Rating: 
Summary: Great
Review: Among a very select few others including the Bible and the Code of Hammurabi, this is one of the most important books ever written. This is where Isaac Newton first publicly put forth the calculus and the scientific method. A tremendous intellectual rupture that we are still dealing with, this book was indirectly responsible for historical shifts such as the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. No mean feat.The Principa is not an introductory calculus for the modern reader. It is written in Newton's own notational style. This style is different from the modern one, used in calculus today. The modern calculus notation system was devised by Leibniz. Newton's system of notation proved less useful than Leibniz's, and the better one has won out. Leibniz had independently discovered the calculus prior to the publication of Principia. Thus, Leibniz was not influenced by Newton's notational style. Leibniz's discovery of the calculus was made in secret on the continent several years after Newton had made his own secret discovery of it in Britain. Leibniz's work was published only after Newton's Principia was published. This led Newton to wrongly believe that his work had been stolen. An epic debate between the British and continental academies ensued with each side championing their man. This book has enormous historical interest. For a person who is already educated in calculus, this book will take you to the source of the subject matter, the mouth of the Nile, so to speak. As for the scientific method, this is where it was conceived.
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Summary: Beyond ratings...pure and unadulterated genius...
Review: Forgive me first of all for even attempting this review of "The Principia"...but would any of you attempt to even review the Bible, the Quran or the Bhagvad Gita...??? The Principia is something that should be worshipped not as the work of a mere mortal, but that of the greatest genius of all time... this was the pinnacle of thought, and none since Newton's time has come even close to matching his scientific prowess...forget Einstein, even he did not consider himself worthy of comparison with Newton, for Newton was a theoretician par experimentor par excellence...(Einstein was often apalled by his own poor ability to experiment).. Here was where Newton introduced his theory of gravity and theory of light and his version of the Calculus...but a word of caution...be afraid, DO NOT attempt to learn these subjects from this book...the real purpose of this book is this...to hold it in your hand's and dissolve into tears as you read the mind of the man who came closest to reading God's thoughts...when, years later, Newton was asked how he hit upon his ideas, he replied "By thinking upon them " !! How very helpful, eh..?? Buy this book, treasure it, read it if you can, and all the while, remember Alexander Pope's words:
"Nature and Nature's laws
lay hid in the night;
God said 'Let Newton be !',
And all was light !"
Rating:
Summary: If you don't "get" math, read this book
Review: Hi, folks. I suffered through college math all the way through differential equations, and I never really "got" it. I just memorized the steps and, when exam time rolled around, hoped I could remember which procedure went with which problem. The light finally came on in grad school, and _Principia_ was the switch. Reading the _Principia_ let me get underneath formal calculus and imbued it with a sense of wonder and soul. To see the theory set out step-by-step, to follow with Newton as he envisioned a new way of painting the world, gave me the ability to internalize the calculus, to say, finally, "Yes, that's intuitively right." I wish I'd read the _Principia_ much earlier in my education. It would have saved me a lot of pain.
Rating:
Summary: It's Newton's Principia, Stupid!
Review: I am responding to the person who wrote the second review, the student who decided to use this book to study for an exam in basic calculus. What are you, crazy? Why would ANYONE think they could learn "baby calc" from the great book in which Newton elucidated his theory of the universe!? Did you think about asking anyone, first? I'm a college math prof and my guess is that ANY math teacher would have suggested you study from a modern, elementary calc book, instead. (Then you make matters worse by giving the book a bad review!) At any rate, if you would like a good, modern translation of Newton's Principia, this is the place to go. You really should know some calc and basic mechanics, however - remember, this book, was written by one of the greatest minds in the human history, and it was NOT meant to be a textbook for the novice. Please do not let review # 2 steer you away..........
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Summary: Any more praise needed to this classic of the classics?
Review: I don't think anymore words needed to describe this greatest work of all time! Pricipia is difficult to read, that is no doubt. But the impact of this book and its consequent influence to our world will never and never be overestimated. With the advent of Principia, our world will never be the same again! Even with the advent of relativity, I don't think there is hardly any scratch on this book. As the activities of our daily living and even in astronomical field, except when the speed of an object is approaching light, Newton's law is still the prime theory to govern it! Actually this book should be rated as 10 stars! In fact this book needs not to be rated!!!!
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Summary: It might be an important work, but it ain't no fun to read
Review: I read this book prior to taking test my school offered to "pass-out" of Calculus I and II. I assumed that this would be the best source since Newton is said to have invented Calculus in this book. I never saw it. I spent three weeks trying to cram this book, and I did not come close to passing the standardized exam. The test didn't resemble this book at all. If you need to learn Calculus or Physics, stick with a recently written book. If you need to learn some archaic way of expressing simple ideas, then this is the book for you. I'm now a second year medical student and I still don't know why I had to learn all that math. Nor do I know why I ever bothered to read this book. It turns out Physics and Calculus are really really simple things, but not if taught by Newton.
Rating:
Summary: This is a masterpiece of Science, not a textbook!
Review: I've seen bad reviews for master works of science in the past. Mostly they claim these books are either not clear or impossible to understand. Don't buy this book for the purpose of learning Classical Mechanics or Calculus from it, but for the scientific curiosity of learning how the great Isaac Newton presented his revolutionary scientific ideas to the world. Of course, it is difficult to read. This is a translation of a book written in Latin more than 300 years ago! This book is a jewel. Just like the original works of Einstein, Maxwell, Heisenberg, Schroedinger and all those giants. Many of the ideas presented in the book were written for the first time in history and probably they are not organized in a didactic form. The person buying this book should not expect to find a clear textbook when originally it was not written for the layman, but for the expert scientific community of its time. Buy this book, sit back, scan through it, and enjoy a true piece of history.
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Summary: The Mind of God
Review: No work of human imagination compares with The Principia. Written over three hundred years ago, the laws contained within concerning motion and gravitation remain as basic today as they were when Newton first construed them. While the quantum has allowed us to advance atomic and sub-atomic theories to levels recreating the first moments of the universe, the force that holds us all together, that binds every particle to every other, cannot be more simply described than how Newton first postulated it. It was, and is, an awesome achievement. If we are endowed with any ability that marks us as "human," than it must be the curiosity and imagination that allows us to contemplate the Mind of God. The workings of this God, as Newton understood Him, could be seen in all His creation, and was indistinguishable from Truth. Newton's attempts to understand that Truth came as close as anyone's, yet his assessment of his own efforts leave the rest of us with pathetic humility: "I don't know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." I pity those people who lack the humanity to appreciate, much less understand, Newton's contribution to mankind. But then, perhaps they, like children building castles of sand in the receding tide, can only look up to the magnificence around them when it finally threatens to overwhelm them.
Rating:
Summary: The Mind of God
Review: No work of human imagination compares with The Principia. Written over three hundred years ago, the laws contained within concerning motion and gravitation remain as basic today as they were when Newton first construed them. While the quantum has allowed us to advance atomic and sub-atomic theories to levels recreating the first moments of the universe, the force that holds us all together, that binds every particle to every other, cannot be more simply described than how Newton first postulated it. It was, and is, an awesome achievement. If we are endowed with any ability that marks us as "human," than it must be the curiosity and imagination that allows us to contemplate the Mind of God. The workings of this God, as Newton understood Him, could be seen in all His creation, and was indistinguishable from Truth. Newton's attempts to understand that Truth came as close as anyone's, yet his assessment of his own efforts leave the rest of us with pathetic humility: "I don't know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." I pity those people who lack the humanity to appreciate, much less understand, Newton's contribution to mankind. But then, perhaps they, like children building castles of sand in the receding tide, can only look up to the magnificence around them when it finally threatens to overwhelm them.
Rating:
Summary: Well-done translation; not in a thoroughly modern in style
Review: There's no point in me critiquing the Principia itself--it's been done hundreds of times--so I'll focus on the translation. The translation follows the original Latin work rather closely; about as closely as the older Motte-Cajoli translation, in fact. However, the translators have modernized the terminology, fixed many errors, and put many awkward Latin formulations into a modern mathematical notation. But, generally speaking, the text still feels 1670's-ish. I, unfortunately, was looking for a much looser translation, into a thorougly modern mathematical style. I was more interested in understanding Newton's mathematical thought process than his writing style (which in Latin wasn't quite as pleasant as it was in English). So, to readers looking for a throroughly modern mathematical style, this isn't it. However, I believe this is still the most modern English translation there is. Apart from my particular wants, however, I found this translation to be very well done. The translators included a detailed description of their rationale. As a mechanical engineer, where this work is the ultimate foundation of everything I do, I am very happy to own it.
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