Bøker av Walter Isaacson

'This is a riveting book, with as much to say about the transformation of modern life in the information age as about its supernaturally gifted and driven subject' - Telegraph Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years - as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues - this is the acclaimed, internationally bestselling biography of the ultimate icon of inventiveness. Walter Isaacson tells the story of the rollercoaster life and searingly intense personality of creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies,music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written, nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of Elon Musk, the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist. His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive. At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one satellites, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said. It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

To read this magnificent biography of Leonardo da Vinci is to take a tour through the life and works of one of the most extraordinary human beings of all time in the company of the most engaging, informed, and insightful guide imaginable. Walter Isaacson is at once a true scholar and a spellbinding writer. And what a wealth of lessonsthereare to be learned in these pages. David McCullough Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo's genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history's most creative genius. His creativity, like that of other great innovators, came from having wide-ranging passions. He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, drew the muscles that move the lips, and then painted history's most memorable smile. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. Isaacson also describes how Leonardo's lifelong enthusiasm for staging theatrical productions informed his paintings and inventions. Leonardo's delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance of instilling, both in ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question itto be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different.

The first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available -- a fully realised portrait of this extraordinary human being, and great genius.

The author of the massively bestselling Steve Jobs biography writes the whole history of the digital age

In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklins life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, Americas best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richards Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nations alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklins amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.

The new biography from Walter Isaacson, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs.

The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a gripping account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.When Jennifer Doudna was in sixth grade, she came home one day to find that her dad had left a paperback titled The Double Helix on her bed. She put it aside, thinking it was one of those detective tales she loved. When she read it on a rainy Saturday, she discovered she was right, in a way. As she sped through the pages, she became enthralled by the intense drama behind the competition to discover the code of life. Even though her high school counselor told her girls didn't become scientists, she decided she would. Driven by a passion to understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would help to make what the book's author, James Watson, told her was the most important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA. She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions. The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? HmmmShould we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Her story is a thrilling detective tale that involves the most profound wonders of nature, from the origins of life to the future of our species.

This exclusive boxed set from beloved New York Times bestselling author Walter Isaacson features his definitive biographies: Steve Jobs, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci. “If anybody in America understands genius, it’s Walter Isaacson.” —SalonCelebrated historian, journalist, and bestselling author Walter Isaacson’s biography collection of geniuses now available in one boxed set—the perfect gift for history lovers everywhere. Steve Jobs: The “enthralling” (The New Yorker) worldwide bestselling biography of legendary Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. The story of the roller-coaster life and intense creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. Isaacson’s portrait touched millions of readers. Einstein: How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson’s biography of Albert Einstein—also the basis for the ten-part National Geographic series starring Geoffrey Rush—shows how Einstein’s scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom. Benjamin Franklin: In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Ben Franklin’s amazing life, showing how the most fascinating Founding Father helped forge the American national identity. Leonardo da Vinci: History’s consummate innovator and most creative thinker. Isaacson illustrates how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ble født 15. april 1452 i landsbyen Vinci utenfor Firenze og var en av de største og mest mangesidige begavelser europeisk kultur har fostret. Han var blant annet maler, billedhogger, musiker, dikter, arkitekt, ingeniør, oppfinner og vitenskapsmann. Da Vinci døde i Frankrike 2. mai 1519.Walter Isaacson er en av verdens fremste sakprosaforfattere, og hans bestselgende biografi om Leonardo da Vinci omtales som et mesterverk av flere anmeldere - og er regnet for å være det ypperste som er skrevet om renessansemennesket fra Vinci.Biografien er basert på tusenvis av sider fra Leonardo da Vincis forbløffende (og speilvendte) notatbøker og på nye funn om hans liv, studier og kunst. Isaacson bringer oss nærmere Leonardo i en fortelling som kaster nytt lys over mennesket, kunstneren, vitenskapsmannen og oppfinneren. Leonardo da Vinci var et «uekte» barn, han var homoseksuell, vegetarianer, venstrehendt, rastløs og opprørsk. Man kan si at han var forut for sin tid, både i liv og gjerning. Blant hans mange etterlatte tegninger og oppfinnelser var helikopteret, stridsvognen, fallskjermen, optikken, kulelageret og mye annet.Den omfangsrike boken inneholder et hundretalls illustrasjoner, blant annet hele Leonardo da Vincis maleriproduksjon og et stort antall tegninger og skisser, foruten kart og bilder fra hans samtid.

The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is ';a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve itMost important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life' (The New Yorker).Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson ';deftly reveals an intimate Leonardo' (San Francisco Chronicle) in a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo's genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. He produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history's most creative genius. In the ';luminous' (Daily Beast) Leonardo da Vinci, Isaacson describes how Leonardo's delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical. His life should remind us of the importance to be imaginative and, like talented rebels in any era, to think different. Here, da Vinci ';comes to life in all his remarkable brilliance and oddity in Walter Isaacson's ambitious new biographya vigorous, insightful portrait' (The Washington Post).

A collective biography of six U.S. statesmen and the foreign policies which dominate our actions to this day: Averell Harriman, the diplomat and Roosevelt's special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, self-cast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense througout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation's most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Fra forfatteren av boken Steve Jobs og andre bestselgende biografier kommer denne overraskende personlige historien om verdens mest fascinerende og kontroversielle innovatør - en visjonær som bryter alle regler og har ledet verden inn i en æra med el-biler, privat romfart og kunstig intelligens. Å ja, og så tok han over Twitter.Da Elon Musk vokste opp i Sør-Afrika, ble han ofte banket opp. En dag kom en gjeng og dyttet ham ned en murtrapp før de banket ham opp helt til ansiktet hans så ut som en oppsvulmet kjøttkake. Han lå på sykehuset i en uke. Men de fysiske skadene var små sammenlignet med de følelsesmessige skadene han ble påført av faren, en ustabil og karismatisk ingeniør med store vyer.Farens innvirkning på psyken hans vedvarte. Han utviklet seg til en tøff, men sårbar gutte-mann, som kunne ha brå Jekyll-og-Hyde-humørsvingninger, hadde en ekstremt høy toleranse for risiko, et sug etter drama, en episk oppfatning av å ha en oppgave i livet, og en manisk intensitet som var kynisk og til tider destruktiv.På begynnelsen av 2022 - etter et år der SpaceX gjennomførte trettien satellittoppskytinger, Tesla solgte en million biler og Elon selv ble det rikeste mennesket i verden - uttalte han seg angrende om sin hang til å skape dramatikk. «Jeg må legge om måten jeg tenker på, bort fra å være i krisemodus», sa han, «slik jeg har vært i rundt fjorten år nå, eller etter manges mening gjennom det meste av livet.»Det var en vemodig kommentar, ikke et nyttårsforsett. Samtidig som han kom med dette løftet, kjøpte han i all hemmelighet opp aksjer fra Twitter, verdens ypperste lekeplass. Nå hadde han sjansen til å eie lekeplassen selv.I to år har Musk latt forfatteren Isaacson fotfølge ham overalt. Han deltok på møter og inspiserte fabrikkene sammen med ham. I tillegg brukte han timevis på å intervjue Musk selv, familien hans, venner, kolleger og motstandere. Resultatet er denne avslørende historien fra innsiden, full av fantastiske fortellinger om triumfer og kaos som tar opp spørsmålet: Er demonene som driver Musk, også det som kreves for å drive frem innovasjon og fremskritt?

Biografien forteller om Apple-gründer Steve Jobs' liv og virke, både yrkesmessig og privat.