First, an apology for only giving it three stars. I am well aware that this is a brilliant piece of poetry, but my Latin is very poor, and I rapidly abandoned my initial plan of reading it in the original with the English translation alongside. In a way, though, I'm following Lucretius's advice: he explicitly says at one point that it's wrong to allow yourself to be swayed by beautiful words, and you should judge an idea on its merits. Reading him in my barbarian's tongue is certainly one way to...

Epicurian Physics31 July 2013 Well, here I am, once again sitting in the passenger seat of my Dad's car on our final trek to Melbourne, and since I have been reading, sleeping, or driving for most of the day, I might as well fix up a couple of my reviews while I am sitting here (and since I have a smartphone, and my Dad has this adapter that allows me to plug my laptop into the cigarette lighter, I might as well make use of it – such are the benefits of having an electronic engineer as a father)...

The antiquity of this book calls for respect and appreciation. However, for a modern reader it is very boring to read. It's a long (300 pages) poem written in the first century BC in which the author pontificates about the physical sciences for the purpose of defending Epicureanism philosophy. It is of some interest for the modern reader to see where the author is correct and not so correct when judged from the perspective of modern science. However, Lucretius was a poet in his day, not a mathem...

Much on-target prediction. Philosophic argument combined with poetic aplomb. The nature of atoms, the movement of lightning, particles, sound, a refutation of the gods, sex and man's nature as opposed to the nature of non-sentient things. Attempts to locate the soul. Some missteps regarding the heavens, ether, and celestial bodies. Much worthy logical exploration about our mysterious universe. Food for thought for young and old. Well-composed and organized meditative observation and explanation....

Why doesn't anyone write pop science books like this any more? You know, full of cutting-edge particle physics and cosmology (who cares if it's all wrong? it's magnificently wrong) but with bits about earthquakes and evolution, mixed up with hot sex tips and complaints about why women are all such fucking bitches. And the whole thing done as exquisite poetry. Brian Greene, eat your heart out. No one's going to be reading you a couple of thousand years from now.

ALL MATTER?NEVER MIND!-Bertrand Russell’s Grandmother(Mocking his Materialist Philosophy)When I was in my late teens I had a stunning Lucretian prise de conscience that utterly knocked the wind out of my youthful sails. It seemed the overwhelming answer to Eliot’s “overwhelming question.”Or was it really? Perhaps it is only the crass materialist’s non-workable answer to life’s big puzzle, I later reckoned, when my early Faith reappeared and took deep root - giving me a harbour of peaceful refuge...

According to Lucretius, the infinitely small perception is only a ray of light, allowing elementary particles to meet and repel each other without any original affinity.The particles move, collide, unite and separate uniquely formatted by the chance of encounters having no meaning.The infinitely small, random number Pi is only an aggregate of forms disappearing and reborn according to their paths and impacts as absurd as unforeseeable.No need to analyse each result; they mean nothing. Each produ...

The Nature of Things is a long narrative Latin poem which sets out Epicurean philosophy. This I read in an English prose translation. The Epicureans believed in atomic theory and so this aspect of the work feels most familiar and recognisably modern and one can be impressed that people through speculation, raw brain power, and idle after dinner conversations over olives and watered wine had a perception of reality very close to what scientists have achieved today after much experimentation and

Wow, this was a real surprise. Lucretius was just so shockingly ahead of his time. It's probably more important than Newton in terms of the sheer range of thought he originates. His conception of atomic theory is surprisingly accurate, down to recognizing that atoms are composed of about three different parts. He also figured out the law of conservation of matter, realized that the majority of matter is made up of empty space, recognized the basic principles of gravitation, heat, light, relativi...

As a college freshman, I had Rolfe Humphries as my Humanities teacher. One book the whole freshman class read was his Aeneid. He would read a passage, and add, "The translator has taken a liberty here..." Since I read Latin, he loaned me Seneca's Thyestes in the Loebedition from his office. Now we focus on Lucretius, who wrote the first "scientific" epic, his six books in dactyllic hexameters. Speaking of Aeneas, Lucretius begins with him, Venus the "Aeneas-maker":"Aeneadum genetrix, hominum div...

If I were to try to prove that time machines were possible, this is the book I would submit as exhibit one for my evidence. There is really no other explanation for this book than the fact that Richard Feynman had built a time machine and had the opportunity to talk with Lucretius for one hour (but no more) and explain to him what he (Feynman) has said is the most important statement he could say in the fewest words, "that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetu...

Matter, for sure, is not one solid mass Close packed together. We see that everything. Diminishes, and through the long lapse of timeWe note that all things seem to melt away As years and age withdraw them from our sight.And yet the sum of things stays unimpaired. This is because when particles are shed From a thing they diminish it as they leave it, And then increase the object that they come to.They make the one grow old, the other flourish,But do not linger there. The sum of things Is thus f

But, as I have said before, the majority of people suffer from a common disease, as in a plague, with their false notions about things, and their number is increasing (for in mutual emulation, they catch the disease from one another, like sheep). —Oenoanda Inscription, fr. 3By the end of the poem the reader will have passed from birth to death, and in the process come to see like Lucretius, that the angst-ridden activity of everyday life is pointless, and that true happiness must be sought elsew...