The Early Mathematical Manuscripts Of Leibniz [Hardcover]

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (Author), J. M. Child (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2007

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (July 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0548166501
• ISBN-13: 978-0548166505
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,552,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miraculous, May 21, 2007

By 

G. Gecewicz - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Early Mathematical Manuscripts of Leibniz (Dover Books on Mathematics) (Paperback)

It always puzzled me that we study Voltaire's literary attack on Leibniz's ideas, but we never discuss the ideas Voltaire was responding to. We study forms of mathematics which were designed to argue against Leibniz's more radical mathematical ideas, but we aren't led through the history of how the ideas were developed. I have become convinced that it is not by accident. Leibniz was absurdly ahead of his time in the early 18th century and he is still ahead of our time today. These translations give us a small glimpse of this genius which seems to permeate all important fields of life.

These earlier works show Leibniz in a more confident phase-where he believed his ideas could change the entire world in his lifetime. His political theory, philosophy and mathematics (we don't use Newton's esoteric calculus we use Leibniz's) did achieve this, but it took much longer-and sadly much is still not known to today's generation of university students and their teachers. This well-done book provides a peak into Leibniz's revolutionary world of conceptual truth.

4.0 out of 5 stars A very unique book, May 24, 2010

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D. J. Paz (us of a) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Early Mathematical Manuscripts Of Leibniz - Illustrated (Paperback)

The contents of this book are invaluable for anyone wishing to understand the history of calculus. Personally, I think the translator has a bit of a bias against Leibniz; however, his footnotes and insights are very helpful for the modern reader to be able to understand the most important discovery in mathematics ever.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why did he even bother?, April 26, 2009

By 

Ibn Nafa'a (palestine at heart) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Early Mathematical Manuscripts of Leibniz (Paperback)

Reading leibniz is always a pleasure as well as quite a challage and on the more difficult subjects, such as this book, one would hope to find help in the rather extensive footnotes provided by this translator. Much to my disappointment the footnotes was never meant to clarify anything, save perhaps for the utter contempt the translator has for Leibniz. For the first two letters chosen, the footnotes exceeded the the text by far and none of it dealt with the subject beyond casting doubt over leibniz' explanations on how he came to perceive his calculus. Several footnotes were so hateful, that you wonder why J.M. Childs even bothered to translate the letters in the first place. He could well have written all that in a seperate book, leaving that garbage to the die hard leibniz haters in London and elsewhere.

The dislike of the translator and the extent of it, also leaves you wondering whether the more difficult to understand passages is even translated correctly. I would advice caution reading this book as the intent seems to be to establish that it was a secret Barrows-Newton correspondence (one not even provided evidence for) and not Leibniz' own work, that developed the differential calculus. For a more fair assessment of Leibniz' calculus, look up Bruce directors "Riemann for anti-dummies" and the work of the Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement. These people with whom i am associated has some of the best presentations of the tradition of Leibniz, kepler, Cusa, Riemann, Gauss et. al.
-Enjoy