If procrastination were an art form, Leonardo da Vinci would certainly have been considered a master. He defended it as a creative gift and lamented it as a great challenge.

Many of us can understand this very human struggle.

Showing us the human side of da Vinci is precisely what biographer and historian Walter Isaacson endeavors to do in his 2017 #1 New York Times Bestseller, Leonardo da Vinci.

Like Isaacson’s other bestselling books – Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin –  Leonardo da Vinci is an attempt to bring da Vinci to life through his writings and work, but this time it wasn’t so easy.

Unlike his other subjects, Leonardo didn’t leave much evidence of the details of his personal life.  He did leave 7,200 pages of amazingly creative and forward-looking drawings and musings in his notebooks, and a large body of artwork that has been celebrated for millennia.

From these, we learn many things about this true Renaissance man, including:

• • He learned how the aortic valve worked 450 years before the medical community did;
  • He never finished many works of art, paintings and sculptures, abandoning them as his interest shifted to other things, often to the displeasure of wealthy patrons who commissioned the work;

• He worked on the Mona Lisa for 14 years, taking the painting with him as his traveled, sometimes adding a single brush stroke in his quest for perfection.

As much as we think we know about da Vinci from his notebooks and body of work, there is much that we don’t know about the man, and that has given rise to an even larger body of myths. Isaacson does what he does best and sorts through it all, trying to stick to the facts.

The results are some interesting reading, some fascinating lessons on the power of creativity, and some flowery language about the art – all of which makes Leonardo da Vinci worth reading, both for what you can learn about the man and for what you can apply to life today as an entrepreneur, businessperson, creative thinker, or serial procrastinator.

The New Yorker reported the book to be, “A powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life…a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it.”

If it’s true that we learn to be great men by learning about great men, then you should read what Isaacson has to say about da Vinci.  Don’t put it off.