The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist | 
 enlarge | Authors: Reviel Netz, William Noel
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 34706
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 030681580X
Dewey Decimal Number: 510
EAN: 9780306815805
ASIN: 030681580X
Publication Date: October 22, 2007
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Product Description
DIVAt a Christie#8217;s auction in October 1998, a battered medieval manuscript sold for two million dollars to an anonymous bidder, who then turned it over to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore for further study. The manuscript was a palimpsest-a book made from an earlier codex whose script had been scraped off and the pages used again. Behind the script of the thirteenth-century monk#8217;s prayer book, the palimpsest revealed the faint writing of a much older, tenth-century manuscript. Part archaeological detective story, part science, and part history, IThe Archimedes Codex/I tells the extraordinary story of this lost manuscript, from its tenth-century creation in Constantinople to the auction block at Christie#8217;s, and how a team of scholars used the latest imaging technology to reveal and decipher the original text. What they found was the earliest surviving manuscript by Archimedes (287 b.c.-212 b.c.), the greatest mathematician of antiquity-a manuscript that revealed, for the first time, the full range of his mathematical genius, which was two thousand years ahead of modern science./DIV
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Fascinating on many levels September 14, 2008
Mark Cassidy (Naugatuck, CT USA)
To appreciate this book fully, you need to have some interest in the history of mathematics or early theoretical physics, as well as enjoy learning how a multidisciplinary team of conservationists, imaging and computer geeks, film makers, the CIA, Greek Mathematics translators all worked to unravel the mystery of a lost but rediscovered codex containing some of Archimedes' most brilliant material. br / br /Unfortunately the Codex is a palimpsest - medieval monks scraped off the Greek from Archimedes texts and wrote prayers on it after rebinding it in the other direction. br / br /Archimedes, Newton and Gauss are usually listed as the three greatest mathematicians (though Euler and a few others are up there as well). If you have not been exposed to Archimedes before, this book will give you an idea of why he is among the greats since he was so ahead of his own time and his results anticipate the calculus and mathematical physics.
Amazing - Math History Mystery! September 13, 2008
W. H. McDonald Jr. (Elk Grove, CA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I honestly never felt particularly inclined to read a book on math let alone pick one up after college - however, I do love a good mystery story. It took the brilliant work of two authors, each writing alternating chapters, to fully captivate me enough to read this wonderful book "The Archimedes Codex"! I am so glad I did; I would have missed something very special. This is not just a math book or a science book or a history book - it is a book of mysteries and so much more. br / br /The book not only is a work of great research and details it also reaches out to grab that part of your higher self that longs for more understanding. The story about how this ancient information is saved and passed on through history and how it is discovered and restored is a most fascinating tale. The scientific and mathematical genius of Archimedes is fully evident. To be honest, as a non-math major in college, there were some parts of this book that I was not fully able to grasp the bigger meanings - but this story is presented in such a way by the authors, that this made no difference. I did understand the enormity of what these finding were. br / br /Entertaining, yet educational and inspiring work! Reading this book actually encourages a part of me to go back to college and take a few higher math classes. This book made math exciting! This story will fully engage the reader. I think a good novelist could turn this true story into a wondrous tale; it has all the elements of a great story! br / br /I fully recommend this FIVE STAR BOOK for all those with a curious mind and a love of real life mysteries.
 Two Fascinating Books In One July 30, 2008
G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada)
The format chosen by the two authors of this book is that they each wrote alternating chapters. One author, a curator of manuscripts and rare books wrote the chapters mainly dealing with the nature of manuscripts and codices, the organization of the project, the objectives at hand, the logistics, the methods used, the technology, etc. The other author, a professor of ancient sciences, concentrated mainly on the reading, deciphering and mathematical interpretation of the ancient writings and their meaning in terms of what we know about Archimedes. Although alternating chapters have different focuses, they blend easily one into the other without any significant discontinuity. Both writing styles are clear, friendly and authoritative. The mathematical expositions are generally accessible, although in some cases the terminology used is more of an ancient style than what one would find in a modern mathematics textbook; as a result, some arguments are difficult to follow. I have learned much from this book: about Archimedes' accomplishments, about ancient manuscripts and codices, about methods and apparatuses used to image ancient texts and about the incredible complexity of the whole project. It is difficult to estimate which types of readers would be most interested in this book since it contains so much that could be of interest to different people, i.e., ancient and medieval history, history of mathematics, modern technology, physics, detective work, etc. But, it is likely that readers interested in any of the above subjects would enjoy it.
 Great Subject - Better Writing Needed June 27, 2008
BrianEF (Potomac, MD, USA)
There is a spectacular story here. It needed far better authors to tell it. br / br /The authors of this work, Reviel Netz and William Noel have an absolutely spectacular subject. Literally over two thousand years in the making. As many of the other reviews have noted, this book changes what we know about the history of mathematics and science. The problem is that the writing in this book is just weak and at times pedantic. It seems to skip around from subject to subject. With such an amazing subject, they should have done so much more - or gotton someone who could. Just take a look at Mark Kurlansky's "Salt: A World History" or "Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World." Two of perhaps the most boring subjects, and yet Kurlansky makes the stories of their history come alive. Here we have opposite: a story that should leap off the page without the quality of writing needed to make it happen. br /
 ARCHIMEDES DISCOVERED NOTHING NEW!!! June 22, 2008
MUHAMMAD (ON THE MOTHERSHIP)
1 out of 24 found this review helpful
EVERYTHING that Archimedes is supposed to have "discovered" already existed in Africa, thousands of years before "WHITE" Greeks existed. The Ancient Egyptians "THE MASTER BUILDERS" had already discovered "ALL" of the Arts Sciences. The Greeks Romans were students of the Ancient Black Egyptians, before they destroyed the Egyptian Civilization by raping the women, killing the Priests, forbidding the speaking of the language burning the Library of Alexandria. Ask yourself this question, if the Greeks were such Great Mathematicians why did they go all the way to Africa to set up this Library, and where are their Pyramids? Huh? br / br /Africa Africans were the fountainhead of knowledge, at a time when the Whites had recently emerged from the Caves of Hillsides of Europe, where they were walking on all fours and eating their meat raw, not having the knowledge of fire. Go back and read the ancient historical accounts by Herodotus, where he describes not only the Scientific Wonders of the Ancient Egyptians, but also describes their race as being of "Burnt Skin Woolly Hair, that they describe themselves as "THE" Most Ancient of Peoples. br / br /WHY ARE THERE NO ANCIENT RUINS IN WHITE CIVILIZATIONS BUILT BY WHITE PEOPLES? (Stonehenge and other monuments in Europe were built by Blacks who peopled what is called Europe millions of years before the first Whites arrived. Google "Grimaldi Negro", the first inhabitants of Europe. Also see "The Making of the White Man" by Paul Guthrie "Black Spark, White Fire". br / br /THIS IS THE SAME TYPE OF RACIST LOGIC THAT POSITS THAT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA, WHEN EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT BOTH INDIANS BLACKS WERE HERE FIRST, BUILDING PYRAMID CIVILIZATIONS. br / br /For further edification read: "The African Origin of Civilization" by Cheik Anta Diop (Renowned Senegalese Physicist Linguist), "Stolen Legacy" by George M. James (Greek Scholar) "Black Athena" by Martin Bernal (which shows that Early Greece was peopled by two successive waves of African colonization who laid the foundation of both Minoan Greek Civilization. Take a close look at the Minoans, they are of African stock, as were the early Greeks prior to the invasions of the Barbaric White Dorians, who brought no Civilizing influence to Greece. br / br /Racist White historical analysis cannot replace cold hard facts such as the Pyramid Civilizations appearing only in Black Civilizations such as Egypt, Mexico etc. The Pyramid culture in the Americas begins with the Thick Lipped, Broad Nosed, Wooly Haired Olmec Civilization, "THE MOTHER CIVILIZATION" of the Americas. br / br /FURTHERMORE, WHOSE TO SAY THAT ARCHIMEDES WAS WHITE, AS GREEK CIVILIZATION AT THAT TIME, HAD BLACKS AS WELL AS WHITES. br / br /Truth crushed to Earth will Rise Again!!!
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