by Philip Steele
This biography of Isaac Newton is recommended by RC History for Connecting with History volume 3 at the logic level (7th-9th grades). It was not my intention to buy it. I thought our library would certainly have a biography on Isaac Newton I could substitute without spending any money. So I checked out and read every juvenile biography of Newton...and they were all unacceptable.
So I bought this inexpensive biography and it far surpassed all of the library options. It's brief, only about 60 pages, but is in full color and has supplementary information and a timeline in addition to the text. It's divided into four sections: Young Isaac, Fired by Genius, Secrets of the Universe, and Man of the World.
Many biographies of Newton present what seems to me an unbalanced look at Newton's religious beliefs. This book remains mostly quiet on such matters. It does explain that he did not believe in the trinitarian nature of God, which is known from his unpublished works, but the book doesn't claim he no longer believed in God at all or that he rebelled completely from a life of faith.
I asked my sixth grader to read this. She's an overachiever, but I think most fifth and sixth graders could follow this text without too much trouble. She even wrote an excellent narration on Newton at the end of the book.
I received nothing in exchange for this review and all opinions are my own. I purchased this book new. Links above to RC History are affiliate links. The book is also available at Amazon (affiliate link).
