Table of Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition of Magnificent Principia 1
Preface to the Hardcover Edition of Magnificent Principia: Why You Should Read This Book 11
Acknowledgments 17
Plan of the Book and Reading Plans 19
Part 1 Introductory Material 21
1 Introducing Our Hero 23
2 Setting the Scene 41
3 A First Look at the Principia 72
Part 2 How The Principia Begins 87
4 Newton's Preface: Setting Out Methods and Aims 89
5 Fundamentals 98
6 Newton's Laws of Motion and Their Immediate Consequences 123
7 Mathematical Methods 148
Part 3 Developing The Basics Of Dynamics 169
8 Down to Business 171
9 What Isaac Did Next: Finding Forces 188
10 The Inverse-Square Law: Triumph and Controversy 202
11 Interlude: The Modern Formulation 220
12 Time and a Mathematical Gem 233
13 Completing the Single-Body Formalism 249
14 Rotating Orbits 267
Part 4 On To More Complex Situations 281
15 Constrained Motion 283
16 Many Bodies: Triumphs and Challenges 293
17 Big Bodies and Superb Theorems 316
18 Here Endeth Book I 332
Part 5 About Principia Book II 339
19 Starting on Book II 341
20 Newton the Experimentalist 361
21 What Lies Beneath 376
Part 6 The Majestic Principia Book III 391
22 Book III and Gravity 393
23 Theory of the Solar System 412
24 Earthly Phenomena 423
25 Challenges: The Moon and Comets 441
26 The Concluding General Scholium 460
Part 7 Reception And Influence Of Principia 471
27 Reception and Influence 473
28 Mechanics after Newton 491
Epilogue 509
Notes 513
Index 523