The Cambridge History of Science: Volume 1, Ancient Science by Alexander Jones (PDF)

Description

This volume in the highly respected Cambridge History of Science series is devoted to the history of science, medicine and mathematics of the Old World in antiquity. Organized by topic and culture, its essays by distinguished scholars offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of ancient science currently available. Together, they reveal the diversity of goals, contexts, and accomplishments in the study of nature in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and India. Intended to provide a balanced and inclusive treatment of the ancient world, contributors consider scientific, medical and mathematical learning in the cultures associated with the ancient world.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book gives a review of the social history, but not the history of ideas: how and why they were developed, how were they transmitted and criticised and why. Some of the chapters, in addition, are very poor scholarly endeavours: such as the one on antique geography, for example, would hardly pass as a term paper. The editors are clearly out of their depth when it comes to real science. History of science is not science in history. Neither the editors, nor the authors of this volume (as all other Cambridge History of Science volumes) seem to have understood this distinction. As a history of science book this volume is pretty close to worthless (as the other Cambridge Hİstory of Science volumes).

⭐I was disappointed with this book. In such a massive undertaking it is difficult to maintain editorial control but this book is a misnomer. It states that it is the history of science. Science is the empirical analysis of the world around us but barely four of the chapters actual deal with science as such. There is much conjecture by philosophers about the state of the world, but virtually no discussion of the experiments reported by people such as Archimedes.There are some chapters that deal the subject, that on Greek Optics, and Mesopotamian astronomy are excellent.I suspect the problems is lack of definition in the subject.1. Astrology is not a science – it is fortune telling based on observations published by others.2. Music is not a science ergo lobbing in a chapter on Ancient Greek Music and calling it harmonics is a bit steep.3. Unproven theories are not science, the fact that Democritus and the atomists got lucky is irrelevant.4. There is nothing on applied science – the Egyptian, Greek and Roman engineers and architects who experimented with materials and construction to produce structures which have withstood the elements and earthquakes for two and half thousand years do not get a mention. Surely the development of limestone cement is one of humanity’s greatest achievements.5. Religion is not science – religion is a fixed belief in an a priori assumption of an unproveable assertion. Science is the continual testing of hypotheses by experimentation – its very basis is DOUBT.Hopefully the subsequent volumes will be better.

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