On the Shoulders of Giants

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular
Review: Stephen Hawking has once again written a great book for the physics hobbyist. The book is a compliation of all the greatest works of physics and astronomy, as we see it today. The book gives an overview of each scientist life and how they came to their theories. When the book begins to explore their works it could become daunting for some, but enjoyable at the same time. A must read for anyone who enjoys deep intellectual thought.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding work from the pre-eminent scientist of his time!
Review: Stephen Hawking is simply the most appropriate person to have written this book - he is the world's foremost scientist. The holder of the Lucasian Chair (once also held by Isaac Newton) at Cambridge University, he has the ability to make physics and cosmology understandable by mortal humans. In an elegant way. If you have not read this book, please do so. If you have not read his "A Brief History of Time", please do so. You *will* be pleased!

Rating:
Summary: good commentary
Review: This as alot of important scientific papers and the thinking that when into them. Also good bios. All these men were true visionaries.

Rating:
Summary: good commentary
Review: This as alot of important scientific papers and the thinking that when into them. Also good bios. All these men were true visionaries.

Rating:
Summary: Impressive but not what was promoted
Review: This book contains writings of five of the greatest scientists who have ever lived. They changed the way we thought about nature and in so doing changed the way we thought about ourselves. Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the notion of a heliocentric universe. Galileo Galilei reiterated that with the added evidence of moons of other worlds. He introduced the discipline of physics into the discussion. Johannes Kepler used this new science to measure the orbits of the planets and discover HOW they spun in their orbits (he gave us the three planetary laws).

Newton used that information to explain the underlying reasons for motion, gravity, acceleration. He also built on Kepler's work in optics. Albert Einstien used the Newtonian universe as the starting point for introducing us to the relativistic nature of existence.

This is NOT a book for beginners - it contains some heavy mathematics, theorem, and the writing is at times, turgid. What I found lacking was the "commentary" by Stephen Hawking. I, like others, had presumed that it was going to be give and take...he would introduce the scientist, let us see some of their work, then offer commentary. Instead what we got were LONG tomes that, while being the essense of the genius, are hardly digestable as public reading. It is an impressive work but is not easily accessible by the layman.

Rating:
Summary: The Great Books of Physics
Review: This is long in coming... A great collection of the greatest works in physics that are all too often never read by modern day scientists. I have always wanted to see a history of physics course or a great books of physics course and this would be the best single volume text. I highly reccomend this for anyone interested in the history of science and the actual thoughts of the great physicists. These are not easy reading, but to see into the minds of these geniuses is enlightening. Covers scientists from Copernicus to Einstein. Truly amazing accomplishments collected into one volume. A great buy!

Rating:
Summary: life goes on with science.
Review: very Scientific book to review. the amazing thing about this book that there is the prove about the whole scientific reviews throw the history of humanity.a review of life and science, a huge book of history... very Good

Rating:
Summary: The original papers.
Review: What makes this Stephen Hawkin book different is that it collects together in one place the original papers of the great masters, starting with Copernicus, and ending with Einstein. A generation ago, Eric Temple Bell suggested that we begin with the classics when learning math and science. Traditionally, it was thought that modern books based on the classics offered more effective ways of introducing or presenting the material, and as a result only a few students (and teachers) took the trouble of looking at the original classics, the central papers of the great masters. The true landmark papers. All the while, they collected dust on the shelves in the back rooms of libraries. Of the giants in science, five stand out, Copernicus, Galilei, Kepler, Newton, and Einstein. A chapter is reserved to each of the five. Each chapter begins with a lively biography which also serves to place the material in the context of the history of science. This is followed with the original papers themselves in translation. With this book, readers can compare Newton's laws from Principia with the fundamental papers of Einstein. It is collected in one place with commentary. Complaint: The print reproduction of Einstein's papers is not good, and some formulas unfortunately have been truncated in the reproduction. Hopefully that will be fixed in a second edition.