patricia fara science a four thousand year history

Invisibles, for example, addresses the stories of things you cannot see: germs, rays, particles and so on). The second surprise and pleasure is that she sidesteps the temptation of the 'one damn thing after another' version of history: this book is wittily organised into big propositions with laconic headings – Interactions, Experiments, Laws, Institutions, Invisibles – and each of these subdivides into smaller, bite-sized themes. What makes Patricia Fara's book a surprise and a subversive pleasure is that her cast of characters contains all the usual suspects, but they don't necessarily emerge as heroes: she sees them as people of their time, fashioned by the ideas of their time. The story of science thereafter cannot be separated from the the Reformation, the Age of Exploration, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and so on, but it can be told with a lot more emphasis on the ideas than on plague, fire and sword. And then the Renaissance happens, along with Copernicus, Galileo and Newton. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.China makes a contribution, but always somehow at arm's length India also appears in the narrative, albeit tangentially. And rather than glorifying scientists as idealized heroes, she tells true stories about real people-men (and some women) who needed to earn their living, who made mistakes, and who trampled down their rivals. Instead of focussing on esoteric experiments and abstract theories, she explains how science belongs to the practical world of war, politics, and business.

We see for instance how Muslim leaders encouraged science by building massive libraries, hospitals, and astronomical observatories and we rediscover the significance of medieval Europe-long overlooked-where, surprisingly, religious institutions ensured science's survival, as the learning preserved in monasteries was subsequently developed in new and unique institutions: universities. Sweeping through the centuries from ancient Babylon right up to the latest hi-tech experiments in genetics and particle physics, Fara's book also ranges internationally, challenging notions of European superiority by emphasizing the importance of scientific projects based around the world, including revealing discussions of China and the Islamic Empire alongside the more familiar stories about Copernicus's sun-centered astronomy, Newton's gravity, and Darwin's theory of evolution. In Science, Patricia Fara rewrites science's past to provide new ways of understanding and questioning our modern technological society.

Patricia fara science a four thousand year history