Though known for some of their work, the depth & breadth of the achievements of Robert Hooke and Edmund Halley are overshadowed by the figure of Isaac Newton. This book redresses that imbalance by telling the stories of these two remarkable men.

Through the well-written but not overly scholarly book, you can see how Newton's great work might never have happened without the largely unheralded work of Hooke and Halley.

More than this, what astonishes in this double biography is all the fields where these men made important contributions, ranging from biology to architecture.

I loved it and will never look at Newton the same way.

Is Isaac Newton over-rated?

This is the question that the book ultimately asks, and I enjoyed how the authors answered it. From the book descriptions, I thought that this book would be similar to an alternative history, a sort-of what would have happened had Isaac Newton not been born - would science have grown the way it did. Authors John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin didn’t take this approach but instead wrote two interlacing biographies, of Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, two great leaders of the scientific revolution. The biographies are very good and it was great to have these scientists brought out of the shadow of Isaac Newton.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of science.