A man of misconceptions
Subtitle: the life of an eccentric in an age of change
By: John Glassie
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: 2012
Language: eng
Number of pages: 335
ISBN-13: 9781594488719
Subjects: Eccentrics and eccentricities; Scientists; Intellectuals; Science; Intellectual life; Biography; History
Description: "This is the vivid, unconventional story of Athanasius Kircher, the legendary seventeenth-century priest-scientist who was either a great genius or a colossal crackpot ... or a bit of both. Kircher's interests knew no bounds. From optics to music to magnetism to medicine, he offered up inventions and theories for everything, and they made him famous across Europe. His celebrated museum in Rome featured magic lanterns, speaking statues, the tail of a mermaid, and a brick from the Tower of Babel. Holy Roman Emperors were his patrons, popes were his friends, and in his spare time he collaborated with the Baroque master Bernini. But Kircher lived during an era of radical transformation, in which the old approach to knowledge--what he called the 'art of knowing'--was giving way to the scientific method and modern thought. A Man of Misconceptions traces the rise, success, and eventual fall of this fascinating character as he attempted to come to terms with a changing world. With humor and insight, John Glassie returns Kircher to his rightful place as one of history's most unforgettable figures."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Apologetic Forerunner to This Kircherian Study; title: Part One; title: Incapable of Resisting the Force; title: Inevitable Obstacles; title: A Source of Great Fear; title: Scenic Proceedings; title: Chief Inciter of Action; title: Beautiful Reports; title: Part Two; title: Secret Exotic Matters; title: Habitation of Hell; title: The Magnet; title: An Innumerable Multitude of Catoptric Cats; title: Four Rivers; title: Egyptian Oedipus; title: The Admiration of the Ignorant; title: Little Worms; title: Philosophical Transactions; title: Underground World; title: A Dream; title: Everything; title: Part Three; title: Not As It Was; title: Immune and Exempt; title: Mentorella; title: Closest of All to the Truth; title: The Strangest Development.