1543 saw the publication of one of the most significant scientific works ever written: De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in which Nicolaus Copernicus presented a radically different structure of the cosmos by placing the sun, and not the earth, at the centre of the universe. But did anyone take notice? Harvard astrophysicist Owen Gingerich was intrigued by the bold claim made by Arthur Koestler in his bestselling The Sleepwalkers that sixteenth-century Europe paid little attention to the groundbreaking, but dense, masterpiece. Gingerich embarked on a thirty-year odyssey to examine every extant copy to prove Koestler wrong-Logging thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles Gingerich uncovered a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea. His quest led him to copies once owned by saints, heretics, and scallywags, by musicians and movie stars; some easily accessible, others almost lost to time, politics and the black market. Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, Gingerich's The Book Nobody Read is an utterly captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books. (20040305)
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...this is a driven, fascinating book, and a rarity - a history of s cience by somebody who actually knows about science (John Carey, The Sunday Times 20040812)
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A wonderfully engaging story of obsession and the love of books, in the tradition of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. (20040305)
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Historian Owen Gingerich has made the study of Copernicus part of his life's work. Here he describes in the most engaging way his quest to track down all extant copies of Copernicus' masterpiece 'Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres' published in 1543. The quest is handled superbly: Gingerich tracks down copies in the former Soviet Union, he appears as an expert witness in a courst case to do with theft, and he hob nobs with the great and good in Europe who still have private libraries. A manifest at the end of the book shows the location of all copies: there are 18 right here in the University of Cambridge, where I am a professional historian of science. Gingerich's account is fabulous. Everyone interested in the history of astronomy and the history of the book in the sixteenth century should grab this one with grateful hands.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
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First Class Detective Story
1 Sep 2008
By Stephen Williams
- Published on Amazon.com
First Class Detective Story
The author chronicles his 30 year search for fate of the original copies of the Copernicus's revolutionary text. This makes for a first rate detective story. The book is as hard to put down as any good mystery.
Gingerich shows that the history of astronomy is interwoven with the entire history of mankind.
See Also:
The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus
and
God's Universe
Highly recommended.
The author chronicles his 30 year search for fate of the original copies of the Copernicus's revolutionary text. This makes for a first rate detective story. The book is as hard to put down as any good mystery.
Gingerich shows that the history of astronomy is interwoven with the entire history of mankind.
See Also:
The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus
and
God's Universe
Highly recommended.
›
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