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The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London
 
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The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London (Hardcover)

by Lisa Jardine (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; First Edition edition (15 Sep 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007149441
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007149445
  • Product Dimensions: 24.4 x 16.4 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 651,841 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Of On A Grander Scale (2002): 'A wonderful book which looks set to be the definitive life of Wren for a long time to come' --Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday 'Jardine writes with ease, style, enthusiasm and humanity' --Kerry Downes, TLS 'A full and fascinating biography...Jardine is particularly good on the extraordinary width of Wren's interests and achievements' --Antonia Fraser, New Statesman 'A great fist of an intellectual biography' --Andrew Saint, Guardian 'Imaginative, fluent and scholarly' --Linda Colley, The Times An 'extraordinary story...told with relish by Lisa Jardine, whose qualifications for the task are exactly right, for it needs a rare combination of scientific knowledge, historical skill, and narrative power...It was a life of quiet courage and great achievement, and Jardine's celebration of it does it ample justice' --AC Grayling, Independent on Sunday 'As we would expect from her, Jardine is excellent at placing Wren in the historical and intellectual context of his time...While going over familiar ground, she comes up with some startling discoveries' --Gavin Stamp, Daily Telegraph 'Immensely detailed...Jardine, following the scientific trail, has constructed a book that is as much an account of a movement as a biography of a man...Like its subtitle, this book is on a grander scale than other recent Wren biographies and is probably as definitive as current studies allow...Amazing value for the sheer amount of historical research; it sheds much light on Wren's extraordinary times' --Hugh Pearman, Sunday Times Of Ingenious Pursuits (1999): 'LJ has the knack of making science easy to understand. Her book brilliantly recaptures the excitement of the seventeenth-century scientists and the new word of objects they were finding and theorizing' Roy Porter Of Wordly Goods: 'A pleasure to read, as well as a pleasure to hold' Observer


The Guardian

'This fascinating, impeccably researched account should help to bring him (Hooke) into the light again'
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A lively and beautifully written account, 4 Jan 2004
Robert Hooke was very much a Renaissance man: artist, scientist, instrument-maker, and architect, he is remembered today only for Hooke's law which still forms the foundation of structural mechanics. However, he was at the time the major driving force behind the Royal Society. As its curator of experiments it was Hooke that both put forward the ideas to be tested and devised and built the equipment. He pioneered work in microscopy, made contributions in anatomy, changed the way we make clocks and watches and first put forward the idea that gravity obeyed the inverse square law. All this he did in his spare time between surveying London after the Great Fire and acting as an architect both in his own right and as Christopher Wren's chief assistant and friend.

This book vividly paints a picture of the life of this fascinating character. So lucidly is it written that one barely notices that it is brimming with fresh insights. An outstanding piece of scholarship and a brilliant piece of prose, this book is a must-have for anyone with an interest in the story of one of history's most colourful characters.

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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed reader, 13 Jun 2006
By R. Sindelar "ricksets" (Atlantis) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London (Paperback)
Having admired for a long time some of the theorems of Robert Hooke, and also being amazed of his diversity, I looked forward to reading this book. But I was astonished how an exciting thinker could actually be put back in the cupboard he should have leaft a long time ago! The sometimes tedious descriptions of all correspondences and repetitions of some facts, and the lack of synthetizing the ideas and discoveries of this man, that maybe stand as the sole witnesses of his accomplishments, is somewhat strange. Also, the negligence of defining the time and the environment he lived in, and foremost the probably disadvantage of not being born noble, has not been elucidated far enough. Was he the sole man in the scientific life of the 17th century England not to be recognized for his scientific work? The definition of "the winner takes it all" is also hastily put together, and that is maybe one of the feelings you get from this book, that the writer has not unveiled the incredible stringency and skills, and maybe visions, of all these men deducing facts about the laws of nature from observations and with instruments that actually were far from perfect. That's sad..as we've been left with immense treasures from which it should be more easy to derive insights about these men and their time.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book about our most under-rated scientist, 31 Jan 2006
By Mr. K. Papas "kleopapas" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London (Paperback)
The word polymath was made for Robert Hooke. This man was prodigious and it is time he was given the accolades that he didn't receive during a lifetime overshadowed by the genius of Isaac Newton. Not only did he prepare weekly experiments for The Royal Society over a period of years but he also found time to make scientific discoveries (Hooke's Law of Elasticity), to rebuild most of the London areas devastated by the Great Fire and make the first serious microscopic observations. He was a superb engineer, architect, designer and artist who has left an indelible imprint on science. You may also like to try "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Stephen Inwood.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars All you wanted to know about Robert Hooke
Very well written and full of background information about the exciting times Hooke lived in, as well as a great insight into the man himself. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Geoffrey Lake

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Done Lisa
An excellent insight into the life of Robert Hooke. I have read a couple of biographies on Issac Newton, but only ever seen passing references to Hooke and his claims against... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2004 by C. R. J. Hartman

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing and poorly structured biography
This biography falls short of Lisa Jardine's usual high standard. It needs a good edit and reorganization to provide form, remove repetition and add depth to a very haphazard... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2004 by jb1372

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