Horizons, James Poskett
Horizons, James Poskett
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Horizons
The Global Origins of Modern Science

Author: James Poskett

Narrator: Sid Sagar

Unabridged: 15 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Mariner Books

Published: 03/22/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

The history of science as it has never been told before: a tale of outsiders and unsung heroes from far beyond the Western canon that most of us are taught.
When we think about the origins of modern science we usually begin in Europe. We remember the great minds of Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein. But the history of science is not, and has never been, a uniquely European endeavor. Copernicus relied on mathematical techniques that came from Arabic and Persian texts. Newton’s laws of motion used astronomical observations made in Asia and Africa. When Darwin was writing On the Origin of Species, he consulted a sixteenth-century Chinese encyclopedia. And when Einstein studied quantum mechanics, he was inspired by the Bengali physicist, Satyendra Nath Bose.
Horizons is the history of science as it has never been told before, uncovering its unsung heroes and revealing that the most important scientific breakthroughs have come from the exchange of ideas from different cultures around the world. In this ambitious, revelatory history, James Poskett recasts the history of science, uncovering the vital contributions that scientists in Africa, America, Asia, and the Pacific have made to this global story.Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

About James Poskett

JAMES POSKETT is Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology at the University of Warwick. He has written for the Guardian, Nature, and BBC History Magazine, among other publications, and was shortlisted for the BBC New Generation Thinker Award and won the Newcomer of the Year Award from the Association of British Science Writers. He lives in Warwickshire, England.  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alfred on January 28, 2023

This is more of a sequence of short historical biographies, rather than a global history of science. Poskett explains that he feels that this is the best way to tell the story, which is definitely worth reading. In hindsight the main thesis is fairly obvious: if different people are doing similar sc......more

Goodreads review by Steve on January 02, 2022

I enjoyed this book. It provides a different, very interesting perspective on the history of science. The book is well-written and I liked the author's conversational tone. Although I am not sure how well the book supported the idea of the interconnectedness of science, it was fun to learn about the......more

Goodreads review by Brian on March 25, 2022

Fashionable revisionism: Europe's scientific debt to other, including Islamic, parts of the world. Implications of colonialism etc. You get the picture.......more

Goodreads review by Oscar on August 16, 2022

Horizons is a fascinating book about the untold origins and profound global influences on Western science and scientists. It is painstakingly researched, historically and geographically comprehensive, and consistently engaging. Well worth reading!......more

Goodreads review by Shoshi on March 13, 2023

Biggest BBC History review flop since The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen. The scope of this survey work is VERY broad, which CAN be doable. Sadly through a combination of not definining terms (what really is "science" in 1400, is it the same everywhere, did that def change in 1700? 1900? What is the "Sc......more