Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Principia: The Authoritative Translation and Guide: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

Top positive review

My favorite book.

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2023

I really enjoy this book. This hardback copy is quality. Thick pages, nice print. Under the decorative paper cover you can see an embossed image.

If you want to learn physics. This book makes logical sense. This book sets you up for success. This is a keeper.

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Book came torn!

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2021

This was supposed to be a bday gift for my son, the enite front page was torn!!! Said it was a new book!!

406 total ratings, 84 with reviews

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From the United States

paul

My favorite book.

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2023

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2023

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The most influential book on the whole of the Western Civilization. This edition shows all the signs of a great way to get into the studying, at last, of this unparalleled work.

6 people found this helpful

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J B Anderson

The best translation of the Principia

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2018

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This is an impressive work of scholarship & I highly recommend it to all serious students of physics.
The authors set out to produce a modern translation of the third and final version of Newton's masterpiece which was originally written in Latin and published in 1726.
The first & only complete English translation of the Principia, before this new translation was made, was by Andrew Motte in 1729 - only three years after Newton's work in Latin appeared.
Motte's translation was revised and "modernized" several times in the intervening 270 years, the last being in the mid 1800's but it still was regarded as being almost as difficult and opaque as Newton's original.
This new translation by Cohen & Whitman is really two books in one. The first 370 pages of the 966 page work is "A Guide to Newton's Principia" and consists of eleven Chapters that explain the structure of Newton's work and how to read it. This part is indispensable to the modern reader. The last 596 pages is a careful translation into modern English of the original Latin version.

71 people found this helpful

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L. Miller

Excellent translation with helpful apparatus

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2007

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I am writing my dissertation on Newton and have found this translation incredibly helpful and surprisingly readable.

The Principia is one of the most difficult and inaccessible books ever written -- so much so, in fact that even John Locke (himself a pretty smart guy) had to ask Christian Huygens to explain much of it to him. This difficulty was intentional, because Newton did not want people who only understood math a little to try and undermine his arguments. For this reason, he rewrote book three so that only those who had read and understood book 1 could understand its concepts.

People laugh when I tell then that I own a book with a three hundred page introduction, but it's a book that needs a three hundred page intro. In their intro, Cohen and whitman describe the history of the principia, its structure, an explanation of where prior translations have fallen short, and -- most importantly -- note which of the Principia's sections have been most significant during and after Newton's time. This is helpful so that when you get to each section, you are more likely to notice which elements may have seemed most controversial, where he is taking down Descartes' vortices, etc. I'm not saying I agree 100% with cohen and whitman on all of their points, but they have produced a work that does not simply translate the book; it also shares the writers' substantial knowledge about the principia.

This is an essential and monumental translation. If you are at all interested in early modern science, you must own it.

55 people found this helpful

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Erin S.

Best gift

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2022

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This book came super quickly, and incredible condition. My man loves learning and such a great book for people who love to learn. I was incredibly happy with how sturdy the composition of the book was! Definitely a must have book! 😊

7 people found this helpful

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Isabel C

A historical exemplar of modern physics practice

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2016

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This is the work which, for better and for worse, changed how we humans live forever, uniting the heavens and earth under a satisfying physical theory for the first time. The English translation is smooth enough that it feels like Newton wrote the work 'yesterday'. The introductory sections by Cohen give a detailed overview of the work itself and the broader context in which it was written, which helps in recognising some mathematical presentation and concepts we no longer use or are unfamiliar with.

The overall methods used in the Principia have found their use throughout modern physics practice--mathematical modelling, idealisations, theory-mediated measurements, etc. Even with the advent of General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory, we still do physics (in a broad fashion) in a way which is present in this book. No wonder, as a physicist-in-training, I found this work to be an exemplar, despite the less-than-satisfying results in some sections, as Newton himself admitted, of how natural science is to be done (notwithstanding its limitations, as unfortunately we learned the hard way).

26 people found this helpful

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Jacques Richer

A long awaited English translation of the original Masterpiece.

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2021

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A very high quality work. Very readable even for a non-anglophone.
The French translation by La Marquise du Chastellet (1756) is also excellent,
but the old typography (and slightly old French) makes it harder reading.
Both translations nicely plunge the reader in a long voyage into a remote and fascinating past.

10 people found this helpful

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Curt Renz

The Book that Led to the Industrial Revolution

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2017

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This is the book that set the stage for the Industrial Revolution and our modern world. Newton taught us that nature and relations among material objects can be predictable. If a person understands physics (natural philosophy and its related mathematics), he/she can design a machine on a blueprint, and it might actually work. Useful things can be invented, and not merely discovered through serendipity or trial and error.

Newton cleverly employed the method of Euclid by first assuming the truth of three axioms (or laws) of motion and demonstrating their consequences for other concerns through deductive logic. Reading the original (or in this case an English translation from Latin) can be most enlightening.

14 people found this helpful

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Michael Bosse

invaluable for students of historical mathematics and physics

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2017

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This is the definitive reference for anyone who genuinely has an interest in the basic historical foundations of mathematics, physics, and cosmology. It is a heavy undertaking to study this book and I found myself somewhat lulled by my modern mathematical training into expecting equations and formal proofs via induction upon formulae. This book forms the basis for calculus and mathematical physics entirely on the foundation of geometry and nearly every proof is geometrical in origin. Having the guide as an integral part of this book helped to soften the transition from my more modern expectations and opened my mind to this great work of the past.

66 people found this helpful

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Johnnie

Good deal on a Mathematical and Philosophical Classic

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2021

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Super good deal on a hard cover copy of a classic. This is also a good edition. The commentary is helpful, but is also very thick. Still a good deal, would recommend.

4 people found this helpful

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