A New History of the Scientific Revolution 2015

-

 




Didnt find "The Invention of Science" [Harper] full of the excitement the name might have augured. Author David Wooton determinedly grinds through the history, with some dramatic diversions, but mostly with a focus on the act of definition of terms. The span from Tycho Brake to Isaac Newton pretty much forms the basis of the book.

The stumbling search for terms that describe 'what' the inventors were doing gets a lot of attention - that along with the murky manner in which terms like "machine", "science", "invention" and "experiment" come to describe what goes on. It is less than deft - the way that Wooton shows the birthing of clarifying words. It's laborious, at least for those who may not be his student. At times The Invention of Science is a trip through volumes of the OED. Maybe that's not so bad.

Wootton bookends the revolution between 1572 (Tycho Brahe's observation of a new star) and 1704 (Isaac Newton's publication of Opticks).

 But such nitpicking is part and parcel of the post modern. Give me Connections by James Burke - something I avidly read over and over.

"The Invention of Science" [Harper]

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bob Watt: Great Inferior Poet Passes

-
Image
How many beautiful bodies/can Dylan garner a night --/ 50 - 100? How many can James Dickey garner'/two - or three?/How do all the girls with beautiful bodies /who get aced out, for dickey or dylan feel? - Poetry & Beautiful Bodies (1970) Came to learn from Dave Murray recently that great Milwaukee poet Bob Watt died. It happened in January. It was old news to many, but it was new news to me. This set the mind neuros to popping. I think I’m going back to the time when Bob Watts’ poetry first blew my mind. I remember when I first heard Bob Watts poetry: it was sudden and familiar. Music of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Midwest. Most importantly it said that poetry was right here, where we were. Not far. Moreover it did not have to wear a sportscoat. One with leather elbow patches. Watt was an exterminator. On the outskirts. His obit tells us he was in the service in Japan. That gave him a jump on Zen, maybe.    In a local night club, a girl got drunk/ And yelled, “I...
Read more

Art of Jeff Hull

-
Image
Jeff Hull came by recently to check Jake’s portfolio. And we kind of looked at some of Jeff's own more recent stuff together. Which is on the Web via some shows he’s had in recent years. Now I am stuck as anyone reading this will agree with words. Which provide a poor translation of what goes on in true visual art. Here goes. Jeff Hull’s paintings transcend a life time; they cut through blue paradises of art think and explode, exotic, rich and watery. The ordinary world is here, and is seen in a universe of visual indications. Cells of modern mind float on the canvas, and one painting enters another. Images flop along side stones emanating molecular progressions. Color is all over the place, and you are on a magical ride. This art is feedback music in the domain of the eyeball. The sky, the ferns the beat. I see stories. I apply cut-up technique. The stuff pops up at you in spectral neural displays. Jeff’s objects comet forth. You attach what you bring. Ferns, boobs, dripped...
Read more

Michael Bloomfield – If You Love These Blues

-
Image
First heard the Paul Butterfield blues band early in the summer of love 1967. We lent the record among our crew. For us they were something of a sleeper among the tremendous abundance of creative bands at the time. Certainly different in that they were closer to the roots of street expression - more so than some of the crimson and chiffon butterfly "psychedelicists" that were about. That year I caught on to Taj Mahal, Canned Heat, the Dirty Blues Band and the Butterfield Blues Band, whose lead guitar player, Mike Bloomfield, was a very big notch above anyone else on an instrument that was coming to define the era. He was the first rock guitar hero, ahead of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, and held the mantle, Mickey, at least for a while. When I re-imagined Black Orpheus ( itself a reimagining of Orpheus in the underground) I imagined Mike Bloomfield as the Pan-like protagonist, probably having learned by then that his guitar was the transcendental and evocative...
Read more