Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-03-20
Books mentioned on Terence Tao – Kepler, Newton, and the true nature of mathematical discovery
We begin the episode with the absolutely ingenious and surprising way in which Kepler discovered the laws of planetary motion. People sometimes say that AI will make especially fast progress at scientific discovery because of tight verification loops.
Dwarkesh Patel discussed Harmonies of the World by Johannes Johannes Kepler, The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick, The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, and Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Harmonies of the World
Discussed“In fact, in the book in which he writes down the third law of planetary motion, it's an aside on The Harmonics of the World, which is just a book about how all these different planets have these different harmonies.”
Where to get it
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The Clockwork Universe
Discussed“There's this book, The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick, which covers a lot of this era of history we're talking about. He has this interesting observation in there. The Origin of Species was published in 1859.”
Where to get it
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The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s foundational work on evolutionary biology, The Origin of Species, outlines the theory of evolution by natural selection and presents extensive evidence connecting biological and geological phenomena.
Discussed“The Origin of Species was published in 1859. Principia Mathematica was published in 1687. So The Origin of Species comes out two centuries after Principia. Conceptually, it seems like Darwin's theory is simpler.”
Where to get it
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Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton is a foundational scientific text published in 1687 that establishes the laws of motion and universal gravitation, fundamentally shaping classical mechanics and modern physics.
Discussed“Principia Mathematica was published in 1687. So The Origin of Species comes out two centuries after Principia. Conceptually, it seems like Darwin's theory is simpler.”
Where to get it
