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Pythagoras
This is the story of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, whose insights transformed the ancient world and still inspire the realms of science, mathematics, philosophy and the arts. Einstein said that the most incredible thing about our universe was that it was comprehensible at all. As Kitty Ferguson explains, Pythagoras had much the same idea - but 2,500 years earlier. Though known by many only for his famous Theorem, in fact the pillars of our scientific tradition - belief that the universe is rational, that there is unity to all things, and that numbers and mathematics are a powerful guide to truth about nature and the cosmos - hark back to the convictions of this legendary scholar. Kitty Ferguson brilliantly evokes Pythagoras' ancient world of, showing how ideas spread in antiquity, and chronicles the incredible influence he and his followers have had on so many extraordinary people in the history of Western thought and science. 'Pythagoras' influence on the ideas, and therefore on the destiny, of the human race was probably greater than that of any single man before or after him' - Arthur Koestler.
366 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2010
43 people are currently reading
431 people want to read
About the author
Kitty Ferguson
23 books29 followersKitty Ferguson, a former professional musician with a life long interest in science, is an independent scholar and lecturer who lives in Cambridge, England, and South Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
October 2, 2022
This book is far more than a biography of Pythagoras and his followers.
This book traces the influence that Pythagoras has had on important thinkers throughout the last 2,500 years ranging from Plato to Bertrand Russell via Copernicus and Kepler.
From Pythagoras came the recognition that numbers are a pathway to an understanding of the deepest mysteries of a universe that on some profound level makes perfect sense and is all of a piece.
Another interesting fact is that the Pythagorean Theorem relating to the three sides of a right-angled triangle, which is the one thing most people associate with him, is inaccurately attributed. Archaeologists have found the theorem on tablets in Mesopotamia dating from the first half of the second millennium BC, a thousand years before Pythagoras was born.
Where he was born is open to uncertainty too. Most people believe he was born on Samos, but it might be he was born in Asia Minor, no one knows for sure. What is certain is that he had a huge influence on science through the centuries as this book conveys to its reader.
This book traces the influence that Pythagoras has had on important thinkers throughout the last 2,500 years ranging from Plato to Bertrand Russell via Copernicus and Kepler.
From Pythagoras came the recognition that numbers are a pathway to an understanding of the deepest mysteries of a universe that on some profound level makes perfect sense and is all of a piece.
Another interesting fact is that the Pythagorean Theorem relating to the three sides of a right-angled triangle, which is the one thing most people associate with him, is inaccurately attributed. Archaeologists have found the theorem on tablets in Mesopotamia dating from the first half of the second millennium BC, a thousand years before Pythagoras was born.
Where he was born is open to uncertainty too. Most people believe he was born on Samos, but it might be he was born in Asia Minor, no one knows for sure. What is certain is that he had a huge influence on science through the centuries as this book conveys to its reader.
August 31, 2013
Gazing over Kitty Ferguson's mind - as this book allows you to do -- is a bit like looking at the Himalayas from a Nepali tea-shop. You're already in rarefied air, but the view goes on seemingly for ever, higher and higher. I am a fan.
This book is about Pythagoras, the tiny amount that is truly known about him (quite a bit of which is about beans), and the way a key shred of his thought has twisted, turned and grown through history. That shred of thought is that the universe is rational and mathematical. So using Pythagoras as a vehicle, Ferguson traces the history of that thought through the history of science.
The strengths of the book are its thoughtfulness, and its brilliant depictions, and in some cases deconstructions, of thinkers like Kepler and Bertrand Russell, whom Kitty Ferguson seems to ingest and dissect with the same ease as I do with burgers. The downsides (for me) the were less-interesting and lengthy discussions of (say) how Pythagoras was treated by the Romans, which I found a bit of chore to work through. But that's just me. Kitty Ferguson is always worth reading for her grasp of the matter, her fresh thinking, and, I think, her sly Christian faith. For me, this work was failing a bit in relevance in some places, but as shiningly clever as ever.
This book is about Pythagoras, the tiny amount that is truly known about him (quite a bit of which is about beans), and the way a key shred of his thought has twisted, turned and grown through history. That shred of thought is that the universe is rational and mathematical. So using Pythagoras as a vehicle, Ferguson traces the history of that thought through the history of science.
The strengths of the book are its thoughtfulness, and its brilliant depictions, and in some cases deconstructions, of thinkers like Kepler and Bertrand Russell, whom Kitty Ferguson seems to ingest and dissect with the same ease as I do with burgers. The downsides (for me) the were less-interesting and lengthy discussions of (say) how Pythagoras was treated by the Romans, which I found a bit of chore to work through. But that's just me. Kitty Ferguson is always worth reading for her grasp of the matter, her fresh thinking, and, I think, her sly Christian faith. For me, this work was failing a bit in relevance in some places, but as shiningly clever as ever.
September 2, 2019
One of the most important books I've ever read. Well researched and written reveals how this great mind moved through the centuries. He might be wandering around us today reincarnated to a modern sage! Who knows?
October 29, 2022
After forcing myself to read about a third of the book, I decided it just wasn't worth my time. I love math, and I love math history, but this was some of the most uninteresting stuff I've read in awhile. Only the first few chapters were really about Pythagoras, and then the rest was lengthy and dull descriptions of how his thinking lingered on through the centuries. I flipped ahead pages at a time hoping to find something to catch my interest, but failed. Lots of places and people were mentioned but it was all too dry and inconsequential to matter to me.
September 8, 2018
This book spans the iterations of Pythagoras in 2,500 years. The Pythagoran theorem is well known. Pythagoras is the father of rational thinking, 1, 2, 3, 4 are significant numbers in his theorem. Kitty Ferguson takes this very complicated topic of Pythagoras and takes us through the origins of Pythagoras in the sixth and sixth centuries and his influence on Plato, Socrates and Arisotle. This method was done on pebbles. There were 2 camps of Pythogoreans, the accusamati (who were a secret society) and the mathematici (the reason). Pythagoras talks of multiple lives, the connection of mathematics and reason with the universe and music. He was almost a god like status in antiquity. There were Pythagoreans and a following from the beginning. He was said to be the son of Appolo. Kitty Ferguson talks the statue of Pythagoras in Samos where is he is from but he traveled widely and learned from the Egyptians and Eustrucans. Pythagoras was the father of the scientific method. Kitty Ferguson takes us from antiquity to the Seventh and eighth centuries in Rome and Ptolomey and talks a lot about the fake writings of Pythogoras, there are over 200 forgeries of Pythagoras. Rome wanted to be like Greece so they wrote a lot of forgeries but a thread of the Pythagoras survived from that time. Pythagoras has been interepreted in many ways. Through the eyes of Plato and Aristole, the prime numbers, the study of liberal arts was born in the middle ages, the study of literature, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and music. Pythogoras influenced Keppler and Coperincus In the seventeenth and eigtheeth centuturies, it was a all codes and conspiracy and used for political gain. Quatum mechanics and the idea of immeasurabilty came up in the 20th and 21st centuries. This is a great read for 2,500 years of rational thinking and thought.
August 28, 2019
Imagine being a member of a 6th century BCE Greek reincarnation cult when all of a sudden your cult leader makes an announcement: Change in plans everyone, I’ve decided that we are going to worship numbers now!
Ferguson does a really good job of placing what we do and don’t know about Pythagoras and his followers in their historical setting. Instead of discussing each figure separately, the relationships and influences between them are discussed at length, and you can see where ideas were borrowed, rediscovered, or rejected.
The middle section of the book was the least interesting for me, and I had to push myself to get through the Roman and early medieval chapters. Fortunately the story picks back up with the Renaissance, and the chapter on Kepler might be my favorite. Kepler discovered that the planets moved in ellipses while desperately trying to prove the Pythagorean idea that each planet represented a piano key in a grand celestial chord. And that’s the crazy dual heritage of Pythagoras, mystic and mathematician.
Oh and he didn’t like beans.
Ferguson does a really good job of placing what we do and don’t know about Pythagoras and his followers in their historical setting. Instead of discussing each figure separately, the relationships and influences between them are discussed at length, and you can see where ideas were borrowed, rediscovered, or rejected.
The middle section of the book was the least interesting for me, and I had to push myself to get through the Roman and early medieval chapters. Fortunately the story picks back up with the Renaissance, and the chapter on Kepler might be my favorite. Kepler discovered that the planets moved in ellipses while desperately trying to prove the Pythagorean idea that each planet represented a piano key in a grand celestial chord. And that’s the crazy dual heritage of Pythagoras, mystic and mathematician.
Oh and he didn’t like beans.
August 5, 2019
Excellent book about Pythagoras and his influence on many philosophers, thinkers, architects, and scientists, throughout history, including great names, such as Plato, Aristotle, Copernicus, and Kepler. I highly recommend this book.
September 5, 2013
I read this book as part of the research I'm doing for the next book in my historical fiction series titled, 'The Wandering King.'
My characters happen to encounter Pythagoras as they venture from Greece to Sicily where they intend on building a new colony. Along the way they stop in southern Italy at the city of Croton where Pythagoras lived and taught. In his book 'The History,' Herodotus mentions how my character, the Spartan prince Dorieus (brother of Leonidas), got involved in a war between Croton and Sybaris, which occurred during the period Pythagoras lived in Croton. Herodotus does not mention a meeting between Dorieus and Pythagoras, but hey, that's where fiction comes into play. Other ancient sources, such as Athenaeus write about the war betweem Croton and Sybaris and the fact that Pythagoras was present at the time, which is enough for me to have these two famous personalities cross paths.
Ferguson's book covers pretty much everything that is known about Pythagoras. Unfortunately, Pythagoras, like Socrates, did not write anything down. Everything we know about him comes from later authors, some of whom lived hundreds of years later. But, as he was a strong influence on philosophers such as Plato and Aristole, there is a lot that can be said about him.
One of the few things most people know about Pythagoras is that he invented the Pythagorean theorem. Interestingly, it turns out that this is untrue. The Pythagorean theorem was developed probably in the Egypt or Babylon a hundred or more years before Pythagoras' time. So the one thing we know about him turns out to be false. Yes, he was a mathematician, but more importantly, he was a philosopher, teacher, lawmaker, musician and inventor. He even started his own religion.
All in all, good book. It contains pretty much everything you could possibly ever want to know about Pythagoras. Would have given it 5-stars, I knocked off 1-star for only one reason, and that deals with the complexity of some of the material. I am not a mathematician, I'm a layman, and had difficulty grasping some of the concepts described. None of which makes for enjoyable reading. That said, if you want to know more about Pythagoras, Ferguson's book is a good place to start.
My characters happen to encounter Pythagoras as they venture from Greece to Sicily where they intend on building a new colony. Along the way they stop in southern Italy at the city of Croton where Pythagoras lived and taught. In his book 'The History,' Herodotus mentions how my character, the Spartan prince Dorieus (brother of Leonidas), got involved in a war between Croton and Sybaris, which occurred during the period Pythagoras lived in Croton. Herodotus does not mention a meeting between Dorieus and Pythagoras, but hey, that's where fiction comes into play. Other ancient sources, such as Athenaeus write about the war betweem Croton and Sybaris and the fact that Pythagoras was present at the time, which is enough for me to have these two famous personalities cross paths.
Ferguson's book covers pretty much everything that is known about Pythagoras. Unfortunately, Pythagoras, like Socrates, did not write anything down. Everything we know about him comes from later authors, some of whom lived hundreds of years later. But, as he was a strong influence on philosophers such as Plato and Aristole, there is a lot that can be said about him.
One of the few things most people know about Pythagoras is that he invented the Pythagorean theorem. Interestingly, it turns out that this is untrue. The Pythagorean theorem was developed probably in the Egypt or Babylon a hundred or more years before Pythagoras' time. So the one thing we know about him turns out to be false. Yes, he was a mathematician, but more importantly, he was a philosopher, teacher, lawmaker, musician and inventor. He even started his own religion.
All in all, good book. It contains pretty much everything you could possibly ever want to know about Pythagoras. Would have given it 5-stars, I knocked off 1-star for only one reason, and that deals with the complexity of some of the material. I am not a mathematician, I'm a layman, and had difficulty grasping some of the concepts described. None of which makes for enjoyable reading. That said, if you want to know more about Pythagoras, Ferguson's book is a good place to start.
June 5, 2017
One of the most poorly written books I have ever read. As the author mentions in the beginning, it is not easy to tell Pythagoras' life, because we simply know nothing. But she could have done a better job telling us what we know about him.
The book is basically a long (and I mean long) ramblings about ancient and modern philosophy. There are literally tens of names and locations on each page. By the time you read a few pages, you forget where you started and why you ended up there. I don't recommend the book unless you really want a challenge and bored at home.
The book is basically a long (and I mean long) ramblings about ancient and modern philosophy. There are literally tens of names and locations on each page. By the time you read a few pages, you forget where you started and why you ended up there. I don't recommend the book unless you really want a challenge and bored at home.
October 2, 2016
I enjoyed this book, and definitely want to read more by the author. I think I would have found an appendix with a potted history of the characters helpful, with their main contributions , especially as I'm useless on remembering Greek names! Also a time line. Would recommend.
October 1, 2017
A brilliant start to this book, really diving into the history (as much as we know from antiquity on Pythagoras) and then onto his methods and discoveries.
However, it then meandered and sagged in the middle for me.
Still a good read, and informative.
However, it then meandered and sagged in the middle for me.
Still a good read, and informative.
February 26, 2017
What worked out and what did not for the Pythagoreans.
November 17, 2019
Pythagoras was born about 570 BC and grew up on the island of Samos...just off the Turkish Coast. He was clearly a remarkable character. Travelled widely in his younger years...to Egypt and apparently to Babylon. (Where it is possible that he picked up a few tips on Geometry). It is known that a thousand years earlier, (1804-1595 BC) the Bablyonians knew the pythagorean theorem; the value of Pi and could calculate square and cube roots. So quite possible that this knowledge survived to be learned by Pythagoras. He apparently spent 12 years there. He returned to Samos and took in some pupils and in 532 BC sailed to Croton near the "heel" of Italy.....Here he built up a following of disciples and contributed significantly to public life. Apparently one of their beliefs was that souls at death pass into other humans or animals..and thus this had implications for what Pythagoras did or did not eat. He was notorious for not eating beans. From a discovery about harmonious notes having a mathematical relationship, the Pythagoreans deduced that "all things known have a number". They lasted about 30 years in Croton...when there was an uprising against them and Pythagoras was murdered. (about 502 BC). His famous theorem (as mentioned above) was certainly not "invented" by him but in and after his own time he was widely attributed with it's discovery and popularisation.
Pythagorean communities existed in and around the heel of Italy after Pythagoras's death and Plato (at the age of 38) went in search of this learning around the year 390 BC to the city of Tarentum. A community of Pythagoreans had survived there ....and Plato became acquainted with Archytas who was both an outstanding mathematician and scholar..and also an able civic leader. Apparently they stayed in touch.
About half of the book is devoted to the legacy of Pythagoras....notably the kind of scientific tradition that builds on the idea that...at it's foundations the universe is rational and understandable and can be studied and measured. Some of the Pythagorean ideas were picked up by Plato and popularised by hime and later by Plotinus.
It's worth mentioning that much of the information we have about Pythagoras was written much later by Porphry and Heraclitus (who claimed Pythagoras was a charlatan)...and there is very little direct information about the man. It didn't help that the learnings of his group were secret and pretty much died with him when the group were murdered at Croton.
Kitty Ferguson, the author, is apparently a populariser of science rather than a Pythagorean scholar but seems to have researched this topic extremely well. I am impressed with the book and happy to give it 5 stars.
Pythagorean communities existed in and around the heel of Italy after Pythagoras's death and Plato (at the age of 38) went in search of this learning around the year 390 BC to the city of Tarentum. A community of Pythagoreans had survived there ....and Plato became acquainted with Archytas who was both an outstanding mathematician and scholar..and also an able civic leader. Apparently they stayed in touch.
About half of the book is devoted to the legacy of Pythagoras....notably the kind of scientific tradition that builds on the idea that...at it's foundations the universe is rational and understandable and can be studied and measured. Some of the Pythagorean ideas were picked up by Plato and popularised by hime and later by Plotinus.
It's worth mentioning that much of the information we have about Pythagoras was written much later by Porphry and Heraclitus (who claimed Pythagoras was a charlatan)...and there is very little direct information about the man. It didn't help that the learnings of his group were secret and pretty much died with him when the group were murdered at Croton.
Kitty Ferguson, the author, is apparently a populariser of science rather than a Pythagorean scholar but seems to have researched this topic extremely well. I am impressed with the book and happy to give it 5 stars.
July 9, 2019
The orchestra of a rational universe;
"Each player absorbed in his own instrument only, deaf to the caterwaulings of the others. Then there is a dramatic silence, the conductor enters the stage, raps three times with his baton, and harmony emerges from the chaos. The maestro is Pythagoras of Samos"
- Arthus Koestler
This ancient coloss of a figure may be best know for his theorem on right-angeled triangles, wich actually was known by the Mesopotamians some 1000-1500 years before his time. But his legacy nonetheless is much wider than this triangle theorem. The father of mathematics (as a tool to understading laws of the universe), he was also a pioneer in understading how harmonies in music works. As well as supposedly a groundbreaking caracther in such groups like vegetarians political revolutionarians and "secret knowledge " organizations (ex. Illiuminati, lodges).
Just to get a slight understading of the ripples he created in the history of rational thinking, this is some of the people he came to inspire in the next 2,5k years;
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Nicholas of Cusa, Andrea Palladino, Leonardo Fibonacci, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, William Shakespear, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Beethoven, Mozart, James Clark Maxwell, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking, just to mention a few..
This is the most influential figure in the history of western rational thinking, no doubt about it.
"Each player absorbed in his own instrument only, deaf to the caterwaulings of the others. Then there is a dramatic silence, the conductor enters the stage, raps three times with his baton, and harmony emerges from the chaos. The maestro is Pythagoras of Samos"
- Arthus Koestler
This ancient coloss of a figure may be best know for his theorem on right-angeled triangles, wich actually was known by the Mesopotamians some 1000-1500 years before his time. But his legacy nonetheless is much wider than this triangle theorem. The father of mathematics (as a tool to understading laws of the universe), he was also a pioneer in understading how harmonies in music works. As well as supposedly a groundbreaking caracther in such groups like vegetarians political revolutionarians and "secret knowledge " organizations (ex. Illiuminati, lodges).
Just to get a slight understading of the ripples he created in the history of rational thinking, this is some of the people he came to inspire in the next 2,5k years;
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Nicholas of Cusa, Andrea Palladino, Leonardo Fibonacci, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, William Shakespear, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Beethoven, Mozart, James Clark Maxwell, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking, just to mention a few..
This is the most influential figure in the history of western rational thinking, no doubt about it.
December 29, 2019
I found this book fairly average. Kitty Ferguson does a very good job of exploring the actual historical knowledge concerning Pythagoras, and shows how much of what we think we know about Pythagoras arises from later accounts that might or might not be true. In fact, what we actually know about Pythagoras for certain can be written on a postcard. I thought this part of the book was very well done. It was the later attempt of Kitty Ferguson to discuss Pythagoras in view of her chosen perspective of that of a rational universe that I found fairly uninspiring. After all, the legend of Pythagoras is that he inspired (and inspires) people to believe that the universe is meaningful in a particular manner that is bound up with music and mathematics, and I felt that Ferguson didn't really do justice to this inspirational figure of myth and legend.
July 15, 2017
Biographies of Pythagoras are terribly difficult because little is known about his life and Pythagoreans were notoriously secretive. Put together this makes writing an informed biography nearly impossible, but the author does an admirable job speculating about the philosopher-scientist's mind, life, and the surrounding culture.
The book is only disappointing because little certain may be said about Pythagoras.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
The book is only disappointing because little certain may be said about Pythagoras.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
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June 1, 2025I feel like the author may have inflated a bit the concept of Pythagoreanism to include modern ideas like the theory of everything. Will Pythagoras still say the universe is rational if he knew of blackholes and string theory? But I'm probably wrong, which means I didn't completely understand the book.
November 10, 2022
The enchanting history of an enigmatic ancient thinker whose legacy inspired many of history’s greatest minds to conceptualize the universe as a harmonious and rational entity that can be best understood through mathematics.
April 10, 2023
3.5
I found the first 50 or so pages hard going, but once I got into it, it became a nice history of mathematics and its applications through a Pythagorean lens.
A recommended read for anyone interested in more than just Pythagoras' theorem.
I found the first 50 or so pages hard going, but once I got into it, it became a nice history of mathematics and its applications through a Pythagorean lens.
A recommended read for anyone interested in more than just Pythagoras' theorem.
January 12, 2021
Akmayan çok tekrar eden bir kitap
August 21, 2021
The first few chapters is understandable and then the author tries to associate 98 (or less) philosophers to pythagoras in a 300 odd pages book. I find it quite impossible to ingest .
August 28, 2024
With a basic knowledge about science, this book has gripped my attention and I couldn't let the book down. For me it is very well written.
November 1, 2024
This could have been interesting, but it reads more like a doctoral thesis than a biography meant for the average reader.
October 27, 2020
Just an enjoyable read through a bit of philosophy for those who don't wrestle professionally with the type of material presented, and offers perspective.
May 28, 2012
Hats off to the author for managing to write so much about a man about which so little is known.
I was expecting a heavy mathemetical slant. And, as a (lapsed) mathematician, was looking forward to it. However, as you progress, it increasingly becomes more about the people trying to find the truth about Pythagoras, rather than the man himself. This was not a bad thing and using the timeline of how people viewed him (and his ideas) as a structure worked well.
It soon became clear that my own 'knowledge' of Pythagoras was completely wrong. He did not invent the theorem which is famously named after him, and he had a few *ahem* unconventional ideas about beans.
I'll be honest - at times it was pretty hard going, there are only so many ancient Greek names my brain can handle at any one time - but ultimately I come away from it feeling enlightened.
I was expecting a heavy mathemetical slant. And, as a (lapsed) mathematician, was looking forward to it. However, as you progress, it increasingly becomes more about the people trying to find the truth about Pythagoras, rather than the man himself. This was not a bad thing and using the timeline of how people viewed him (and his ideas) as a structure worked well.
It soon became clear that my own 'knowledge' of Pythagoras was completely wrong. He did not invent the theorem which is famously named after him, and he had a few *ahem* unconventional ideas about beans.
I'll be honest - at times it was pretty hard going, there are only so many ancient Greek names my brain can handle at any one time - but ultimately I come away from it feeling enlightened.
September 18, 2011
I was attracted to the premise of the boook: that the legacy of Pythagoras - a way of viewing the world as being fundamentally describable with mathematics - imbued much of our modern culture and science. However the execution left a lot to be desired. A long rambling narrative about people who had claimed to be Pythagoreans through history which obscured the wood with the trees was the major issue. An incoherent superficial discussion of modern philosophy, quantum mechanics and postmodernism rounded off this conceptually confused book. I still think there is a great story to tell here about the influence of ancient greek thought our contemporary thought - but it isn't in this book.
August 19, 2015
A book about Pythagoras, and how his teaching influenced subsequent development of science. Pythagoras was the Greek philosopher who claimed that "all is number"; this, in turn, inspired our modern idea of doing science. (i.e. using mathematical model to describe reality)
The approach is decidedly popular -- explaining "the big picture" from about 6th century BC up to 20th century. Pretty dense, running out of steam in the end, but otherwise excellent.
Recommended for those interested in history of philosophy and/or science.
The approach is decidedly popular -- explaining "the big picture" from about 6th century BC up to 20th century. Pretty dense, running out of steam in the end, but otherwise excellent.
Recommended for those interested in history of philosophy and/or science.
February 16, 2016
Second attempt and still this book doesnt get me in. The author rambles along in the early chapters and i found myself lising interest in a subject I expected would be fascinating given the importance if Pythagorus.
November 25, 2016
Stopped about halfway through, by the time the survey reached Rome. I was mostly interested into the information on Pythagoras himself and the other early Greek philosophers.
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