Purchase
The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change
Penguin
November 2012
On Sale: November 8, 2012
240 pages
ISBN: 1594488711
EAN: 9781594488719
Kindle: B0085DO4EM
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction
This is the vivid, unconventional story of Athanasius
Kircher, the legendary seventeenth-century priest-scientist
who was either a great genius or a colossal
crackpot . . . or a bit of
both.
Kircher’s interests knew no bounds. From optics
to music to magnetism to medicine, he offered up inventions
and theories for everything, and they made him famous across
Europe. His celebrated museum in Rome featured magic
lanterns, speaking statues, the tail of a mermaid, and a
brick from the Tower of Babel. Holy Roman Emperors were his
patrons, popes were his friends, and in his spare time he
collaborated with the Baroque master Bernini.
But
Kircher lived during an era of radical transformation, in
which the old approach to knowledge—what he called the “art
of knowing”—was giving way to the scientific method and
modern thought. A Man of Misconceptions traces the
rise, success, and eventual fall of this fascinating
character as he attempted to come to terms with a changing
world.
With humor and insight, John Glassie returns
Kircher to his rightful place as one of history’s most
unforgettable figures.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
| 
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy