Customer Reviews

To Move the World

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This book held my interest from beginning to end... I couldn't put it down. If you are a history buff who likes a good story, then this is a book for you. You'll learn something new about that era to boot.

Most people know the story of Archimedes and the bathtub -- for those who don't, a soak sparked his solution to determining the purity of a gold object -- but few know of his other contributions to math, physics and science. Fewer still may know that, like da Vinci centuries later, he was a master engineer. The book's title comes from a statement attributed to Archimedes who, when commenting on an illustration of the lever, said, "Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world."

For two to three years of the Second Punic War his engines of war, never before (some never since) seen on the battlefield, helped him defend his home city of Syracuse against the general Marcus Claudius Marcellus and two legions of the Roman army.

Monahan's telling of this story is based upon meticulous research -- and it shows. He has magnificently captured the cultural (and military) richness of a bygone era and spins an excellent story of ancient warfare in the time of Hannibal and the Roman Republic.

The tale is told from the point of view of a rising young soldier, related to Archimedes, who also must defend his Greek colony from Roman expansion. To tell any more than that would deprive you of an amazing read.

Whether you read it on the couch, in bed or, if you're so inclined and feeling Archimedian, in the tub, you will soon discover for yourself why this book is worth a few ounces of your gold.