The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science

The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science PDF Author: Seb Falk
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324002948
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Named a Best Book of 2020 by The Telegraph, The Times, and BBC History Magazine An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk. "Falk’s bubbling curiosity and strong sense of storytelling always swept me along. By the end, The Light Ages didn’t just broaden my conception of science; even as I scrolled away on my Kindle, it felt like I was sitting alongside Westwyk at St. Albans abbey, leafing through dusty manuscripts by candlelight." —Alex Orlando, Discover Soaring Gothic cathedrals, violent crusades, the Black Death: these are the dramatic forces that shaped the medieval era. But the so-called Dark Ages also gave us the first universities, eyeglasses, and mechanical clocks. As medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky, they came to develop a vibrant scientific culture. In The Light Ages, Cambridge science historian Seb Falk takes us on a tour of medieval science through the eyes of one fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk. Born in a rural manor, educated in England’s grandest monastery, and then exiled to a clifftop priory, Westwyk was an intrepid crusader, inventor, and astrologer. From multiplying Roman numerals to navigating by the stars, curing disease, and telling time with an ancient astrolabe, we learn emerging science alongside Westwyk and travel with him through the length and breadth of England and beyond its shores. On our way, we encounter a remarkable cast of characters: the clock-building English abbot with leprosy, the French craftsman-turned-spy, and the Persian polymath who founded the world’s most advanced observatory. The Light Ages offers a gripping story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man in a precarious world and conjures a vivid picture of medieval life as we have never seen it before. An enlightening history that argues that these times weren’t so dark after all, The Light Ages shows how medieval ideas continue to color how we see the world today.

The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science

The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science PDF Author: Seb Falk
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324002948
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book

Book Description
Named a Best Book of 2020 by The Telegraph, The Times, and BBC History Magazine An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk. "Falk’s bubbling curiosity and strong sense of storytelling always swept me along. By the end, The Light Ages didn’t just broaden my conception of science; even as I scrolled away on my Kindle, it felt like I was sitting alongside Westwyk at St. Albans abbey, leafing through dusty manuscripts by candlelight." —Alex Orlando, Discover Soaring Gothic cathedrals, violent crusades, the Black Death: these are the dramatic forces that shaped the medieval era. But the so-called Dark Ages also gave us the first universities, eyeglasses, and mechanical clocks. As medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky, they came to develop a vibrant scientific culture. In The Light Ages, Cambridge science historian Seb Falk takes us on a tour of medieval science through the eyes of one fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk. Born in a rural manor, educated in England’s grandest monastery, and then exiled to a clifftop priory, Westwyk was an intrepid crusader, inventor, and astrologer. From multiplying Roman numerals to navigating by the stars, curing disease, and telling time with an ancient astrolabe, we learn emerging science alongside Westwyk and travel with him through the length and breadth of England and beyond its shores. On our way, we encounter a remarkable cast of characters: the clock-building English abbot with leprosy, the French craftsman-turned-spy, and the Persian polymath who founded the world’s most advanced observatory. The Light Ages offers a gripping story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man in a precarious world and conjures a vivid picture of medieval life as we have never seen it before. An enlightening history that argues that these times weren’t so dark after all, The Light Ages shows how medieval ideas continue to color how we see the world today.

The Light Ages

The Light Ages PDF Author: Seb Falk
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780141989679
Category : Inventions
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description


Alle Thyng Hath Tyme

Alle Thyng Hath Tyme PDF Author: Gillian Adler
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1789147220
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
An insightful account of how medieval people experienced time. Alle Thyng Hath Tyme recreates medieval people’s experience of time as continuous, discontinuous, linear, and cyclical—from creation through judgment and into eternity. Medieval people measured time by natural phenomena such as sunrise and sunset, the motion of the stars, or the progress of the seasons, even as the late-medieval invention of the mechanical clock made time-reckoning more precise. Negotiating these mixed and competing systems, Gillian Adler and Paul Strohm show how medieval people gained a nuanced and expansive sense of time that rewards attention today.

Rescuing Science

Rescuing Science PDF Author: Paul M. Sutter
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538181622
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
"Examines the growing social distrust toward the scientific community, grounding its source in the academic scientific community itself, and offers solutions on how to solve it"--

How to Live Like a Monk: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Life

How to Live Like a Monk: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Life PDF Author: Danièle Cybulskie
Publisher: WW Norton
ISBN: 0789260999
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
How medieval monastic practices—with their emphasis on a healthy soul, mind, and body—can inspire us to live fuller lives today We know that they prayed, sang, and wore long robes, but what was it really like to be a monk? Though monastic living may seem unimaginable to us moderns, it has relevance for today. This book illuminates the day-to-day of medieval European monasticism, showing how you can apply the principles of monastic living, like finding balance and peace, to your life. With wit and insight, medievalist and podcaster Daniele Cybulskie dives into the history of monasticism in each chapter and then reveals applications for today, such as the benefits of healthy eating, streamlining routines, gardening, and helping others. She shares how monks authentically embraced their spiritual calling, and were also down to earth: they wrote complaints about being cold in the manuscripts they copied, made beer and wine, and even kept bees. How to Live Like a Monk features original illustrations by Anna Lobanova, as well as more than eighty color reproductions from medieval manuscripts. It is for anyone interested in the Middle Ages and those seeking inspiration for how to live a full life, even when we’re confined to the cloister of our homes.

Science in the Middle Ages

Science in the Middle Ages PDF Author: David C. Lindberg
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226482332
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
In this book, sixteen leading scholars address themselves to providing as full an account of medieval science as current knowledge permits. Designed to be introductory, the authors have directed their chapters to a beginning audience of diverse readers.

Some New World

Some New World PDF Author: Peter Harrison
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009477269
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 483

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Book Description
In his famous argument against miracles, David Hume gets to the heart of the modern problem of supernatural belief. 'We are apt', says Hume, 'to imagine ourselves transported into some new world; where the whole form of nature is disjointed, and every element performs its operation in a different manner, from what it does at present.' This encapsulates, observes Peter Harrison, the disjuncture between contemporary Western culture and medieval societies. In the Middle Ages, people saw the hand of God at work everywhere. Indeed, many suppose that 'belief in the supernatural' is likewise fundamental nowadays to religious commitment. But dichotomising between 'naturalism' and 'supernaturalism' is actually a relatively recent phenomenon, just as the notion of 'belief' emerged historically late. In this masterful contribution to intellectual history, the author overturns crucial misconceptions – 'myths' – about secular modernity, challenging common misunderstandings of the past even as he reinvigorates religious thinking in the present.

Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter

Buzz Books 2020: Fall/Winter PDF Author:
Publisher: Publishers Lunch
ISBN: 1948586363
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 635

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Book Description
Buzz Books 2020 presents passionate readers with an insider’s look at 30 of the buzziest books due out this fall season. Our “digital convention” features such major bestselling authors as Ken Follett, Matt Haig, Jonathan Lethem, and Sue Miller. Other sure-to-be popular titles are by Rumaan Alam, J’nell Ciesielski, Vendela Vida, and Bryan Washington. Buzz Books has had a particularly stellar track record with highlighting the most talented, exciting debut authors. Simon Stephenson’s novel about a humanlike bot has already been optioned for film, while Finnish sensation Max Seeck’s thriller is due out as a television series. Robert Jones Jr.’s The Prophets and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club were both sold at auction. Our nonfiction selections include an inspirational World War II story, Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story Of Hannie Schaft And The Oversteegen Sisters, Teenaged Saboteurs And Nazi Assassins by Tim Brady); a true crime read, We Keep the Dead Close by Becky Cooper; and the incisive Can't Even: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation by BuzzFeed columnist Anne Helen Petersen. Finally, we present early looks at new work from up-and-coming young adult authors: Alexandra Bracken, Caroline George, and Cole Nagamatsu. And be sure to download Buzz Books 2020: Romance, also available now.

Francis of Assisi, Movement Maker

Francis of Assisi, Movement Maker PDF Author: Snyder, Howard A.
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description


Mind The Gap: The Labyrinthine Story Of Planetary Orbits, Mathematics, And The Titius-bode Rule

Mind The Gap: The Labyrinthine Story Of Planetary Orbits, Mathematics, And The Titius-bode Rule PDF Author: Martin Beech
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811273995
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
This book is concerned with two tightly knit topics — those of mathematics and astronomy. Its focus is primarily concerned with planetary astronomy, and specifically the history of accounting for the spacing of planetary orbits. The story begins with the ancient Greek philosophers and continues to the modern era and the new data being gleaned from the study of exoplanetary systems. Throughout the text, the manner in which mathematical theory has been used to decipher, and impose order upon the solar system, will be examined. Attention and discussion will be directed towards the so-called Titius-Bode rule, a long-standing ordering principle, that in fact it has no physical underpinning or explanation.The story presented will look at how humanity has learned about the workings of the solar system, and it will look at the philosophical problems that arise when mathematical exposition leads observation. Furthermore, the fundamental role of mathematics in the development of physical theory is examined, and it is argued that there are some gaps in our knowledge of the solar system (and the universe) that mathematics and physical theory will never successfully bridge. The text will present material at the informed-amateur scientist, university undergraduate student level.