In the book by Dunham, Journey Through Genius, is an article about Newton.
It excels as a character study and biography, and also as a portrait of a
historical time that most Americans know little or nothing about.
How Newton overnight became the most famous mathematician in the
world is described there. His reasoning led to the ability to
calculate as many digits of pi as desired at a time when others
would spend years getting a single additional place in the decimal
expansion.