Customer Reviews
Ancient math for the math non-lovers - By: David Roy, 04 Feb 2008 
Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, but many of his writings have long been lost to us. We've had some medieval translations of a few of his works, but nothing original. That is, until now. In 1998, a unique book went up for auctionin New York: a 13th century prayer book, handwritten by some monk backin the day. But beneath the words that this monk copied were the words of Archimedesin their original Greek. The Archimedes Codex, by Reviel Netz & William Noel, tells the story of the purchase of this codex, & the nine year (and still ongoing) attempt to get as much of Archimedes original text from this document as possible. It's a fascinating work, alternating between the history of the codex & revealing what the codex says, & thus it's of alternating interest to the reader.
It's an interesting way to write a book, & since Math is not my area of interest, I found Noel's history a lot more interesting than Netz's math. However, Netz's enthusiasm about the entire project is quite infectious. He talks about Archimedes theories, how the study of mathematics changed from ancient times to more modern times, especiallyin light of what the Codex has revealed. One interesting thing Netz discusses is that the ancients did not use infinity as a mathematical object, but then he shows how Archimedes seems to approach the concept even though he never names it. The math is relatively easy to follow, though I did skim a large part of it. Netz provides plenty of diagrams as demonstration. Yes, mathematical writing can get dry at times, but Netz's enthusiasm for the project shines throughin his prose, making these chapters a lot easier to read.
For me, though, the main area of interestin The Archimedes Codex is Noel's history. He does extensive investigations & theorizing into how the Codex came into beingin Constantinoplein the 6th century, what the monk who copied the book may have been thinking, & how the overwriting of ancient manuscripts generally occurred.
Along with the history, Noel provides a detailed account of the process putin place to reveal the hidden secrets of the Codex. This is impressivein itself, with numerous people puttingin a lot of time & effort into imaging the text, coming up with ideas to make the text clearer & easier to read. We see the setbacks & disappointments, the points where Noel thought they wouldn't be able to go forward. Noel's passion for the Codex comes through almost as much as Netz's does, but Noel delves more into the problems that he has had to deal with.
The contributions of both authors make The Archimedes Codex what it is. While the math part can get a little slow at times, overall the topic is a fascinating one & both Netz & Noel are able to entice the reader to follow along with them on this unknown trail (whether mathematical or historical). Netz is almost giddy at times as something is revealedin the Codex.
This book is a definite must for any math fans out there, but it's also good for those with a more historical bent. You can get past the math with relative ease, & enjoy a historical search for the roots of book written over a thousand years ago. Whichever way you go, you can't go wrong with The Archimedes Codex.
David Roy
The extraordinary story of the exploration of one of the most important books of all time - By: Peter Scott, 18 Dec 2007 
The Archimedes Codex is the story of one of the few remaining documents containing the work of the Sicilian thinker Archimedes. It is the story of the book itself & its convoluted history. Without giving much away, the codex is a palimpsest. This is a book on parchment that has had the original writing scraped off & the material refolded & written on again with new text,in this case a mediaeval prayerbook. It explains how conservation work is done & then explores the very latestin imaging technology. But most important of all it explores Archimedes' ideas & physics & mathematics. This book should be read by anyone who wants to know about the history of thought, mathematics or physics, who is interestedin modern imaging techniques, who studies ancient thinkers or who enjoys a story of human endeavourin the face of a complex & ever-changing task.
It is also a lesson to the very rich about how they might better use their money. The un-named buyer of the book was one such, but being a man of perception & taste, he gave the authors what wasin effect a blank cheque to discover what they could from it. In effect he was a patronin the best ancient tradition. By his foresight & generosity we now have access to the ideasin one of the most important booksin human history. Because it was a non-commercial venture, the images & other data that were created are available free on the website at www.archimedespalimpsest.org.
In different hands this story could have been dull. However,in a chatty but rigorous style, the authors tell the story of the purchase of the codex, its disbinding & experimental imaging & the discoveries that were made, mostlyin the sequence that they happened. They get across their own feelings of joy & frustration, & how their preconceptions were proved wrongin striking & exciting ways. It is a joy to read about some of the greatest mindsin their respective fields giving their spare time & their great ingenuity over a period of years to probe the ideas & mind of a man whom the authors assert was the greatest scientist of all time. Their excitement & other emotions ooze from the pages.
I have taught physics for much of my life. This book showed me how ignorant I wasin this field. I used to say to my students that much of early 'modern' scientific study was 'merely' the restatement & examination of earlier worksin Greek. I now know not only that these original thinkers were much more advanced than I, & even the authors of this book, thought, but that Archimedes' workin particular was used directly by Galileo, Newton & others. Indeed one great irony, literally as well as metaphorically as the reader will discover, was that Archimedes' very ideas were usedin this study to produce readable images & to decode them.
