| Description |
xxix, 302 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Summary |
"A myth-shattering view of the medieval Islamic world's myriad scientific innovations, which preceded-and enabled-the European Renaissance. The Arabic legacy of science and philosophy has long been hidden from the West. British-Iraqi physicist Jim Al-Khalili unveils that legacy to fascinating effect by returning to its roots in the hubs of Arab innovation that would advance science and jump-start the European Renaissance. Inspired by the Koranic injunction to study closely all of God's works, rulers throughout the Islamic world funded armies of scholars who gathered and translated Persian, Sanskrit, and Greek texts. From the ninth through the fourteenth centuries, these scholars built upon those foundations a scientific revolution that bridged the one-thousand-year gap between the ancient Greeks and the European Renaissance. Many of the innovations that we think of as hallmarks of Western science were actually the result of Arab ingenuity: Astronomers laid the foundations for the heliocentric model of the solar system long before Copernicus; physicians accurately described blood circulation and the inner workings of the eye ages before Europeans solved those mysteries; physicists made discoveries that laid the foundation for Newton's theories of optics. But the most significant legacy of Middle Eastern science was its evidence-based approach-the lack of which kept Europeans in the dark throughout the Dark Ages. The father of this experimental approach to science-what we call the scientific method-was an Iraqi physicist who applied it centuries before Europeans first dabbled in it. Al-Khalili details not only how discoveries like these were made, but also how they changed European minds and how they were ultimately obscured by later Western versions of the same principles. With transporting detail, Al-Khalili places the reader in the intellectual and cultural hothouses of the Arab Enlightenment: the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, one of the world's greatest academies, the holy city of Isfahan, the melting pots of Damascus and Cairo, and the embattled Islamic outposts of Spain. Al-Khalili tackles two tantalizing questions: Why did the Arab world enter its own Dark Age after such a dazzling enlightenment? And how much did Arabic learning contribute to making the Western world as we know it? Given his singular combination of expertise in both the Western and Middle Eastern scientific traditions, Al-Khalili is uniquely qualified to solve those riddles"--Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
A dream of Aristotle -- The rise of Islam -- Translation -- The lonely alchemist -- The house of wisdom -- Big science -- Numbers -- Algebra -- The philosopher -- The medic -- The physicist -- The prince and the pauper -- Andalusia -- The Marāgha Revolution -- Decline and Renaissance -- Science and Islam today -- Timeline : then Islamic world from antiquity to the beginning of the modern period. |
| Subject |
Science -- Arab countries -- History.
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Science -- Philosophy -- History.
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Science, Medieval.
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Science -- Methodology -- History.
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Arab countries -- Intellectual life.
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Science, Renaissance.
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HISTORY -- World. |
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HISTORY -- Middle East -- General. |
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Intellectual life. |
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Science. |
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Science, Medieval. |
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Science -- Methodology. |
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Science -- Philosophy. |
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Science, Renaissance. |
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Arab countries. |
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Araber |
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Renaissance |
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Wissenschaft |
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Science -- Arab countries -- History. |
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Science -- Philosophy -- History. |
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Science, Medieval. |
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Science -- Methodology -- History. |
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Science, Renaissance. |
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Arab countries -- Intellectual life. |
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Islam and science. |
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Science -- Islamic countries -- History. |
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Science -- Arab countries -- History. |
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Religion and science. |
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Islam -- Influence. |
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History. |
| Added Title |
How Arabic science saved ancient knowledge and gave us the Renaissance |
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Bridging Cultures Muslim Journeys (NEH).
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| Standard No. |
727703460 966581534 967800343 973962565 974377382 980449690 985298810 988981560 993395089 995569532 1017876020 1022714507 1027997378 1029812039 1034877270 1039519902 1045702670 1050293174 1054974429 1083386381 1088675291 1090856126 1099581164 1102451151 1105962369 1109984547 1113894682 1120209468 1125813608 1134416758 1137641344 1141420529 1155178969 1159757691 1176514697 1191084595 1197612011 1200991673 1201003804 1201609227 1201633766 1201634235 1201926868 1201987862 1201996583 1201996861 1202004610 1202016368 1202019035 1268210767 1303796421 |
| ISBN |
9781594202797 (hardback) |
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1594202796 (hardback) |
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9780143120568 (pbk.) |
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0143120565 (pbk.) |
| OCLC # |
635459560 |
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