Why read Euclid's Elements?

Book cover of Euclid's Elements

Book description

The classic Heath translation, in a completely new layout with plenty of space and generous margins. An affordable but sturdy sewn hardcover student and teacher edition in one volume, with minimal notes and a new index/glossary.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Euclid's Elements as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Thomas A. Garrity

Author

This is the bestselling textbook of all time. Euclid’s Elements has been the model for correct thinking for thousands of years. The traditional year-long course on axiomatic reasoning about geometry was easily my favorite course in high school. In fact, I sort of assumed that I was slow in that I could not “see” the underlying axioms in other classes. I simply did not realize that the other high school subjects were not axiom-based.

The story goes that as a young prairie lawyer, Abraham Lincoln carried around with him a tattered copy of the Elements so that he could learn…

From Thomas' list on The best books for mathematical inspiration.