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ryanjames's review
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
likecymbeline's review
3.5
Have I read all of the popularly-published works of Rovelli by now? I think I have, with this one having been elusive for quite a while, but one I really enjoyed and would quickly recommend to others. It's difficult to write about someone we have minimal extant resources about. Nothing he wrote survives, except for quoted or paraphrased fragments. People wrote about him centuries after his existence, citing lost sources, and retouching the past with their own surrounding context. Still, this book manages to be about the scientific mindset, about curiosity and natural wonder.
I love the emphasis on the godlessness of Anaximander's pursuits. I know it won't flatter (to most minds) to set this next to Machiavelli, but I had read before that The Prince is a highly singular text due to its particular atheism (not even anti-theism, just atheism) that is startling in comparison with their peers. The same is true here. Whether political or natural science, we remove the interference of religion and study what is, independently of imposed morality or superstition.
I mean, I'm an atheist too and I think am on the same page as Rovelli who says we can experience the sublime and the wondrous in the world, we can feel enchanted and experience moments of transcendence, but there's nothing magic in it. And interrogating our world scientifically and philosophically is the source of just as much awe and splendour.
I love the emphasis on the godlessness of Anaximander's pursuits. I know it won't flatter (to most minds) to set this next to Machiavelli, but I had read before that The Prince is a highly singular text due to its particular atheism (not even anti-theism, just atheism) that is startling in comparison with their peers. The same is true here. Whether political or natural science, we remove the interference of religion and study what is, independently of imposed morality or superstition.
I mean, I'm an atheist too and I think am on the same page as Rovelli who says we can experience the sublime and the wondrous in the world, we can feel enchanted and experience moments of transcendence, but there's nothing magic in it. And interrogating our world scientifically and philosophically is the source of just as much awe and splendour.
jochristian's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
0.25
it's essentially an anti-religious polemic, and very inconsistent
megnut's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Always beautiful.
Connecting philosophical and scientific theoretical developments from ancient societies to Einstein (and beyond) and what we should see as the role of science: that it should always be open to question in the search for better knowledge and understanding of the world and the universe.
Connecting philosophical and scientific theoretical developments from ancient societies to Einstein (and beyond) and what we should see as the role of science: that it should always be open to question in the search for better knowledge and understanding of the world and the universe.
rachkoch's review
4.0
this was cool! really like the authors previous work and this wa avery on brand. lots of interesting discussion especially about the intersection of science and culture. fun!
gijs's review against another edition
4.0
Refreshing read on the birth pangs of the scientific method through the story of one of its first practitioners; the 6th century BCE (pre-Socratic) philosopher (or scientist? Woe the day these professions were no longer considered as one!); Anaximander. Interesting conjecture thrown in; the adaptation and transformation of the Phoenician alfabet into Greek precipitated and made possible the unrivaled ‘Greek miracle’ of the 5th century BCE in philosophy, science, art by putting a complete phonetic toolbox in the hands of not only the traditional few (kings, priests, scribes) but for the very first time; the many; the prerequisite for free inquiry and critical appraisal of ideas on a societal scale; the essence of both democracy, and science.
enkb's review against another edition
I enjoyed the introduction and the idea of the book interests me. It was just too name and place history heavy for me to follow, especially as an audiobook