Descartes's Secret Notebook by Amir Aczel

Descartes's Secret Notebook by Amir Aczel

Ren' Descartes (1596-1650) is one of the towering and central figures in Western philosophy and mathematics. His apothegm Cogito, ergo sum marked the birth of the mind-body problem, while his creation of so-called Cartesian coordinates have made our physical and intellectual conquest of physical space possible.

But Descartes had a mysterious and mystical side, as well. Almost certainly a member of the occult brotherhood of the Rosicrucians, he kept a secret notebook, now lost, most of which was written in code. After Descartes's death, Gottfried Leibniz, inventor of calculus and one of the greatest mathematicians in history, moved to Paris in search of this notebook--and eventually found it in the possession of Claude Clerselier, a friend of Descartes. Leibniz called on Clerselier and was allowed to copy only a couple of pages--which, though written in code, he amazingly deciphered there on the spot. Leibniz's hastily scribbled notes are all we have today of Descartes's notebook, which has disappeared.

Why did Descartes keep a secret notebook, and what were its contents? The answers to these questions lead Amir Aczel and the reader on an exciting, swashbuckling journey, and offer a fascinating look at one of the great figures of Western culture.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780767920339
ISBN 10	0767920333
Title	Descartes's Secret Notebook
Author	Amir Aczel
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
Year published	2005-10-11
Number of pages	273
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.