The Parallel Lives

Take a break from the present, and consider the better books from the past.

Of all the books published since the days of the ancients, I consider five most useful: Fibonacci’s “Liber Abaci,” Isaac Newton’s “Principia Mathematica,” Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species,” the “King James Bible,” and William Shakespeare’s plays.

Each added to the world’s body of knowledge an immeasurable amount that affects our modern lives, even yet today.

Leonard de Pisa, or aka “Fibonacci,” was born in Italy in 1170. His father, a customs agent, took Leonardo to Algiers, and there in school he learned the common people’s math skills.

In 1202, he published his book, “Liber Abaci,” and in it he introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system of 0 to 9, suggesting that it was superior to Europe’s Roman numerals. He also described methods for converting currencies, for calculating interest, and using fractions.

Everyday, you and I rely upon Fibonacci’s ideas and math tricks.

Isaac Newton—an Englishman, scientist, and mathematician—published his “Principia Mathematica,” on July 5, 1687. Written in Latin, it introduced to the world laws of motion and gravitation. By them, Newton showed how planets and comets cycle through space.

A foundation for modern physics and astronomy, Newton’s book “is considered one of the most important scientific books ever written.” NASA’s Artemis Mission relied upon his book.

Charles Darwin—also an Englishmen, and a scientist—published his “On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection,” November 24, 1859. It unified the biological sciences into a single working theory. Darwin’s last sentence says much.

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

A total of 47 English scholars worked for seven years, 1604 to 1611, on the King James translation of the Bible. Each company of scholars were tasked to translate sections of the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha, from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic into English.

The King James Bible has endured ever since, because of its “majestic literary style,” its “linguistic beauty,” its “imagery.” If anyone wants to read poetry, turn to the Psalms. If anyone wants to read great stories, turn to Genesis. For spiritual sustenance, read the entire book.

Two English actors from London, John Heminges and Henry Condell, made a diligent search and collected 36 of Shakespeare’s plays and published them under the title, “Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, Published According to the Original Copies.”

The year was 1623. Their book is now called the “First Folio.” Some 750 copies were printed, but only 235 are known to exist, and of those, 82 are in the Folger Library in Washington D.C.

Heminges and Condell’s gift to the world occurred 7 years after Shakespeare’s passing at the age of 52 years, on April 23, 1616. He was born the same day, April 23, 1564.

Yes, his words are difficult for readers to understand, and yet within his plays, he explored “universal human emotions, like love, ambition, grief, and jealousy.” He “tackled enduring themes, like tyranny, power, and inequality.” For insights into humanity, read Shakespeare.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “If we tire of the saints, Shakespeare is our city of refuge.”

Fibonacci, Newton, Darwin, the English Bible, and Shakespeare, I and others consider their works useful. Take a break from the present, and read them, or read about them.