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ALAN HIRSHFELD begins his book about Archimedes with the famous tale of the Greek mathematician running naked and wet through the streets of Syracuse, shouting 鈥淓ureka!鈥� in the ecstasy of intellectual discovery. That鈥檚 a shame 鈥� it almost certainly never happened. But he does an otherwise admirable job of cutting through the centuries of hype surrounding this ancient genius.

Against the vivid backdrop of a city under Roman siege, we鈥檙e told what little is known of the life of Archimedes, and of the futuristic war machines he invented at his king鈥檚 behest, which for years kept the invaders at bay. Hirshfeld explains Archimedes鈥檚 mathematical achievements, from calculating pi to developing the beginnings of calculus, and traces the survival of key copies of his work through history as poetically as if they were travellers sailing to port over a stormy sea.

Archimedes scholars may not find anything new here, but for the rest of us this is a charming introduction to the life and legacy of an extraordinary man.