The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist (Hardcover)

~ Reviel Netz (Author), William Noel (Author)
Key Phrases: balancing planes, palimpsested texts, randomly chosen plane, Archimedes Palimpsest, Floating Bodies, Nigel Wilson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1998, the auction house Christie's sold a medieval prayer book for more than $2 million. The price owed to a startling discovery: the prayers had been written over the earliest surviving manuscript of Archimedes (287–212 B.C.), the ancient world's greatest mathematician. In a delightful and fast-paced archeological and scientific detective story, Netz, a Stanford classicist, and Noel, director of the Archimedes Palimpsest Project, make palpable the excitement this discovery evoked. After the auction, they were given access to study the palimpsest; after frustrating days of trying to read the writings beneath the prayer manuscript, Netz, Noel and a team of scientists and conservators turned to a variety of imaging techniques to reconstruct the hidden Archimedes manuscript, which turned out to be heretofore undiscovered works, Balancing Planes, On Floating Bodies, The Method of Mechanical Theorems and the Stomachion, in which Archimedes wrote about topics ranging from gravity to infinity. The manuscript also revealed some lost speeches by Hyperides, one of the 10 canonical orators of antiquity. Netz and Noel's book chronicles the often difficult and demanding work surrounding the preservation of antiquities as they uncover one of the most exciting documents of ancient history. 16 pages of color photos. (Sept.)
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Review

"A fascinating chronicle of the discovery--hidden beneath a monk's script in a medieval prayer book--of a lost work by the greatest scientific mind of ancient Greece." -- Barnes & Noble Review, 10/2007

"Like a multilayered detective story, Noel's account of Archimedes' precarious chain of transmission from original papyrus to twentieth-century America has clues, blind alleys, brushes with oblivion, and compulsive readability...Noel cogently describes the technical conservation and imaging difficulties the codex presented...Netz lucidly argues that Archimedes was on the verge of inventing calculus. A thrilling story of the ancient world lost, found, and explained." -- Booklist, 9/15/07

"Netz and Noel alternate chapters, each shedding light on his own area of expertise and giving a fuller picture of both ancient science and modern technology. In the end, the reader is likely to agree with Netz that Archimedes was among the greatest scientists of all time. Stimulating exploration of several areas of science." -- Kirkus Reviews, 8/1/07

"A must-read for fans of the history of science." -- Roanoke Times

"An engaging account." -- Brian Clegg, author of A Brief History of Infinity, in Nature

"Both authors, who take turns writing chapters, have an easy prose style that will make even the most hardened science phobe and lay reader excited about how the newly uncovered Archimedian text has greatly changed current thinking about the history of science. The frustration, excitement, and sheer joy of discovery shared by those who worked on the project are evident throughout this lively book. Highly recommended for popular science and history of science collections." -- Library Journal

"Details the journey of the codex, through fire, mold, theft, and forgery, and the efforts to rescue the lost work of one of the ancient world's greatest minds." -- Baltimore City Paper

"Netz and Noel provide a compelling background to the provenance and recovery of Archimedes lost works, while filling in the few details known about his life and the unique position he occupies in the history of science...Compelling and accessible." -- Magill Book Reviews

"Should appeal to history buffs, math profs, antiquarian book lovers, and anyone who enjoys a good mystery." -- Baltimore Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030681580X
• ISBN-13: 978-0306815805
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #181,523 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant book about an amazing discovery, June 21, 2007

By	Eleftherios Chrysopoulos "simplethinks" (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Archimedes Codex: Revealing The Secrets Of The World's Greatest Palimpsest: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest (Hardcover)

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 !

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A splendid story, splendidly told, January 27, 2008

By	Observer "Bernie" (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

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.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enthralling read! A must buy!, October 25, 2007

By	A reader - See all my reviews

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!