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Science: A Four Thousand Year History Paperback – 5 April 2010

by Patricia Fara (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 66
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In Science, Patricia Fara rewrites science's past to provide new ways of understanding and questioning our modern technological society. Sweeping through the centuries from ancient Babylon right up to the latest hi-tech experiments in genetics and particle physics, Fara's book also ranges internationally, challenging notions of European superiority by emphasizing the importance of scientific projects based around the world, including revealing discussions of China and the Islamic Empire alongside the more familiar stories about Copernicus's sun-centered astronomy, Newton's gravity, and Darwin's theory of evolution. We see for instance how Muslim leaders encouraged science by building massive libraries, hospitals, and astronomical observatories and we rediscover the significance of medieval Europe-long overlooked-where, surprisingly, religious institutions ensured science's survival, as the learning preserved in monasteries was subsequently developed in new and unique institutions: universities. Instead of focussing on esoteric experiments and abstract theories, she explains how science belongs to the practical world of war, politics, and business. And rather than glorifying scientists as idealized heroes, she tells true stories about real people-men (and some women) who needed to earn their living, who made mistakes, and who trampled down their rivals.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199580278
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199580279
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
  4. Publication date
    5 April 2010
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    19.61 x 12.85 x 2.72 cm
  7. Print length
    508 pages
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

a surprise and a subversive pleasure ― Tim Radford, Guardian: Science Bookclub

Review from previous edition Fara's book could not be more wide-ranging, beginning [with] the quest to take the story of science as far back as she story of science as far back as she possibly can, and ending bang up to date. The content is ambitious. jusiciously and fairly handled...The narrative moves forward in an engaging way, while the enthusiasm and opinions of the author are never far from the surface. It is a book to provoke thought and argument. An impressive achievement. ― Jim Bennett, BBC History Magazine

Epic history of science ― Jo Marchant, New Scientist

Wide-ranging and provocative...Romps through history at a terrific rate. ― The Economist

An impressive and commendable effort to square the circle, to tell science's history, from the beginning. ― Martin D. Gordin, Science

An engaging book...Fara is to be commended for stepping back - way back - to assess the history of science in its entirety ― Robert J Malone, excutive director of the History of Science Society

Review

`Review from previous edition Fara's book could not be more wide-ranging, beginning [with] the quest to take the story of science as far back as she possibly cab, and ending bang up to date. The content is ambitious. jusiciously and fairly handled...The narrative moves forward in an engaging way, while the enthusiasm and opinions of the author are never far from the surface. It is a book to provoke thought and argument. An impressive achievement.' Jim Bennett, BBC History Magazine `For a very long time, reputable historians of science have lacked the desire, the knowledge, or the nerve to undertake a book like this -- an attempt to survey the development of science from Antiquity to the present, notably including non-European materials. Patricia Fara has succeeded: Science is an elegant and compact creative synthesis of the piecemeal researches of generations of academic historians. It deserves the widest possible readership.' Steven Shapin, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard, and author of The Scientific Revolution `Dismantling popular myths, taking a truly global view and dispensing with false idols, Fara's highly readable survey of science's histories is a breath of fresh air. She unerringly pinpoints the defining moods of each age, treating the past with respect and the present with discernment. This wonderfully literate book tells a story that is far, far more interesting than the tidy fictions of hindsight. ' Philip Ball, Consultant Editor of Nature `Patricia Fara has written a fascinating account.' John Gribbin, Literary Review `Wide-ranging and provocative... Romps through history at a terrific rate' The Economist 11/06/2009

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press, U.S.A. (5 April 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 508 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199580278
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199580279
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.61 x 12.85 x 2.72 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 66

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Patricia Fara

Patricia Fara

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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
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Vivek Mishra
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of this kind
Reviewed in India on 2 September 2022
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Very good read
Nice book very informative
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ROBERTO RODARTE HERNANDEZ
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen producto y se rápida entrega
Reviewed in Mexico on 13 September 2020
Verified Purchase
El artículo llegó antes de lo esperado (Como una semana antes). El libro no traía algún tipo de empaque o hule convencional que se maneja en libros, pero no venía para nada maltratado.
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Ralph Blumenau
5.0 out of 5 stars Science set in its social context
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 April 2010
Verified Purchase
The author reminds us that the original meaning of `science' covered all knowledge, and the branch we now call science was previously called Natural Philosophy. The word `scientist' was coined only in 1833. How science in the modern sense came to separate itself from other kinds of knowledge is one of the themes of this survey which awesomely ranges over all the sciences. Other themes that frequently recur in it include:

1. Debunking the cult of the lone genius who advances knowledge purely by his own discoveries. Although Newton acknowledged that he stood on the shoulders of giants, many other famous scientists are shown as ruthless and successful self-publicists. So we often ignore the earlier ideas on which they drew, and we sometimes ascribe to them the contributions of their later followers. Particularly from the late 17th century onwards, scientists are helped by being part of communities operating in well-organized scientific institutions. Patricia Fara also repeatedly notes the time interval between scientific discoveries and their general acceptance.

2. Showing that even what now seem the most ludicrous `scientific' procedures like alchemy have made contributions to later science - in this case, for example, the notions of experimental chemistry, the creation of some apparatus, the isolation of certain chemicals and, perhaps above all, the willingness to manipulate nature, not merely to understand it. So not only alchemists but also magicians like Paracelsus and John Dee, whose mathematical skills made many people believe in their medical prescriptions, find a place in Patricia Fara's history of science.

3. Showing how the pursuit of science was, until fairly recently, not regarded as an end in itself, but was shaped to support pre-existing philosophical or theological concepts. One example is the effort of Kepler and Copernicus to marry their observations respectively to Neoplatonic and Pythagorean notions of harmony. Botanical and anthropological classifications reflected and then reinforced existing prejudices about the hierarchies of gender and race. And even today, Patricia Fara points out, preconceived ideas can influence the compilation and interpretation of data - not to mention the occasional falsification of data or suppression inconvenient results in battles between scientists.

4. Pointing out that the material about which scientists have theorized has often been provided by hosts of unnamed and unacknowledged practical men and sometimes women. During the despised Middle Ages, it was some humble technical inventions and innovations that made revolutionary contributions to progress in agriculture, and instruments initially designed by artisans for practical purposes (navigating, timing, weighing and measuring) provided the initial tools, sometimes refined or adapted by scientists, for scientific progress. The snobbish distinction between gentlemen and aristocrats who "philosophized" about science and those who worked with their hands (and for gain) runs through much of the history of science. Only rarely were those women who collaborated with their menfolk in scientific work acknowledged; and not until 1945 were the first two women actually admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society. And when in the 19th century explorer went to remote parts of the globe on scientific expeditions, in their sense of European superiority they scarcely mentioned the native guides whose local knowledge contributed so much to theirs.

5. Stressing that any successful development of science depends on supportive infrastructures - technological, economic, institutional, political, and cultural. There are interesting illustrations of how the development of science has been affected when it was left largely to free enterprise and commerce (as in 19th century Britain), compared with how it fared with state support (for better, as in 19th century Germany) or worse (as in 19th century France).

6. Combatting (surely outdated) Eurocentric histories of science and stressing the scientific ideas that reached Europe from China, India and the Middle East. Apparently it was not until Joseph Needham's work in the 1950s that Europeans appreciated just how many inventions originated in China and not in the European Renaissance; and there are some socio-political suggestions why Chinese and Arabic inventions did not lead to the explosive efflorescence to which they would lead in Europe.

Apart from these themes, a wealth of fascinating material is packed into this book. Having started with the Babylonians, its last section is a thoughtful and thought-provoking survey of where the different sciences stand today, and also of how important aspects of it are enmeshed in international commercial and military rivalries.

Inevitably there are some passages which many non-scientist will find difficult to follow, especially when we reach modern physics; but they are remarkably few. The style is always limpid and sometimes conversational; the tone pleasantly iconoclastic, occasionally sarcastic and once or twice even cynical in the attribution of motives. And the many illustrations, though often too small for comfort (you can often find bigger versions on Google Images), are beautifully chosen and analyzed to show the social attitudes which inspired them.

A splendid achievement.
17 people found this helpful
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L. Mosier
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy Read
Reviewed in the United States on 9 March 2010
Verified Purchase
I had to purchase this text as the "textbook" for my history of science course. I was expecting this to be much like the standard textbook that you read in college, but it is just a book on the history of science. I like how the book is organized; it is sectioned by timeframe and categories, but it also draws from other events to make comparisons.
9 people found this helpful
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Alex Trier
1.0 out of 5 stars Fara 4000years
Reviewed in Germany on 25 November 2010
Verified Purchase
I decided on buying this book after skimming through a very expensive Spanish translation. The organization of the subject had appealed to me as very innovative.
The book however turned out to be a great disappointment - second- and third-hand info slapped together in newspaper jargon, little science, no history. Fara rides on irresponsible generalizations and outright frivolity on top of inaccuracies and - sometimes - mistakes.
Fara's book is a serious threat to the scientific and historical education of the public.
One thing, however. Hat off to Fara's talent for coming up with great quotations. The quotations are worth all those sovereigns up to one shilling , which then would pay for the rest of the stuff.

((Alex Trier , Santiago , Chile))
2 people found this helpful
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