A masterful commentary on the history of science from the Greeks to
modern times, by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg--a
thought-provoking and important book by one of the most distinguished
scientists and intellectuals of our time.
In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, Nobel Prize-winning
physicist Steven Weinberg takes us across centuries from ancient Miletus
to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato's Academy and the Museum of
Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of
London. He shows that the scientists of ancient and medieval times not
only did not understand what we understand about the world--they did not
understand what there is to understand, or how to understand it. Yet
over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the
curious backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of the
tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged. Along the
way, Weinberg examines historic clashes and collaborations between
science and the competing spheres of religion, technology, poetry,
mathematics, and philosophy.
An illuminating exploration of the way we consider and analyze the world
around us, To Explain the World is a sweeping, ambitious account of
how difficult it was to discover the goals and methods of modern
science, and the impact of this discovery on human knowledge and
development.
