‘Walter Isaacson keeps the mortal man to the fore. For all his supernatural gifts as an artist and natural scientist.  Leonardo was resolutely human (illegitimate, vegan, in need of patrons) rather than the near deity of legend.  Isaacson is an assured guide to Leonardo’s fallibility – so many projects started, so few completed – as well as his extraordinary curiosity and his even more remarkable painterly skills that were sharpened by intense observation.’  Michael Prodger, Books of the Year