History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Ash Wednesday Supper (RSART: Renaissance Society of America Reprint Text Series)

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Good book, good translation, questionable interpretation
Superb translation and penetrating interpretation

The Ash Wednesday Supper (RSART: Renaissance Society of America Reprint Text Series)
Giordano Bruno
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802074693

Book Description

Giordano Bruno was an itinerant Italian friar who was burned at the stake in 1600 for heresies, that included his rejection of the Ptolemaic cosmology. Like Galileo, who met a similar fate for similar reasons later in the century, Bruno has been accorded martyrdom to the cause of scientific truth and regarded as a visionary whose ideas were out of joint with the superstitions of his time. In fact, as editors Edward Gosselin and Lawrence Lerner point out, Bruno was far more complex, and his thought far more intricate, than simple stereotype would suggest.

Possibly mad, certainly brilliant, vain, obstreperous, and often ignorant, Bruno was a Christian deeply immersed in Hermeticism and mysticism; simultaneously he was Copernican in his non-homocentric view of the universe. His La Cena de le ceneri was one of the first works in which Copernican theory was received outside the sphere of the natural sciences. These dialogues have never been generally accessible, and are translated into English as The Ash Wednesday Supper.

Using Copernican theory as both a foundation of and a metaphor for his own vast philosophical-theological-political-social program, Bruno united his conflicting beliefs and frustrated his critics. Arguing for the physical reality of the infinite universe with no centre, yet whose centre is everywhere, Bruno sought to prove that each man is every other man. Using this radical cosmology and the imagery of Lenten regeneration, the messianic Bruno sought to heal the secular and religious wounds of sixteenth-century Europe by reconciling Catholic and Protestant, France and England.

In this edition Gosselin and Lerner have provided a broad understanding of Bruno and his time, with background and interpretive discussion. They have also preserved the flavour and ferment of the original discourses and maintained Bruno's eclectic if somewhat obscure style.

Customer Reviews:

Good book, good translation, questionable interpretation.......2003-04-29

Giordan Bruno is still today a controversial philosopher. In this book he exposes his philosophical/cosmological ideas and, in doing so, he uses the new Copernican theory as the basis for a new, daring vision of the universe.
Anybody who would like to familiarize him/herself with the work of Bruno, or is interested in the development of Western ideas will find this book extremely challenging. However I would like to say a few words on the interpretation that the translators give of Bruno's ideas. The translators appear to follow completely an interpretation of Bruno based on the theory of the english scolar Frances Yates. According to this theory Bruno was an exponent of the (then popular) Hermetic movement.
It is imperative to underscore that Yates theory is not universally accepted. While it is known that Hermetic influences can be traced in Bruno, to reduce his whole cosmology and his understanding of Copernican theory to a "hieroglyphic" is misleading if not plainly wrong.
Bruno was not a scientist, but he was the first to intuitively realize the revolutionary consequences of Copernican theory (not only for science) and to bring that theory to its logical conclusions: an infinite universe with infinite earth-like worlds. This vision can not be reconciled with the world of the hermetic "Magus". The whole purpose of the hermetic Magus was to ascend the material world to the world of the perfect spheres. In Bruno's universe there is nothing to ascend to. The universe is composed of a thin air where an infinity of worlds and stars are suspended and move following universal (animistic) principles. The other worlds are corruptible as much as the earth and may be inhabited by earth-like people. The very base of the hermetic doctrine is missing. I would therefore encourage the interested reader not to stop the investigation of Bruno's ideas to the hermetic interpretation, but to also read different points of view (for example Yates interpretation of Bruno's use of images has recently been challenged with very solid arguments by the finding of italian scholars). In particular I found the book of Hillary Gatti "Giordano Bruno and the renaissance science" extremely interesting and complete.

Superb translation and penetrating interpretation.......1996-12-22

Giordano Bruno stands at the cusp between the Renaissance and the modern world. His unique attempts to extract philosophical and theological meaning from Copernicus's forward-looking work provide us with striking insights into the Weltanschauung of his troubled times. Gosselin and Lerner have brilliantly translated Bruno's elegant but involuted Renaissance Italian into clear modern English that nevertheless preserves the spirit of the original. Their thoughtful notes bring comprehensibility to previously misunderstood passages, and the linkage they establish between Bruno's travails and Galileo's later troubles is highly convincing. A must-read for the scientist as well as the philosopher

The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought

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Case Study of a Scientific Revolution
How a world-view changed
Outstanding Elucidation
Excellent discussion and detail
A fascinating book

The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought
Thomas S. Kuhn
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674171039

Book Description

For scientist and layman alike this book provides vivid evidence that the Copernican Revolution has by no means lost its significance today. Few episodes in the development of scientific theory show so clearly how the solution to a highly technical problem can alter our basic thought processes and attitudes. Understanding the processes which underlay the Revolution gives us a perspective, in this scientific age, from which to evaluate our own beliefs more intelligently. With a constant keen awareness of the inseparable mixture of its technical, philosophical, and humanistic elements, Mr. Kuhn displays the full scope of the Copernican Revolution as simultaneously an episode in the internal development of astronomy, a critical turning point in the evolution of scientific thought, and a crisis in Western man's concept of his relation to the universe and to God.

The book begins with a description of the first scientific cosmology developed by the Greeks. Mr. Kuhn thus prepares the way for a continuing analysis of the relation between theory and observation and belief. He describes the many functions--astronomical, scientific, and nonscientific--of the Greek concept of the universe, concentrating especially on the religious implications. He then treats the intellectual, social, and economic developments which nurtured Copernicus' break with traditional astronomy. Although many of these developments, including scholastic criticism of Aristotle's theory of motion and the Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism, lie entirely outside of astronomy, they increased the flexibility of the astronomer's imagination. That new flexibility is apparent in the work of Copernicus, whose DE REVOLUTIONIBUS ORBIUM CAELESTIUM is discussed in detail both for its own significance and as a representative scientific innovation.

With a final analysis of Copernicus' life work--its reception and its contribution to a new scientific concept of the universe--Mr. Kuhn illuminates both the researches that finally made the heliocentric arrangement work, and the achievements in physics and metaphysics that made the planetary earth an integral part of Newtonian science. These are the developments that once again provided man with a coherent and self-consistent conception of the universe and of his own place in it.

This is a book for any reader interested in the evolution of ideas and, in particular, in the curious interplay of hypothesis and experiment which is the essence of modern science. Says James B. Conont in his Foreword: "Professor Kuhn's handling of the subject merits attention, for... he points the way to the road which must be followed if science is to be assimilated into the culture of our times."

Customer Reviews:

Case Study of a Scientific Revolution.......2007-02-16

"The Copernican Revolution" tells the epochal story of how the earth-centered cosmology of Ptolemy was replaced by the sun-centered cosmology of Copernicus and Kepler. The book is a classic. Kuhn understood how ideas influence each other and hang together in a system. He could write with equal erudition about observational astronomy, medieval theology, astrology, and Aristotelian physics.

"The Copernican Revolution" is a trove of historical and intellectual insights. Perhaps the main lesson is that scientific progress is not a simple matter of theory being adapted to observation. Multiple theories can account for the same observations, theories have complex non-observational bases of support, and extra-theoretical assumptions provided by "common sense" (such as the immobility of the earth) can be highly contingent products of a culture. Scientific progress is never guaranteed. Erroneous theories -- such as the theory placing the earth at the center of the universe -- can hold sway for centuries and generate a vast body of supporting evidence, only to fall out of sync with new observations and a new climate of opinion -- at which point they can hang on tenaciously, or collapse "suddenly" over the course of a generation or two. It all comes down to history.

Kuhn's great contribution to thought was to situate the history of science within the history of ideas -- he treated scientific theories as the products of cultures, institutions, and sheer accidents, not as deliverances of pure logic. "The Copernican Revolution" is fantastic and should be ready by anyone who enjoyed and learned from "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions." It's become fashionable to bash Kuhn lately but his books have a secure place in the canon of history and philosophy of science. Six stars!

How a world-view changed.......2005-04-02

The Sun and the planets and all the stars revolve around the Earth, which is itself at the center of the universe. Beyond the sphere of the fixed stars is nothing; there is no void or matter or anything, as voids cannot exist in nature. All these celestial bodies that do exist revolve in nice perfect circles. All these statements were once common knowledge to anyone with a smattering of education, even though astronomers were known to make slight variations on the concepts of circular motion. But today every single one of these concepts is demolished, and only fools believe in the Earth centered universe. Why was there a change? It certainly wasn't because of a mass of new information. The old geocentric universe was rejected long before anyone put up satellites and space probes to go zipping around the solar system. Even the invention of the telescope only provided the final blow to the old system. It was a fundamental change in thinking that made up the subject of The Copernican Revolution, Thomas Kuhn's look at the break between ancient and modern thinking on the subject.

Copernicus himself made no observations. He worked only with acquired data and ancient texts. What system did he start out with? This is important, as we can't understand what changed without knowing what was. Kuhn traces the nature of the Ptolemaic system with diagrams but virtually no equations (until the technical appendix at the end) to give the reader an understanding of what sorts of phenomena caught the eyes of ancient astronomers. The Sun and Moon and stars move in their own peculiar manners, and the planets, the wandering stars, behaved in the most peculiar manner of all. The ancients developed rather sophisticated methods to track and predict these movements using their own location as a reasonable starting point. Yet Copernicus had the idea that this starting point was not properly speaking the actual center of the universe. He developed a Sun centered system that qualitatively explained many phenomena (such as retrograde motion of the planets, a notable improvement) without some of the mathematical oddities of the old system, but required so many of its own modifications for accuracy that the final system was no neater than the original.

Yet some astronomers preferred the new to the old. This was, all myth busting aside, still a dangerous idea to advocate in the midst of the Reformation. There was a subtle distinction between advocating a mathematical model and advocating a statement of physical reality. There were many reasons to reject Copernicus, and Kuhn covers them here. There are two main themes: the first is that ancient astronomy was bound up with ancient physics and with theology, and rejecting one introduced many awkward questions about the rest that intellectually honest scholars couldn't ignore. The second is political. Most people know something of the story of Galileo and his confrontations with the Inquisition. It didn't help him that he was arrogant, that he mocked powerful people he called friends, and that politically it was a bad time to make waves. This is also touched upon briefly in Kuhn, but the focus remains on the intellectual revolution, and there Galileo had much to contribute in his new observations. Ultimately, the revolution was as much about insight and vision as about calculations and observations.

Readers more familiar with Kuhn from his later The Structure of Scientific Revolutions will find some of his discussion taking a familiar tone. Indeed, the Copernican revolution fits well with that model; it was a revolutionary idea that marked a turning point in Western science, straddling both the ancient and modern viewpoints. For the reader who is willing to visualize the issues and absorb the history, Kuhn has provided the most succinct and clear explanation of Copernicus's contribution to the Western world likely to be found anywhere.

Outstanding Elucidation.......2003-09-30

This book, written before his Structures, is condensed, well written and, for me at any rate, highly entertaining. No one with a casual understanding of the history of astronomy can read this and not be surprised. Of special interest is the illumination of the fact that at the time Copernicus offered his Helio-centric cosmology there was no good, scientific reason for accepting it - it being a geometric inversion of the Ptolemaic system and thus inheriting exactly all of the Ptolemaic deficiencies. Kuhn explores the reason for the gradual shift to Copernicanism and the effects a moving earth had on other sciences.

Excellent discussion and detail.......2003-08-05

The author gives thorough discussion about what Copernican revolution really is, who were the key players and how each contributed to the overall progress. In addition, it provides many technical details about many systems that affect the revolution in one way or the other. However, I do not think that any necessary astronomical experience is necessary to read the book, but in order to understand the full picture it is necessary to understand the technical details. Overall, the book develops the idea very clearly and gives insights that give a good understanding of how scientific thought developed.

A fascinating book.......2001-01-04

This book is an excellent and entertaining book for a scientific reader and/or for a general reader who doesn't mind being challenged a bit by logical arguments. Don't let this discourage you, though, since the logical arguments are not too difficult and really need to be discussed for completeness sake. The historical background adds to the book in a way comparable to Carl Sagan's 'COSMOS' series or to 'The Mechanical Universe' series. This book should be required reading for all enlightened westerners. It's THAT good.

Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (Great Discoveries)

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The Universe Screams
Very Disappointing
Snoozefest
save your money and time
revolution #1

Uncentering the Earth: Copernicus and The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (Great Discoveries)
William T. Vollmann
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393329186

Book Description

"Highly personal and philosophical….the next best thing to reading Copernicus."—Publishers Weekly

In 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus lay on his deathbed, reportedly holding his just-published masterpiece, The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, in his hands. Placing the sun at the center of the universe, Copernicus launched modern science, leading to a completely new understanding of the universe, and humanity's place within it.

But what did Copernicus really believe? Some argue that he anticipated the vast secularizing impact his ideas would have on history. Others contend that Copernicus was a man of his time and, on the whole, accepted its worldview. William T. Vollmann navigates this territory with the energetic prose and powerful intelligence for which he is known, providing a fresh and enlightening explication of Copernicus, his book, and his time, and the momentous clash between them. 21 diagrams.

Customer Reviews:

The Universe Screams.......2007-07-20

I completely understand the negative reviews this book has received. But I would like to defend this book, which I believe is worth the time and effort.

This is a disappointing book if you are reading it for the wrong reason. The wrong reason is if you are reading this book as an astronomy buff who wants to learn more about Copernicus. Again, that is a very understandable mistake to make. By all appearances, it looks to be a serious academic discussion of the work of Copernicus and its role in the scientific paradigm shift.

The right reason to read this book is not as an astronomy buff but as a William T. Vollman buff. I can't get enough of Vollman's writing. And he can't seem to stop writing so it's a good match (this is a writer, for example, who has completed an over 3,000 page essay on the nature of violence). Vollman has the gift of being able to encompass the full depth of the human experience in every sentence he writes. When he writes of ecstatic happiness, he manages to imbed it with hints of cruelty and suffering. When he writes about tragedy and death, there are twisted traces of sweetness and cathartic joy.

I'm a fan of the history of science and good science writing too. And while this book might not be the most straightforward way to learn about Copernicus, there is factual information here about Copernicus' "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres." We are also given Vollman's meditations on the nature of scientific revolutions and the way science as a process will always be hampered by human imperfection, by our individual investments in our beliefs, and by the stubborn drag of institutional momentum. "'Revolutions' was profoundly dangerous in its epoch, and hence profoundly necessary."

Why would Vollman take on this task? He tells us this book is the result of an "exercise in explicating a subject slightly beyond my intellectual competence." But, when he marvels at the effort, "the immensity of the force required" and the "solitary years" behind Copernicus' work, we get a sense of the parallel process driving Vollman's own desires to nudge the universe.

Very Disappointing.......2006-08-09

I bought this book with high hopes of finding an interesting and illuminating look at how Copernicus revolutionized astronomy. I was so disappointed that I did something I virtually never do: after about 90 pages, I put the book away with no intention of finishing it. Vollmann is a writer of note, but in this case his writing is so mannered and his exposition seemingly so convoluted that the reader quickly grows fatigued. At least, this reader did.

Snoozefest.......2006-07-08

This is the most uninteresting book on science or a scientific personality that I have read in recent times. I was looking forward to reading about the middle ages, the environment in which Copernicus grew up, the scientific world view at the time, the social mileu, what Copernicus himself was like, what his religious beliefs were, how he arrived at his conclusions, and what his book meant in terms of courage and conviction in that time. And, of course, a lot of actual science.

Instead we get such hard to read, boring, insipid prose dissecting the text of his work that it's a real effort to turn each page. I felt like giving up at every turn till I was half-way through but only sheer will and expectation that it would get better kept me going. But I gave up at the half-way mark.

I had learned very little that stayed with me and I had hardly enjoyed it. For those interested, Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything" is one that succeeds quite well at this attempt to dispense science to the laymen.

save your money and time.......2006-06-16

If you are interested in what Copernicus did, save your money and time and don't buy this book. Instead, get ahold of Thomas Kuhn's masterful account "The Copernican Revolution".

This book is one of a series in which non-scientists present popular accounts of mostly great episodes in science. I say mostly great because there seems to be a certain amount of political correctness in the choice of scientists to write about in the series. But I digress.

Some of the books in this series are successful, for example the one by Madison Smartt Bell on Priestley, Lavoisier, and the chemical revolution. But when you have fiction writers expounding technical subjects, there is potential for trouble, and that is what we get with Vollmann's book on Copernicus.

Vollmann's explanations of the technical aspects of Copernicus' work are superficial and hard to grasp. Kuhn is much better. Vollmann also has a complusion to say snotty things about everyone involved, about their thoughts, motives, habits of mind. One would think that the ancients who constructed early science and astronomy were a bunch of idiots who had to wait for Copernicus to come along, who of course was a dolt because he was "obedient" to Aristotle for the most part, and was incapable of writing clearly to boot. Kuhn is incomparably better at explaining the philsophical, religious, scientific, and historical contexts in which the ancients, Copernicus, and the other early moderns worked. For example, you get a real sense of why the ancient earth-centered system was the reasonable system, that the ancient heliocentric precursors of Copernicus didn't have much in the way of evidence or reason on their side. You get a sense from Kuhn of just what it was that made the heliocentric theory attractive to Copernicus -- the changing context of observational astronomy, and above all the clarity which the heliocentric view gave to the matter of the oddities of the motion of certain of the planets.

If you really want a sense of the greatness of ancient scientific thought, of ancient astronomy, of the magnificence of the accomplishment of Copernicus and his followers in the modern scientific revolution, get ahold of Kuhn's book.

revolution #1.......2006-02-24

It's interesting that so many of the defining moments in history involved Uncentering something from something else. For instance, Thomas Willis realized that the seat of reason and intelligence was neither the heart nor the soul, but a lump of jelly in the skull. Darwin first figured out that the homo sapiens is just one twig in the tree of life. And before Willis and Darwin there was Copernicus, who is credited with discovering that the Earth, far from being the center of the universe, revolves around the sun along with all the other planets.

There's something about human psychology that resists Uncentering, and back then the gecocentrists had mountains of religious and philosophical text to back them up. Needless to say heliocentrism was an unpopular idea, and in 16th century Europe people with unpopular ideas were burned along with their books. Copernicus was spared this fate, partly because of an apologetic (and unauthorized) preface, and partly by the fact that he died of natural causes shortly after the publication of his book in 1543. Copernicus's successors, Bruno and Galileo, ended up taking a lot of the flak.

William T. Vollmann is an excellent writer, and he does a fabulous job of summarizing Revolutions. Using limited astro-jargon and a few figures, Vollmann explains how Copernicus calculated the positions and trajectories of the planets, often arriving quite close to modern estimates without the benefit of a telescope or even binoculars. He also describes how Copernicus had to grapple with the prevalent Ptolemaic system and its philosophical roots. Remarkably, Copernicus, despite his revolutionary worldview, could never bring himself to abandon the philosophical tradition that valued circles for their asthetic appeal. His heliocentric system thus featured circular orbits, and was consequently almost as complicated as Ptolemy's geocentric model. It would be another 50 years before Kepler cleaned up the mess by introducing elliptical orbits to the heliocentric model.

In the end Copernicus was successful in uncentering the Earth. This was a real breakthrough, and not just because he was right about heliocentrism. The Uncentered viewpoint is just the idea that things in the universe can be studied objectively and empirically, without recourse to mysticism. Today we just call it science.

The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus

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Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus
First Class Detective Story
Creating a Census for an Antique Book
A historians quest for truth
Little wonder nobody read

The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus
Owen Gingerich
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0802714153

Book Description

In the spring of 1543 as the celebrated astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, lay on his death bed, his fellow clerics brought him a long-awaited package: the final printed pages of the book he had worked on for many years: De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres). Though Copernicus would not live to hear of its extraordinary impact, his book, which first suggested that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe, is today recognized as one of the most influential scientific works of all time—thanks in part to astrophysicist Owen Gingerich.

Four and a half centuries after its initial publication, Gingerich embarked on an epic quest to see in person all extant copies of the first and second editions of De revolutionibus. He was inspired by two contradictory pieces of information: Arthur Koestler's claim, in his bookThe Sleepwalkers, that nobody had read Copernicus's book when it was published; and Gingerich's discovery, in Edinburgh, of a first edition richly annotated in the margins by the leading teacher of astronomy in Europe in the 1540s. If one copy had been so quickly appreciated, Gingerich reasoned, perhaps others were as well—and perhaps they could throw new light on a hinge point in the history of astronomy.

After three decades of investigation, and after traveling hundreds of thousands of miles across the globe—from Melbourne to Moscow, Boston to Beijing—Gingerich has written an utterly original book built on his experience and the remarkable insights gleaned from examining some 600 copies of De revolutionibus. He found the books owned and annotated by Galileo, Kepler and many other lesser-known astronomers whom he brings back to life, which illuminate the long, reluctant process of accepting the Sun-centered cosmos and highlight the historic tensions between science and the Catholic Church. He traced the ownership of individual copies through the hands of saints, heretics, scalawags, and bibliomaniacs. He was called as the expert witness in the theft of one copy, witnessed the dramatic auction of another, and proves conclusively that De revolutionibus was as inspirational as it was revolutionary.

Part biography of a book, part scientific exploration, part bibliographic detective story, The Book Nobody Read recolors the history of cosmology and offers new appreciation of the enduring power of an extraordinary book and its ideas.

Customer Reviews:

Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus.......2007-05-18

In 1970, Owen Gingerich set out to survey every surviving copy of Copernicus's book. His journey took him around the world and, eventually, took thirty years to complete.

This book is the story of that journey. In equal parts, Gingerich provides us with the biography of a book, some knowledge of the scientific knowledge it contains, an insight into the people who owned it and some fascinating information about 16th century book publishing. We also see some of the dark side of the rare book trade.

A great 'book about a book'.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

First Class Detective Story.......2006-12-18

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.

Creating a Census for an Antique Book.......2006-09-19

This book is rather different. Although it's about Copernicus' book "De Revolutionibus", very little astronomy is discussed. There is also very little about Copernicus himself. The main theme of the book is finding as many still-existing copies of Copernicus' book as possible, and describing each one in detail - the ultimate purpose being the publication of a so-called "census" of that ancient book, i.e., a snapshot in time that identifies and describes each individual copy and where it is located in the world. Since I know nothing about antique book collecting, I learned a lot on this field by reading this book. I was not aware of all the work and travel required in finding a given copy of a book, especially identifying the authors of any hand-written notes on its pages. I did find certain lengthy descriptions rather monotonous, but some of the author's adventures are quite intriguing, particularly where he makes use of his notes to identify possibly stolen copies that eventually surface at auctions or elsewhere. Some aspects of life and technology in the sixteenth century that are important for the theme of this book, as well as discussions of some of Copernicus' contemporaries, are touched upon. But as the author states, this book is really a memoir of his census project. I think that this book would be of most interest to those with a passion for ancient books and ancient book collecting.

A historians quest for truth.......2006-08-29

A wonderful voyage in search of copies of first and second editions of Copernicus and the revolutions. Mysteries revealed through the tenacious searching for these volumes by Dr.Gingerich. Style is easy to read and maintains ones interest though to the end by the use of comic relief.

Little wonder nobody read.......2006-05-21

I read this book on the advice of a review in the science journal, Nature. But I must say that it is, at best, a monotonous, plot-free read. There is virtually no history of science here, no gripping detective story or expose, and it is certainly far from engrossing. There are no personalities involved, little sensitivity to history, and so nothing to grab one's interest. Except for the first chapter (concerning a law suit over a stolen copy), the rest of the book pretty much consists of a dry, bare-boned littany of the author's survey of extant copies of Copernicus' great treatise, De Revolutionibus. There are a few entertaining comments about Edward Rosen (another historian of science fascinated with Copernican minutiae )that smack of professional rivalry (or perhaps a generational shift in science history studies?). The rest of the chapters consist of lifeless prose on boring topics, with an rambling commentary on the then-current Cold War. The book is tedious because it fails to breathe life into its topic. But then, how could it? For it is little more than a glorified list of copies. It took nearly all my gumption (not to mention a looong layover in Chicago O'Hare Airport) to even finish the book. Stick to the highlights (Chapters 1-3, Plate 1a, and the photo on p. 198 of Galileo's horoscope for Cosmo d'Medici) and you'll have about all there is worth having here.

Science and Religion, 1450--1900: From Copernicus to Darwin

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Equal Footing
A bumpy ride

Science and Religion, 1450--1900: From Copernicus to Darwin
Richard G. Olson
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801884004

Book Description

Galileo. Newton. Darwin. These giants are remembered for their great contributions to science. Often forgotten, however, is the profound influence that Christianity had on their lives and work. This study explores the many ways in which religion -- its ideas, attitudes, practices, and institutions -- interacted with science from the beginnings of the Scientific Revolution to the end of the nineteenth century.

Both scientists and persons of faith sometimes characterize the relationship between science and religion as confrontational. Historian Richard G. Olson finds instead that the interactions between science and religion in Western Christendom have been complex, often mutually supportive, even transformative. This book explores those interactions by focusing on a sequence of major religious and intellectual movements -- from Christian Humanist efforts to turn science from a primarily contemplative exercise to an activity aimed at improving the quality of human life, to the widely varied Christian responses to Darwinian ideas in both Europe and North America during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Customer Reviews:

Equal Footing.......2007-01-05

Olson is well qualified to write on the history of science and religion, having published at least two previous books (Science Deified and Science Defied, vols. 1 and 2). I enjoyed those books, but this one is even better. Packed with interesting details, well researched, and well written, it maintains a calm, balanced historian's perspective. In particular, Olson uses broad historical scholarship to demonstrate the range of religious and other cultural responses to the advance of science -- everything from the typical images of irrational resistance to the eager adoption of scientific knowledge as a SOURCE or DEFENSE of religious ideas.

A bumpy ride.......2005-09-10

If God doesn't exist, one doesn't lose much by belief in God; however, if God does exist and one doesn't believe, the cost can be dramatic. Therefore, one should believe in God, for the odds are then in one's favour. This is sometimes called Pascal's Wager, after the dissident Catholic physicist, mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It has been argued that Pascal introduced game theory in order to help prove God's existence, or at least justify a belief in this. This is but one story highlighted in the history of the rocky relationship between science and religion from the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the last century.

Often when one discusses this issue, a good historical starting point is Copernicus, who was the first major astronomer since classical times to `demote' the favoured position of the world to being but one of several planets orbiting the sun; the demotion of the sun from being the centre of the universe would come later, but the implication was all too clear from the start. This scientific upheaval coincided with political and religious unrest in Europe, and in a world where the idea that church and state would be separate is not even a distant dream, certainly the separation of the natural sciences from theology, the `queen of the sciences' was inconceivable.

The mistrust between science and religion persists to this day, continuing in its strongest vein the arguments against the Darwinian Theory of Evolution (even though the Theory of Evolution has itself `evolved' from the time of Darwin's observations and publication of `The Origin of Species'). There are some who try to assert one over the other - this happens both with scientists over religion as with religious people over scientists. There are others who look for an arrangement of `respectful noninterference' - scientist Stephen Jay Gould is quoted here as saying, `I do not understand why the two enterprises should experience any conflict.' He argues for a `non-overlapping magisteria' that deal in utterly different realms of human experience.

Author Richard Olson argues that neither the conflict model nor the non-engagement/disjunction model reflect the reality of the historical situation in total - there has been a strong traditional of religious institutions supporting scientific endeavours. Olson's purpose in this volume is to examine the areas of conflict and the areas of cooperation, taking out some of the invective and seeing the situation in a more objective sense; Olson's purpose with this series is to give the issue a more global sense, examining not just the interplay of Christianity and science, but other religious traditions at different historical periods, too.

This volume covers issues beginning with the time of Copernicus and Galileo, continuing through times of continental and English scientific awakenings (Descarte, Pascal, Newton). He then looks at some of the scientific ponderings on religious matters, including philosophical and anthropological studies by figures such as Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher and Feuerbach. He concludes with chapters on geology and biology, as these have some of the dating issues that seem to be so much at odds with certain religious interpretations in the modern American arena today.

Beginning with Galileo and ending with Darwin, Olson frames the history with what he calls `the most notorious episodes in the supposed ongoing conflict between science and religion,' but states that even from his brief description of each, the issues are far more complicated than those who would look for simple condemnations can reasonably hold. The complex landscape of this relationship, not unrelated to the larger framework of social, economic and political upheavals and restructuring during this time, leads to a very rich and interesting topic for study.

Olson includes excerpts from many primary sources, including the writings of Richard Hooker, Robert Boyle, David Hume and John Draper. He has an extensive annotated bibliography (a great feature of Greenwood Guides), and a useful index. This is a good text for providing worthwhile information and historical context to current debates and conversations.

An Annotated Census of Copernicus' De Revolutionibus: (Nuremberg, 1543 and Basel, 1566) (Studia Copernicana - Brill Series, Volume 2)

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An Annotated Census of Copernicus' De Revolutionibus: (Nuremberg, 1543 and Basel, 1566) (Studia Copernicana - Brill Series, Volume 2)
Owen Gingerich
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004114661

On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (Great Minds Series)

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Planetary distances is "the chief point of all"
A trip back in time
Awesome.
What A Joy As Well As A Work of Art

On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (Great Minds Series)
Nicolaus Copernicus
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1573920355

Book Description

New to our On the Shoulders of Giants series, this groundbreaking work of astronomy proposed a heliocentric universe in which planets orbited the sun-daring to challenge the Ptolemaic ideal of the earth as the center of the universe. This essay by Copernicus (1473-1543), revolutionized the way we look at the earth's placement in the universe, and paved the way for many great scientists, including Galileo and Isaac Newton, whose theories stemmed from this model. Featuring a biography of Copernicus and an accessible, enlightening introduction, both written by the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres provides a fascinating look at the theories which shaped our modern understanding of astronomy and physics.

Black-and-white illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Planetary distances is "the chief point of all".......2007-02-06

Copernicus puts the sun in the center of the universe. This is a great achievement not on metaphysical or philosophical grounds but rather because it provides new quantitative information about the universe, namely planetary distances. Suppose the earth is at the center and we have created a model for how the planets move with epicycles and stuff, as Ptolemy did. Such a model can give no information about planetary distances, because we could scale the orbit of Saturn, say, to make it twice as big and it would still look exactly the same seen from earth. But suppose now that we have a similar model but with the sun at the center, which is what Copernicus provides. The (relative) planetary distances are now determined, because if we scaled the orbit of Saturn then it would look the same seen from the sun but different seen from earth. So with the earth in the center we cannot determine planetary distances because we are the center of scaling, but with the sun in the center we would notice scaling and thus the planetary distances are locked, or, as Copernicus puts it, "this correlation binds together so closely the order and the magnitudes of all the planets and of their spheres or orbital circles and the heavens themselves that nothing can be shifted around in any part of them without disrupting the remaining parts and the universe as a whole". Thus he can claim triumphantly that earlier astronomers "have not been able to discover or to infer the chief point of all, i.e., the form of the world and the certain commensurability of its parts. But they are in exactly the same fix as someone taking from different places hands, feet, head, and the other limbs---shaped very beautifully but not with reference to one body and without correspondence to one another---so that such parts made up a monster rather than a man."

A trip back in time.......2006-11-15

Very good book. It really took me back to the 1400's, when everyone thought the earth was the center of the universe, and the sum and stars revolved around the Earth. The style of writing, and the enormity of the meesage was very illuminating.

I have to admit, though, after getting into the math and the scientific explanations, it gets pretty dry. I've only gotten 1/2 way through the book. But, because it's actually written by Copernicus, it is fascinating.

And, he made all these observations almost a century before telescopes were around.

PS i was led to read this, because of the book, Galileo's Daughter, which discusses the life of Galileo, his invention of the telescope, and the persecutions he faced.

Awesome. .......2006-10-18

OK, first of all, "GangstaLawya" seems to not be taking into account the fine work of Kepler, Newton, and Einstein when he suggests that we "remain agnostic" on the issue of heliocentrism. True, Copernicus himself does not excactly refute Ptolemy here (he actually was more worried about how other astronomers and Protestant theologians would react to his heliocentric system than how the Catholic church would see it... and his model wasn't fully accepted until over a hundred years after his death), but this model was later augmented by Kepler and Newton to the point where it does work better than Ptolemy's. And with all due respect, the Ptolmaic system is extremely convoluted, needlessly complicated, and downright ugly at times... so even if there's a simpler way of looking at things that works just as well, that's still a conceptial improvement. Occam's razor, y'know?

But I digress. As with most of my reviews of books like this, my concern isn't necessarily the actual book (which is usually self-evidently worthwhile), but with the presentation. I must say that it's a little awkward to see Stephen Hawking's name appear on the cover in larger type than Copernicus' and not get anything more than a very short introduction by him that doesn't say very much. In fact, there is not very much of a difference between this edition and the one published by Prometheus Books; the text is exactly the same and contains all the same diagrams. The cover is flashier (and says "Stephen Hawking!") and the type is cleaner. That's it. Those are the only real differences. In fact, the only reason I can see for this edition existing is Running Press (and Stephen Hawking) making a few bucks.

Despite all this, there isn't really anything here that detracts from the work. So basically, you can buy this copy or the Prometheus Books edtion and it won't matter; you'll get pretty much the same thing and pay pretty much the same price either way. I'll leave it up to you whether you want the flashy cover (complete with Stephen Hawking's name on it) or the plain one because that's really about as deep as the choice goes.

What A Joy As Well As A Work of Art.......2000-03-25

Never before did I know a man could explain the heliocentric universe as well in this book. Of Course, Copernicus explained it centuries before my birth. But, it seems so foolish to believe the geocentric view, and I'm Catholic. Read "Dialogues" by Galileo to get the full picture of what these two men said, it it truly fascinating.

Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus

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Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus
Edward Grant
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801884012

Book Description

Historian Edward Grant illuminates how today's scientific culture originated with the religious thinkers of the Middle Ages. In the early centuries of Christianity, Christians studied science and natural philosophy only to the extent that these subjects proved useful for a better understanding of the Christian faith, not to acquire knowledge for its own sake. However, with the influx of Greco-Arabic science and natural philosophy into Western Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Christian attitude toward science changed dramatically. Despite some tensions in the thirteenth century, the Church and its theologians became favorably disposed toward science and natural philosophy and used them extensively in their theological deliberations.

Physics, the Human Adventure: From Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond

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THE BEST introduction to physics concepts and history

Physics, the Human Adventure: From Copernicus to Einstein and Beyond
Gerald Holton , and Stephen G. Brush
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
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ASIN: 0813529085

Customer Reviews:

THE BEST introduction to physics concepts and history.......2004-05-20

Having studied Holton's Harvard Project Physics textbook as a senior in high school thirty years ago, I was delighted to find this updated textbook by Holton and Brush. I have used Physics, The Human Adventure several times as one of the textbooks for an entry level Introduction to Physics college course that I teach occasionally here at the University of North Florida. (The second textbook for the class, which I believe complements Holton and Brush nicely, is College Physics in the Schaum's Outline Series).

Physics, The Human Adventure is excellent! The book brings a mature, historical and philosophical orientation to the presentation of physics concepts. The history and philosophy weaves the development of the physics concepts without ever eclipsing the physics. I have found serious students love the book. The book does not try to present basic physics without utilizing mathematics, but the level of the mathematics is basic algebra and elementary trignonometry.

Since most of my students are taking the course as background for continuing in their physics studies in algebra- or calculus-based physics courses, they appreciate the combination of Holton & Brush with the Schaum's outline textbook mentioned above. The students who are in the class for general education purposes are also well served by Holton and Brush; and it doesn't hurt them to work a half-dozen or so homework problems a week out of Schaum's, either.

My highest compliment is, often I find myself picking up Holton and Brush just for the fun of it. I can't think of any other physics textbook that illicits this response from me!

My only criticism is, in the early chapter introducing kinematics, the authors use speed and velocity in a way that deviates from current usuage. Also, it is standard now to use "g"
to represent the (always) positive number 9.8 m/s/s.The authors use g=-9.8 m/s/s/, which is rare indeed. Admittedly, these are minor (if not trivial) matters.

I highly recommend this textbook for conceptual/introductory physics courses or for anyone who is interested in physics principles via the history and philosophy of science. This textbook is head and shoulders above all of its competitors. It simply doesn't get any better than this!

(I hope Rutgers Press keeps this book in print!)

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