Describe Books Supposing The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
| Original Title: | The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe |
| ISBN: | 0140192468 (ISBN13: 9780140192469) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Arthur Koestler
Paperback | Pages: 624 pages Rating: 4.26 | 869 Users | 92 Reviews
Define Containing Books The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
| Title | : | The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe |
| Author | : | Arthur Koestler |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 624 pages |
| Published | : | June 5th 1990 by Arkana/Penguin (first published 1959) |
| Categories | : | Science. History. Nonfiction. Philosophy. Astronomy. History Of Science |
Description Conducive To Books The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
An extraordinary history of humanity's changing vision of the universe. In this masterly synthesis, Arthur Koestler cuts through the sterile distinction between 'sciences' and 'humanities' to bring to life the whole history of cosmology from the Babylonians to Newton. He shows how the tragic split between science and religion arose and how, in particular, the modern world-view replaced the medieval world-view in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. He also provides vivid and judicious pen-portraits of a string of great scientists and makes clear the role that political bias and unconscious prejudice played in their creativity.Rating Containing Books The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
Ratings: 4.26 From 869 Users | 92 ReviewsAssessment Containing Books The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe
Another wide ranging history - from the Great Chain of Being to Newton - but mainly focused on math and science. The title is based on the way Kepler and Tycho de Brahe got together to pool their talents. It also applies to Kepler's tendency to make a serious error in his calculations that is subsequently cancelled out by another error, allowing him to sleepwalk to the correct answer. And describing Newton's theories on gravity - "one is able to realize the enormous courage - or sleepwalker'sKoestler's book presents a rather good history of cosmology from ancient times until the late 17th century. There are four main sections, respectively devoted to the classical world-view (i.e. before the 15th century), Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo, and in each one I was surprised to see just how ignorant I was. In the first section, I had not appreciated to what extent scientific progress can go backwards as well as forwards. Koestler describes the Pythagorean school - like Penrose, a modern
An extremely readable account of the history of some key developments in human understanding of the universe. This is a book I read a long time ago, but which has stayed vividly in my memory.
Throughout this highly detailed work by Koestler there is a pendulum swing that might be said to center on a balanced integration of the mystical with the rational. From a certain perspective, we could say that the force which causes the pendulum to swing is human free will and the ability we have to view the world from numerous perspectives. Yet the decisions coming out of free will can be heavily influenced by larger forces: "the cosmology of a given age is not the result of a unilinear,
Copernicus, who argued against a geocentric worldview, wanted to keep his book and information private, out the hands of masses and only give it to those initiated. However, his colleagues believed otherwise, and would ridicule him for keeping it secret. His belief was according to the ancient scriptures and Masonic worldview, but everyone else were already on a different movement. Why this clash? He wanted to keep the foundations unspoiled, while colleagues were on a different beat, that of,
Astronomy plays a special role in the history of science. Its lineage goes back to the early Mesopotamians, and its development traces out man's changing view of the universe and his place in it. We see this in action in AK's detailed and absorbing biographies of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo (plus abbreviated biographies of Brahe and Newton), as each struggled to grow beyond the outlook of his age. These biographies are married to a recapitulation of the philosophical world of the antique
Read this for a graduate course in rationalism. I was particularly impressed by the section dedicated to Kepler, who, I am reminded, essentially wrote the first piece of science fiction waaaay back when. In the middle of the all the gory religious persecution of medieval Europe, a guy figured out that the planets move in an elliptical, as opposed to a circular, orbit around the sun. Koestler takes the reader through the stages of Kepler's thinking, with a wink and a nod to the intuitions that
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