- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (30 May 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0786713585
- ISBN-13: 978-0786713585
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,289,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"[An] immensely likeable work of pop science."
Product Description
Legend may have transformed the thirteenth-century English friar Roger Bacon into the Faust-like sorcerer Doctor Mirabilis, but he stands today in high regard as Europe's first great pioneer in the field of science. Bypassing the vicissitudes of Bacon's reputation, this definitive new biography by science writer Brian Clegg places the medieval monastic firmly in the turbulent and contentious intellectual atmosphere of his day. It also finds in Bacon's attempt to reconcile, or at least acknowledge, the variant methods and means of science and theology a quest that places him well ahead of his intellectual times. For Bacon brought to his inquiry into the nature of things his gifts not only as a lucid observer of natural phenomena, rigorous experimenter, empirical thinker, and gifted mathematician but as a theologian and philosopher as well. In his search for truth he would, like Galileo, suffer imprisonment rather than sacrifice his intellectual integrity. From Bacon's popularity as a teacher at Oxford and Paris, through his innovations in calendar reform, his experiments in optics, his designs for a flying machine, and, most famously, his development of the principle of inductive experimental science, this illuminative volume unfolds the story of a brilliant career.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I really loved this book. If you saw (or read!) Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose", you'll know that its hero, William of Baskerville, was a student of Roger Bacon. Well, here is the real-life story of this unjustly-nelgected genius. In Eco's book, William himself demonstrates a deductive ability reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and his celebrated scientific method... if you revel in Holmes and his epoch, I think you'll also find this extraordinary earlier period of history just your cup of tea!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
A good introduction
7 April 2003
Format:Hardcover
I found Brian Clegg's biography of Roger Bacon to be a good introduction for anyone wishing to understand the great man's life and work, and the times in which he lived. However, this book seemed to me to be too focused on Bacon as a precursor of the Scientific Revolution, and at times I would question the depth (although not necessarilly the breadth) of Clegg's understanding of ancient and medieval science. Whilst the author has obviously done a lot of research, and his admiration for his subject shines through at every page, this is not a truly scholarly life of Bacon that would be of great use to academics. But, having said this, I would still recommend this book for anyone coming at Bacon for the first time.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Yes and No.
1 Mar 2006
Format:Paperback
I really wanted to like this book: Mr. Clegg obviously has a deep respect for his subject and is eager to share it with the reader. Unfortunately, a combination of sometimes sloppy writing skills and a dearth of information add up to a mostly mediocre biography. When I say information is scarce, I mean it: very, very little is known about the specifics of Bacon's life; the vast majority of this book is conjecture. We know Bacon went from A to B to A to C, and that's more or less it--Clegg sees fit to fill in the details again and again. This would be okay if it weren't pure guesswork most of the time. On top of this, particularly toward the end, the writing style becomes strained and stretched out like a college term-paper. It's as if the author is grabbing at straws to convince you that Bacon was indeed the first scientist. It's a shame that these problems overshadow what is otherwise a very interesting book on a very interesting subject from a very interesting time period. I hope one day we'll see a major biography of this strange, precocious man with the proper research to back it up. Until then, The First Scientist will do, if you keep in mind its flaws.
Although I really do love the book design.
Although I really do love the book design.
Underrated Polymath
17 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback
Roger Bacon, a 13th-century Oxford-educated Franciscan friar, wasn't really the first scientist. But he was an influential advocate of the methodology we call modern science.
In the author's view, Bacon met and exceeded four standards that together define a true scientist: He believed in mathematics as the foundation for science; he was open to information without bias; he understood the need to communicate his findings; and he realized the importance of experimentation. Arab and Muslim scientists like al-Kindi and Alhazen qualified as true scientists in this sense. But Bacon advanced this methodology in Europe, setting the stage for figures like Galileo and Newton.
Roger Bacon was a polymath, a genius in many fields - physics (including optics), mathematics, early chemistry, geography, languages, even music. Much of his scientific training was based on the Arab masters, whom he read in Latin translation. He was fascinated by applied science - technology - and he envisioned an array of mechanical inventions of the future, including ornithopters and other flying machines, that influenced Leonardo Da Vinci three centuries later.
Bacon's genius as a scientist actually cost him his reputation. After his death, legends arose portraying him as a great magician - a label he would have angrily rejected. In time, he was marginalized and forgotten.
Bacon's reputation as a scientist was revived in the Victorian era, but only partially. He still stands in the shadow of a more famous Bacon, Sir Francis, the Elizabethan often identified with the scientific method. Yet in many ways, Roger was much more influential. Not only did he recognize the great value of Arab science for ongoing research - for example, the optics of Alhazen, which he expanded upon - but he brought new insights to these endeavors and assured their dissemination among Europe's scientific community.
In the author's view, Bacon met and exceeded four standards that together define a true scientist: He believed in mathematics as the foundation for science; he was open to information without bias; he understood the need to communicate his findings; and he realized the importance of experimentation. Arab and Muslim scientists like al-Kindi and Alhazen qualified as true scientists in this sense. But Bacon advanced this methodology in Europe, setting the stage for figures like Galileo and Newton.
Roger Bacon was a polymath, a genius in many fields - physics (including optics), mathematics, early chemistry, geography, languages, even music. Much of his scientific training was based on the Arab masters, whom he read in Latin translation. He was fascinated by applied science - technology - and he envisioned an array of mechanical inventions of the future, including ornithopters and other flying machines, that influenced Leonardo Da Vinci three centuries later.
Bacon's genius as a scientist actually cost him his reputation. After his death, legends arose portraying him as a great magician - a label he would have angrily rejected. In time, he was marginalized and forgotten.
Bacon's reputation as a scientist was revived in the Victorian era, but only partially. He still stands in the shadow of a more famous Bacon, Sir Francis, the Elizabethan often identified with the scientific method. Yet in many ways, Roger was much more influential. Not only did he recognize the great value of Arab science for ongoing research - for example, the optics of Alhazen, which he expanded upon - but he brought new insights to these endeavors and assured their dissemination among Europe's scientific community.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
