Adelantado a su tiempo y conocido universalmente por el célebre principio que lleva su nombre, el griego Arquímedes fue un pionero del actual método científico, además de notable matemático y pensador. Discípulo de Euclides e hijo del astrónomo Fidias, su azarosa vida resulta tan apasionante como formidable el poder de su intelecto. En esta rigurosa novela histórica, Gillian Bradshaw -autora de grandes éxitos como El faro de Alejandría, Púrpura imperial, Teodora, emperatriz de Bizancio y El heredero de Cleopatra- presenta al lector un Arquímedes de carne y hueso, un ser humano excepcional que, inmerso en la convulsa época que le tocó vivir, tuvo que enfrentarse a múltiples dilemas Deslumbrado por las maravillas de Alejandría tras una estancia de tres años y decidido a radicarse allí para siempre, el joven Arquímedes se ve obligado a volver a Siracusa, su ciudad natal, para ocuparse de su padre enfermo. El contraste no puede ser mayor: de la deslumbrante cuna del saber ha pasado a una ciudad entregada a los frenéticos preparativos para una cruenta guerra contra la poderosa Roma. Convertido por las circunstancias y el destino en el principal artífice de los ingenios bélicos con que se intentará repeler la invasión del coloso romano, Arquímedes atrae la atención del tirano Hierón, quien intenta retenerlo a toda costa en su corte. Y pese a que el mayor deseo del genial griego es volver a Alejandría para perfeccionar sus conocimientos y reunirse con Marco, el leal esclavo que lo ha acompañado desde siempre, un inesperado motivo lo empuja a permanecer en Siracusa, un motivo que ni siquiera su pasión por el saber y la ciencia podrá obviar y que, a la postre, lo obligará a recorrer un sendero salpicado de gloria, amor, guerra y traición.

This is the story of Archimedes, the math genius. Because of his father's health, he has to return home to Syracuse away from wondrous Alexandria, home to the most advanced thinkers of the times.

It's a story of a man who just wanted to do geometry. Easily distracted, Archimedes would stop what he doing to do his calculations on the sand beneath his feet and get lost for hours. I have a found a soul mate (not that I have his math skills but I have been known to get lost in thought for hours at a time).

It's also a story about Marcus, his slave. Not as many reviews mentioned him. I actually kind of miss the past week of spending time with Archimedes and Marcus.

For Gillian Bradshaw, the author, she admitted at the end she struggled with incorporating math into the story but I think she did an admirable job. Math as a subject was there and it made sense and didn't muddle the story down into a math lesson.

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My children and I read this together as part of the Building Your Library Level 8 curriculum.

We loved reading this book. It's perhaps a little melodramatic at times, but the characters seemed realistic and Archimedes seemed more real to us than he had when we'd read about him other places. It's difficult to imagine what life was like in ancient times, and books like this help to remind us that people from long ago were still people and, despite different customs and hygiene and social structures, not really all that different from people today.

We all appreciated the ending, too. We weren't particularly happy about it, but it was a good ending. ( )

2.5 stars. It's light, and decently entertaining, and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more when I was ten. ( )

I really enjoyed this first reading of a Gillian Bradshaw book. Thought the characters were well drawn and the story well described. ( )