Elements by Euclid
Elements by Euclid by Oliver Byrneby Oliver Byrne
The most recommended of 20 mathematics books
Recommended for its beautiful, colour-diagram presentation of Euclid's geometry proofs and its clear logical rigor. The most common caveat is the old-style long s typography, which some find distracting.
Recommended for its beautiful, colour-diagram presentation of Euclid's geometry proofs and its clear logical rigor. The most common caveat is the old-style long s typography, which some find distracting.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 65%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Beautiful, striking book design
“they completed the rest of the books in the style and published it in hardcover”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Byrne's Euclid” “The reprint of the Byrne edition of Euclid is the most beautiful book I have”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “An interactive version of Byrne's The Elements of Euclid (1847)” “This is looking really beautiful!”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “An interactive version of Byrne's The Elements of Euclid (1847)” - Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “An interactive version of Byrne's The Elements of Euclid (1847)”
- Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “507 Mechanical Movements”
Enjoyable to work through proofs
“Going through each proof in Euclid's Elements again has been a lot of fun”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Homeschooling hits record numbers” “it has certainly been a joy to work through them again in my retirement”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “The happiest I've ever been”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Long s typeface is distracting
“Yeah, why bother updating the diagrams but then do long s throughout?”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Byrne's Euclid” “For me it iſ the old timey eſſ that iſ moſt diſracting.”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Byrne's Euclid” “distracting long "ſ"es of Oliver Byrne's editions”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Oliver Byrne's "The Elements of Euclid", First Six Books [pdf]” - Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “An interactive version of Byrne's The Elements of Euclid (1847)”
- Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “An interactive version of Byrne's The Elements of Euclid (1847)”
Other mathematics books people recommend
The four most recommended other mathematics books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elements by Euclidby Oliver ByrneThis page | 17 | 9 | 65% | 8 | — | — |
| Fermat's Last Theoremby Simon Singh | 11 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Gödel's Proofby Nagel and Newman | 10 | 1 | 91% | 2 | — | — |
| Principia Mathematicaby Whitehead and Russell | 10 | 8 | 56% | 1 | — | — |
| Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosityby David Bessis | 9 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
28 of the 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“still blows my mind for its logical rigor”
“It appears this commit actually introduced the bug the attacker exploited by adding additional flexibility for cache key confusion via scriptPubKey.”
“very beautiful reproduction of Euclid's elements”
“another classic and notable example”
“short enough that closely reading most or all of it isn't a crazy idea”
“some (like Euclid's Elements) don't ever lose their relevance”
“Some of Euclid's proofs are wrong, because they relied on those non-rigorous picture definitions.”
“Other books which push the boundaries on technological presentation”
“this excellent and free bilingual edition due to Richard Fitzpatrick”
“they completed the rest of the books in the style and published it in hardcover”
“this is a much clearer treatment of Elements”
“Yeah, why bother updating the diagrams but then do long s throughout?”
“For me it iſ the old timey eſſ that iſ moſt diſracting.”
“I find all the different colors and diagrams distracting rather than helpful.”
“A higher tech version is:”
“would have made things so much easier to grasp”
“it has certainly been a joy to work through them again in my retirement”
“This is looking really beautiful!”
“it's been more than five minutes and it is a problem. Accessibility is not a PEBCAK issue.”
“They call it "old English"? That's disappointing.”
“this copy actually re-typeset it”
“It looks like a noninteractive presentation of the book as a webpage.”
“would be so much more beautiful if it used a modern font”
“It's such a beautiful book.”
“Playfair's made it click.”
“The reprint of the Byrne edition of Euclid is the most beautiful book I have”
“distracting long "ſ"es of Oliver Byrne's editions”
“Going through each proof in Euclid's Elements again has been a lot of fun”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.