Magnificent Principia: Exploring Isaac Newton's Masterpiece

Newton himself would be pleased with this effort to lay out some of the most demanding and difficult ideas designed to explain how the world and the universe work. You will experience a detailed journey through the Principia, exploring the connections and implications generated by a lifetime of isolated and aggressive study.

Newton's Principia is arguably the most important work in the history of science and yet it remains a largely impenetrable book. Colin Park sets himself the task of making clear the contents of the third edition to the interested reader. The book is a mixture of high level framing of what the contents of the principia contains as well as mathematical arguments that support the theorems embedded in the book. The author often compares modern solution techniques to Newton's solutions and highlights where the similarities lie, though most of the forms of argument are quite different and in particular Newton uses geometric arguments vs today's proofs are largely analytical in nature. Magnificent Principia is split into 7 Parts. The author gives a few brief notes on Newton the man, his personal and family history before jumping into the contents of the book. The author focuses on the third edition which is far more comprehensive than the first edition and is done with more reflection and editing. The author describes Newton's Laws and discusses the way science was published at the time and the writing forms of contemporaries like Galileo and Huygens. The author highlights the need for mathematics to frame the theory and how the narrative theory of Descartes at the time was seen as totally lacking by Newton. The author then moves on to discuss the fundamental leap that Newton made by moving from kinematics to dynamics. He discusses the inverse square law and the geometric arguments Newton used to show the truth of Kepler's laws. The author also highlights the solutions of single body force problems and the geometric vector based approaches Newton used. He also shows modern solution techniques and how embedded in the geometric arguments are integration arguments. I would say the descriptions of Newton's proofs are not as clear as they could be, if you read Bressoud's "Second year calculus" UTM book, the Newton proofs are more succinct and more clear; as well modern proofs are pretty average as well and are clearer in physics textbooks. The author then moves on to Newton discussing constrained motion and linear forces like the pendulum and harmonic oscillator. The author discusses Newton's solution for the mechanism required to keep perfect time, which is not particularly clear I don't think. The author also discusses how Newton moves from point particles to spherically symmetric material bodies. The author then discusses the second book where Newton tackles things like friction dissipative forces. These are pretty remarkable calculations and analysis made by Newton and are rarely focused on by the physics student given more comprehensive analysis were done after more math was developed. The author conveys to the reader how remarkable Newton's ability to analyze and solve pretty much any problem he was faced with was. The author then moves on to book 3 where Newton outlines his law of gravitation. As with the second book the author shows the remarkable ability of Newton to use his three laws to deduce a wide variety of real world phenomenon including the tides and the bulging of the Earth around the equator. The author discusses how the various planet and moon orbits can be explained by the law and documents the calculations. It is pretty mind blowing that so much amazing insight was in the mind of one man. Magnificent Principia brings one of the most remarkable books in science (in my opinion, the most) to the interested reader. The original is not something I am capable of reading so this book was very helpful for me. My criticisms all are around the math side as I found his description of Newton's proofs unclear and convoluted. I could put it down to the ideas of Newton being hard to translate, but having read another book on the proofs of Newton I know the author could have been more clear and succinct. I also am unimpressed with the modern mathematical treatment of the subject and find it much clearer in a host of other books. The book does shine when discussing the results of Newton in books II and III. As well, the value of now knowing the organization and flow of the original is enormous. Definitely worth a read but if one is interested in the math and physics primarily, look elsewhere.

This is outstanding. I have really enjoyed reading through the principia with Colin Pask guidance and insights. It is the first time I have really appreciated the difference between kinematics (Galileo and Kepler) and dynamics (Newton). I am only 125 pages in, but this is a good read if you want to deeper understanding of Newton's true insight.

This is a very clearly written, outstanding guide through The Principia. I'm just over half-way through (late evening readings) and greatly enjoying it.

I read Newton's masterwork several years ago and was stunned and overwhelmed by the brainpower and colossal amount of detailed work it represented - to the extent of frequently losing the thread of the story it was revealing. This book is a great help in highlighting the logical path through Newton's labyrinth of exposition and detail whilst converting both the language and the mathematics into more familiar modern terms. This greatly enhances the appreciation of what Newton achieved and how he did it. The purely technical content of the book is spiced with sufficient additional information about the man, his contemporaries and successors to provide a human interest factor as relief to its logical rigours without veering from its main purpose. The comprehensive and explanatory references to the additional information available to those wishing to soak themselves even more thoroughly in appreciation of Newton's genius is another notable feature of the book. It is not a book for the mathematically illiterate, but it is not intended to be and that is certainly not a shortcoming. As befits such a massive subject, it's a pretty hard slog through, but the long tramp is well worth it.

Good

Fantastic book

A well written book- anyone in to Newton and his work should add this to their library.

Thank-you for a prompt deliver and a perfect item. My son is delighted with this book and we will certainly order again in the future.

OK, its more a modern text in my opinion but I am no Physicist so.....!!!!!

Não é um livro de fácil leitura para quem não é falante de inglês, o tema é meio pesado mas muito interessante. Da uma ideia muito boa do livro do Newton. Ainda não terminei mas estou gostando

Read this. A good intro to Newton's thinking ...