Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Eamon, William

Paperback

Series: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

PhilosophySports GeneralGeneral World History

ISBN10: 0691026025
ISBN13: 9780691026022
Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr
Published: Jun 2 1996
Pages: 512
Weight: 1.61
Height: 1.24 Width: 6.08 Depth: 9.19
Language: English

By explaining how to sire multicolored horses, produce nuts without shells, and create an egg the size of a human head, Giambattista Della Porta's Natural Magic (1559) conveys a fascination with tricks and illusions that makes it a work difficult for historians of science to take seriously. Yet, according to William Eamon, it is in the how-to books written by medieval alchemists, magicians, and artisans that modern science has its roots. These compilations of recipes on everything from parlor tricks through medical remedies to wool-dyeing fascinated medieval intellectuals because they promised access to esoteric secrets of nature. In closely examining this rich but little-known source of literature, Eamon reveals that printing technology and popular culture had as great, if not stronger, an impact on early modern science as did the traditional academic disciplines.

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