The Book of My Life
by Girolamo Cardano
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Description
A bright star of the Italian Renaissance, Girolamo Cardano was an internationally-sought-after astrologer, physician, and natural philosopher, a creator of modern algebra, and the inventor of the universal joint. Condemned by the Inquisition to house arrest in his old age, Cardano wrote The Book of My Life, an unvarnished and often outrageous account of his character and conduct. Whether discussing his sex life or his diet, the plots of academic rivals or meetings with supernatural beings, show more or his deep sorrow when his beloved son was executed for murder, Cardano displays the same unbounded curiosity that made him a scientific pioneer. At once picaresque adventure and campus comedy, curriculum vitae, and last will, The Book of My Life is an extraordinary Renaissance self-portrait--a book to set beside Montaigne's Essays and Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A smattering of memoir-esque sketches written by Girolamo Cardano (physician, astrologer, inventor of the combination lock and the binomial coefficient, etc.) while under house arrest during the last year of his life.
Cardano flops between being quite personable and almost mad, always retaining a certain eccentricity.
Several sections are dedicated to visions (spectral chains floating in varied shapes around his bed), omens (loud bangs, mysterious animal noises), and other oddities (amnesia-inducing jewelry) which are variously treated according to Cardano's mood; others are dedicated to disparaging Cardano's professional rivals, clearing his own good name, and bemoaning his son's missteps. Cardano boasts of his spectacular feats of show more memory and rhetoric; describes each book he has written, each skill he has mastered, and each patient he has cured; lists each time another person has mentioned him in one of their books (lists are provided for positive and for negative mentions); and describes each time he has managed to avoid falling pieces of masonry through a strange unconscious foresight. And he always makes sure to inject some humanist proverb or aphorism into his treatment of a subject (with about as good a hit rate as Sancho Panza). show less
Cardano flops between being quite personable and almost mad, always retaining a certain eccentricity.
Several sections are dedicated to visions (spectral chains floating in varied shapes around his bed), omens (loud bangs, mysterious animal noises), and other oddities (amnesia-inducing jewelry) which are variously treated according to Cardano's mood; others are dedicated to disparaging Cardano's professional rivals, clearing his own good name, and bemoaning his son's missteps. Cardano boasts of his spectacular feats of show more memory and rhetoric; describes each book he has written, each skill he has mastered, and each patient he has cured; lists each time another person has mentioned him in one of their books (lists are provided for positive and for negative mentions); and describes each time he has managed to avoid falling pieces of masonry through a strange unconscious foresight. And he always makes sure to inject some humanist proverb or aphorism into his treatment of a subject (with about as good a hit rate as Sancho Panza). show less
Interesting account of a 16th c Italian life.....but he's no Montaigne.
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Trinity College Booklist (1951): Class Six, Biography
119 works; 4 members
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38+ Works 399 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Book of My Life
- Original publication date
- 1576
- People/Characters
- Jerome Cardano
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Statistics
- Members
- 252
- Popularity
- 127,707
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.59)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
