Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist

A complex, comprehensive and absorbing narrative, told with energy, skill and care. -- San Francisco Chronicle

Levenson has a sharp eye for the dramatic events and personal details that bring history to life . . . an in depth study . . . new and original. -- Nature

Newton and the Counterfeiter is a wonderful read that reveals a whole new side to a giant of science. Through a page-turning narrative, we witness Isaac Newton's genius grappling with the darker sides of human nature, an all too human journey reflecting his deepest beliefs about the cosmic order. This is a gripping story that enriches our sense of the man who forever changed our view of the universe.
--Brian Greene, author of The Fabric of the Cosmos

As the great Newton recedes from us in time, he comes increasingly into focus as a man rather than a myth--thanks in no small measure to this learned and lively new study from the estimable Thomas Levinson.
--Timothy Ferris, author of Seeing in the Dark

Newton and the Counterfeiter is both a fascinating read and a meticulously researched historical document: a combination difficult to achieve and rarely seen . . . Recommended for anyone who wants to know the real story behind this astonishing but largely overlooked chapter of scientific history.
--Neal Stephenson, author of Cryptonomicon and Anathem

I absolutely loved Newton and the Counterfeiter. Deft, witty and exhaustively researched, Levenson's tale illuminates a near-forgotten chapter of Newton's extraordinary life--the cat-and-mouse game that pitted him against a criminal mastermind--and manages not only to add to our knowledge of the great mathematician but to make a page turner out of it. This book rocks.
--Junot D az, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Newton and the Counterfeiter is a delicious read, featuring brilliant detective work and a captivating story . . . a virtuoso performance.
--Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind

I loved Levenson's book. It's a rollicking account of the fascinating underbelly of seventeenth-century London--and reveals an aspect of Newton I'd scarcely known of before, yet which shaped the world we know. A tour de force.
--David Bodanis, author of E=MC2

Levenson's account of this world of criminality, collusion and denunciation is meticulously researched and highly readable...the tale of Newton the economist is one worth telling. -- New Scientist

Levenson demonstrates a surpassing felicity in his brisk treatment of this late-17th-century true-crime adventure...Swift, agile treatment of a little known but highly entertaining episode in a legendary life.
-- Kirkus Reviews

Highly Reccommended. -- Library Journal

Newton and the Counterfeiter packs a wonderful punch in its thoroughly surprising revelation of that other Isaac Newton, and in its vivid re-creation of 17th-century London and its fascinating criminal
haunts. -- Providence Journal

Newton and the Counterfeiter is as finely struck as one of Newton's shillings. -- The Oregonian

Levenson transforms inflation and metallurgy into a suspenseful detective story bolstered by an eloquent summary of Newtonian physics and stomach-turning descriptions of prison life in the Tower of London...Newton and the Counterfeiter humanizes a legend, transforming him into a Sherlock Holmes in pursuit of his own private Moriarity. -- Washington Post