The History of Science
by Peter Whitfield
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Description
This is the foundation of all: that we are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover what nature does, or may be made to do. Thus did Francis Bacon, early in the 17th century, outline the future of science and technology. This drive for knowledge and power has now given us a world dominated by science, and this text tells the story of how we have arrived there. The achievements of the great scientific thinkers of the ages - Copernicus, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, Pasteur, Einstein, Freud, show more Hubble and many more - are explained and woven together into an exciting story of intellectual discovery, but a story in which a sense of the mystery of the universe is always present. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
3. The History of Science (Audio CD) by Peter Whitfield, read by the author (2010, maybe 150 pages in paper form, listened Jan 3-15)
A very quick, but nice overview. I was impressed with and enjoyed the care put into the wording. It makes this work, well. I thought the coverage of the ancient stuff was excellent. I was disappointed it did not cover the occult, which it described simply as something that misdirected science for about 100 years, instead of seeing its roll as a step towards the scientific revolution. And I did not like the conclusion which I felt over-credited how well we understand the world and the universe. But, those are small complaints.
2014
http://www.librarything.com/topic/163456#4536311
A very quick, but nice overview. I was impressed with and enjoyed the care put into the wording. It makes this work, well. I thought the coverage of the ancient stuff was excellent. I was disappointed it did not cover the occult, which it described simply as something that misdirected science for about 100 years, instead of seeing its roll as a step towards the scientific revolution. And I did not like the conclusion which I felt over-credited how well we understand the world and the universe. But, those are small complaints.
2014
http://www.librarything.com/topic/163456#4536311
This is a brief overview of the history of science. Whitfield attempts to cover a variety topics in science and places them in a somewhat historical order. I did not consider the content to be anything of great insight but the book is concise and fulfills its goal. I liked the ending in which the author considers the future of mankind, who has used science to increase its population but does not appear to be able to control its moral obligations to nature and future populations.
A nice, extremely brief review of science, from prehistory to present.
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Author Information
25+ Works 1,362 Members
Peter Whitfield is a former director of Stanford's International Map Centre in London.
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- Members
- 22
- Popularity
- 1,184,575
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.33)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
