Ptolemy's Almagest (Paperback)

~ (Author), G. J. Toomer (Translator), Owen Gingerich (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"On the whole the accuracy and faithfulness to the original, including the small but important matter of a scrupulous adherence to Ptolemy's own mathematical notations, are exemplary." -- G.E.R. Lloyd, The Times Literary Supplement

On the whole the accuracy and faithfulness to the original, including the small but important matter of a scrupulous adherence to Ptolemy's own mathematical notations, are exemplary. -- Review

Review

G.J. Toomer's new English edition of Ptolemy's classic treatise is more than just a fresh translation.... What Toomer has produced is the best edition in any language, one that will remain the standard preferred text for years to come.
(Nature )

On the whole the accuracy and faithfulness to the original, including the small but important matter of a scrupulous adherence to Ptolemy's own mathematical notations, are exemplary.
(G.E.R. Lloyd The Times Literary Supplement )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 693 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (October 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691002606
• ISBN-13: 978-0691002606
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #199,703 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new look at the universe, June 27, 2001

By	Adella L. Thompson "artymesia" (Bellingham, Washington United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The main desire of Ptolemy in writing his Almagest is to explain and account for the motions of the apparently erratic celestial beings in terms of perfect and circular motions. In doing so he introduces the epicyclic (which states that the center of a smaller circle orbits around the earth and the object orbits around the smaller circle) and the eccentric hypotheses (which supposes that the center of the circular motion of the planet is not exactly centered on the earth), which are ultimatly equivalent to eachother in terms of result. Begining with the motion of the sun in the sky and moving on to the less accountable outer planets, Ptolemy moves his mathematics brilliantly with a nod to a story teller's art. Some may find his introduction of his equant (something that is often said to defile his principles of perfect motion), which explains the retrogradation of the outer planets, to be a let down to the fanfare of perfection in the stars. Yet, overall, the Almagest manages to recapture the magic and wonder of the universe through complicated mathematical hypotheses and to succesfully lay the ground for the break throughs of Copernicus, Brahe, and Kepler to come. If you are at all interested in astronomy or mathematics, you ought to read this.

8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Translation, November 24, 2004

By	Marc (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

Adding to the other comment below about star names beginning with "al-," I might add that the title "Almagest" itself is an Arabic translation of the original Greek "Megale Syntaxis."

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ptolemy's "Almagest", July 4, 2006

By	R. Poubel - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's a very interesting astronomy book, it's explain how they've thought about the motion of the planets(epicycles)in the past(AC)by the time of the Ptolemy and Babylonia.