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"As entertaining and educational as that organized by the best tour operator." - Charles Burnett, New York Times Book Review "Solidly based on a competent knowledge of a huge variety of primary sources and secondary studies, engagingly written, and well produced, it provides us for the first time with an authoritative account of Western science from its beginnings to the height of medieval scientific achievement." - Richard C. Dales, American Historical Review"
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When it was first published in 1992, "The Beginnings of Western Science" was lauded as the first successful attempt to present a unified account of both ancient and medieval science in a single volume. Chronicling the development of scientific ideas, practices, and institutions from pre-Socratic Greek philosophy to late-medieval scholasticism, David C. Lindberg surveyed the most important themes in the history of science, including developments in cosmology, astronomy, mechanics, optics, alchemy, natural history, and medicine. In addition, he offered an illuminating account of the transmission of Greek science to medieval Islam and subsequently to medieval Europe."The Beginnings of Western Science" was, and remains, a landmark in the history of science, shaping the way students and scholars understand these critically formative periods of scientific development. It reemerges here in a second edition that includes revisions on nearly every page, as well as several sections that have been completely rewritten. For example, the section on Islamic science has been thoroughly retooled to reveal the magnitude and sophistication of medieval Muslim scientific achievement. And the book now reflects a sharper awareness of the importance of Mesopotamian science for the development of Greek astronomy. In all, the second edition of "The Beginnings of Western Science" captures the current state of our understanding of more than two millennia of science and promises to continue to inspire both students and general readers.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Beginning of Western Science was the textbook for a class I took with Professor Lindberg at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I found the book to be extremely informative-a lesson in western civilization, science and religion. Lindberg provides a comprehensive explanation of the creation of basic science as we know it today combined with the story of the creation, growth and influence of Judeo-Christian theology in western civilization. The book offers an amazing insight into the progression of science that parallel with the growth of Judeo-Christian beliefs. Lindberg 's study reads more like a historical novel filled with tragic heroes, as he describes key players including Greek philosophers, medieval saints and early astronomers, all who face life-threatening personal and social situations. The description of main characters' personal anguish helps draw the reader in to the story, allowing him or her to even create a picture of each character and incident, which could have been a merely general and drier recap of western science. Although based on historical fact, Lindberg interprets his views about the relationship between both disciplines. By providing the reader with a nice balance of science, philosophy and theology, Lindberg allows the reader to formulate their own opinion of who and what affected the origin and direction of science.
Format:Paperback
This is a very good guide to western scientific thought up to 1450. The chapters on ancient Greece and the European Middle Ages are very good and give a lot of detailed information about developments during those times. There is however only one Chapter on Arab science, which I felt was not enough. The book does debunk the myth that there was no progress during the Middle Ages, though. All in all, this book can be recommended.
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12 reviews
52 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Clearly the best ancient/medieval science text that exists!
31 May 2001
Format:Paperback
I read the Beginnings of Western Sceince as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I had the extreme priviledge of taking two history of science courses from the author, who is also an absolutely outstanding professor. (And also one of the two or three most knowledgeable people in the world in the history of medieval science) This is by far the most comprehensive text on the history of ancient and medieval science that is out there. You might not believe it, but there aren't even a lot of other texts that cover half of what is discussed here period, let alone any that are this polished and concise. This book not only covers the development of western science from ancient times throught the Middle Ages, but it also considers the religious, and philosophical roots of this development. This book is masterfully written in that it provides a tremendous amount of detail, and yet is accessible to anyone that is an educated and interested reader. I cannot recommend this text highly enough.
Also Recommended: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
In his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn discusses the importance of history and its relationship to science, the changing views of how historians view past scientific achievements, the role of scientific method in science, and the nature and foundations of scientific revolutions.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Exceptional Class Material
8 April 2000
Format:Paperback
I read this book as a student for my History of Scientific Thought Class. This text was an excellent addition to the course work that included discussions about scientific thinking, discovery and revolutions, Greek philosophy and nature, Medieval cosmology and it's assimilation of Plato and Aristotle. Lindberg also pictured works of art that helped discuss the science and thinking of the times. The other texts that, as a class, were discussed along with Lindberg were Leonard Schlain's Art and Physics and Arthur Koestler's The Sleepwalkers and Thomas Kuhn's THe Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
First Rate Survey
31 Jan 2009
Format:Paperback
This is a first rate survey of Western science from the Classical period to the eve of the Scientific Revolution. Arranged chronologically, Lindberg summarizes an immense amount of scholarly literature in a very well written text. Lindberg makes a consistent and successful effort to avoid anachronistically looking back at developments of the point of view the emergence of modern science. History of science is presented here with a strong effort to situate it in the context of contemporary intellectual and general history. Lindberg deals also with some historiographic issues related to prior interpretations of history of science. This is all quite difficult to do in a survey book and Lindberg carries this off very, very well. Each chronological period has a discussion of major developments and enough general history to make the context intelligible. Topics of greatest significance, such as Aristotle's system or Medieval physics, get excellent coverage. Some persistent themes are the importance of the Aristotelian system, the interaction between Platonic and Aristotelian ideas, the complex interaction between the Classical heritage and Christianity, the particular importance of the Islamic world as the heir and transmitter of Classical knowledge, and the importance of mathematical concepts. Lindberg does very well as showing the achievements of Classical and Medieval science while discussing why its underlying assumptions were different from the modern science that emerges in the 17th century. The footnotes and bibliography are excellent and constructed with an eye to providing a good guide into the literature for interested readers. This book is a real nice combination of informed scholarship and pedagogy.
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