The Book Nobody Read

Oct 1, 2024 5:23 AM

Author:Owen Gingerich

1543 saw the publication of one of the most significant scientific works ever written: De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in which Nicolaus Copernicus presented a radically different structure of the cosmos by placing the sun, and not the earth, at the centre of the universe.

But did anyone take notice? Harvard astrophysicist Owen Gingerich was intrigued by the bold claim made by Arthur Koestler in his bestselling The Sleepwalkers that sixteenth-century Europe paid little attention to the groundbreaking, but dense, masterpiece. Gingerich embarked on a thirty-year odyssey to examine every extant copy to prove Koestler wrong...

Logging thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles Gingerich uncovered a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea. His quest led him to copies once owned by saints, heretics, and scallywags, by musicians and movie stars; some easily accessible, others almost lost to time, politics and the black market.

Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, Gingerich's The Book Nobody Read is an utterly captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books.

Reviews

'Owen Gingerich knows how to judge a book - by its readers.In this exuberant tale he encounters bookworms and book thieves, book lovers, dealers, and collectors, book restorers and forgers, librarians, auctioneers, even FBI and Interpol agents A detective story, a Renaissance flashback, an exposé, a true confession, an altogether engrossing, edifying romp'

—— Dava Sobel

'A fascinating story of a scholar as sleuth. His enthusiasm for what might be judged a rather fine point of history is infectious. His book deserves to be read not only by historians and bibliophiles, but by anyone with a taste for arcane detective adventures and a curiosity about the motivations of scholarly perseverance... As in most good adventure stories, the rewards are in the pursuit itself.'

—— New York Times

'Only one of many illuminations, major and minor, in his book... A driven, fascinating book, and a rarity - a history of science by someone who actually knows about science.'

—— John Carey , Sunday Times

With terms like 'Machine Learning' and 'Big Data' regularly making headlines, there is no shortage of hype-filled business books on the subject. There are also textbooks that are too technical to be accessible. For those in the middle-from executives to college students-this is the ideal book, showing how and why things really work without the heavy math. Unlike other books that proclaim a bright future, this one actually gives you what you need to understand the changes that are coming

—— Peter Norvig, Director of Research, Google and coauthor of 'Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach'

[The Master Algorithm] does a good job of examining the field's five main techniques...The subject is meaty and the author ... has a knack for introducing concepts at the right moment

—— Economist

Machine learning is the single most transformative technology that will shape our lives over the next fifteen years. This book is a must-read-a bold and beautifully written new framework for looking into the future

—— Geoffrey Moore, author of 'Crossing the Chasm'

This is an incredibly important and useful book. Machine learning is already critical to your life and work, and will only become more so. Finally, Pedro Domingos has written about it in a clear and understandable fashion

—— Thomas H. Davenport, Distinguished Professor, Babson College and author of 'Competing on Analytics and Big Data @ Work'

Starting with the audacious claim that all knowledge can be derived from data by a single 'master algorithm,' Domingos takes the reader on a fast-paced journey through the brave new world of machine learning. Writing breezily but with deep authority, Domingos is the perfect tour guide from whom you will learn everything you need to know about this exciting field, and a surprising amount about science and philosophy as well

—— Duncan Watts, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research, and author of 'Six Degrees and Everything Is Obvious *Once You Know the Answer'

A delightful book by one of the leading experts in the field. If you wonder how AI will change your life, read this book

—— Sebastian Thrun, Research Professor, Stanford, Google Fellow and Inventor of the Self-Driving Car

An exhilarating venture into groundbreaking computer science

—— Booklist (starred review)

Domingos writes with verve and passion, and the book has a strong narrative

—— New Scientist

Pedro Domingos is a man with a quest, and a hypothesis, which is likely - one day - to change the world . . . Domingos is a genial and amusing guide . . . This is a highly inclusive book, aimed at a wide range of readers from the merely curious to those who might be interested in pursuing a career in the field . . . Descriptions and discussions are presented with a commendable lack of jargon and the examples are clear and accessible

—— John Gilbey , Times Higher Education

Wonderfully erudite, humorous, and easy to read.

—— KDNuggets

The Master Algorithm does a good job of examining the field's five main techniques...The subject is meaty and the author...has a knack for introducing concepts at the right moment

—— Economist

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