Title: Essential reading for ancient history
Product review: This is the most authoritative and significant single volume available dealing with ancient Near Eastern mathematical astronomy. The mathematics may be difficult in places for non-specialists, but that fact alone confirms Swerdlow's argument that the accomplishments of the ancient scribes were impressive and sophisticated. Technical aspects are explained as clearly as possible, yet Swerdlow does not duck larger issues, such as the significance of Near Eastern astronomy for the rise of ancient science. No longer will historians wish to credit the first origin of science to the (non-mathematical) pre-Socratic philosophers of ancient Greece. Everyone interested in ancient science will need to take account of Swerdlow's arguments in this book. It will be a classic, and should come out in a less expensive paperback edition!
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