Scan barcode
hannahelizabethbrown's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
A captivating exploration of Anaximander, Rovelli is able to tie in ancient and modern thinkers of varying backgrounds in order to show the timelessness and everlasting impact of Anaximander.
schleyer's review
3.0
I loved his other books, which were on physics, his area of expertise. But I found his historical analysis here to be unconvincing and narrow. To say that Greeks invented “critical thinking” and that “ancient thought was universally religious thought” seems absurd, given the thousands of generations of indigenous knowledge and experience with navigating complex, shifting natural and social situations. Critical thinking is our species’ main adaptive advantage, not a recent European cultural invention. The book The Dawn of Everything does a good job of tearing apart this narrow Western scientistic view.
violethazel's review against another edition
3.75
this took me a whole month to read and god it was DEFINITELY a slog at times for such a short book. in between the mind-numbing philosphy though, were some great, thoroughly interesting ideas and discussions. as an aspiring physicist, i am coming more and more to appreciate the importance of philosophy in physics, and this was a great extension of this. additionally, learning it was a translation after reading it, it was not noticeable at all - i thought it was great. a slog, but good.