The story of humankind's attempts to make sense of the world, understand its physical nature, and know its real and imagined inhabitants is chronicled in an in-depth study that brings together the fields of history, philosophy, literature, religion, and the physical sciences in an analysis of f...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben

1. Verfasser:	Park, David Allen 1919-2012 (VerfasserIn)
Format:	Buch
Sprache:	English
Veröffentlicht:	Princeton Princeton Univ. Press 2005
Schlagworte:	Geschichte Kosmologie Natuurkunde Regelmaat Sciences - Aspect social Sciences - Histoire Sciences et civilisation Sterrenkunde Physik aScience > xHistory aScience > xSocial aspects aScience and civilization Evolution Entwicklung Kultur Weltall Erde
Online-Zugang:	Table of contents
Zusammenfassung:	The story of humankind's attempts to make sense of the world, understand its physical nature, and know its real and imagined inhabitants is chronicled in an in-depth study that brings together the fields of history, philosophy, literature, religion, and the physical sciences in an analysis of four thousand years of written history in which humans have imagined the earth they inhabit. "The Grand Contraption is the long-needed antidote to all those top-heavy histories of scientific thought that pass brusquely over the philosophies of the ancient world, eager to find the sure footing of modernity. Park tells us not only what science now knows, but how it got to know it: from an enthralling mix of myth, genius, logic, careful observation, guesswork, invention, and a dash of inspired lunacy."--Philip Ball, author of Life's Matrix and consultant editor, Nature "This book literally grabs you The facts presented, the stories told, the author's reflections on the information he presents, are rendered beautifully-and masterfully. This is a labor of love, and the passion with which David Park has written the book is readily apparent and makes one want to keep on reading. And in doing so one is richly rewarded with keen insights, judicious appraisals, and with questions regarding courses of action and consequences that are not only thought provoking but also relevant."--Silvan S. Schweber, Brandeis University and Harvard University, author of QED and the Men Who Made It (Princeton) "The Grand Contraption is an impressive feat of scholarship in the history of science, and it is even more impressive if one considers that it is written in clear and unpretentious English. Park offers, in plain language, an attractive way to think about cosmological ideas from a single perspective No one will put this book down without having their level of consciousness raised by a few notches."--Christian Wildberg, Princeton University Annotation. The Grand Contraption tells the story of humanity's attempts through 4,000 years of written history to make sense of the world in its cosmic totality, to understand its physical nature, and to know its real and imagined inhabitants. No other book has provided as coherent, compelling, and learned a narrative on this subject of subjects. David Park takes us on an incredible journey that illuminates the multitude of elaborate "contraptions" by which humans in the Western world have imagined the earth they inhabit--and what lies beyond. Intertwining history, religion, philosophy, literature, and the physical sciences, this eminently readable book is, ultimately, about the "grand contraption" we've constructed through the ages in an effort to understand and identify with the universe
Beschreibung:	Includes bibliographical references and index Erscheint: April 2005
Beschreibung:	XIV, 331 S. Ill., Kt.
ISBN:	0691121338