This turbulent start scarred Newton for life. He felt rejected by his family. He hated his stepfather and threatened to burn his house down. At Grantham school, Newton sought solace in books. He was unmoved by literature and poetry but loved mechanics and technology, inventing an elaborate system of sundials which was accurate to the minute. While his mother hoped he would run the family farm, his uncle and his headmaster realised Newton was destined for an intellectual life.