The Sand-Reckoner (Tom Doherty Associates Book) | Gillian Bradshaw

The Sand-Reckoner (Tom Doherty Associates Book) | Gillian Bradshaw | A brilliant novel about Archimedes

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The Sand-Reckoner ...

	The Sand-Reckoner (Tom Doherty Associates Book) Gillian Bradshaw Forge Books, 2001 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The young scholar Archimedes has just had the best three years of his life at Ptolemy's Museum at Alexandria. To be able to talk and think all day, every day, sharing ideas and information with the world's greatest minds, is heaven to Archimedes. But heaven must be forsaken when he learns that his father is ailing, and his home city of Syracuse is at war with the Romans.Reluctant but resigned, Archimedes takes himself home to find a job building catapults as a royal engineer. Though Syracuse is no Alexandria, Archimedes also finds that life at home isn't as boring or confining as he originally thought. He finds fame and loss, love and war, wealth and betrayal-none of which affects him nearly as much as the divine beauty of mathematics.

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Simple Story with Unforgettable Characterizations

Anyone who has read Gillian Bradshaw knows that she is a master of characterization. Here in "The Sand-Reckoner", she brings the complicated mind of the Archi-Mechanic, Archimedes, to life in a simple well-written literary manner that can be compared to Ron Howard's equally marvelous glimpse inside the mind of Nobel Prize Winning Game Theorist John Nash in the film, "A Beautiful Mind". Bradshaw allows the reader to understand Archimedes' distractions, his love of mathematics, his enjoyment of and utter concentration employed in solving a puzzle and his disgust at the practical and barbaric uses of his mind exercises. Better yet, her auxillary cast of characters illustrates through their exasperation and confusion the impact such a different mind has on those it touches. Bradshaw crafts a simple story revolving around Archimede's desire to return to the learned city of Alexandria and his feelings of nationalism towards his home city of Syracuse, now besieged by the Romans during the first Punic War. The interplay of characters and their motives is superb. Marcus, his Roman slave, torn between his love of his adopted 'family' and his ties to his country, contends with Archimedes' lack of practicality-- a lack his mother and sister have grown to understand but find frustrating. King Hierion, tyrant of Syracuse, wishes only to harness Archimedes' great skill in building seige machines and uses Archimedes' patriotism to chain him to the city. Delia, the king's sister and master musician is intrigued by the young genius and finds through him a way to live the life of which she has been dreaming. Great emotions tug at the reader's heart as the story unfolds; each of the characters embodies only the best of ideals. The reader comes away with a sense of touching the great mind of Archimedes himself but also basks in the light of the selflessness of the Marcus character, whose bravery I found myself thinking about days after finishing the novel.

Recommended to all those who love an uncomplicated historical novel with a straightfoward story and unforgettable characters.

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A brilliant novel about Archimedes

At first glance a novel about the greatest mathematician of antiquity wouldn't be a big draw to me - maths certainly isn't my strong suit. But I liked the other books by Gillian Bradshaw that I had read so thought it worth giving this one a go.

How glad I am that I did! The Sand Reckoner is a hugely enjoyable, lighthearted tale about Archimedes and the way in which his engineering projects helped protect his home city of Syracuse. The author has woven a love story between Archimedes and the sister of King Hieron of Syracuse and there is also a side-love story between Archimedes' slave and his sister.

Mathematics does make quite a contribution to this story and works really well. Archimedes is portrayed as a genius sometimes completely lost in his own world with his slave Marcus keeping him safe. The characters all have their own voices and are believable - especially the difficulties that they have over mistakes that they make. King Hieron is almost too good to be true, but a historical note from the author suggests that he really was like that. Let's hope so!

It was also interesting about the differences between the Romans and the Greeks in antiquity and how they saw each other. Although the classics are often studied in schools and colleges this book really brought it to life for me. I highly recommend this book to those who like to transport themselves to other times in history through reading.

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Bradshaw at her Best.

Gillian Bradshaw is one of the top writers of historical fiction today. "The Sand Reckoner" proves it by combining a look at history, mathematics, and politics set against one of Rome's most stubborn campaigns: the siege of Syracuse.

To take a mundane (yet significant) historical figure like Archimedes and turn him into an interesting and human character is a major accomplishment.

An intelligent and interesting tale of Archimedes

Archimedes - a mathmetician living in Syracuse on the island of Sicily mightn't sound like the sort of ancient historical figure or setting that could stir up a memorable story but Gillian's beautiful writing, research and imagination (as she is blending fact and fiction) changes all that.

The events within the story are set within the 1st Punic Wars when Rome was a fledgling power(3rd C BC) and Carthage was a threat. Caught in between this is the Grecian influenced city of Syracuse - Archimedes home city. It gives an interesting and amusing view of how the Greek people perceived the Romans. "Amusing" in the sense that the Romans, who regarded most of their Empires people as "Barbarians", were actually held in similar low esteem by people of Greek culture.

Archimedes contribution is his ability to use his mathematical genius and combine it with his engineering know-how to produce war machines to defend his city. But its not so simple when your close friend and slave (Marcus) is a Roman with plenty to hide and whose people are camped outside your gates, you are enamored with the Kings gorgeous sister, some powerfull people close to the King detest you and others would like you to fail at a time you can least afford to.

The King seems a nice ruler, but Archimedes is not sure if the King is
someone to be feared or respected given his ambitions for the future and the Kings seem to clash.

The book is a nice study of the human psyche. How much we wish to follow our own ambitions vs those of others, how we adapt to the conflicting emotions caused by; loyalty vs betrayal, love vs rejection, desire for success vs fear of failure,etc.

The book is not non stop action or endless romance or adventure. Its primary focus is on the thoughts, motivations, and desires of Archimedes and those of the people around him at a time of crisis. Mathematics never was as interestingly used in a novel as in this one and you will actually be surprised how Gillian uses it to create interest in the telling of this tale and in Archimedes himself.

If you havent read this authoresses books before - The Sand Reckoner will give you a favourable appreciation i am sure of her.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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