THE SAND-RECKONER
by Gillian Bradshaw
The Sand-Reckoner ($23.95; Apr. 6; 352 pp.; 0-312-87340-9): More historical fiction from Bradshaw (Island of Ghosts,
1998, etc.), who this time out takes us to ancient Greece. Her hero is Archimedes, prot‚g‚ of Ptolemy, who is forced to set aside the life of the mind when his father falls ill and his hometown of Syracuse finds itself at war with the Romans. But the gods seem able to write straight with crooked lines, and Archimedes learns much from his work as a military engineer that helps him
to become one of the greatest physicists of the ancient world.