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Nice review BlackAdder Send a noteboard - 05/11/2010 09:42:27 PM
I like reading about the history of science so some of your examples really struck me as interesting.
and since I am not reading this academically but in order to learn something for fun, I am not unhappy with her turning the birth of the Scientific Revolution into a Grand Narrative. It is a much better one than the myth that Science grows whole and pure, based in Rationality alone, from the Deep Dark of the Middle Ages.

Well, I do like to read narratives about science. And yes, rationality was important in developing scientific method, but hardly sufficient.

It then goes further, and combines dynasty politics with intellectual history and scientific development. Heidelberg was, after all, once of the great centres of European learning.

Yeah, very interesting to see how science interacted with the world around it back then. It's very easy to not know since it's generally not taught in either history or science courses.

I freely admit that part of the reason why I love this book is that it is based in precisely the type of history-writing I adore. I don't want to read about farmers and fishermen. I want kings and queens, dynasty politics, religious intrigue, great thinkers and stories. There are limits to the stories you can tell about the farmers and fishermen. And, perhaps more importantly, it is all about the pleasure of recognition. Part of the appeal is the connection made between two parts of history which I have always approached separately.

I guess... it might be more entertaining to read those types of histories, but they give a myopic view of the time imo. The lives and accounts of the farmers and fishermen give a better picture of what things were like.

European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... I suppose that makes me a geek.

mmm, I like what you've done there.

It could be that her way of writing appeals to me so much because it is reminiscent of literary interpretation. In fact, much of it is literary interpretation. She traces references to Spenser (after grounding him in the Order of St. George), and this mix of literature and history not only triggers a number of my intellectual pleasure points, it paints a delicious swirl of colour around what is too often presented as a black and white, dreary story of Progress of Mind, bringing Kepler, Newton, Descartes and the like down to history from the rarefied heights of scientific development.

Hmm, perhaps an example would have been good. I'm not entirely sure what you mean.

All the while tracing the development of the story of the Rosicrucian Order (or the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross) in its changing manifestations.

I really don't know anything about this order (as you might have guessed from my lack of European history knowledge).

I love it.

I might have to take a look at it in a library. I don't know much EU history (aside from science) so it might not be for me.
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The Rosicrucian Enlightenment by Frances Yates - 04/11/2010 03:22:41 PM 1698 Views
I do the same thing with history. - 04/11/2010 05:08:59 PM 917 Views
Re: I do the same thing with history. - 04/11/2010 05:12:03 PM 1096 Views
I too have long been fascinated by Rosicrucianism and all its constituents. - 04/11/2010 07:23:13 PM 851 Views
Re: I too have long been fascinated by Rosicrucianism and all its constituents. - 05/11/2010 01:05:47 PM 875 Views
Very cool. - 05/11/2010 08:56:44 PM 901 Views
Re: Very cool. - 08/11/2010 08:11:49 PM 903 Views
Nice review - 05/11/2010 09:42:27 PM 1254 Views
Re: Nice review - 05/11/2010 09:56:52 PM 890 Views
Re: Nice review - 05/11/2010 10:42:26 PM 1112 Views
Re: Nice review - 08/11/2010 08:14:29 PM 1009 Views

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