The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist

by William Noel, Reviel Netz, Netz Noel

Book Overview

At a Christie'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's prayer book, the palimpsest revealed the faint writing of a much older,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030681580X
• ISBN13: 9780306815805
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 313 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A splendid story, splendidly told

Reviel Netz and William Noel have given us a well written, immensely informative and hugely entertaining glimpse into the world of Archimedes, mathematical thinking, antiquarian book collecting, manuscript conservation and, above all, puzzle solving. Puzzle solving that is dependent on the mind-boggling expertise of linguists, classicists, mathematicians, chemists, computer scientists and imaging experts. Mr. B, the anonymous but known purchaser of what remains of Codex C and the underwriter of the conservation and interpretative work, clearly needs to be recognized for his huge and essential financial contribution. Does anyone know who Mr. B is? The alternating chapters on the history and restoration of the manuscript and its mathematical content works wonderfully. Reviel Netz does a great job explaining the geometry and the significance of Archimedes' thought experiments. The one minor issue I have is the tendency for overstatement. Netz may well be right that nobody before Archimedes (and even Newton) had the same type of thoughts - but the reality is that given the destruction of so many early manuscripts, we simply do not know. I also am less sure than Prof. Netz that Archimedes, the builder of catapaults and other engineering devices and an astronomer, didn't use the physical world to ground his mathematical ideas - thereby accounting for some of his brilliant mathematical ideas. For example, it is not hard to imagine that Archimedes might have been using his geometry to create a heliocentric model - why else the deep interest in parabolas? But then Prof. Netz like all good educators has motivated me to find other expositions of Archimedes and his science. Regardless, this is a wonderful book, profusely illustrated with both color photographs and diagrams. The authors are also very gracious in acknowledging the work of literally dozens of experts. It will undoubtely inspire a host of fiction writers.

Interdisciplinary and Fascinating

Having enjoyed NOVA's "Infinite Secrets" NOVA - Infinite Secrets: The Genius of Archimedes, when I encountered this book I was thrilled. The seamless integration of the discussions of the mathematics, the technology required to uncover it, the analysis of the language in which it was written, and the history surrounding the text itself made it very difficult to put this book down and attend to life's more mundane duties. Passionately and clearly written, I would expect this book to be informative to an expert, while still being readable by a layperson.

An enthralling read! A must buy!

A distinguished team of curators, conservators, imaging scientists and scholars have been working tirelessly over the past 10 years, proving the true meaning of the age-old maxim: "don't judge a book by its cover." The history uncovered in the decaying pages of the Archimedes Palimpsest, delightfully brought to life in this book, will truly astound you. Alternating chapters, Noel and Netz offer an enthralling account of the history behind this extraordinary manuscript, and the newly rediscovered -astonishing- accomplishments of Archimedes. This is a fantastic and genuinely exciting read. The chapters by Noel are gripping and those by Netz will excite even the most math-phobic reader. I highly recommend this book! Happy reading to all!

A brilliant book about an amazing discovery

This book is truly remarkable although can be at times tiring. It tells the story of the palimpsest which was sold at an auction in 1998. The author takes us on a journey that spans through the early European history up to the Byzantine era and even the Second World War. Although it encompasses the theories that have so far been discovered in the codex originally written by Archimedes himself in a letter, and thus a fair bit of Mathematics is involved, it can be a very enjoyable experience. You can ignore the parts in which the author explains the technology behind the imaging systems they used to uncover the original texts or the logistics of the processes involved, but then you would have missed a part of the whole adventure. This book is about unraveling history and discovering its secrets. What a journey indeed !