The Elements (Books I–VI)
Forthcoming The translation of this work is in preparation and will be published in the library.
Introduction
The Elements may be, after the Bible, the book printed in more editions than any other. From twenty-three definitions, five postulates and five common notions, Euclid proves step by step hundreds of propositions, building the first axiomatic system of knowledge. The first six books treat plane geometry, from the construction of an equilateral triangle to the theorem of Pythagoras, from the properties of the circle to proportion and similar figures. Lincoln, Einstein and Russell all said that reading this book changed the way they thought.