To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science

A masterful commentary on the history of science from the Greeks to modern times by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberga thought-provoking and important book by one of the most distinguished scientists and intellectuals of our timeIn 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 Platos 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 worldthey 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 philosophyAn 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.