Published by: Maria (Karma: 3098.81) on 25 October 2008 | Views: 2116
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William Burns’s guide to the scientific revolution offers readers a synthesis of recent research on the scientific revolution in an accessible format that reflects recent trends in scholarship and will guide readers through this literature.
Readers of this book will find biographical entries for well-known figures such as Tycho Brahe and Robert Boyle juxtaposed with equally important figures such as the Spanish physician Francisco Hernández, whose natural history of Mexico represents an early example of the relationship between science and empire, and Margaret Cavendish, the most prolific female natural philosopher of the early modern period.
Like any reference work, this guide reflects the interests and preferences of its author. But it also casts its net widely, defining “science” not just in a narrow sense but in relation to such subjects as art, music, and literature and introducing readers to an interdisciplinary literature on the scientific revolution that is not always included in standard accounts of this period.
