Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Reading Routes

A First Reading

Begin with the dedication, then read Book 1 and Book 2 together. Continue through preservation, life, death and resuscitation before going on to transmutation and separation. Read Book 9 last in its transmitted place. On this first circuit, keep a short list of places where the same word changes its object or function. Use the glossary only when needed; return to the contextual lexicon after seeing a term work in more than one passage.

Art and Material Change

Read Book 2 on artificial assistance, Book 7 on transmutation and Book 8 on separation. Compare the ordinary craft examples with the more ambitious claims. For each, identify the starting material, the action, and the change the work says has occurred. Then return to Book 1 and ask whether the same role for art is maintained in the account of generation. The essays on art and separation give a connected guide to these comparisons.

Life Death and Preservation

Read Book 3, Book 4, Book 5 and Book 6 in order. Keep the material named by each passage visible: an animal body, a plant, a mineral or a preparation need not be described as alive in the same sense. Compare what is preserved with what is said to end. Use the entries on balsam, mummia, life, death and resuscitation to trace the relations without assuming that every revival is a claim about a human body.

Signs and Historical Judgement

Read the first part of Book 9 carefully before the physiognomic and predictive examples. Write down the distinctions among human beings, the Archaeus and the stars as signators. Choose one example of each and identify the visible mark and inferred condition. End with the closing limit placed on disclosure. Then reread the dedication’s account of a qualified reader: compare the grounds on which trust and competence are assigned in the two places.