History of science Books

Book SynopsisWhy do we eat? Is it instinct, or some other impetus? Despite the necessity of food, anxieties about what and how to eat are widespread in our culture, and scientists and physicians continue to have shifting theories about the phenomenon of appetite and its causes and norms. In Appetite and Its Discontents, Elizabeth A. Williams charts the history of inquiry into appetite between 1750 and 1950, as scientific and medical concepts of appetite shifted alongside developments in physiology, natural history, psychology, and ethology. Williams argues that trust in appetite was undermined in the mid-eighteenth century, when researchers who investigated ingestion and digestion began claiming that science alone could say which ways of eating were healthy and which were not. Tracing nineteenth- and twentieth-century conflicts over the nature of appetite, Williams explores contemporary worries about eating through the lens of science and medicine to show us how appetite--once a matter of persoTrade Review"An exceptionally well-researched and detailed examination of appetite as an object of scientific and medical inquiry. Despite its strict focus on disciplinary debates, the gendered dimensions of appetite, particularly appetite disorders, is afforded attention throughout the book. Williams is careful to comment on the oppressive aspects of health as defined by scientific medicine and the potentially stigmatizing effects for those who deviate from normative frameworks. Graduate students and scholars interested in medicalization and healthism would benefit from reading this work. Fat studies scholars may also find this book of interest as Williams discusses the shifting conceptualization of 'obesity' and the drive toward thinness as a marker of health and well-being." * Food, Culture & Society *"Historian of Science Elizabeth Williams' wonderful new book Appetite and its Discontents: Science, Medicine and the Urge to Eat, 1750–1950 offers a fascinating, erudite, and illuminating narrative of the complex and contested relationship between appetite and scientific research, using changing scientific understandings of the appetite as a way for telling a distinct narrative of modernity. . . . the author pulls together scientists and practitioners from a remarkably wide array of disciplinary backgrounds, and from across Europe and the United States, to paint a story of the gradual transformation of appetite from a natural and ultimately positive aspect of the human condition to something both troublesome and misleading. In so doing, this book defines a key yet previously ignored topic of historical research, narrating shifts in scientific thinking that have profound implications for understanding contemporary society." * Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences *"Deeply researched. . . . [Williams] has written what is undoubtedly the most comprehensive account of scientific and medical thinking since the Enlightenment about appetite. Her book is clearly and elegantly written, prodigiously researched and copiously referenced. It should be essential reading for historians of science, medicine and food." * Social History of Medicine *"Williams displays remarkable skill and encyclopedic knowledge in mining the output of scholars and practitioners in a wide range of fields for their thought and research on appetite. . . . Williams's book is carefully researched and that she has provided a great resource for anyone interested in expanding the history of appetite, or anyone interested in related fields such as the history of nutrition." * British Journal for the History of Science *"This fascinating book, magisterial and yet accessible, opens up broad questions about human life and culture through a careful focus on the meaning of appetite as a central, albeit often ill examined, 'natural' human drive. . . . Chapter by elegant chapter, the author elucidates contextual changes and deftly illustrates significant arguments through focused analyses covering Hippocrates and Aristotle through 20th-century psychiatry and psychoanalysis. The limitations set by the author for cogent analysis scarcely limit the connections that will reward readers, from central themes of gender and identities to relationships of appetite and larger systems of production and consumption, especially as she poses questions linking these historical processes to contemporary issues that permeate science, medicine, and Western culture more generally. . . . Rewarding and stimulating. . . . Recommended." * CHOICE *"Excellent. . . . A fascinating commentary on the current state of thinking as regards questions of appetite. . . . Appetite and its Discontents is a work to be celebrated not only by historians of medicine but by many others besides. . . . [Williams's] work represents something like an invitation to further research and discovery, encouraging expansion and curiosity." * European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health *"The narrative covers not only a broad swathe of time, but a huge range of disciplines impinging on the activity of eating. . . . The text is copiously referenced and well written in a solidly factual style. It will appeal to those interested in how something we all intuitively think we understand is actually very hard to pin down." * The Biologist (UK) *"A magisterial historical overview of research on the physiology and psychology of hunger. [Williams] makes clear how this long history continues to inform modern approaches to eating, and her book is essential reading for anyone interested in either historical or contemporary notions of appetite. . . . Williams sketches an unusually broad and inclusive arc of medical inquiry into an ephemeral sensation that precisely resisted the kind of disciplinary classification that its researchers frequently tried to bestow upon it. Readers will become intimately familiar with the plurality of investigators, methods, and texts that comprise appetite's fascinating history. . . . This book thoroughly impresses with its ambitions, scope, and execution. Williams has certainly achieved her primary goals. She vividly illustrates the convoluted historical processes by which appetite became an 'object' for scientists and physicians from numerous disciplines to investigate and ultimately control. Perhaps even more significantly, she suggests how an awareness of the many contested philosophies and approaches employed to understand the fickle sensation of hunger may help restore a freedom to modern appetites increasingly governed by scientific rigidity and expert advice." * New Mexico Historical Review *"What kind of phenomenon is appetite? Is it a natural thing or something driven by the availability of culinary luxury? Can be appetite be trusted as a guide to good eating or something that should be moralized or managed? . . . [Williams] records thinking that saw (and still see) appetite as a division or union between mind and body, questions what is normal and what is pathological, and asks is appetite a personal responsibility or something we can turn over (or blame) on dietetic authorities. Eventually and inevitably, she comes to examine attitudes toward obesity, with wide ranging theories including glandular, pathological fat tissue, maladies of nutrition, heredity, or habit." * CHoW Line *"Williams has written a fascinating and comprehensive history of the efforts of Western science and medicine to elucidate the functions and dysfunctions of appetite from the eighteenth century to the present. Her analysis of the myriad disciplinary and clinical studies on this elusive entity yields new and important insights into the evolution of methods and experiments on hunger and eating in medical and scientific practice against the background of the dramatic changes in the food supply over time. This deeply learned history has lessons galore for all us contemporary eaters." -- Robert A. Nye, Oregon State University"There is no equivalent scientific history of appetite available today. This book is the product of immense and extraordinarily wide-ranging research and it provides an important public service: it shows the narrow historical limits of current frames for thinking about appetite and obesity, and vividly brings alive other ways of thinking which once held sway. I strongly recommend it." -- Dana Simmons, University of California, Riverside"Appetite and Its Discontents interrogates the myriad ways in which scientists in the fields of natural history, physiology, medicine, psychology, and ethology conceptualized the phenomenon of appetite, differentiated it from hunger, and identified it as an important object of study. . . . a deeply researched monograph." * Isis *"Williams' study is an instructive and stimulating treasure trove of insights about appetite spanning more than two centuries... She reminds us of how fruitful it is to historicize food and nutrition alongside social debates on responsibility." * NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin (translated from German) *“A novel and compelling addition to a growing body of work focused on the complex historical relationship between humans and food, Appetite and Its Discontents is sprawling and well researched, presenting broad overviews as well as specific case studies that trace a well-supported historical lineage. The text is a welcome contribution to historiographies of science, medicine, and nutrition, and may be of particular interest to scholars and students in these fields as well as those interested in histories of psychology, science and technology studies, and epistemology at large.” * H-Net Reviews *"Since appetite is so key to organisms’ basic survival yet also firmly rooted in both body and mind, it continues to pose urgent but unanswerable questions for society—and Williams’s history of appetite shows us that we should not necessarily wait for scientists to answer them for us. In this book, she convincingly demonstrates, by carefully tracing the contours of important disciplinary debates, that there has never been clear scientific consensus around the ontology of appetite... Those interested in the narrow scientific or medical history of appetite will find Appetite and Its Discontents to be a detailed, overdue addition to the conversation." * Early American Literature *"It is one of the many merits of Williams’s book that it not only gives a clear account of the medical history of the study of appetite, but also raises so many more intriguing questions for further research." * Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Part One Anxieties of Appetite: Created Needs in the Enlightenment, 1750–1800 Introduction to Part One 1 Why We Eat: The Ancient Legacy 2 “False or Defective” Appetite in the Medical Enlightenment 3 Human and Animal Appetite in Natural History and Physiology Part Two The Elusiveness of Appetite: Laboratory and Clinic, 1800–1850 Introduction to Part Two 4 Perils and Pleasures of Appetite at 1800: Xavier Bichat and Erasmus Darwin 5 The Physiology of Appetite to 1850 6 Extremes and Perplexities of Appetite in Clinical Medicine Part Three Intelligent or “Blind and Unconscious”? Appetite, 1850–1900 Introduction to Part Three 7 The Drive to Eat in Nutritional Physiology 8 The Psychology of Ingestion: Appetite in Physiological and Animal Psychology 9 Peripheral or Central? Disordered Eating in Clinical Medicine Part Four Appetite as a Scientific Object, 1900–1950 Introduction to Part Four 10 Psyche, Nerves, and Hormones in the Physiology of Ingestion 11 Appetite and the Nature-Nurture Divide: Eating Behavior in Psychology and Ethology 12 Somatic, Psychic, Psychosomatic: The Medicine of Troubled Appetite Epilogue: Appetite after 1950 Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"An exceptionally well-researched and detailed examination of appetite as an object of scientific and medical inquiry. Despite its strict focus on disciplinary debates, the gendered dimensions of appetite, particularly appetite disorders, is afforded attention throughout the book. Williams is careful to comment on the oppressive aspects of health as defined by scientific medicine and the potentially stigmatizing effects for those who deviate from normative frameworks. Graduate students and scholars interested in medicalization and healthism would benefit from reading this work. Fat studies scholars may also find this book of interest as Williams discusses the shifting conceptualization of 'obesity' and the drive toward thinness as a marker of health and well-being." * Food, Culture & Society *"Historian of Science Elizabeth Williams' wonderful new book Appetite and its Discontents: Science, Medicine and the Urge to Eat, 1750–1950 offers a fascinating, erudite, and illuminating narrative of the complex and contested relationship between appetite and scientific research, using changing scientific understandings of the appetite as a way for telling a distinct narrative of modernity. . . . the author pulls together scientists and practitioners from a remarkably wide array of disciplinary backgrounds, and from across Europe and the United States, to paint a story of the gradual transformation of appetite from a natural and ultimately positive aspect of the human condition to something both troublesome and misleading. In so doing, this book defines a key yet previously ignored topic of historical research, narrating shifts in scientific thinking that have profound implications for understanding contemporary society." * Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences *"Deeply researched. . . . [Williams] has written what is undoubtedly the most comprehensive account of scientific and medical thinking since the Enlightenment about appetite. Her book is clearly and elegantly written, prodigiously researched and copiously referenced. It should be essential reading for historians of science, medicine and food." * Social History of Medicine *"Williams displays remarkable skill and encyclopedic knowledge in mining the output of scholars and practitioners in a wide range of fields for their thought and research on appetite. . . . Williams's book is carefully researched and that she has provided a great resource for anyone interested in expanding the history of appetite, or anyone interested in related fields such as the history of nutrition." * British Journal for the History of Science *"This fascinating book, magisterial and yet accessible, opens up broad questions about human life and culture through a careful focus on the meaning of appetite as a central, albeit often ill examined, 'natural' human drive. . . . Chapter by elegant chapter, the author elucidates contextual changes and deftly illustrates significant arguments through focused analyses covering Hippocrates and Aristotle through 20th-century psychiatry and psychoanalysis. The limitations set by the author for cogent analysis scarcely limit the connections that will reward readers, from central themes of gender and identities to relationships of appetite and larger systems of production and consumption, especially as she poses questions linking these historical processes to contemporary issues that permeate science, medicine, and Western culture more generally. . . . Rewarding and stimulating. . . . Recommended." * CHOICE *"Excellent. . . . A fascinating commentary on the current state of thinking as regards questions of appetite. . . . Appetite and its Discontents is a work to be celebrated not only by historians of medicine but by many others besides. . . . [Williams's] work represents something like an invitation to further research and discovery, encouraging expansion and curiosity." * European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health *"The narrative covers not only a broad swathe of time, but a huge range of disciplines impinging on the activity of eating. . . . The text is copiously referenced and well written in a solidly factual style. It will appeal to those interested in how something we all intuitively think we understand is actually very hard to pin down." * The Biologist (UK) *"A magisterial historical overview of research on the physiology and psychology of hunger. [Williams] makes clear how this long history continues to inform modern approaches to eating, and her book is essential reading for anyone interested in either historical or contemporary notions of appetite. . . . Williams sketches an unusually broad and inclusive arc of medical inquiry into an ephemeral sensation that precisely resisted the kind of disciplinary classification that its researchers frequently tried to bestow upon it. Readers will become intimately familiar with the plurality of investigators, methods, and texts that comprise appetite's fascinating history. . . . This book thoroughly impresses with its ambitions, scope, and execution. Williams has certainly achieved her primary goals. She vividly illustrates the convoluted historical processes by which appetite became an 'object' for scientists and physicians from numerous disciplines to investigate and ultimately control. Perhaps even more significantly, she suggests how an awareness of the many contested philosophies and approaches employed to understand the fickle sensation of hunger may help restore a freedom to modern appetites increasingly governed by scientific rigidity and expert advice." * New Mexico Historical Review *"What kind of phenomenon is appetite? Is it a natural thing or something driven by the availability of culinary luxury? Can be appetite be trusted as a guide to good eating or something that should be moralized or managed? . . . [Williams] records thinking that saw (and still see) appetite as a division or union between mind and body, questions what is normal and what is pathological, and asks is appetite a personal responsibility or something we can turn over (or blame) on dietetic authorities. Eventually and inevitably, she comes to examine attitudes toward obesity, with wide ranging theories including glandular, pathological fat tissue, maladies of nutrition, heredity, or habit." * CHoW Line *"Williams has written a fascinating and comprehensive history of the efforts of Western science and medicine to elucidate the functions and dysfunctions of appetite from the eighteenth century to the present. Her analysis of the myriad disciplinary and clinical studies on this elusive entity yields new and important insights into the evolution of methods and experiments on hunger and eating in medical and scientific practice against the background of the dramatic changes in the food supply over time. This deeply learned history has lessons galore for all us contemporary eaters." -- Robert A. Nye, Oregon State University"There is no equivalent scientific history of appetite available today. This book is the product of immense and extraordinarily wide-ranging research and it provides an important public service: it shows the narrow historical limits of current frames for thinking about appetite and obesity, and vividly brings alive other ways of thinking which once held sway. I strongly recommend it." -- Dana Simmons, University of California, Riverside"Appetite and Its Discontents interrogates the myriad ways in which scientists in the fields of natural history, physiology, medicine, psychology, and ethology conceptualized the phenomenon of appetite, differentiated it from hunger, and identified it as an important object of study. . . . a deeply researched monograph." * Isis *"Williams' study is an instructive and stimulating treasure trove of insights about appetite spanning more than two centuries... She reminds us of how fruitful it is to historicize food and nutrition alongside social debates on responsibility." * NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin (translated from German) *“A novel and compelling addition to a growing body of work focused on the complex historical relationship between humans and food, Appetite and Its Discontents is sprawling and well researched, presenting broad overviews as well as specific case studies that trace a well-supported historical lineage. The text is a welcome contribution to historiographies of science, medicine, and nutrition, and may be of particular interest to scholars and students in these fields as well as those interested in histories of psychology, science and technology studies, and epistemology at large.” * H-Net Reviews *"Since appetite is so key to organisms’ basic survival yet also firmly rooted in both body and mind, it continues to pose urgent but unanswerable questions for society—and Williams’s history of appetite shows us that we should not necessarily wait for scientists to answer them for us. In this book, she convincingly demonstrates, by carefully tracing the contours of important disciplinary debates, that there has never been clear scientific consensus around the ontology of appetite... Those interested in the narrow scientific or medical history of appetite will find Appetite and Its Discontents to be a detailed, overdue addition to the conversation." * Early American Literature *"It is one of the many merits of Williams’s book that it not only gives a clear account of the medical history of the study of appetite, but also raises so many more intriguing questions for further research." * Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Part One Anxieties of Appetite: Created Needs in the Enlightenment, 1750–1800 Introduction to Part One 1 Why We Eat: The Ancient Legacy 2 “False or Defective” Appetite in the Medical Enlightenment 3 Human and Animal Appetite in Natural History and Physiology Part Two The Elusiveness of Appetite: Laboratory and Clinic, 1800–1850 Introduction to Part Two 4 Perils and Pleasures of Appetite at 1800: Xavier Bichat and Erasmus Darwin 5 The Physiology of Appetite to 1850 6 Extremes and Perplexities of Appetite in Clinical Medicine Part Three Intelligent or “Blind and Unconscious”? Appetite, 1850–1900 Introduction to Part Three 7 The Drive to Eat in Nutritional Physiology 8 The Psychology of Ingestion: Appetite in Physiological and Animal Psychology 9 Peripheral or Central? Disordered Eating in Clinical Medicine Part Four Appetite as a Scientific Object, 1900–1950 Introduction to Part Four 10 Psyche, Nerves, and Hormones in the Physiology of Ingestion 11 Appetite and the Nature-Nurture Divide: Eating Behavior in Psychology and Ethology 12 Somatic, Psychic, Psychosomatic: The Medicine of Troubled Appetite Epilogue: Appetite after 1950 Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The British diet, like British dentistry, is a familiar punchline. But Otter shows that it is much more than this. He argues that Britain's dietary transformation remade bodies and geographies, and the outsourcing of its nutritional needs paved the way for the global food system. Fast, filling, simultaneously nutritious and unhealthy, Britain's appetite for meat, wheat, sugar, and dairy presaged the era of 'Big Food' as well as cheap food. If looking back is the key to looking forward with any optimism, Otter's brilliant and pioneering account is an urgent as well as timely intervention."--Philip Howell, co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Animal-Human History "Diet for a Large Planet arranges an impressive array of evidence from diverse sources into a powerful analysis of how Britain forged the modern world of food systems and their consequent effects upon human and environmental well-being. Few, if any, books link human and environmental health together in such a sustained and creative way. Otter is clearly a scholar of immense ambition, erudition, and passion."--Matthew Klingle, author of Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle "Diet for a Large Planet is a brilliant, bold book that forces us to rethink the short- and long-term global implications of changes in what British people ate and how they thought about food in the nineteenth century. Professor Christopher Otter masterfully weaves together scientific, technological, political, cultural, and economic histories into a magnificent study of the making of the modern, global food system. This book is a satisfying if filling meal that will appeal to the tastes of anyone interested in the history of food, environment, industry, consumption and global capitalism."--Erika Rappaport, author of A Thirst for Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern WorldTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Meat 2. Wheat 3. Sugar 4. Risk 5. Violence 6. Metabolism 7. Bodies 8. Earth 9. Acceleration Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Friendships and rivalries, the demands of war, the limits of technology . . . these are among the rich universe of forces that conflict and conspire to bring us what we usually gloss over as the inevitable march of scientific progress. Kaiser's book provides a wonderful glimpse behind the curtain into the messier--but far more human--truth of the matter. Beautifully written and extraordinarily well researched, the book makes a profound point about the sociopolitical nature of science that all readers--from physics buffs and historians to students and laypeople--need to hear."--Amanda Gefter, author of Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn "Kaiser is a master writer, and this is some of his finest work. An extraordinary combination of technical science, rich history, and telling anecdote, Quantum Legacies is cutting-edge scholarship rendered in a style equal to any popular science writing. When a non-academic asks me 'what is the history of science?' I will give them this book."--Matthew Stanley, author of Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I

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Book SynopsisThe connection between mind and brain has been one of the most persistent problems in modern Western thought; even recent advances in neuroscience haven't been able to solve it satisfactorily. Historian Larry Sommer McGrath's Making Spirit Matter studies how a particularly productive and influential group of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French thinkers attempted to answer this puzzle by showing the mutual dependence of spirit and matter. The scientific revolution taking place during this moment in history across disciplines, from biology to psychology and neurology, located our spiritual powers in the brain and offered a radical reformulation of the meaning of society, spirit, and the self. Tracing connections among thinkers such as Henri Bergson, Alfred Fouillee, Jean-Marie Guyau, and others, McGrath plots alternative intellectual movements that revived themes of agency, time, and experience by applying the very sciences that seemed to undermine metaphysics and theology. InTrade Review"A tour-de-force intellectual history that studies one of the most enduring problems in Western thought, namely, connecting the processes of the mind with the anatomical brain. . . . This book will appeal to scholars of modern French thought, historians of science, and humanists seeking to enrich their account of the human spirit." * Choice *“In this deeply researched, intellectually pioneering, and wonderfully stimulating new study, McGrath shows that Henri Bergson hoped to renovate his tradition of French spiritualism for a new age, and drew on cutting-edge natural scientific findings to do so. Making Spirit Matter is a scholarly triumph, relevant for how humanists negotiate their own relationship to natural science today.” * Samuel Moyn, Yale University *“Ever since Descartes tore apart the metaphysical bond between mind and world—between res cogitans and res extensa—philosophers and scientists have been pondering the question of how the wound might be healed. In this fascinating and carefully researched study, McGrath explores how thinkers offered new answers to this old puzzle, and how the threadbare idea of spirit found a new and more respectable incarnation in the scientific languages of neurology and psychology. A truly fascinating chapter in the intellectual history of modern France.” * Peter E. Gordon, Harvard University *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 The Formations of French Spiritualism Chapter 2 Measuring the Machinery of the Brain Chapter 3 Science and Spirit in the Classroom Chapter 4 Locating Selfhood in the Brain Chapter 5 The Institutions of the Intellect, or Spirit contra Kant Chapter 6 Struggles for Spirit’s Catholic Soul Epilogue Acknowledgments List of Archives Consulted Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A tour-de-force intellectual history that studies one of the most enduring problems in Western thought, namely, connecting the processes of the mind with the anatomical brain. . . . This book will appeal to scholars of modern French thought, historians of science, and humanists seeking to enrich their account of the human spirit." * Choice *“In this deeply researched, intellectually pioneering, and wonderfully stimulating new study, McGrath shows that Henri Bergson hoped to renovate his tradition of French spiritualism for a new age, and drew on cutting-edge natural scientific findings to do so. Making Spirit Matter is a scholarly triumph, relevant for how humanists negotiate their own relationship to natural science today.” * Samuel Moyn, Yale University *“Ever since Descartes tore apart the metaphysical bond between mind and world—between res cogitans and res extensa—philosophers and scientists have been pondering the question of how the wound might be healed. In this fascinating and carefully researched study, McGrath explores how thinkers offered new answers to this old puzzle, and how the threadbare idea of spirit found a new and more respectable incarnation in the scientific languages of neurology and psychology. A truly fascinating chapter in the intellectual history of modern France.” * Peter E. Gordon, Harvard University *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 The Formations of French Spiritualism Chapter 2 Measuring the Machinery of the Brain Chapter 3 Science and Spirit in the Classroom Chapter 4 Locating Selfhood in the Brain Chapter 5 The Institutions of the Intellect, or Spirit contra Kant Chapter 6 Struggles for Spirit’s Catholic Soul Epilogue Acknowledgments List of Archives Consulted Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA behind-the-scenes account of the invention of the polymerase chain reaction, which transformed the practice and potential of molecular biology. This book explores the culture of biotechnology as it emerged at Cetus Corporation in the 1980s, looking at its scientific, social and economic elements.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Firm scholarly conviction has it that psychology began as a scientific discipline only in the last part of the nineteenth century. Fernando Vidal thoroughly overturns that assumption in his compelling historical reconstruction of the development of psychology from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. He shows how the concept of soul, initially caught in scholastic rationalism, underwent an empirical transformation from the form of the body to the activities of the mind, a mind whose intense thought had been compared to ‘a ligature applied to all of the nerves.’ By contrast, Vidal’s work—linguistically adroit, amazingly comprehensive, and scholarly satisfying—releases the nervous fluids to invigorate the mind of the reader. No other history comes close to his exquisite accomplishment.” -- Robert J. Richards, University of Chicago“This is a very impressive book, a work of high and original scholarship. Vidal follows the history of the concept of ‘psychologia’ from the sixteenth century and argues that even without there being already a ‘discipline,’ one can talk of a sound psychological thinking from that time on. Vidal demonstrates how key ideas of eighteenth-century ‘psychology’—the concept of the esprit humain; the connections between anthropology, psychology, and moral sciences; and the notion of perfectibility—found their beginnings in the sixteenth century. The Sciences of the Soul will be the standard reference work on early modern ‘psychology’ for specialists in psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and the history of science.” -- Martin Mulsow, University of Erfurt“[A] highly significant contribution to the early history of psychology. It will be indispensable for any further study of the origins of modern psychology.” -- Jörgen L. Pind, University of Iceland * British Journal for the History of Science *“[Vidal] draws a compelling picture of psychology’s shift from philosophy and religion to science. . . . Recommended.” -- B. C. Beins, Ithaca College * Choice *“The Sciences of the Soul is clearly the product of a substantial period of sustained research. It will set the framework for research in the history of psychology in the period from 1600 to 1850 for many years to come and will also entail changes in the usual discussion of the ‘origin’ of psychology as a discipline.” -- Gary Hatfield, author of Perception & Cognition: Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology"Highly informative and well-documented. . . . A great book, which has the merit of reshaping completely the historical framework within which the early modern origins of psychology must be understood." -- Paul J. J. M. Bakker, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. * Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences *"Ambitious, erudite, and stimulating." -- Michael Edwards * Social History of Medicine *"It brings to light a lost continent of literature that has yet to make its appearance in the standard textbooks on the history of psychology. It also provides us with the missing link between Aristotle’s work on the soul and the modern discipline of psychology that usually considers itself to be a science." -- Adrian Brock * Centaurus *"A much more nuanced and textured view of the eighteenth-century sciences of mind than has hitherto been available." -- L. S. Jacyna * Annals of Science *Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Ad LimenChapter 1 The “Century of Psychology” Psychology as a “discipline” A long past but a short history? Chapter 2 “Psychology” in the Sixteenth Century: A Project in the Making? The function of the neologism “psychology” Aristotelianism and Galenism Psychologia and the scientia de anima Rudolph Goclenius’s PsychologiaChapter 3 From the Science of the Living Being to the Science of the Human Mind Psychology as the generic science of the living being Psychologia and empsychologia On whether de anima books can themselves constitute a science From soul-form to soul-mind Psychology as a metaphysics of the rational soul The new psychology: Christian Wolff Chapter 4 Psychology in the Age of Enlightenment Psychology, anthropology and the human sciences A Republic of Letters Methodological discussions in Enlightenment psychology “The best way to perfect this fine Science” Chapter 5 Historicizing Psychology Inventing a bibliographic tradition Constructing a history for psychology “Psychologiae historico-criticae speciminae” The history of the “theory of ideas” Philosophers write the history of psychology Chapter 6 Psychology and the History of Humankind Friedrich August Carus and the “history of humanity” The primitives and the ancients Toward a total history of psychology The psychology of the Hebrews Homeric psychology Chapter 7 Anthropology’s Place in the Encyclopedias Enlightenment encyclopedias The Syntax of the Encyclopédies The Paris and Yverdon Encyclopédies The “Systèmes figurés” Anthropology in the text The anthropological transformation of morals Chapter 8 Human Perfectibility and the Primacy of Psychology Psychology in the Paris Encyclopédie Psychology in the Yverdon Encyclopédie The fields claimed for psychology Metaphysics Logic Morals The psycho-anthropology of perfectibility The union and interaction of the soul and the body Chapter 9 Psychology, the Body and Personal Identity The soul, the body and the “completeness of the nerve” Psycho-theology and “modern identity” The body in resurrection The loss of the body The seed and the brain The emergence of the cerebral subject Appendix I The Two Editions of Goclenius’s PsychologiaAppendix II ANTHROPOLOGIE and PSYCHOLOGIE in the Paris and Yverdon EncyclopédiesAppendix III Articles from the Yverdon Encyclopédie Belonging to Psychology and Their Place in the Paris EncyclopédieBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSince antiquity, philosophers and engineers have tried to take life's measure by reproducing it. This title collects seventeen essays from distinguished scholars in several fields. It is intended for historians and philosophers of science and technology, scientists and engineers working in artificial life and intelligence, and others.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Elegant and insightful. . . . What is stunning is how pertinent the book is to our own times. You will find here a rehearsal for everything we are facing today—the fads, the fears, the government interventions that are either too late or too rushed, and the nagging sense that the food that most delights the eye may not always be the food that serves us best." * Times Literary Supplement *"Cobbold has produced a fascinating account and analysis of how these dyes were introduced, contested, and ultimately legitimized in an emerging globalized industrial food system. . . . What Cobbold draws our attention to is the inevitable negotiation around expertise and the permitted uses of novel chemical additives. In doing so, she enters a larger discussion about how novel scientific objects and processes evade control once they emerge from the laboratory and enter the world where they are unexpectedly transformed and used. More broadly, this book helps historicize the public construction of trust in science and chemistry." * Scientia Canadensis *"There are many reasons that Cobbold’s story is compelling. Her research is detailed and extensive, using many archival sources along with other primary and secondary ones. She also makes good use of the scientific and mainstream press, juxtaposing the opinions of chemists, government policymakers, and consumers. Lengthy excerpts from press articles, in particular, convey the flavor of shifting public discourse. A Rainbow Palate is also compelling due to Cobbold’s clear writing, accessible to those with little background in chemical history; the book is punctuated by helpful signposts summarizing and linking sections together. . . . Cobbold’s insights about the 19th century help us to understand why this system of trust has become frayed in the 21st century." * H-Soz-Kult *"A pioneering work of food science, this compact, well-referenced book captures the rise and fall of the use of synthetic chemicals—particularly coal tar dyes—which were employed in food coloring in the US and Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. . . . The book would be a good acquisition for academic and special collections that support food history, food science, and history of chemistry programs. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"A Rainbow Palate fits into a growing body of literature that attempts to bridge the history of modern chemistry to that of food consumption. . . . Cobbold's distinctive contributions to this scholarship become apparent from her deep research into the history of coal tar dyes, revealing the ways in which a profit-driven commitment to the discovery of new synthetic chemicals and their corresponding consumer markets encouraged the inclusion of textile dyes in food." * Technology and Culture *"[Cobbold] highlights a dichotomy between the intimacy we have with our diet and the gulf that often separates us from the understanding of where our ingredients come from." * Nature Reviews Chemistry *"If you thought food coloring was not a serious subject in the history of science, this engaging and accessible book will show you very quickly just how wrong you were. Cobbold tells a wonderful story of complex and fascinating mutual interactions of science, commerce, industry, government, journalism, and law, about how powerful interests jostled around the use and regulation of potentially hazardous synthetic chemical dyes in food. This is a neglected aspect of the celebrated developments in organic chemistry and the dyestuffs industry in the late nineteenth century. In Cobbold’s detailed account, reaching across several countries, we witness how political and legal systems were at a loss to know how to manage and regulate the impact of a formidable and fast-moving field of science, while scientific experts found themselves unable to control the use of their creations or the narratives told about them. A Rainbow Palate is an illuminating cautionary tale of how an important unintended consequence of cutting-edge science can work itself into the very fabric of our daily lives without a clear plan on anyone’s part." -- Hasok Chang, University of Cambridge"In this timely book, Cobbold tells the remarkable story of how the first industrially produced chemical food dyes were created and adjudicated as legitimate additives to food. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century chemists, manufacturers, legislators, and the public all wrestled with questions around food additives still highly relevant today, concerning risk, health, public safety, regulation, testing, and the environment. Were food colorings brilliant instances of scientific and industrial progress or toxic and unnatural artifices? How could dangers be detected and who could keep the public safe? Faced with uncertainty, how should people trust what they ate? Lively and significant, A Rainbow Palate will be indispensable for anyone interested in the difficult process by which societies manage, and fail to manage, radical new technoscientific entities." -- Simon Werrett, author of Thrifty ScienceTable of ContentsPreface Introduction 1 Food adulteration and the rise of the food chemist 2 The wonder of coal tar dyes 3 From dye manufacturer to food manufacturer 4 The struggle to devise tests to detect dyes and assess their toxicity 5 The appointment of public food analysts in Britain 6 How British food chemists responded to the use of coal tar dyes 7 French and German chemists seek to arbitrate the use of synthetic chemicals in food 8 The US government acts against chemical dyes in food Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPresents an account of the reconstruction of prehuman history of the earth. This title takes readers from the post-Napoleonic Restoration in Europe to the early years of Britain's Victorian age, chronicling the staggering discoveries geologists made during the period.Trade Review"Rudwick has restored geology to its rightful historical place at the heart of modern scientific culture." - Ralph O'Connor, Science "A masterly exploration of the nineteenth-century roots of this particular scientific revolution." - Douglas Palmer, New Scientist "Rudwick's books are myth-busters.... Rudwick highlights an underappreciated, glorious advance in human thought, the documentation of which is a rather glorious achievement itself." - Victor R. Baker, Nature "Magisterial.... A thoroughly engaging and utterly sympathetic treatment of the notable figures who laid the foundation for modern geology in the period between 1820 and 1845, their inspirations and intellectual triumphs, and their stubbornly held misconceptions.... With their highly individualistic flair and immense erudition, this volume and its predecessor are not just essential reading for any scientist; they are also landmark volumes in the history of ideas and a brilliant scholarly achievement." - Keith Thomson, Times Higher Education"

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Book SynopsisPresents an account of the reconstruction of prehuman history of the earth. This title takes readers from the post-Napoleonic Restoration in Europe to the early years of Britain's Victorian age, chronicling the staggering discoveries geologists made during the period.Trade Review"Rudwick has restored geology to its rightful historical place at the heart of modern scientific culture." - Ralph O'Connor, Science "A masterly exploration of the nineteenth-century roots of this particular scientific revolution." - Douglas Palmer, New Scientist "Rudwick's books are myth-busters.... Rudwick highlights an underappreciated, glorious advance in human thought, the documentation of which is a rather glorious achievement itself." - Victor R. Baker, Nature "Magisterial.... A thoroughly engaging and utterly sympathetic treatment of the notable figures who laid the foundation for modern geology in the period between 1820 and 1845, their inspirations and intellectual triumphs, and their stubbornly held misconceptions.... With their highly individualistic flair and immense erudition, this volume and its predecessor are not just essential reading for any scientist; they are also landmark volumes in the history of ideas and a brilliant scholarly achievement." - Keith Thomson, Times Higher Education.

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Book SynopsisAlexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is famous for his work in physical geography, botanical geography, and climatology, and his role as a popularizer of the sciences. This volume traces Humboldt's biographical identities through Germany's collective past to shed light on the historical instability of our scientists.Trade Review"Rupke's study... will doubtless become a standard reference for the Humboldt industry and for writers of scientific metabiographies to come." - Isis "Engaging.... Rupke's meticulous analysis is fascinating on many scores." - Times Higher Education Supplement "A study born of considerable scholarship and one with important methodological implications for historians of geography." - Charles W. J. Withers, Progress in Human Geography "Rupke is right to draw attention to the fact that shifting biographical traditions make one person have many lives, and his metabiography helps us to appreciate the historical instability of any scientific life, not just one as complex as Humboldt's.... Rupke has given us a Humboldt just right for our own less certain and more self-conscious times - fractured, multiple and unstable." - Steven Shapin, Nature"

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1979, The Darwinian Revolution was a comprehensive synthesis of the history of evolutionary thought. For this edition, Michael Ruse has written an afterword that takes into account the research published since his book's first appearance.

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Book SynopsisExamining the transatlantic flow of knowledge from West to East, this book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment.

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Book SynopsisIn the gallery of what might be called the martyrs of thought, the image of Galileo recanting before the Italian Inquisition stirs the minds of educated modern men second only to the picture of Socrates drinking the Hemlock. That image of Galileo is out of focus . . . because it has been distorted by three centuries of rationalist prejudice and clerical polemics. To refocus it clearly, within the logic of its own time . . . de Santillana has written The Crime of Galileo, a masterly intellectual whodunit which traces not the life but the mental footsteps of Galileo on his road to personal tragedy.Time

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Book SynopsisFeaturing a figure of early modern science, this text explores Robert Boyle's philosophy of experiment, a central aspect of his life and work. Philosophical, legal, experimental and religious traditions that played a part in shaping Boyle's experimental thought and practice are examined.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing a figure of early modern science, this text explores Robert Boyle's philosophy of experiment, a central aspect of his life and work. Philosophical, legal, experimental and religious traditions that played a part in shaping Boyle's experimental thought and practice are examined.

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Book SynopsisWho are scientists? What kind of people are they? What capacities and virtues are thought to stand behind their considerable authority? This book tells the author's story about who scientists are, who we think they are, and why our sensibilities about such things matter.Trade Review"Remarkably rich in detail and revelation.... Shapin may not be doing a conventional history of the 'scientific life,' but what he has done is both novel and provocative." - New York Review of Books "[A] thought-provoking challenge to the assumptions of scientific objectivity by science's practitioners and an acknowledgment of just how important the morality of scientists may be in the advancement and authority of knowledge." - Library Journal "The Scientific Life provokes us to discard worn-out understandings that science outside universities is necessarily aberrant.... The book succeeds masterfully." - Science "A stunning antidote to the naive portraits of how science is or should be done." - Choice "Required reading for all scientists and those studying the social activity of science." - Nature "Shapin has produced a work of exceptional originality, power, and significance. He has also given readers much to chew over in regard to contemporary developments and perennial issues.... Shapin tells this story exceedingly well, framing its episodes richly and developing them through vivid depictions of representative figures, texts, incidents, and anecdotes." - London Review of Books"

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Book SynopsisExplores how knowledge was obtained and demonstrated in Europe when standard methods of inquiry took shape across several fields of intellectual pursuit. This book looks at production and consumption of knowledge as a social process. It focuses on how various methods came to interact with practices of craftspeople to create new ways of knowing.

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Book SynopsisCartographers have long grappled with the impossibility of portraying the earth in two dimensions. To solve this problem, mapmakers have created map projections. This work discusses and illustrates the known map projections from before 500BC to the present, with facts on their origins and use.

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Book SynopsisIn 1935 geneticist Nikolai Timofeeff-Ressovsky, radiation physicist Karl G Zimmer, and quantum physicist Max Delbruck published On the Nature of Gene Mutation and Gene Structure, known subsequently as the Three-Man Paper. This title presents a translation of the Three Man Paper.

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Book SynopsisOffers a perspective on the history of food, looking at writings about cuisine, diet, and food chemistry as a key to larger debates over the state of the nation in Old Regime France. This title demonstrates how public discussions of eating and drinking were used to articulate concerns about the state of civilization versus that of nature and more.Trade Review"With its wealth of insights into the history of the body as well as French culture, Eating the Enlightenment offers abundant food for thought for scholars and students in a wide range of fields." (Anne Vila, University of Wisconsin - Madison)"

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Book SynopsisOffers a distinctive approach to the origins of modern physics by exploring both the material culture that stimulated relativity and the reaction of Einstein's colleagues to his pioneering work.Trade Review"One of the ever pressing dangers for the history of science is that it becomes the history of great men and women. Therefore, any book that emphasizes the setting of a scientific change is to be welcomed and, where Einstein is concerned, is to be doubly welcomed. Staley's overall project, then, is a great one." - Harry Collins, author of Rethinking Expertise"

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Book SynopsisOffers a distinctive approach to the origins of modern physics by exploring both the material culture that stimulated relativity and the reaction of Einstein's colleagues to his pioneering work.Trade Review"One of the ever pressing dangers for the history of science is that it becomes the history of great men and women. Therefore, any book that emphasizes the setting of a scientific change is to be welcomed and, where Einstein is concerned, is to be doubly welcomed. Staley's overall project, then, is a great one." - Harry Collins, author of Rethinking Expertise"

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Book SynopsisSelf-styled adventurer, literary wit, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. This work offers a portrait of this man, revealing how his private life and public works made him a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe.Trade Review"Terrall's work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane eighteenth-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language." - Virginia P. Dawson, American Historical Review "As a guide to the public world of post-Newtonian European science, this well-written, scholarly work has much to offer." - Jeremy Black, Times Higher Education Supplement"

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive philosophical and historical account of the experimental foundations of Niels Bohr’s practice of physics.Trade Review"Perovic offers a novel and refreshingly unorthodox interpretation of Bohr's seminal contributions to quantum physics and their philosophical implications. Adopting a method of historically sensitive analysis, he argues convincingly that the great Dane came to his overarching hypotheses, including the complementarity principle, by inductive reasoning inherently based on experiments. He skillfully defends Bohr against the charges that his epistemological and methodological views were amateurish armchair philosophy. Perovic's book on Bohr's vision is recommendable from a scientific, historical, and philosophical perspective."--Helge Kragh, Niels Bohr Institute, University of CopenhagenTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: Preliminaries 2 From Laboratory to Theory 3 From Classical Experiments to Quantum Theory Part 2: Bohr’s Vision in Practice: the Old Quantum Theory 4 Spectral Lines, Quantum States, and a Master Model of the Atom 5 The Correspondence Principle as an Intermediary Hypothesis 6 Reception 7 The Scientific Moderator Part 3: Toward Quantum Mechanics 8 Quantum Corpuscles, Quantum Waves, and the Experiments 9 The Uncertainty Principle as an Intermediary Hypothesis 10 Metaphysical Principles and Heuristic Rules 11 New Formalisms and Bohr’s Atom 12 Complementarity Established and Applied Part 4: Aftermath 13 Bohr and the “Copenhagen Orthodoxy” 14 Bohr’s Response to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument 15 The Mature Bohr and the Rise of Slick Theory and Theoreticians Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAt a time when the Manhattan Project was synonymous with large-scale science, physicist J Robert Oppenheimer (1904-67) represented the new sociocultural power of the American intellectual. This title traces the making - and unmaking - of Oppenheimer's wartime and postwar scientific identity.Trade Review"A fascinating new perspective.... Thorpe's book provides the best perspective yet for understanding Oppenheimer's Los Alamos years, which were critical, after all, not only to his life but, for better or worse, the history of mankind." - Catherine Westfall, Nature "This is an outstandingly well-researched book, a pleasure to read and distinguished by the high quality of its observations and judgments. It will be of special interest to scholars of modern history, but non-specialist readers will enjoy the clarity that Thorpe brings to common misunderstandings about his subject." - Graham Farmelo, Times Higher Education Supplement"

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Book SynopsisAt a time when the Manhattan Project was synonymous with large-scale science, physicist J Robert Oppenheimer (1904-67) represented the new sociocultural power of the American intellectual. This title traces the making - and unmaking - of Oppenheimer's wartime and postwar scientific identity.Trade Review"A fascinating new perspective.... Thorpe's book provides the best perspective yet for understanding Oppenheimer's Los Alamos years, which were critical, after all, not only to his life but, for better or worse, the history of mankind." - Catherine Westfall, Nature "This is an outstandingly well-researched book, a pleasure to read and distinguished by the high quality of its observations and judgments. It will be of special interest to scholars of modern history, but non-specialist readers will enjoy the clarity that Thorpe brings to common misunderstandings about his subject." - Graham Farmelo, Times Higher Education Supplement"

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Book SynopsisOne of three companion volumes that form an introduction to the central ideas of the modern natural sciences, this book is a source for those who have no technical knowledge in the subject of the architecture of matter.

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Book SynopsisOne of three companion volumes that form an introduction to the central ideas of the modern natural sciences, this book is a source for those who have no technical knowledge in the subject of time.

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Book SynopsisOne of three companion volumes that form an introduction to the central ideas of the modern natural sciences, this book is a source for those who have no technical knowledge of the subject of astronomy and dynamics.

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Book SynopsisThis volume of Osiris takes as its point of departure a simple premise: we have yet to fully flesh out the complex historical interplay between medicine and law across the globe. Therapeutic Properties takes an inventive look at the issue, presenting welcome insights on the worldwide ascendancy of biomedicine, the persistence of nonofficial and unorthodox approaches to healing, and the legal contexts that have served to shape these dynamics. The contributions draw upon source material from the Americas, Africa, Western Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia to trace the influence of penal and civil codes, courts and constitutions, and patents and intellectual properties on not only health practices but also the very foundations of state-sanctioned medicine. The authors explore, too, how institutions of global governance, including those underpinning empires and trade, have historically created feedback loops that enabled laws and regulatory regimes to spread, amplifying their effects and sTable of ContentsINTRODUCTION Medical Cultures, Therapeutic Properties, and Laws in Global HistoryHelen Tilley PART 1 - REBELLIOUS SPIRITS AND MEDICAL IMAGINATIONS Translating Spirits: Medical-Ritual Healing and Law in Brazil and the Broader Afro-Atlantic WorldPaul Christopher Johnson Powers of Imagination and Legal Regimes aAgainst “Obeah” in the Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century British CaribbeanKate Ramsey Of Jinn Theories and Germ Theories: Translating Microbes, Bacteriological Medicine, and Islamic Law in AlgeriaHannah-Louise Clark PART 2 - CONSTITUTIVE LAWS AND UNPRECEDENTED TRADITIONS Subaltern Surgeries: Colonial Law and the Regulation of Traditional Medicines in the British Raj and BeyondProjit Bihari Mukharji The Reinvention of an Appropriate Tradition or the Colonial Birth of Vietnamese MedicineLaurence Monnais Traditional Medicine Goes Global: Pan-African Precedents, Cultural Decolonization, and Cold War Rights/PropertiesHelen Tilley PART 3 - BODIES OF LAW AND LAWS OF BODIES Sexual Assault and the Evidential Body: Forensic Medicine and Law in Modern JapanSusan L. Burns Enabling Restrictions: Female Sterilization, Physicians, and the Law in Costa Rica, 1960–1999María Carranza Maxera The Geopolitics of “Rape Kit” Protocols: Historical Problems in Translation as Humanitarian Medicine Meets International LawJaimie Morse PART 4 - REDEFINING PROPERTIES AND PATENTING POWERS Patenting Personalized Medicine: Molecules, Information, and the BodyMario Biagioli and Alain Pottage The Intellectual Property Turn in Global Health: From a Property to a Human Rights View of HealthLaura G. Pedraza-Fariña Becoming “Traditional”: A Transnational History of Neem and Biopiracy DiscourseAnna Winterbottom Properties of (Dis)Possession: Therapeutic Plants, Intellectual Property, and Questions of Justice in TanzaniaStacey Langwick PART 5 - JUDICIARY MAGIC AND LEGAL THERAPIES The Pharmaceuticalization and Judicialization of Health: On the Interface of Medical Capitalism and Magical Legalism in BrazilJoão Biehl Legalities of Healing: Handling Alterities at the Edge of Medicine in France, 1980s to 2010sEmilie Cloatre, Nayeli Urquiza-Haas, and Michael Ashworth

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Book SynopsisA delightful A-to-Z menagerie of the seawhimsically illustrated, authoritative, and thought-provoking. For millennia, we have taken to the waves. And yet, for humans, the ocean remains our planet's most inaccessible region, the place about which we know the least. From A to Z, abalone to zooplankton, and through both text and original illustrations, Ocean Bestiary is a celebration of our ongoing quest to know the sea and its creatures. Focusing on individual species or groups of animals, Richard J. King embarks upon a global tour of ocean wildlife, including beluga whales, flying fish, green turtles, mako sharks, noddies, right whales, sea cows (as well as sea lions, sea otters, and sea pickles), skipjack tuna, swordfish, tropicbirds, walrus, and yellow-bellied sea snakes. But more than this, King connects the natural history of ocean animals to the experiences of people out at sea and along the world's coastlines. From firsthand accounts passed down by the earliest Polynesian Trade Review"King's quality of research is evident; his entries contain firsthand accounts from primary sources dating back to early Polynesian explorers, through contemporary accounts by navigators of seagoing vessels. His writing style is delightful and witty; he is a natural storyteller. Readers will also love his illustrations, which have the power to put smiles on faces. Highly recommended." * Library Journal *"King profiles marine animals and tells of their notable encounters with humans, spanning Polynesian voyagers’ first contact with New Zealand sea lions around 1200 CE through to a Japanese biologist’s successful efforts to photograph a living giant squid in 2004. Some of the more amusing entries describe how a 1920s sea turtle hunter’s practice of carving his initials into turtle shells inspired a marine biologist to conduct tagging studies on the animals’ migration, as well as how whale sharks eat by ingesting krill-filled ocean water that gets filtered through 'twenty spongy, porous pads in the shark’s throat.' . . . Charming illustrations." * Publishers Weekly *"In medieval times, bestiaries offered beautifully illustrated texts of real or imagined creatures, accompanied by their natural history and moral lessons. In this work, the author takes a different approach. . . . These first-hand accounts come from books, rare manuscripts, oral histories, interviews, podcasts, newspapers, archaeological reports, and more, and include perspectives from John James Audubon and Christopher Columbus. . . . The book will capture readers' attention." * Booklist *“At a time when the wonders of marine life need as many compassionate advocates as possible, Ocean Bestiary engages readers in the ocean’s intricacies and significance, by telling curious, at times humorous stories of its animals as seen through the eyes of people who have spent time at sea—observing, sailing, fishing, and studying often in remote, unseen parts of the planet. The diversity of storytellers and human characters—with a particular focus on people from non-Western, non-white ethnic backgrounds—helps us to see that the ocean is for everyone. Fresh, accessible, and with entertaining illustrations, these are stories worth telling and well told.” -- Helen Scales, author of "The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean, and the Looming Threat That Imperils It"Table of ContentsSeries Editors’ Foreword: Oceans in Depth Introduction World Map AbaloneArchiteuthis dux Beluga Chinstrap Penguin Dolphinfish Electric Ray Flying Fish Frigatebird Grampus Green Turtle Guanay Cormorant Halibut HorseIsurus oxyrinchus Juan Fernández Crawfish Killer Whale Louisiana Shrimp Mother Carey’s Chicken New Zealand Sea Lion Noddy Octopus Otter Paper Nautilus Parrot Pilot Fish Quahog Right Whale Sea Cow Sea Pickle Silver King Teredo Shipworm Tropicbird Tuna UrchinVelella and the Man-of-War Walrus Wandering Albatross Whale SharkXiphias gladius Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake Zooplankton Acknowledgments Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Surveying several centuries and drawing together topics that are commonly treated by distinct historiographies, Tarrant manages a scholarly exploit. . . . An original and compelling introduction to the history of the Inquisition. as well as new perspectives for the study of magic as both an intellectual pursuit and a protean set of practices.” * Isis *“In a sweeping analysis that extends across multiple fields of study, Tarrant traces currents of religious reform, inquisitorial processes, and scholastic theology from the late medieval period into the early modern. He offers an important new perspective not just on the history of magic but also on the history of science and of religion across this pivotal period.” -- Michael D. Bailey, Iowa State University“Defining Nature’s Limits plays an important role in bridging medieval and early modern theological traditions on magic and inquisition.” -- Christine Caldwell Ames, University of South Carolina“Defining Nature’s Limits provides an invaluable contribution to the field of late medieval and early modern intellectual and cultural history, focusing on magic and science. Tarrant’s scholarship is impeccable, his argument is innovative and wholly original, and the book makes important, corrective contributions to the history of both science and magic. The book is a major contribution that will enrich the fields of premodern science and the occult, religious history, and intellectual history.” -- Michael Ryan, University of New Mexico"Tarrant’s book is an important contribution both to the history of science and to the history of magic in the early modern period. In telling the intertwining stories of the intellectual history of Thomist conceptions of magic from the Middle Ages to the seventeenth century and the history of the Roman Inquisition’s persecution of magic in Italy, Tarrant reveals how the censorship of magic re-drew the boundaries of legitimate natural knowledge and thus had a radical impact on the subsequent development of science." -- Stephen Clucas, Birkbeck, University of LondonTable of ContentsIntroduction: Magic, Science, and the Counter-Reformation I. Medieval Foundations 1. The Origins of the Inquisition of Magic 2. The Dominican Order and the Construction of Orthodox Magic 3. The Inquisition of Learned Magic in the Fourteenth Century II. Mendicant Reform and the Inquisition of Magic 4. The Crisis of Papal Authority and Observant Reform, 1378–1500 5. The Pursuit of Superstition in an Age of Reform, 1500–1517 6. The Reformation: Trent and the Establishment of the Roman Inquisition, 1517–49 7. Between Trent and the Roman Inquisition, 1549–64 Conclusion: The Ambiguities of Censorship in Post-Tridentine Italy Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Shindell describes his book as ‘the history of human ideas about Mars’, and he thoughtfully follows its winding path through religion, literature and pop culture. . . . [He] persuasively argues that Mars is most instructive when it sheds light on how we see ourselves.” * New York Times *“[Shindell’s] fascinating narrative details how today’s discussions have been conditioned by distant antecedents. The book is a compact yet expansive survey, delving judiciously into the histories of religion and science, mass culture and popular literature, the Cold War and the Space Race—highlighting past mistakes and commending new possibilities.” * Wall Street Journal *"Shindell crafts a human-centered history of an alien world. For the Love of Mars offers a readable history of speculation and exploration about Mars, beginning with the skywatchers of ancient Mayan, Chinese, and Babylonian civilizations and ending with the scientists and engineers who work on current robotic missions." * Science *“Armchair astronomers and history buffs alike will find this to be a fresh and engaging account.” * Booklist *"This insightful history will charm readers of popular science, science fiction, and history." * Library Journal *"Shindell describes efforts to understand a celestial body closer to home, tracing the red planet’s evolution in the popular imagination." * Publishers Weekly *“If you want to be surprised and inspired by humankind’s fascination with the Red Planet, For the Love of Mars is a great read.” * BBC Sky at Night Magazine *“This is the right voice to bring Mars vividly to life. Shindell’s history of what we know about the red planet goes beyond Western ideas, bringing valuable knowledge from many times, places, and cultures both into our view and into rich conversation. Its diverse perspectives and cast of characters make For the Love of Mars an essential read.” * Janet Vertesi, author of Shaping Science: Organizations, Decisions, and Culture on NASA’s Teams *“Through a wonderful combination of scholarly scientific research and thoughtful humanist perspective, Shindell’s For the Love of Mars provides a delightfully educational and entertaining history of our exploration of the red planet.” * Jim Bell, Mars researcher and coauthor of Discovering Mars: A History of Observation and Exploration of the Red Planet *“Shindell has done the impossible: setting out the long history of human engagement with the red planet over thousands of years in a single book. For the Love of Mars is compelling reading for anyone who has ever looked at, or even just wondered about, the fourth world from the sun and whether we'll set foot on it someday.” * Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society *"Humans are unsettled by incomplete data, unanswered questions. Show us objects in the night sky, and we create worlds. So it has been with Mars, conspicuous to us Earthbound gazers as one of the heavenly bodies that wanders from place to place against the backdrop of the stars. . . . a world that could share features with our own, as images of the known and unknown were both refashioned through intertwined changes in observation, understanding, exploration and belief. It’s that long evolution of ideas – not yet concluded – that Matthew Shindell relates in this compact survey." * The Arts Desk *"More than justifies itself as ‘another book about Mars’ in exploring the planet from a distinct and thought-provoking perspective." * E&T *"By focusing on the diverse human stories behind the telescopes and behind the robots we know and love, Shindell shows how Mars exploration has evolved in ways that have also expanded knowledge about other facets of the universe. Captained by an engaging and erudite expert, For the Love of Mars is a captivating voyage through time and space for anyone curious about Curiosity and the red planet." * Sandbox World *"Because of its visibility and striking color, everyone from Mayan priests to modern scientists have sought to center [Mars] in some way in human life. In this book, Shindell explores the ways our curiosity and subsequent exploration of the planet has led us to understanding the rest of our world as well." * Bookriot *"Historians of science are already well-acquainted with Mars’ centrality to science itself, as the Red Planet’s retrograde motion through the night sky led Renaissance and Enlightenment astronomers to toss out the wisdom of the Greeks and map out a series of laws of motion we now call physics. Science, though, is only part of this story: faith, fear, imperialism, and demonstrations of national prowess all figure in Shindell’s stories of Martian exploration, from the construction of telescopes to the landing of rovers on the Martian surface and preparations for future human settlement." * Quest *"By focusing on the diverse human stories behind the telescopes and behind the robots we know and love, the author shows how Mars exploration has evolved in ways that have also expanded knowledge about other facets of the universe. This book is a captivating voyage through time and space for anyone curious about Curiosity and the Red Planet." * LPIB *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Prologue: Mars in the Time of COVID-19 Introduction: Keeping Up with Mars 1 Mars and the Cosmic State 2 Mars in the Medieval Imagination 3 Restructuring the World 4 The Making of Modern Mars 5 Cold War Red Planet 6 Mars and the New Millennium Conclusion: The Human Future of Mars? Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA much-needed exploration of the history and philosophy of scientific research into male homosexuality. Questions about the naturalness or unnaturalness of homosexuality are as old as the hills, and the answers have often been used to condemn homosexuals, their behaviors, and their relationships. In the past two centuries, a number of sciences have involved themselves in this debate, introducing new vocabularies, theories, arguments, and data, many of which have gradually helped tip the balance toward tolerance and even acceptance. In this book, philosophers Pieter R. Adriaens and Andreas De Block explore the history and philosophy of the gay sciences, revealing how individual and societal values have colored how we think about homosexuality. The authors unpack the entanglement of facts and values in studies of male homosexuality across the natural and human sciences and consider the extent to which science has mitigated or reinforced homonegative mores. The focus of the book is Trade Review“Prejudice against those who identify as LGBT is ongoing in our culture. This makes the magnificently comprehensive and thoughtful Of Maybugs and Men: A History and Philosophy of the Sciences of Homosexuality a work of pressing contemporary relevance. Covering a wide range of topics, from the questions of homosexuality in animals and of evolutionary perspectives on homosexuality, to the philosophical and social implications of judging any kind of sexuality as healthy or otherwise, indeed of even asking such questions, it is essential reading: for researchers, for those making and enforcing social policy, and more widely for all who think we should strive to understand the nature of ourselves, human beings. A very important book.” -- Michael Ruse, author of Atheism: What Everyone Needs to Know"Against a long backdrop of simplistic discussions of the etiology of homosexuality, Of Maybugs and Men is a breath of fresh air. Pieter Adriaens and Andreas De Block explore not only the science of sexual orientation but also the indispensable value judgments that permeate empirical investigation. A must-read for anyone working on these topics—indeed, for anyone interested in how to approach history, science, and sexuality with rigor and nuance." -- John Corvino, author of What’s Wrong with Homosexuality?"With contemporary attitudes and concepts around gender, sex, and sexual orientation evolving at a breakneck pace, it can be hard to find one's footing or coherently navigate through the ever-changing—highly politicized—discourse. Helpfully, Adriaens and De Block have taken on the subject of same-sex sexual orientation from an interdisciplinary perspective: they draw on history, philosophy, and sociology of science, among other disciplines, to provide a much-needed, rich and illuminating frame of reference that will inform and challenge even the most seasoned scholars of sex and sexual orientation. At the same time, beginners will appreciate their clear, fresh writing tethered to many concrete examples and illustrations. Their book is a delight to read and marks an important contribution to our understanding of who we are as sexual beings." -- Brian D. Earp, coeditor of The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Sex and Sexuality"Adriaens and De Block present an incisive review of research into male homosexuality from a philosophical perspective. They carefully dissect the meanings of terms that researchers often employ without a great deal of thought. Their ideas about the evolution of homosexuality are especially illuminating." -- Simon LeVay, author of Gay, Straight, and the Reason WhyTable of ContentsIntroduction: Thinking about Science and Homosexuality 1. Not by Genes and Hormones Alone: On Homosexuality and Innateness 2. Sham Matings and Other Shenanigans: On Animal Homosexuality 3. Beyond the Paradox: On Homosexuality and Evolutionary Theory 4. Values, Facts, and Disorders: On Homosexuality and Psychiatry Epilogue: Gaydars and the Dangers of Research on Sexual Orientation Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“An ambitious work . . . In paying attention to today's sophisticated ideas about genetics, Radick poses a deceptively simple question: why, he asks, knowing what we do now, do we still bother with Mendel? . . . This isn’t the first attempt to lay history’s ghosts to rest and reset our ideas about genetics. That said, I can’t think of one that is better argued, more fair-minded, or more enjoyable.” * New Scientist *“Radick provides a scholarly, detailed and perceptive analysis of why Mendelian genetics has long dominated our approach to understanding inheritance, despite valiant attempts to propose alternatives. . . . By describing how the debates of scientists shaped the field of genetics, Disputed Inheritance provides a basis for understanding the work that has led, over the past century, to a richer understanding of heredity than Mendelian genetics could ever have provided.” * Nature *“‘You name it,’ writes Radick in his brilliant, provocative new book, Disputed Inheritance, ‘and there is, we are told, a gene for it, invisibly pulling the strings, determining how our bodies grow and our lives go.’ . . . Radick argues that, had genetics taken a Weldonian turn in the early twentieth century, we need have sacrificed nothing in our understanding of biology and would have reduced the hereditarianism that remains so prevalent today. . . . Radick has an extraordinarily rich research program in front of him that has the potential for significant impact on both science and society.” * FASEB Journal *“Radick is raising the stakes here with an inventive approach . . . Disputed Inheritance gives centrality to contingency, and in so doing presents convincingly a ‘what could have been’ argument. The book culminates in a reiteration of the desire to elevate the study (and presentation) of counterfactuals to be part and parcel of standard methodology. It is a difficult argument to dismiss, and this book is the reason why: Radick’s meticulous research and balanced presentation can help redefine the essential struggle against historical amnesia—arguably the main culprit for reductive thinking and facile generalizations.” * H-Sci-Med-Tech *“This is a magnificent book. It is really a tour de force, elegantly written and diligently documented. There is so much that I learned while reading it that has made me now better understand this story. I think it will be fascinating reading for everyone interested in the early history of genetics. Disputed Inheritance deserves to be widely read, and Radick deserves praise for an intellectual achievement that will change not only our understanding of history but also our approach to its study.” -- Kostas Kampourakis, author of Understanding Genes“Radick’s magisterial study scrutinizes common understandings—the ‘folk wisdom’—of the history of genetics. Informed by unusual historical depth and philosophical sophistication, Radick offers a compelling rival view, one that reinterprets both the history and the science itself. In a world often affected by loose talk about ‘genes for’ interesting traits, this book supplies a welcome antidote to simplistic thinking. It is as important as it is fascinating.” -- Philip Kitcher, author of In Mendel’s Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology“There are few ideas in biology as powerful—and dangerous—as the notion that genes determine who we are and what we can become. In this deeply researched and beautifully written history, Radick reveals the contingent pathways through which genetic determinism took hold among biologists and beyond. Disputed Inheritance rewrites the story of genetics with care and verve, in the hopes that future students will learn to see both history and biology differently.” -- Helen Anne Curry, author of Evolution Made to Order“Radick underscores some of the most vital but neglected facts of genetics—that genes don’t work in simple ways, and that variation and context matter. This is a beautifully researched, important book. It may be a work of history, but the lessons are also relevant for us today.” -- Angela Saini, author of Superior: The Return of Race ScienceTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Part 1: Before 1 Who Needs a Science of Heredity? 2 The Meaning of the Quincunx 3 Biology for the Steam Age 4 Royal Entrances (and Exits) Part 2: Battle 5 Between Boers and Basset Hounds 6 Two Plates of Peas 7 Mendel All the Way 8 Damn All Controversies! 9 An Unfinished Manuscript Part 3: Beyond 10 The Success of a New Science 11 What Might Have Been 12 Mendelian Legacies 13 Weldonian Legacies Conclusion Postscript 1: On “Genetic Determinism” and “Interaction” Postscript 2: A Simple Mendelian Cross Weldonized Postscript 3: From a Counterfactual Edition of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A fascinating sketch of Kuhn’s mature thought. . . . The proponents of competing paradigms may practice their trades in different worlds, but, as Kuhn was at pains to stress in his last writings, sometimes those worlds are closer than we think.” -- Paul Dicken * Los Angeles Review of Books *"The road from The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to the drafts in Last Writings was, to a large extent, a long walk back—Kuhn’s attempt to clarify, revise, secure, and modify the ‘purple passages,' to dissociate himself and his book from the vulgar and the relativists. In one matter, however, he stuck firmly to a sentiment in the book that had given aid and comfort to the supposed ‘enemies of science.' You should not, Kuhn had written, think that scientific change brought practitioners ‘closer and closer to the truth.'" -- Steven Shapin * London Review of Books *"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) by philosopher of science Kuhn is ‘indispensable reading for every well-educated person,’ writes philosopher Mladenović in her introduction to this collection. She presents unpublished drafts of a reworking of Structure’s philosophical framework, with the texts of two lectures not previously published in English. Together, these explore whether historians can understand past scientific paradigms, even though these are incommensurable with present science." -- Andrew Robinson * Nature *"Readers can see Kuhn grappling with the differences between his own needs, as a philosopher and historian, and the needs of current scientists. . . . When we 'transition between worlds' today, many of us habitually presume that, in disagreements, our opponents are simply lying. Of course, this happens sometimes. But more common, I think, are interactions involving the Kuhnian difficulties of translation. One of the enduring lessons from Thomas Kuhn is that of just how difficult it is to imagine the mental lives of others, and of just how easily truths can be lost in their transit from one mind to another." -- David Kordahl * 3 Quarks Daily *"Mladenović . . . has done a great service with her new book The Last Writings of Thomas S Kuhn. Containing the unfinished draft of a book that Kuhn was still working on when he died in 1996, Last Writings brings much needed clarity to Kuhn’s philosophy and his understanding of how science develops. . . . Granted, Kuhn’s work was unfinished, but hopefully, the Last Writings will reinvigorate conversations about incommensurability for years to come." -- Gino Elia * Physics World *"Kuhn’s seminal 1962 history The Structure of Scientific Revolutions gets a posthumous follow-up in this complex volume. . . . Mladenović provides a comprehensive and thoughtful introduction to the work. . . . Philosophy lovers . . . will find plenty to chew on." * Publishers Weekly *"This book offers an editorial reconstruction of Thomas Kuhn's uncompleted final work, The Plurality of Worlds. . . Kuhn argues for a view of past and current science as empirically grounded and scientific change as rational, while retaining the insight that competing scientific paradigms are incommensurable. . . Recommended." * Choice * "Mladenović's edition of some of Kuhn’s last and most valuable writings is a gem for philosophers of science. . . . The writings of his last stage as a philosopher of science exhibit a profound awareness of the intricacies and consequences of his particular approach to the field. A careful reading of this volume shows this and many other interpretive keys for Kuhn’s philosophy of science. I hope that this brief summary of the volume will do as an invitation to read and reread this wonderful incomplete treatise. Kuhn’s thinking is still alive in these pages." -- Juan V. Mayoral * Journal for General Philosophy of Science *"After being on the wish-list of many historians and philosophers of science for decades, The Last Writings of Thomas S. Kuhn are finally available and open to discussion for interested readers. . . . The editor obviously did detailed and hard work on the manuscripts, some of which were left unfinished and required substantial engagement with the pieces, notes, and a significant knowledge of Kuhn’s person, intention, and works. The editorial work is also reflected in the additional notes at the end of the volume—explaining some of Kuhn’s mysterious remarks, mistakes, or unfinished sections—and a short index. . . . Leaving plenty of space for further discussion and comparisons, one remains in a state of puzzlement when asked whether The Last Writings belongs to philosophy, sociology, or history of science, or perhaps to the even newer trends of history and philosophy of science. The sciences, including psychology, neurology, comparative anthropology, and cognitive enterprises, are marching forward, providing sufficient material for philosophers to engage with." -- Adam Tamas Tuboly * Metascience *"The Last Writings pave the way for the development of new approaches by epistemologists, providing useful philosophical tools. More generally, this collection gives elements of answers to classical problems, such as the relationship between language and the world or the status of truth in science." -- Alexandre Francq and Sylvain Billiard * Quarterly Review of Biology *“Combining Kuhn’s unfinished last book, The Plurality of Worlds, with two related works not previously available in English, and a substantial and illuminating introduction by editor Bojana Mladenović, The Last Writings of Thomas S. Kuhn will be received as an absolute gem by philosophers of science, as well as by the wide swath of academics across the social sciences and humanities who revere Kuhn.” -- Cheryl Misak, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, author of "Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers"Table of ContentsEditor’s Introduction Editor’s Note Thomas S. Kuhn: Scientific Knowledge as Historical Product Abstract for “The Presence of Past Science (The Shearman Memorial Lectures)” Thomas S. Kuhn: The Presence of Past Science (The Shearman Memorial Lectures) Lecture I: Regaining the Past Lecture II: Portraying the Past Lecture III: Embodying the Past Abstract for The Plurality of Worlds: An Evolutionary Theory of Scientific Development Thomas S. Kuhn: The Plurality of Worlds: An Evolutionary Theory of Scientific Development Acknowledgments Part I: The Problem Chapter 1: Scientific Knowledge as Historical Product Chapter 2: Breaking into the Past Chapter 3: Taxonomy and Incommensurability Part II: A World of Kinds Chapter 4: Biological Prerequisites to Linguistic Description: Track and Situations Chapter 5: Natural Kinds: How Their Names Mean Chapter 6: Practices, Theories, and Artefactual Kinds Bibliography Editor’s Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Split and Slice borrows new perspectives from a broad range of scholarly fields, generating a long list of cited authors who are rarely associated in the same book. Rheinberger moves easily from phenomenology to biology and from science to art, and vice versa. . . . The book is in a way exhaustive, addressing many of the most significant issues discussed in science studies during the last decades, for instance the importance of practice and technologies, the rich source of information represented by notebooks, and in par­ticular the protocols shared by the different members of a laboratory. Only Rheinberger could write such a book, which wanders between phenomenology and sociology of science, while still remaining engaging and attractive.” * Journal of the History of Biology *“What's in an experiment? In this English edition of Split and Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation, a leading historian and philosopher of biology returns in fine form to renew his long-standing plea for scholarly attention to the human and material elements shaping experimentation in the life sciences. In this book, Rheinberger again pulls from the primary literature with which he is most familiar, that in molecular biology, to probe how both research materials and researchers' encounters with them, through experiments, shape the emergence of scientific knowledge. . . . There is much of interest to the working biologist in Split and Splice. Rheinberger offers a convincing way of characterizing the biologist's role in her craft: She is the mediator between the real and the written; between the world of the living and the books and papers that, eventually, report new discoveries.” * FASEB Journal *“A highly original, systematically organized, and empirically enriched essay on scientific experimentation. . . . While its first part convinces with a precise and logically ordered analysis, the second part leads through a broad variety of philosophical thoughts and observa­tions. . . . The reader is taken on an impressive journey through the vast territo­ries of experimental knowledge cultures. And it adds to the surprises of the journey that each and every part of it is enriched with examples from the history of molecular biological experimentation.” * Minerva *“This book provides a captivating perspective on an essential area in the development of a comprehensive and cohesive epistemology of experimentation. Until now, this subject has only been approached in an incomplete and piecemeal manner. Therefore, this book is an absolute necessity for scholars seeking a holistic understanding of experimental practices, including those often overlooked aspects that are crucial for a true and impactful comprehension of the vital role that experiments play in shaping modern science.” * Metascience *“Recommended.” * Choice *“Perched between recursivity and transgression, precision and poetics—just like the research practices it discusses—this eagerly awaited volume is the ultimate exploration of the constellation of technologies, techniques, materials, and ‘savage moments’ that make experiments into a quintessential form of inquiry. Building on three decades of world-leading research in the history and philosophy of biology, Rheinberger shows how, in life as in science, experiments epitomize the human aspiration to intervene in the world with predictable results, and yet their power lies in exposing the limits of attempts to control and foresee the future. An unmissable read for anybody wishing to understand how science thrives by failing to carve nature at its joints.” -- Sabina Leonelli, University of Exeter“In this new book, drawing on his groundbreaking Toward a History of Epistemic Things, Rheinberger explores the logic of a ‘phenomenology of experimentation.’ Attentive to the materiality of science, it brings out the creative, epistemic, and collective dimensions of scientific production in experimental context. Written by a historian and philosopher of science trained in molecular biology, Split and Splice opens up the path to a genuine historical epistemology of the forms of scientific practices for the twenty-first century.” -- Pierre-Olivier Méthot, Université LavalTable of ContentsList of FiguresIntroduction Part I Infra-Experimentality1 Traces2 Models3 Making Visible4 Grafting5 Protocols Part II Supra-Experimentality6 Shapes of Time7 Experimental Cultures8 Knowing and Narrating9 Thinking Wild10 A Eulogy of the FragmentPostscriptAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex of Names

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Book SynopsisExplorer, scientist, writer, and humanist, Alexander von Humboldt was the most famous intellectual of the age that began with Napoleon and ended with Darwin. This title traces Humboldt's ideas for Cosmos to his 1799 journey to the Americas, where he first experienced the diversity of nature and of the world's people.Trade Review"Walls reclaims for the present a man whose personality and work had a formative influence on the cultural landscape of antebellum America and whose legacy may to good effect be used in addressing current affairs. I recommend The Passage to Cosmos as a fine piece of Humboldt scholarship, a heartfelt plea for environmental holism, and an enjoyable read." (Science)"

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Book SynopsisExplorer, scientist, writer, and humanist, Alexander von Humboldt was the most famous intellectual of the age that began with Napoleon and ended with Darwin. This title traces Humboldt's ideas for "Cosmos" to his 1799 journey to the Americas, where he first experienced the diversity of nature and of the world's people.Trade Review"Walls reclaims for the present a man whose personality and work had a formative influence on the cultural landscape of antebellum America and whose legacy may to good effect be used in addressing current affairs. I recommend The Passage to Cosmos as a fine piece of Humboldt scholarship, a heartfelt plea for environmental holism, and an enjoyable read." (Science)"

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