2) The System of the World, Isaac Newton

… to learn that the universe is a knowable place.

Part of Newton’s mighty Principia, this is one of those books that’s always mentioned in pop science texts. I like the sound of it but I’m pretty sure it would crush my feeble mind if I attempted to read it. Written in 1846 it’s not supposed to be a page turner.

Here’s a little excerpt for you:

If a right line aB be equal to the arc of a cycloid which an oscillating body describes, and at each of its points D the perpendiculars DK be erected, which shall be to the length of the pendulum as the resistance of the body in the corresponding points of the arc to the force of gravity ; I say, that the difference between the arc described in the whole descent and the arc described in the whole subsequent ascent drawn into half the sum of the same arcs will be equal to the area BKa which all those perpendiculars take up.

So…