Clear and penetrating presentation of the basic principles of scientific research from the great French physiologist whose contributions in the 19th century included the discovery of vasomotor nerves; nature of curare and other poisons in human body; functions of pancreatic juice in digestion; elucidation of glycogenic function of the liver.

Review
"[Apollonius's Conics] is one of the greatest scientific books of antiquity." "[Apollonius was a] giant, not simply as compared with men of antiquity, but even with men of all times. ... [T]he ingenuity that enabled him to discover so much with imperfect tools [i.e., lacking the arts of analytic and projective geometry] is truly admirable...such achievements pass our imagination, they are almost weird." --George Sarton, from An Introduction to the History of Science and A History of Science
If we want to read for ourselves authors like Kepler and Newton, or if we want to understand the significance of the Cartesian mathematics that has shaped the world we live in and shapes our minds as wellóeither way, whether to understand the past in its own terms or to understand the present as a deliberate transformation of the pastówe need to study Apollonius." --Harvey Flaumenhaft Dean, St. John's College, Annapolis
Product Description
The Conics of Apollonius (3rd Century BCE) is the culmination of the brilliant geometrical tradition of ancient Greece. With astonishing virtuosity, and with a storyteller's flair for thematic development, Apollonius leads the reader through the mysteries of these intriguing curved lines, treated as objects of pure mathematics. His work in turn provided a basis for the very differently conceived investigations of modern mathematicians and scientists such as Viète, Descartes, Kepler, and Newton. Reading the Conics is an unparalleled adventure into the highest reaches of human intellectual achievement. This is a completely new edition of Taliaferro's translation of the first three books of Apollonius's Conics, with all new diagrams. It is the only English translation of these books other than Heath's out-of-print version which is a modernized retelling rather than a true translation. Conics Books I--III were formerly included in Volume 11 of the Encyclopædia Britannica's Great Books of the Western World, but the work is no longer included in that series and has been out of print. We made many corrections to the old edition's text, translation, and notes. The book features all new diagrams, an index, a bibliography, and an introductory essay by Harvey Flaumenhaft. Design and layout make it easy to read and work with, with diagrams repeated on every spread, adequate space for notes, and high quality paper to prevent show-through.

Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between Athens and Sparta "a possession for all time," and indeed it is the first and still most famous work in the Western historical tradition. Considered essential reading for generals, statesmen, and liberally educated citizens for more than 2,000 years, The Peloponnesian War is a mine of military, moral, political, and philosophical wisdom. However, this classic book has long presented obstacles to the uninitiated reader. Robert Strassler's new edition removes these obstacles by providing a new coherence to the narrative overall, and by effectively reconstructing the lost cultural context that Thucydides shared with his original audience. Based on the venerable Richard Crawley translation, updated and revised for modern readers. The Landmark Thucydides includes a vast array of superbly designed and presented maps, brief informative appendices by outstanding classical scholars on subjects of special relevance to the text, explanatory marginal notes on each page, an index of unprecedented subtlety, and numerous other useful features. In any list of the Great Books of Western Civilization, The Peloponnesian War stands near the top. This authoritative new edition will ensure that its greatness is appreciated by future generations.

Plato, the great philosopher of Athens, was born in 427 BCE. In early manhood an admirer of Socrates, he later founded the famous school of philosophy in the grove Academus. Much else recorded of his life is uncertain; that he left Athens for a time after Socrates' execution is probable; that later he went to Cyrene, Egypt, and Sicily is possible; that he was wealthy is likely; that he was critical of 'advanced' democracy is obvious. He lived to be 80 years old. Linguistic tests including those of computer science still try to establish the order of his extant philosophical dialogues, written in splendid prose and revealing Socrates' mind fused with Plato's thought.
In Laches, Charmides, and Lysis, Socrates and others discuss separate ethical conceptions. Protagoras, Ion, and Meno discuss whether righteousness can be taught. In Gorgias, Socrates is estranged from his city's thought, and his fate is impending. The Apology (not a dialogue), Crito, Euthyphro, and the unforgettable Phaedo relate the trial and death of Socrates and propound the immortality of the soul. In the famous Symposium and Phaedrus, written when Socrates was still alive, we find the origin and meaning of love. Cratylus discusses the nature of language. The great masterpiece in ten books, the Republic, concerns righteousness (and involves education, equality of the sexes, the structure of society, and abolition of slavery). Of the six so-called dialectical dialogues Euthydemus deals with philosophy; metaphysical Parmenides is about general concepts and absolute being; Theaetetus reasons about the theory of knowledge. Of its sequels, Sophist deals with not-being; Politicus with good and bad statesmanship and governments; Philebus with what is good. The Timaeus seeks the origin of the visible universe out of abstract geometrical elements. The unfinished Critias treats of lost Atlantis. Unfinished also is Plato's last work of the twelve books of Laws (Socrates is absent from it), a critical discussion of principles of law which Plato thought the Greeks might accept.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Plato is in twelve volumes.