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Kepler’s Discovery Reference List

Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, with the vṛtti Sukhapradā of Sadgurusisya. Ed. by R. Anantakrsna Sastri. Trivandrum: University of Travancore, 1942.

Apollonius of Perga. Conics: Books I-IV. Books I-III, Trans. by R. Catesby Talaferro. Book IV, Trans. by Michael N. Fried. Diagrams by William H. Donahue. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Green Lion Press, 2013.

Archimedes. The Works of Archimedes. Trans. and ed. by T. L. Heath. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1897. [Includes The Sand Reckoner.] A 2002 Dover publication paperback reprint is available.

Bendick, Jeanne. Archimedes and the Door of Science. Rev. ed. Bathgate, ND: Bethlehem Books, 1995. (originally published 1962). Recommended for younger readers.

Caspar, Max. Johannes Kepler. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1948. This definitive biography of the astronomer is available in paperback by Dover Publications, 1993.

Caspar, Max. Kepler. Trans. and ed. by C. Doris Hellman. London, New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1959.

Connor, James. A. Kepler’s Witch: An Astronomer’s Discovery of Cosmic Order Amid Religious War, Political Intrigue, and the Heresy Trial of his Mother. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004.

Donahue, W. H. “Kepler’s Fabricated Figures: Covering Up the Mess in the New Astronomy.” Journal of the History of Astronomy 19, 4 (1988): 217-237. [See: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1988JHA....19..217D]

Ferguson, Kitty. Tycho & Kepler: The Unlikely Partnership That Forever Changed Our Understanding of the Heavens. New York: Walker & Co., 2002.

Gentner, Dedre and Sarah Brem, Ronald W. Ferguson et al. “Analogical Reasoning and Conceptual Change: A Case Study of Johannes Kepler.” The Journal of the Learning Sciences 61, 1 (1997): 3-40.

Gilbert, William. De Magnete. Trans. by P. Fleury Mottelay. New York: Dover Publications, 1958.

Heath, Thomas Little. A History of Greek Mathematics. 2 Vols. New York: Dover Publications, 1981.

Introducing Nicholas of Cusa: A Guide to a Renaissance Man. Ed. By Christopher M. Bellitto, Thomas M. Izbicki and Gerald Christianson. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2004.

Kepler, Johannes. Astronomia Nova. 1609. [The New Astronomy] Full text in Latin available through: https://archive.org/details/Astronomianovaa00Kepl

Kepler, Johannes. Astronomia Nova. Trans. by William H. Donahue. 2nd edition. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Green Lion Press, 2015. This is an abridged, revised edition.

Kepler, Johannes. Optics. Trans. by William H. Donahue. Santa Fe: Green Lion Press, 2000.

Kepler, Johannes. The Harmony of the World [Harmonices Mundi]. Trans. by E. J. Aiton, A. M. Duncan and J. V. Field. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997.

Kepler, Johannes. Mysterium Cosmographicum - The Secret of the Universe. Trans. by A. M. Duncan. Introduction and commentary by E. J. Aiton. New York: Abaris, 1981. [Text in Latin and English. Latin text is a facsimile of 2nd ed., Frankfurt, 1621.]

Kepler, Johannes. The Secret of the Universe. Trans. By A. M. Duncan. Norwalk, Connecticut: Abaris Books, 1979. [Dual language edition: the original is Latin printed on one side facing the authoritative English translation.]

Kepler, Johannes. Selections From Kepler’s Astronomia Nova: A Science Classics Module for Humanities Studies. Selected, trans. and annotated by William H. Donahue. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Green Lion Press, 2004.

Kepler, Johannes. The Six-Cornered Snowflake: A New Year’s Gift. Trans. by Jacque Bromberg. Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2010. [In Latin and English.] See also: Kepler, Johannes. The Six-Cornered Snowflake. Trans. by Colin Hardie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966. [In Latin and English.]

Koestler, Arthur. The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe. London: Hutchinson, 1959

Leibniz, G.W. and Samuel Clarke. Leibniz and Clarke: Correspondence. Ed. By Roger Ariew. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. The correspondence forms an engaging discourse on the subject of metaphysical versus mathematical principles. Clarke argues on behalf of Newton's mathematical interpretation, while Leibniz can be said to defend Kepler’s metaphysical approach.

Livio, Mario. The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World’s Most Astonishing Number. New York: Broadway, 2002. This book broadly explores the concepts of congruence and harmony in science and contains a number of good chapters on Kepler.

Nicholas of Cusa. Nicholas of Cusa: Selected Spiritual Writings. Trans. by H. Lawrence Bond. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005.

Penrose, Roger. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2005. Penrose introduces readers to the conceptual landscape of modern-day mathematical physics.

Pesic, Peter. Abel’s Proof: An Essay on the Sources and Meaning of Mathematical Unsolvability. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004. Pesic’s book is notable for its breadth of inquiry and philosophical insights.

Pesic, Peter. Labyrinth: Search for the Hidden Meaning of Science. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000. This includes a chapter on Kepler entitled "Kepler at the Bridge."

Pesic, Peter. Seeing Double: Shared Identities in Physics, Philosophy, and Literature. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002.

Stephenson, Bruce. Kepler’s Physical Astronomy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Yajnavalkya. The Śatapatha-Bbrāhmana, According to the Text of the Mâdhyandina School. Part of The Sacred Books of the East. Trans. by Julius Eggeling. 1882-1900. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1972.

Weyl, Hermann. Space, Time, Matter. Trans. by Henry L. Brose. New York: Dover Publications, 1950.

Wilson, Curtis. “Kepler’s Derivation of the Elliptical Path.” Isis 59, 1 (Spring 1968): 4-25.



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