What were most surprised to learn about Newton and Leibniz?
Newton was into a lot of things that we would consider strange and even cultish today, such as his livelong love of alchemy, his fascination with interpreting biblical revelations, and his obsession with history and chronology (something for which he was highly regarded in his day). But the most interesting thing for me was that he had a whole second career as a public servant in charge of the British mint. The last few volumes of his collected correspondence are filled with detailed administrative letters pertaining to these duties, and some of the more interesting bits I discuss in the book. Leibniz was just simply a fascinating character, and there was not any one thing about him that amazed me so much as there were hundreds of things. All the mind-blowing schemes and plans he had, for instance, which I also briefly discuss. I suppose if I had to choose one thing that surprised me the most, it would be the story that I used to open Chapter Eight in my book. Leibniz is on a ship batt
