![]() ![]() ![]() Much of the book’s mathematical and astronomical explanations are very dense, and to someone unfamiliar with the subject matter it can be easy to lose the thread of what’s being discussed. In places, The Light Ages is quite a lot to take in at once. Throughout the narrative, Falk builds up a picture of not just the state of science in the 1300s, but also of its people and the lifestyles they enjoyed. Falk starts with the basics, explaining how early mathematicians were able to complete complex calculations, and how everyday people used the sun and stars to chart time, and continues all the way through to Westwyk’s development of a ‘computer’ that could track the movement of the planets. ![]() The book takes us back all the way to the 14th century, following in the footsteps of a Benedictine monk called John Westwyk as he explores the scientific world of his day. It is this misconception that Seb Falk’s The Light Ages strives to correct. Even though logic tells us that either of these imaginings must clearly be false, it’s hard to shake the image of Archimedes in his bathtub, or Newton being beaned in the head by a wayward apple, and there’s a certain appeal to thinking of the history of science as a series of bite size, Hollywood-worthy climaxes. When we consider science in the distant past, most people generally think one of two things: that it didn’t exist or that it was facilitated almost solely by high born men experiencing sudden Eureka moments of brilliance. ![]()
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