{"product_id":"the-age-of-genius-9781408870020","title":"The Age of Genius","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat happened to the European mind between 1605, when an audience watching \u003ci\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/i\u003e at the Globe might believe that regicide was such an aberration of the natural order that ghosts could burst from the ground, and 1649, when a large crowd, perhaps including some who had seen \u003ci\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/i\u003e forty-four years earlier, could stand and watch the execution of a king? Or consider the difference between a magus casting a star chart and the day in 1639, when Jonathan Horrock and William Crabtree watched the transit of Venus across the face of the sun from their attic, successfully testing its course against Kepler's Tables of Planetary Motion, in a classic case of confirming a scientific theory by empirical testing.In this turbulent period, science moved from the alchemy and astrology of John Dee to the painstaking observation and astronomy of Galileo, from the classicism of Aristotle, still favoured by the Church, to the evidence-based, collegiate investigation of Francis Bacon. And if t\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBritain’s most eminent publicly engaged philosopher * Scotland on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eIf there is any such person in Britain as The Thinking man, it is A. C. Grayling * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eGrayling is particularly good at illuminating the knottiness of moral discourse * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eThere is an immense depth of human wisdom on display here, and five minutes with any passage will have you contemplating all day * Independent on \u003ci\u003eThe Good Book\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003eVery interesting … His account of the transition from magic to science is fascinating, and he demonstrates persuasively that the 17th century did indeed see a revolution in habits of thought and understanding of the physical world -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *\u003cbr\u003eThis sprint from the tenets of superstition to an increasingly revealed reality is a wonderful subject * Glasgow Herald *\u003cbr\u003eGrayling is a natural educator … He provides concise and helpful summaries of pertinent events and ideas * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eHis chapters on Bacon’s freethinking, on Newton’s scientific method and on Locke’s political theory are models of their craft * Tablet *\u003cbr\u003eA fascinating look at where we come from * Western Mail *\u003cbr\u003eAnyone who can steer this particular reader through the labyrinth of diets and edicts and treaties that populate The Thirty Years’ War deserves the highest praise. And Grayling is a model of clarity … As a survey of the period, \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Genius\u003c\/i\u003e is fascinating [and] as an account of the development of ideas during one of the most exciting periods in Western history, \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Genius\u003c\/i\u003e excels. Its scope is remarkable and it wears its learning lightly * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA characteristically lucid but impassioned account\u003c\/b\u003e of the power of ideas to change the way we see the world -- P.D. Smith * Guardian *","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48866823012695,"sku":"9781408870020","price":14.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781408870020.jpg?v=1722280158","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-age-of-genius-9781408870020","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}