The Light Ages The Surprising Story Of Medieval Science

Author : Seb Falk
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781324002949

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The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science by Seb Falk Pdf

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.

Author : Seb Falk
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Inventions
ISBN : 0241374251

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The Light Ages by Seb Falk Pdf

The Middle Ages were a time of wonder. They gave us the first universities, the first eyeglasses and the first mechanical clocks as medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky. In the book, we walk the path of medieval science with a real-life guide, a fourteenth-century monk named John of Westwyk - inventor, astrologer, crusader - who was educated in England's grandest monastery and exiled to a clifftop priory. Following the traces of his life, we learn to see the natural world through his eyes: navigating by the stars, multiplying Roman numerals, curing disease, and telling the time with an astrolabe

Author : Matthew Gabriele,David M. Perry
Publisher : HarperCollins
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2021-12-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9780062980915

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The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele,David M. Perry Pdf

"The beauty and levity that Perry and Gabriele have captured in this book are what I think will help it to become a standard text for general audiences for years to come….The Bright Ages is a rare thing—a nuanced historical work that almost anyone can enjoy reading.”—Slate "Incandescent and ultimately intoxicating." —The Boston Globe A lively and magisterial popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages, showing the beauty and communion that flourished alongside the dark brutality—a brilliant reflection of humanity itself. The word “medieval” conjures images of the “Dark Ages”—centuries of ignorance, superstition, stasis, savagery, and poor hygiene. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors. The Bright Ages takes us through ten centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them. We look with fresh eyes on the Fall of Rome, Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Crusades, and the Black Death, but also to the multi-religious experience of Iberia, the rise of Byzantium, and the genius of Hildegard and the power of queens. We begin under a blanket of golden stars constructed by an empress with Germanic, Roman, Spanish, Byzantine, and Christian bloodlines and end nearly 1,000 years later with the poet Dante—inspired by that same twinkling celestial canopy—writing an epic saga of heaven and hell that endures as a masterpiece of literature today. The Bright Ages reminds us just how permeable our manmade borders have always been and of what possible worlds the past has always made available to us. The Middle Ages may have been a world “lit only by fire” but it was one whose torches illuminated the magnificent rose windows of cathedrals, even as they stoked the pyres of accused heretics. The Bright Ages contains an 8-page color insert.

Author : Seb Falk
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2021-06-10
Category : Inventions
ISBN : 014198967X

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The Light Ages by Seb Falk Pdf

Author : David C. Lindberg
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 566 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 1978
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226482330

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Science in the Middle Ages by David C. Lindberg Pdf

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.

Author : Gillian Adler,Paul Strohm
Publisher : Reaktion Books
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2023-05-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781789147223

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Alle Thyng Hath Tyme by Gillian Adler,Paul Strohm Pdf

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.

Author : Paul M. Sutter
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2024-03-05
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9781538181621

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Rescuing Science by Paul M. Sutter Pdf

"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"--

Author : Danièle Cybulskie
Publisher : WW Norton
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2021-11-23
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 9780789260994

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How to Live Like a Monk: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Life by Danièle Cybulskie Pdf

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.

Author : Peter Harrison
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 483 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2024-04-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781009477260

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Some New World by Peter Harrison Pdf

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.

Author : Richard C. Dales
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2015-02-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9780812292282

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The Scientific Achievement of the Middle Ages by Richard C. Dales Pdf

The scientists of the twelfth century were daring, original, inventive, and above all determined to discover purely rational explanations of natural phenomena. Their intense interest in the natural world for its own sake, their habits of precise observation, and the high value they place on man as a rational being portend a new age in the history of scientific thought. This book offers a comprehensive sampling of medieval scientific thought in the context of an historical narrative.

Author : Snyder, Howard A.
Publisher : Orbis Books
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2024-05-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9798888660300

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Francis of Assisi, Movement Maker by Snyder, Howard A. Pdf

Author : Martin Beech
Publisher : World Scientific
Page : 401 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2023-08-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789811273995

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

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.

Author : Joshua Kyle T. Rovero
Publisher : Joshua Kyle T. Rovero
Page : 177 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2024-04-25
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Essays on Civilization by Joshua Kyle T. Rovero Pdf

"May the Souls of Civilizations Awaken from their Slumber." This is a collection of political-philosophical essays that once again, delve into the nature of the most important human entity that exists in our time: Civilization. Composed of six essays rolled into one monumental and important book, Joshua Rovero provides us into the world of this new political philosophy and political theory regarding the nature and essence of Civilization. A book by Joshua Kyle Rovero (self-published) under the Rovero Estate. {Book licensed under CC BY 4.0}

Author : Jamie Kreiner
Publisher : Liveright Publishing
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2023-01-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781631498060

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The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction by Jamie Kreiner Pdf

A revelatory account of how Christian monks identified distraction as a fundamental challenge—and how their efforts to defeat it can inform ours, more than a millennium later. The digital era is beset by distraction, and it feels like things are only getting worse. At times like these, the distant past beckons as a golden age of attention. We fantasize about escaping our screens. We dream of recapturing the quiet of a world with less noise. We imagine retreating into solitude and singlemindedness, almost like latter-day monks. But although we think of early monks as master concentrators, a life of mindfulness did not, in fact, come to them easily. As historian Jamie Kreiner demonstrates in The Wandering Mind, their attempts to stretch the mind out to God—to continuously contemplate the divine order and its ethical requirements—were all-consuming, and their battles against distraction were never-ending. Delving into the experiences of early Christian monks living in the Middle East, around the Mediterranean, and throughout Europe from 300 to 900 CE, Kreiner shows that these men and women were obsessed with distraction in ways that seem remarkably modern. At the same time, she suggests that our own obsession is remarkably medieval. Ancient Greek and Roman intellectuals had sometimes complained about distraction, but it was early Christian monks who waged an all-out war against it. The stakes could not have been higher: they saw distraction as a matter of life and death. Even though the world today is vastly different from the world of the early Middle Ages, we can still learn something about our own distractedness by looking closely at monks’ strenuous efforts to concentrate. Drawing on a trove of sources that the monks left behind, Kreiner reconstructs the techniques they devised in their lifelong quest to master their minds—from regimented work schedules and elaborative metacognitive exercises to physical regimens for hygiene, sleep, sex, and diet. She captures the fleeting moments of pure attentiveness that some monks managed to grasp, and the many times when monks struggled and failed and went back to the drawing board. Blending history and psychology, The Wandering Mind is a witty, illuminating account of human fallibility and ingenuity that bridges a distant era and our own.

Author : Guy Collins
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2022
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781978713482

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The Goldilocks God by Guy Collins Pdf

The Goldilocks God explores the fertile middle ground between toxic Christianity and militant atheism. Illuminating ancient Christian practice with cutting-edge philosophy and theology, Guy Collins reveals the lifelong habits that are "just right" for encountering the mystery of God.