Difficult to read, but interesting from a historical p.o.v. | Opticks (Great Mind)

Dont Understand | Opticks (Great Mind) | Isaac, Sir Newton

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	• Opticks (Great Mind) Isaac, Sir Newton Prometheus Books, 2003 - 414 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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"tres curieux"

"Though Mr. Newton is no physicist, his book is very interesting." -- Father Nicolas Malebranche (1707)

Difficult to read, but interesting from a historical p.o.v.

Having done a Ph.D. in optics, I have read quite some books on optics and out of curiocity I bought this book, but I am not very pleased with it. First, it is difficult to read because of the old English language and structure. For native English speakers this carries perhaps not so much weight, but for me it did. Second, because it is a collection of Newton's works, it contains of course also many not-so-interesting discussions which you have to 'consume' before realising it was not so interesting.

What is nice though, is that the book contains many so-called queries, which are possible explanations of various optical phenomena, explanations/assumptions Newton could not prove/disprove at the time. This is fascinating reading, because many of these turned out to be true (or false, but even then: still interesting to know what he thought).

Overall impression: if you are interested in the history of optics/Newton then it is a nice book. But just for browsing in the evening: no.

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Dont Understand

It is obvious neither of the previous reviewers understand, this book was written by Issac Newton in the 1600's. It is read for historical reasons.

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Opticks Reviewed

Overall the book covered the material well. However the book was somewhat difficult to follow. It took a couple of passes to clarify what was being said.

One of the most readable of all the great classics of physical science, Opticks comprises a comprehensive survey of 18th-century knowledge of light, describing Newton's own experiments with spectroscopy, colors, lenses, reflection, refraction, and more, in language lay readers can easily follow. Foreword by Albert Einstein.

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