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Title: The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Isaac Newton, I. Bernard Cohen, Anne Whitman ISBN: 0-520-08817-4 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.77 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Masterful Translation
Comment: When not using this book as a reference, I often use it to exercise. Seriously, the translation from the original Latin has finally paid off. This book is an important part of science and history. One can get into the thought processes of Newton with this book. Having read other translations, I must say that this one is by far the best.
Rating: 5
Summary: now there is a good english edition!
Comment: [...]
It was very difficult to grasp in Latin (I've had a try on it),
not that much easy in the Motte facsimile translation (I can assure it), and the Cajori-Motte edition was only half modernized and otherwise flawed.
This edition, sponsored by I.B. Cohen (the Latin editor) gives us a fresh, modern English translation of the text, and -almost as thick- a guide to using and reading this all-important book, which is not -as everybody is aware- an easy reader. One word of caution: Newton was, of course, (pace Leibnitz) the discoverer of calculus, but he doesn't use it here, but "more geometrico"
rigorous proofs, much in the style of that other genius of all ages, Archimedes. If you need help grasping the contents and impact of this work, then you must get some book like DENSMORE, D., Newton's Principia: The Central Argument (other auxiliary books are commented in the Guide potion of the book I'm reviewing).
Rating: 5
Summary: Great
Comment: Among a very select few others including the Bible and the Code of Hammurabi, this is one of the most important books ever written. This is where Isaac Newton first publicly put forth the calculus and the scientific method. A tremendous intellectual rupture that we are still dealing with, this book was indirectly responsible for historical shifts such as the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. No mean feat.
The Principa is not an introductory calculus for the modern reader. It is written in Newton's own notational style. This style is different from the modern one, used in calculus today. The modern calculus notation system was devised by Leibniz. Newton's system of notation proved less useful than Leibniz's, and the better one has won out. Leibniz had independently discovered the calculus prior to the publication of Principia. Thus, Leibniz was not influenced by Newton's notational style. Leibniz's discovery of the calculus was made in secret on the continent several years after Newton had made his own secret discovery of it in Britain. Leibniz's work was published only after Newton's Principia was published. This led Newton to wrongly believe that his work had been stolen. An epic debate between the British and continental academies ensued with each side championing their man.
This book has enormous historical interest. For a person who is already educated in calculus, this book will take you to the source of the subject matter, the mouth of the Nile, so to speak. As for the scientific method, this is where it was conceived.
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Title: Opticks: Or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections & Colours of Light-Based on the Fourth Edition London, 1730 by Sir Isaac Newton, I. Bernard Cohen, Albert Einstein, Sir Edmund Whittaker ISBN: 0486602052 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1952 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements, Books 1 and 2 by Thomas L. Heath, Euclid ISBN: 0486600882 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1956 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (Great Minds Series) by Nicolaus Copernicus, Nicholas Copernicus, Charles G. Wallis ISBN: 1573920355 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Relativity : The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein ISBN: 0517884410 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 06 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Isaac Newton by James Gleick ISBN: 0375422331 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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