Archimedes Palimpsest

In the Best-of-2011 edition of the TLS , Mary Beard casts her vote for The Archimedes Palimpsest , which she describes as follows: “This publishes a thirteenth-century prayer book, made up – as has long been recognized – out of earlier manuscripts. An international project has deployed all the most up-to-the-minute, hi-tech imaging devices to decipher the earlier classical texts that lie under the prayers: these include ‘new’ treatises by the third-century bc mathematician Archimedes (including one apparently known as a ‘Stomachion,’ or ‘Bellyache,’ which was the classical Greek word for ‘brain-teaser’); and some unknown speeches by the Greek orator Hyperides. But the amazing images in the book, revealing how the decipherment has been pulled off, are as remarkable as the contents.”