Customer Reviews

The Archimedes Codex, 1st, First Edition

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Reviel Netz and William Noel have given us a well written, immensely informative and hugely entertaining glimpse into the world of Archimedes, mathematical thinking, antiquarian book collecting, manuscript conservation and, above all, puzzle solving. Puzzle solving that is dependent on the mind-boggling expertise of linguists, classicists, mathematicians, chemists, computer scientists and imaging experts.

Mr. B, the anonymous but known purchaser of what remains of Codex C and the underwriter of the conservation and interpretative work, clearly needs to be recognized for his huge and essential financial contribution.
Does anyone know who Mr. B is?

The alternating chapters on the history and restoration of the manuscript and its mathematical content works wonderfully. Reviel Netz does a great job explaining the geometry and the significance of Archimedes' thought experiments.

The one minor issue I have is the tendency for overstatement. Netz may well be right that nobody before Archimedes (and even Newton) had the same type of thoughts - but the reality is that given the destruction of so many early manuscripts, we simply do not know. I also am less sure than Prof. Netz that Archimedes, the builder of catapaults and other engineering devices and an astronomer, didn't use the physical world to ground his mathematical ideas - thereby accounting for some of his brilliant mathematical ideas. For example, it is not hard to imagine that Archimedes might have been using his geometry to create a heliocentric model - why else the deep interest in parabolas? But then Prof. Netz like all good educators has motivated me to find other expositions of Archimedes and his science.

Regardless, this is a wonderful book, profusely illustrated with both color photographs and diagrams. The authors are also very gracious in acknowledging the work of literally dozens of experts. It will undoubtely inspire a host of fiction writers.

This book is truly remarkable although can be at times tiring. It tells the story of the palimpsest which was sold at an auction in 1998. The author takes us on a journey that spans through the early European history up to the Byzantine era and even the Second World War.

Although it encompasses the theories that have so far been discovered in the codex originally written by Archimedes himself in a letter, and thus a fair bit of Mathematics is involved, it can be a very enjoyable experience. You can ignore the parts in which the author explains the technology behind the imaging systems they used to uncover the original texts or the logistics of the processes involved, but then you would have missed a part of the whole adventure.

This book is about unraveling history and discovering its secrets. What a journey indeed !

A distinguished team of curators, conservators, imaging scientists and scholars have been working tirelessly over the past 10 years, proving the true meaning of the age-old maxim: "don't judge a book by its cover." The history uncovered in the decaying pages of the Archimedes Palimpsest, delightfully brought to life in this book, will truly astound you. Alternating chapters, Noel and Netz offer an enthralling account of the history behind this extraordinary manuscript, and the newly rediscovered -astonishing- accomplishments of Archimedes. This is a fantastic and genuinely exciting read. The chapters by Noel are gripping and those by Netz will excite even the most math-phobic reader. I highly recommend this book! Happy reading to all!

The Archimedes Codex is a three-in-one book: First, it tells the fascinating story of how a famous but apparently lost text of Archimedes was found in the late 20th century and is being gradually recovered in a readable form. Second, it reveals some of the functioning of one the most brilliant mathematical and engineering brains in history. And finally, it indicates, in the same vein as the recently re-examined Antikythera machine, the enormity of the quantity of important information from antiquity that has been lost, especially in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics. This book, clearly written and well-illustrated, would be a good choice for anyone who is interested in either classical scholarship, the history of mathematics, or historical mysteries and their solutions.

Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, but many of his writings have long been lost to us. We've had some medieval translations of a few of his works, but nothing original. That is, until now. In 1998, a unique book went up for auction in New York: a 13th century prayer book, handwritten by some monk back in the day. But beneath the words that this monk copied were the words of Archimedes in their original Greek. The Archimedes Codex, by Reviel Netz and William Noel, tells the story of the purchase of this codex, and the nine year (and still ongoing) attempt to get as much of Archimedes original text from this document as possible. It's a fascinating work, alternating between the history of the codex and revealing what the codex says, and thus it's of alternating interest to the reader.

It's an interesting way to write a book, and since Math is not my area of interest, I found Noel's history a lot more interesting than Netz's math. However, Netz's enthusiasm about the entire project is quite infectious. He talks about Archimedes theories, how the study of mathematics changed from ancient times to more modern times, especially in light of what the Codex has revealed. One interesting thing Netz discusses is that the ancients did not use infinity as a mathematical object, but then he shows how Archimedes seems to approach the concept even though he never names it. The math is relatively easy to follow, though I did skim a large part of it. Netz provides plenty of diagrams as demonstration. Yes, mathematical writing can get dry at times, but Netz's enthusiasm for the project shines through in his prose, making these chapters a lot easier to read.

For me, though, the main area of interest in The Archimedes Codex is Noel's history. He does extensive investigations and theorizing into how the Codex came into being in Constantinople in the 6th century, what the monk who copied the book may have been thinking, and how the overwriting of ancient manuscripts generally occurred.

Along with the history, Noel provides a detailed account of the process put in place to reveal the hidden secrets of the Codex. This is impressive in itself, with numerous people putting in a lot of time and effort into imaging the text, coming up with ideas to make the text clearer and easier to read. We see the setbacks and disappointments, the points where Noel thought they wouldn't be able to go forward. Noel's passion for the Codex comes through almost as much as Netz's does, but Noel delves more into the problems that he has had to deal with.

The contributions of both authors make The Archimedes Codex what it is. While the math part can get a little slow at times, overall the topic is a fascinating one and both Netz and Noel are able to entice the reader to follow along with them on this unknown trail (whether mathematical or historical). Netz is almost giddy at times as something is revealed in the Codex.

This book is a definite must for any math fans out there, but it's also good for those with a more historical bent. You can get past the math with relative ease, and enjoy a historical search for the roots of book written over a thousand years ago. Whichever way you go, you can't go wrong with The Archimedes Codex.

David Roy

There is a spectacular story here. It needed far better authors to tell it.

The authors of this work, Reviel Netz and William Noel have an absolutely spectacular subject. Literally over two thousand years in the making. As many of the other reviews have noted, this book changes what we know about the history of mathematics and science. The problem is that the writing in this book is just weak and at times pedantic. It seems to skip around from subject to subject. With such an amazing subject, they should have done so much more - or gotton someone who could. Just take a look at Mark Kurlansky's "Salt: A World History" or "Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World." Two of perhaps the most boring subjects, and yet Kurlansky makes the stories of their history come alive. Here we have opposite: a story that should leap off the page without the quality of writing needed to make it happen.

Raiders of the Lost Ark has NOTHING on The Archimedes Codex! Never have I been caught up in such revealing discovery and compelling adventure in a book of such historical and scientific accuracy as The Archimedes Codex. With the fascination of a spellbinding novel and the accuracy of a text, this book follows the exciting rediscovery of the work of one of the world's greatest mathematicians and geniuses of all time, Archimedes of Syracuse. It's a tale of great importance that follows a mysterious book through its auction at Christie's in London, England to The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore for scholarly study, imaging, and conservation, all of this funded by the highest bidder (two million dollars) and owner of this captivating piece of historical significance.

Codex C, the Archimedes palimpsest, is a parchment manuscript consisting of 174 parchment folios, which, in themselves, consist of at least seven treatises by Archimedes. Although these works of Archimedes don't account for the entire palimpsest, these are of major importance.

The word "palimpsest" comes from a Greek word meaning "scraped again." This means that the original text (in this case, the text written by Archimedes) has been "scraped" and new text written over it. Original medieval manuscripts were made of "scraped" animal skin which was called "parchment." It was the practice in medieval times to re-use parchment when unused animal hide was scarce or temporarily unavailable. Such was the case with Archimedes' Codex C (and with the additional manuscripts from other authors), in the making of a Byzantine prayer book or "euchologion" by a monk or monks in the year 1229 in Jerusalem.

Archimedes' treatises used to make the subject palimpsest include: The Equilibrium of Planes, On Floating Bodies, The Measurement of Circles, Spiral Lines, The Method of Mechanical Theoreums, Sphere and Cylinder, and The Stomachion. Of all these works, On Floating Bodies, the Stomachion, and The Method of Mechanical Theorums are of the most important in our understanding of the work of Archimedes.

In the making of the palimpsest, other works that were used were the writings of Hyperides, a 4th century B.C. orator. Previous to the discovery of this palimpsest, his work was found only in papyrus fragments and through quotes by other authors. There are ten pages of this author's work included in the Archimedes palimpsest.

Also included are six folios from an unidentified Neoplatonic philosophical text, four folios from a book of liturgy, and twelve pages from two other books yet to be deciphered. What this means is that parts of all the texts involved were removed from their original bindings (if indeed they were bound) long ago and the pages "scraped" and overwritten with new text and then rebound to become a different book, in this case an euchologion or prayer book... hence, the palimpsest of this story.

While all of this may seem to the reader of this review as rather dry information, the authors have, without effort to dramatize or embellish, captured a bigger-than-life true tale of extraordinary and astonishing proportions, one that keeps the reader spellbound through the entire book.

If math is your bag, you'll be captivated; if you're math-phobic, I suggest you try to lay the book down. You'll find yourself unable to do so, even if you skip the math sections!

This book is a high-flying, gripping tale of major importance! Get it... read it... you'll be amazed, not only by what's been discovered, but by what has not. There were thousands of works destroyed by fire and book burnings in the past. Some of these works were copied and hidden away or have stood neglected in the shelves of relatives of collectors long dead. What great works might we yet discover?

As for the disgruntled reviewer, I might reiterate that the gist of this book is the "REdiscovery" of the work of Archimedes. It does not make other claims or belabor the origin of his knowledge. What it does do, and quite successfully, is ignite the fire of adventure in the discovery of long lost grails and codices while instilling in the reader the fact that not all such adventures are fiction.

I highly recommend this book!

The Archimedes Codex is definitely deserving of 5 stars. If you like learning and discovering, this book is a top choice.

The narrative details how a team of modern day scientists and classicists, funded by an anonymous and generous benefactor, uncover important intellectual history - a select group of proofs by antiquity's greatest mathematician, Archimedes of Syracuse.

Having studied Latin and Greek in college along with taking introductory Calculus and Physics courses helped me appreciate this book - it was hard to put down. If you have no exposure to any of these academic areas, the book will probably still be of interest, but parts of it may go over your head. The authors have made a good attempt and explaining most concepts in reasonable terms and providing definitions for the obscure terms.

This story of the Archimedes Codex is extraordinarily interesting - the conditions under which it sold and its history alone provide enough content for a full-length book. The heart of the book doesn't even involve these topics though. Preserving the codex and decoding the contents through a diligent scientific approach provides the most compelling part of the writing. As the contents of the codex are decoded, the authors provide a nice review of Archimedes' discoveries as they relate to geometry, physics and statistics.

Decoding the work also uncovers previously unknown writings by at least one known ancient Greek orator, Hyperides.

I only take two minor issues with the work:

The first is that the author never makes it clear just how much new information has been decoded from the text in the modern studies vs. what was decoded in 1906 by Heiberg, a previous scholar. It could be 10% more or 50% more. The reader is just left to form her own judgment. To the authors' credit there was still research being conducted at the time of the book's printing and any such % would be subjective. Perhaps it is juvenile to ascribe a percentage to any discovery given the subject matter.

The second issue is that I felt the author did not explain clearly why Archimedes knowledge/use of "actual infinity" is required for solving The Method in lieu of using "potential infinity." He needs to explain better why using potential infinity would preclude or fall short of solving the problem.

In all this is a great book if you are interested in history, science or just the process of discovery in general.

The format chosen by the two authors of this book is that they each wrote alternating chapters. One author, a curator of manuscripts and rare books wrote the chapters mainly dealing with the nature of manuscripts and codices, the organization of the project, the objectives at hand, the logistics, the methods used, the technology, etc. The other author, a professor of ancient sciences, concentrated mainly on the reading, deciphering and mathematical interpretation of the ancient writings and their meaning in terms of what we know about Archimedes. Although alternating chapters have different focuses, they blend easily one into the other without any significant discontinuity. Both writing styles are clear, friendly and authoritative. The mathematical expositions are generally accessible, although in some cases the terminology used is more of an ancient style than what one would find in a modern mathematics textbook; as a result, some arguments are difficult to follow. I have learned much from this book: about Archimedes' accomplishments, about ancient manuscripts and codices, about methods and apparatuses used to image ancient texts and about the incredible complexity of the whole project. It is difficult to estimate which types of readers would be most interested in this book since it contains so much that could be of interest to different people, i.e., ancient and medieval history, history of mathematics, modern technology, physics, detective work, etc. But, it is likely that readers interested in any of the above subjects would enjoy it.

This book's theme is how knowledge of Archimedes has been incremented by using optical sensors and digital processing. The book interleaves the detailed history and condition of the subject document with some specifics of what is in the document. Alternate chapters are written by (a) the man with the responsibility for the medieval document, not all of which is readable because of it's poor condition, and from which the most interesting item to mathematical historians has been erased, to be written over. (b) apparently the most avid Archimedes scholar of today, whose second language is English (it seems.) The (a) chapters are well written, but necessarily cut down from a full explanation, which otherwise would lead to a complete history of medieval documents. The (b) chapters are adequately written and intelligible. There is not much the author could do about the fact you need to know some basic geometry to follow Archimedes' geometrical arguments; so no fault there. OTOH, his use of "splashes" to mean measured volumes of water is odd. (Archimedes is commonly credited with a method to measure the volumes of irregular objects by submerging them in a full container of water and measuring how much water overflows into, say, a measuring cup. The scholar thinks this is a silly belief.)

The book explains in detail that most of the erased material is known in variants in other documents, and nearly all of the erased material was previously read without any modern high tech. The scholar makes a case that a new understanding of unclear or illegible material shows that Archimedes expounded general methods, rather than had just solved particular instances ingeniously. That would make Archimedes, in a way, millennia ahead of his time, not far short of the mathematicians of the 1600's who formulated calculus. However, if you have had some calculus courses, and read a little history of the precursor mathematicians to Newton, you will know that a lot more than what Archimedes ever wrote is required to make the mathematics applicable to problems beyond determining the areas of geometrical figures.

The information in the book is what it is to be read for, like a news article, although you will find explained much more than they ever do in news articles. So as to make it book length, it is overly long for just presenting whatever new may have been discovered recently. For a really good understanding of how ancient documents have somehow made there substance known to the present day, it is pretty irregular and elliptical, but enjoy what you get as a tasty treat. And the documents supervisor doesn't make medieval copyists into villains, which is nice, if untypical.