Books on the History of Science.

[wraggy]

James, Tim, Bjorn et. al
If you could only have 10 books on your shelf on the subject of the History of Science what would they be?

[eckadimmock]

Lonely?

[bjorn]

Jul 13, 2009 5:08:22 GMT wraggy said:

James, Tim, Bjorn et. al
If you could only have 10 books on your shelf on the subject of the History of Science what would they be?

Here are 10 books I can't live without, lonely or not

Leaving aside James' forthcoming book and listed alphabetically by author/editor:

John Hedley Brooke:
"Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives"

Gary B. Ferngren (editor):
"Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction"

Edward Grant:
"God and Reason in the Middle Ages"
"Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus"

Toby E. Huff:
"The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West"

David C. Lindberg:
"The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450"

"When Science and Christianity Meet " (edited also with Ronald L. Numbers)

Steven Shapin:
"The Scientific Revolution" (fun and illuminating, though I tend to agree somewhat less with this than others of the above)

Let me add a few more controversial books, one from a rather strong (too put it mildly) Catholic position and one from a strong evangelical position:

"The Relevance of Physics" by Stanley Jaki (his first and perhaps still most impressive work, mostly free of the overstatements of his post 1990 books, like e.g. "The Savior of Science" (which BTW is worth reading, if for nothing else to understand what Jaki ended up with thinking/believing about Christianity and Science)

"The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy"
Nancy Pearcey and Charles Thaxton

OK, that was my 10 picks as of today.

[James Hannam]

I’d interpret Wraggy’s request a bit differently and suggest ten books that give a great overview of the whole state of the field. I don’t agree with everything in all these, but all are worth reading.

For a complete overview:

James McClellan, Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction

Ancient Science:

Geoffrey Lloyd, Early Greek Science/Greek Science after Aristotle

Medieval Science:

David Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science

Galileo:

Michael Sharratt, Decisive Innovator

Newton:

Richard Westfall, The Life of Isaac Newton

Scientific Revolution:

Shapin and Shaeffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump

Chemistry:

David Knight, Ideas in Chemistry

Evolution:

Peter Bowler, Evolution: The History of an Idea

Modern Science:

Manjit Kumar, Quantum

Philosophy:

Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Best wishes

James

[humphreyclarke]

I'm a newcomer to history of science so my collection is fairly small. The main ones I own are:

John Gribben - Science : A History - This was the first book I bought on the History of Science so I thought it deserves a mention. It suffers a little bit from 'the enlightenment interpretation', in other words it starts in 1500 with Copernicus and is mainly the story of isolated geniuses making the running with limited discussion of the intellectual climate. He does however get figures like Galileo and Bruno right and it is a well written and informative jaunt.

David Lindberg - The Beginnings of Western Science - Indispensable textbook for early science but a bit dry to read. An updated edition (with an enhanced section on Islamic science) has been released recently

Edward Grant - The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages - Finally got around to reading this recently. It's was a groundbreaking book and very good, but also perhaps a bit dry. I should add that James's book covers the same territory but is much more readable and has plenty of humorous anecdotes to keep you going.

Stephen Gaukroger - The Emergence of a Scientific Culture - Thought this was an excellent synthesis of the latest scholarship on the emergence of science from the 12th century to the end of the 17th. Gaukroger is an expert on Descartes and Cartesian natural philosophy and knows his stuff. However, it is orientated towards academics and fairly heavy going.

Manjit Kumar - Quantum - Good narrative history of Quantum physics. Had to reread some of the chapters because I found the science a bit complicated (i.e not too dumbed down). Thought it was well written although I had some trouble reading through it.

James McClellan - Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction - This is a really excellent overview and gives a more complete picture than other histories which concentrate on either science or technology in isolation.

Gary B. Ferngren (editor) - 'Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction' - Useful collection of essays on the interaction between Science and Religion.

Adrian Desmond and James Moore - Darwin - Great one volume biography as it includes the wider intellectual debates.

Gale E. Christianson - Issac Newton - Slim, well written biography

Peter Harrison - The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science - Interesting thesis, good insight into the intellectual culture of the 'scientific revolution' and shows the role played by conceptions of the fall.

Ron Numbers - Galileo Goes to Gaol - Nice collection of essays which tackle the usual myths.

Arthur Koestler - Sleepwalkers - Great on Keplar. Decent book if you can ignore the terrible medieval chapter.

[wraggy]

James, H.C and Bjorn, thanks for the replies. I was going to ask James how he made a living but it has been answered on the blog today.
However, I have a question about sources. How do you chase up primary sources for your Historical research? I ask this as someone who has a full time job. Is there good stuff available on the net or do you have to subscribe to journals or the like to find and have access to primary documents?

[jamierobertson]

Speaking as someone who had to write essays as an undergraduate, most universities have facilities for students/staff/alumni to gain access to a wide variety of journals. Individual subscriptions are hugely expensive, and it's much more practical to get to them via an institution. Not sure how easy that would be for you, though.

[wraggy]

Has any one had a look At Edward Grants' Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus' 1st ed. 2006)?
I'm am particularly interested in the interaction of Science with Christianity.

[zameel]

There seems to be an understanding that Islamic science is to be excluded from this bibliography. For those interested in Arabic science, which had an important impact on Western science (up to and beyond the renaissance) and is thus ingored at one's peril, I would recommend the following few (although I've only had a look at a couple of them):

George Saliba: Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2007 - for a more condensed look at his argument on the need to change our historiography, see: www.columbia.edu/~gas1/project/visions/case1/sci.1.html

Peter E. Pormann & Emilie Savage-Smith: Medieval Islamic Medicine Edinburgh University Press, 2007 - here is an interview with the author (Savage-Smith) where she discusses the Islamic origin of the urban hospital (open to all, shape similar to modern ones, and with separate wards), the origin of the public pharmacy, the first illustrated surgery textbooks, important new discoveries, the earliest clinical trial in history in al-Razi (who also wrote on pathology that was published in Europe till the 18th century), and the continued use of this Arabic knowledge: muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=1125

A.Y. al-Hassan: Studies in al-Kimya': Critical Issues in Latin and Arabic Alchemy and Chemistry Georg Olms Verlag AG, 2009 - for a preview see: www.history-science-technology.com/Geber/Geber%204.htm

J.L. Berggren: Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1986

Donald R. Hill & A.Y. al-Hassan: Islamic Technology, an Illustrated History Cambridge University Press, 1986 - for a preview by the two authors, see: www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2011.htm

AI Sabra & Jan P. Hogendijk (editors): The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives MIT Press, 2003

For a more popular celebration of Islamic science (with lots of useful and reliable material) see: www.muslimheritage.com/

[acornuser]

wraggy, you can usually get access to university libraries. You may have to pay a fee, but it's not too bad. Here in Virginia, I get to become a member at any state university, not just Mr. Jefferson's

(in fact, our arch-rivals at Virginia Tech have a better library in some respects)

[wraggy]

Zameel, your links are noted.

I am still after an answer on Edward Grants' Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus' 1st ed. 2006).

[jonkon]

I live in close proximity to and have ready access to Marquette, with its outstanding Medieval Studies program, and UW-Madison, home to Marshall Clagett and David C. Lindberg. In addition, through local library book sales and used bookstores, I have been able to acquire a personal collection that shames many university collections. That said, for reasons I will elaborate on in future posts, there are no "good" treatments of the history of science. However, books that I have found of value in my personal study include:

Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science.
Mason, Stephen F. A History of the Sciences.
Heilbron, J.L. Elements of Early Modern Physics.
Crombie, A.C. Augustine to Galileo.
Cohen, H. Floris. The Scientific Revolution - A Historiographical Inquiry.

[wraggy]

I thought that I read somewhere on the net that James Hannam is writing a book on Science and Religion. Is this true?