The Newton Papers: The Strange and True Odyssey...

This one is in Very Good condition! The dust jacket is showing significant wear around the edges, especially along the top of the book, including some small tears near the spine; There is a crease on the back of the dust jacket; There is a crease running the length of the inside flap of the dust jacket; other minor cover/shelf wear to the dust jacket; Book underneath has a small crush on the bottom of the front cover, and another on the back near the spine; A small indentation in the top of some pages; Text is clean! A great book, ready to read! See pictures! SercelShop is a family business! Books and other products are hand-selected, packed, and shipped by a husband and wife team from Alabama. If you have any questions, we'd love to hear from you. We appreciate your business! --The Sercels

ISBN: 9780199951048

Publisher's Description: "When Isaac Newton died on March 20, 1727, he did not leave a will. He did however leave a mass of disorganized papers--containing upward of 8 million words. Ranging from secret alchemical recipes to impassioned and heretical rejections of the Holy Trinity to notes on his core discoveries in universal gravitation and optics, these manuscripts presented a picture of Newton quite unlike the one enshrined in Westminster Abbey as the paragon of English rationality. They threatened to undermine not merely the great scientist's own reputation, but that of the scientific method he embodied. Complex and confusing, the papers were deemed "unfit to be printed," and, aside from brief, troubling glimpses, they would remain hidden from sight for more than a century and a half.
In The Newton Papers, Sarah Dry illuminates the tangled path these private writings have taken over the course of nearly three hundred years, form the end of Newton's own life into the present day. She traces the papers through the hands of relatives, collectors, scientists and scholars, as they were concealed, forgotten, dispersed, re-discovered, and finally made public. A diverse cast of characters pursued the manuscripts, including economist John Maynard Keynes, who bought much of Newton's writing at bargain prices during a Sotheby's sale as World War II was looming, to Abraham Yahuda, a Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Languages, friend of Albert Einstein, and key figure in the founding of Israel, who acquired many of Newton's theological works with an eye toward their potential utility in promoting Jewish interests in Palestine. Along with others--aristocrats, Cambridge dons, rare book dealers, American businessmen--these men each became obsessed in his own way with identifying the "true" Newton.
A gripping and lively detective story, The Newton Papers also explores the changing status of science over the centuries, the growth in interest in rare scientific books and papers, and the rise of a new discipline, the history of science. It puts the rich history of Newton's lost archive into a wider context, one that enables readers to reassess the relationship between science and society, between history and the wider culture, and between the complex contradictions of a genius and his legacy."