Conics Books I-IV

The Conies of Apollonius is the culmination of the brilliant geometrical tradition of ancient Greece. With astonishing virtuosity, and with a storytellerÆs flair for thematic development, Apollonius leads the reader through the mysteries of these intriguing curved lines, treated as objects of pure mathematics. His work in turn provided a basis for the very differently conceived investigations of modern mathematicians and scientists such as Viète, Descartes, Kepler, and Newton. Reading the Conies is an unparalleled adventure into the highest reaches of human intellectual achievement. Book jacket.