What is "summoned up" here?
Napoleon was not only everything we know him to be he was a great reader of mechanics and physics books so that he would know not only how to make the Cannonball, he would know where the Cannonball would hit when he shot it. And so he summoned up this five volume tome, read it....
And so he summoned up this five volume tome This means he asked someone (eg a servant or a librarian) to bring him this long five-volume book Here is more background to show where this quote come from. com/r/badhistory/comments/90hl6o/the_continued_bad_history_of_neil_degrasse_tyson /
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
And so he summoned up this five volume tome
This means
he asked someone (eg a servant or a librarian) to bring him this long five-volume book
Here is more background to show where this quote come from.