|
|
|||
Book Nobody Read by Owen Gingerich
Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, this book is a captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books. Logging thousands of hours and thousands of miles, the author uncovers a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea.1543 saw the publication of one of the most significant scientific works ever written: "De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres)", in which Nicolaus Copernicus presented a radically different structure of the cosmos by placing the sun, and not the earth, at the centre of the universe.But did anyone take notice? - Harvard astrophysicist Owen Gingerich was intrigued by the bold claim made by Arthur Koestler in his bestselling "The Sleepwalkers" that sixteenth-century Europe paid little attention to the groundbreaking, but dense, masterpiece. Gingerich embarked on a thirty-year odyssey to examine every extant copy to prove Koestler wrong...Logging thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles Gingerich uncovered a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea. His quest led him to copies once owned by saints, heretics, and scallywags, by musicians and movie stars; some easily accessible, others almost lost to time, politics and the black market.Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, Gingerich's "The Book Nobody Read" is an utterly captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books. |
|
| Author(s) : Owen Gingerich | Format : Paperback Book |
| ISBN-10 : 0099476444 | ISBN-13 : 9780099476443 |
| RRP : £7.99 | Best available price : £2.94 / $7.99 |
| Prices as of : 12/08/2008 07:08:23 PM BST check live prices | |
Product Details:
Country Publication : United Kingdom
Publication Date : 07/07/2005
Publisher : Arrow Books Ltd
Page Length : 320mm
Page Size : 198mm