings RAF Northern Europe (Camouflage & Markings, North American P-51 and F-6 Mustang)

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Camouflage & Markings RAF Northern Europe (Camouflage & Markings, North American P-51 and F-6 Mustang)
None Stated
Manufacturer: Dulcimus Book LTD.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Pamphlet
ASIN: B000RZOSJW

North American Aviation P-51 Mustang (Osprey Production Line to Frontline 1)

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Production Line to Frontline, the story of the P-51 Mustang

North American Aviation P-51 Mustang (Osprey Production Line to Frontline 1)
Michael O'Leary
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Pictorials | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Undoubtedly the finest US fighter of World War 2, the Mustang was built in astonishing numbers - 7956 P-51Ds alone - as the might of America's overwhelming industrial base swung into line behind the nation's global war effort. This new series follows the great fighter types of the conflict from the raw metal phase, through construction and testing, to the combat theatres of Europe, the Middle East, China/Burma/India and the Pacific.

Customer Reviews:

Production Line to Frontline, the story of the P-51 Mustang.......2000-06-30

A book for WWII aircraft and modeling enthusiasts. Great little softcover which starts with the circumstances and people leading into the design, developement and prototype testing of the P-51, argueably the most successfull allied fighter plane of that war. Not a page without a top quality black and white photograph or funky color prints of war propaganda posters. Lots of close up shots of technical details as well as factory layouts, assembly line photographs, windtunnel testing info, and gossip on the people involved in this machine's inseption. Well balanced writing, mixing engineering info, historical snaps and human anecdote, ending in a short chapter featuring a number of fighter aces who flew the Mustang.Made for three satisfying evenings of reading. Give us more Michael O'Leary!

North American P / F-51 Mustang in Italian Service Aviolibri Special 11

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North American P / F-51 Mustang in Italian Service Aviolibri Special 11
Alessandro and Di Massimo, Mauro Patroncino
Manufacturer: Istituto Bibliografico Napoleone - IBN Editore
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 8875650195

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North American P 51 Mustang
Smith Graham
Manufacturer: Smithmark Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

In 1994, Sierra Club Books was proud to publish Dr. Robert D. Bullard's Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color, a collection of essays contributed by some of the leading participants in the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, which focused attention on "environmental racism"--racial discrimination in environmental policymaking and the enforcement of environmental protection laws and regulations. Now, picking up where that groundbreaking anthology left off, Dr. Bullard has assembled a new collection of essays that capture the voices of frontline warriors who are battling environmental injustice and human rights abuses at the grassroots level around the world and challenging government and industry policies and globalization trends that place people of color and the poor at special risk.
Part I presents an overview of the early environmental justice movement and highlights key leadership roles assumed by women activists. Part II examines the lives of people living in "sacrifice zones"--toxic corridors (such as Louisiana's infamous "Cancer Alley") where high concentrations of polluting industries are found. Part III explores land use, land rights, resource extraction, and sustainable development conflicts, including Chicano struggles in America's Southwest. Part IV examines human rights and global justice issues, including an analysis of South Africa's legacy of environmental racism and the corruption and continuing violence plaguing the oil-rich Niger delta.
Together, the diverse contributors to this much-anticipated follow-up anthology present an inspiring and illuminating picture of the environmental justice movement in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

Good Intentions.......2006-01-30

Bullard, et al. have good intentions in that they want to correct environmental injustice and racism. However, sometimes they are too quick to call racism or get bogged down in statistics. My favorite chapter was the one on the Vieques people of Puerto Rico. If anything, I learned a lot about world politics.

Empowering.......2006-01-29

"The Quest for Environmental Justice" by Robert D. Bullard (editor) is an excellent primer about the environmental justice ('E.J.') movement. Blending U.S. environmental and social justice activists together in the late 1970s, the E.J. movement has grown to become a significant multinational political force. The numerous authors who have contributed to this volume explore the movement's rich history and chronicle many of the noteworthy struggles that have improved the lives of many people and can provide inspiration and hope to us all.

The introductory chapters include a Foreword by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who played an important role in a campaign that successfully relocated the largely African-American community of Norco, LA away from a highly polluting oil refinery; a Preface by Peggy Morrow Shepard, who believes that the E.J. movement is key to reinvigorating the mainstream environmental organizations; and an Introduction by Mr. Bullard, who recounts how some of the core principles of the E.J. movement were institutionalized at the EPA during the Clinton adminsitration.

The book is divided into four sections.

The first section, "A Legacy of Injustice" discusses the history of the E.J. movement. "Environmental Justice in ther Twenty-first Century" by Mr. Bullard compares and contrasts the Summit I and Summit II meetings to discuss both the growth of the movement and how its organizational tactics and principles have developed over time. "Neighborhoods 'Zoned' for Garbage" by Mr. Bullard drills into the author's personal experiences fighting zoning decisions in Houston, TX that first brought the fledgling E.J. movement to prominence. "Women Warriers of Color on the Front Line" by Mr. Bullard and Damu Smith offers a series of vignettes written by seven exceptional women who have led community-based campaigns to victory, often against formidable and well-financed corporate opponents.

The second section is about "The Assault on Fence-Line Communities". Beverly Wright's "Living and Dying in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley'" connects the legacy of slavery and racism with environmental exploitation and relates the successes of historic African-American towns such as Convent, LA in achieving a small measure of justice for its citizens against a large Japanese multinational corporation. Manuel Pastor, Jr. et al's "Environmental Inequity in Metropolitan Los Angeles" documents the myriad ill health effects that are produced by the disproportionate siting of hazardous sites in minority neighborhoods. Olga Pomar's "Toxic Racism on a New Jersey Waterfront" discusses the legacy of industrial pollution in Camden, NJ and the importance of developing legal tools that communities might use to more effectively petition government to secure their rights.

The third section is on the topic of "Land Rights and Sustainable Development". "Anatomy of the Urban Parks Movement" by Robert Garcia and Erica Flores explores the unequal distribution of parkland in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the Latino community's struggle to create an inner city park at an area known as the Cornfields. "Resource Wars Against Native Peoples" by Al Gedicks weaves together the experiences of native peoples in Columbia, Ecuador and the U.S. who are resisting the sacrifice of their lands in the name of unsustainable consumption. "Tierra y Vida" by Devon Pena documents the Chicano experience in the southwestern U.S. including struggles with powerful mining, agriculture, waste disposal, real estate and water interests that have long exploited labor and land for profit.

The fourth section is "Human Rights and Global Justice". Robin Morris Collin and Robert Collin's "Environmental Reparations" calls for mainstream environmental organizations to create a more inclusive environmental movement by acknowledging the interconnectedness of rural and urban ecosystems and to fight for E.J. reparations in minority communities. Deborah Berman Santana's "Vieques" is an inspiring account of resistance by the Puerto Rican people and their struggle to create a sustainable local economy. Oronoto Douglas et al's "Alienation and Militancy in the Niger Delta" details the abysmal situation that has been created in Nigeria by the confluence of oil money and government corruption but suggests ways that might prove helpful in ending the violence and nurturing a responsible form of democracy to take root.

David McDonald's "Environmental Racism and Neoliberal Disorder in South Africa" offers perhaps the book's most insightful analytical work by demonstrating how white overaccumulation and black deprivation in South Africa may explain why neoliberalism has supplanted the apartheid system as the primary means by which the privileged class has maintained its claim on scarce environmental resources. Mr. Bullard et al's "Addressing Global Poverty, Pollution and Human Rights" provides a succinct and impassioned case for addressing inequities based on race, sex and class in order to create a sustainable global community for all to share.

I highly recommend this cogently written and empowering book to everyone.

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