en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_System_of_the_World_(novel)
2 corrections found
912 (first edition, hardback)
The first U.S. hardcover edition is cataloged as 892 pages, not 912.
Full reasoning
Multiple bibliographic records for the 2004 first edition contradict the page count given here.
- Open Library’s record for the 2004 William Morrow 1st ed. with the same ISBN (0060523875 / 0-06-052387-5) and the same OCLC number (55036877) lists “Pages 892” and “Number of pages 892.”
- Google Books’ bibliographic entry for The System of the World: Volume Three of The Baroque Cycle (HarperCollins, Sep 21, 2004) also lists “892 pages.”
Because these sources match the edition identifiers in the article, the claim that the first-edition hardback has 912 pages is incorrect.
2 sources
- The system of the world by Neal Stephenson | Open Library
The system of the world ... 1st ed. ... Publish Date 2004 ... Publisher William Morrow ... Pages 892 ... 0060523875 ... OCLC/WorldCat 55036877 ... Number of pages 892
- The System of the World: Volume Three of The Baroque Cycle - Neal Stephenson - Google Books
Neal Stephenson Harper Collins, Sep 21, 2004 - Fiction - 892 pages ... ISBN 0060523875, 9780060523879 Length 892 pages
The title alludes to the third volume of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which bears the same name.
Newton’s Principia is conventionally divided into three books, not three volumes; “The System of the World” is Book III (Liber Tertius).
Full reasoning
This sentence misidentifies the part of Newton’s Principia that shares the title.
Authoritative descriptions of Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica describe it as a work divided into three books. The relevant section is Book III, commonly titled “The System of the World” (De Mundi Systemate / De Mundi Systemate Liber Tertius).
- Wadham College Library’s exhibition on Newton’s Principia says the work “divides into three ‘Books’” and specifically identifies “Book III (Liber Tertius, ‘De Mundi Systemate’ (‘On the System of the World’))”.
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s entry on Newton’s Principia likewise lists “Book 3 of the Principia” in its structure and table of contents.
So the novel’s title alludes to Book III, not to a “third volume” of the Principia.
2 sources
- Online Exhibition
Principia then divides into three 'Books', or sections. ... Book III (Liber Tertius, 'De Mundi Systemate' ('On the System of the World'), pp. 401-510)
- Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica ... 8. Book 3 of the Principia ... It is to these ends that the general propositions in books 1 and 2 are directed, while in book 3 our explication of the system of the world illustrates these propositions.