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Book Reviews of On the Nature of the Universe

On the Nature of the Universe
On the Nature of the Universe
Author: Lucretius, Ronald Latham (Translator)
ISBN-13: 9780140440188
ISBN-10: 0140440186
Publication Date: 1977
Pages: 272
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Viking Press
Book Type: Paperback
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susank17 avatar reviewed On the Nature of the Universe on + 43 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
There are errors in the stock description above. This edition was translated from the Latin Oxford text by Ronald E. Latham in 1949 and is a prose translation of the original hexameter poetry. An exposition of the teachings of Epicurus, it reflects "the scientific attitude of his time (ca. 100 BCE) towards matter, atoms, the workings of the mind, cosmology, and geology". A very readable translation, which is why it is still in print.

Lest you think it has no application to the 21st century,consider this from the introduction: "The political ideals of the city-state - liberty, democracy, national self-sufficiency - had lost their appeal in a world dominated by large-scale despotisms and shaken by economic crises and social unrest". Sound familiar? I am writing amidst the banking crisis and electioneering of September 2008. The words of Epicurus still have surprising relevance to the present political state.