Encounters with Euclid : how an ancient Greek geometry text shaped the world

By:

Wardhaugh, Benjamin

Material type: Text

9780008299941

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Early works.

DDC classification:

516.2 23 WAR-E

LOC classification:

QA445 .W36 2021

Contents:

Part one. Author. Alexandria: the geometer and the king Elephantine: pot shards Hypsicles: the fourteenth book Theon of Alexandria: editing the Elements Stephanos the scribe: Euclid in Byzantium Al-Hajjaj: Euclid in Baghdad Adelard: the Latin Euclid Erhard Ratdolt: printing the Elements Marget Seymer her hand: owning the Elements Edward Bernard: Minerva in Oxford Part two. Sage. Plato: the philosopher and the slave Proclus Diadochus: Minerva in Athens Hroswitha of Gandersheim: Wisdom and her daughters Rabbi Levi ben Gershom: Euclid in Hebrew Christoph Clavius: the Jesuit Elements Xu Guangqi: Euclid in China Blame not our author: geometry on stage Baruch Spinoza: the geometrical manner Anne Lister: improving the mind Part three. Hero Petechonsis: taxing and overtaxing Dividing the monochord Hyginus: surveying the land Muhammad Abu al-Wafa al-Buzjani: dividing the square Lady Geometria: depicting the liberal arts Piero della Francesca: seeing in perspective Euclid Speidell: teaching and learning Isaac Newton: mathematical principles Part four. Shadow and mask. Mary Fairfax: Euclid and the straitjacket François Peyrard: Manuscript 190 Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevskii: parallels Maggie and Tom: the torture of the mind Simson in Urdu: the Euclidean empire His modern rivals Thomas Little Heath: the true con amore spirit Max Ernst: Euclid's mask Euclidean designs Lambda: curved space, dark energy

Summary: Wardhaugh explains how Euclid's text journeyed from antiquity to the Renaissance, introducing some of the many readers, copyists, and editors who left their mark on the Elements before handing it on. He shows how some read the book as a work of philosophy, while others viewed it as a practical guide to life. He examines the many different contexts in which Euclid's book and his geometry were put to use, from the Neoplatonic school at Athens and the artisans' studios of medieval Baghdad to the Jesuit mission in China and the workshops of Restoration London. Wardhaugh shows how the Elements inspired ideas in theology, art, and music, and how the book has acquired new relevance to the strange geometries of dark matter and curved space. --From publisher description.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Books	IIITD General Stacks	Mathematics	516.2 WAR-E (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		012436

Total holds: 0

"Originally published in the English language in 2020 by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. under the title The Book of Wonders: The Many Lives of Euclid's Elements"--Title page verso.

This book includes bibliographical references and index.

Part one. Author. Alexandria: the geometer and the king
Elephantine: pot shards
Hypsicles: the fourteenth book
Theon of Alexandria: editing the Elements
Stephanos the scribe: Euclid in Byzantium
Al-Hajjaj: Euclid in Baghdad
Adelard: the Latin Euclid
Erhard Ratdolt: printing the Elements
Marget Seymer her hand: owning the Elements
Edward Bernard: Minerva in Oxford Part two. Sage. Plato: the philosopher and the slave
Proclus Diadochus: Minerva in Athens
Hroswitha of Gandersheim: Wisdom and her daughters
Rabbi Levi ben Gershom: Euclid in Hebrew
Christoph Clavius: the Jesuit Elements
Xu Guangqi: Euclid in China
Blame not our author: geometry on stage
Baruch Spinoza: the geometrical manner
Anne Lister: improving the mind Part three. Hero Petechonsis: taxing and overtaxing
Dividing the monochord
Hyginus: surveying the land
Muhammad Abu al-Wafa al-Buzjani: dividing the square
Lady Geometria: depicting the liberal arts
Piero della Francesca: seeing in perspective
Euclid Speidell: teaching and learning
Isaac Newton: mathematical principles Part four. Shadow and mask. Mary Fairfax: Euclid and the straitjacket
François Peyrard: Manuscript 190
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevskii: parallels
Maggie and Tom: the torture of the mind
Simson in Urdu: the Euclidean empire
His modern rivals
Thomas Little Heath: the true con amore spirit
Max Ernst: Euclid's mask
Euclidean designs
Lambda: curved space, dark energy

Wardhaugh explains how Euclid's text journeyed from antiquity to the Renaissance, introducing some of the many readers, copyists, and editors who left their mark on the Elements before handing it on. He shows how some read the book as a work of philosophy, while others viewed it as a practical guide to life. He examines the many different contexts in which Euclid's book and his geometry were put to use, from the Neoplatonic school at Athens and the artisans' studios of medieval Baghdad to the Jesuit mission in China and the workshops of Restoration London. Wardhaugh shows how the Elements inspired ideas in theology, art, and music, and how the book has acquired new relevance to the strange geometries of dark matter and curved space. --From publisher description.

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