I’ve just finished Lisa Jardine’s biography of Robert Hooke, one of the founders of The Royal Society.  It was a superb read, summarising well the many aspects of this early scientist.  In particular, it brought home just how thinly Hooke spread himself by constantly helping others with experiments and being involved with Sir Christopher Wren in the rebuilding of London following the 1665 fire of London.
Of particular interest to me, there were some illuminating comments about one of my scientific heroes, and one of Hooke’s near-contemporaries, Edmund Halley.  Jardine also covered the controversy between Hooke and Newton over the law of gravity.