John Farrell

Highlights the importance of medieval innovations as the basis for later technological progressThis history of medieval inventions, focusing on the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries, vividly portrays a thriving era of human ingenuity--and the results are still being felt to this day. From the mechanical clock to the first eyeglasses, both of which revolutionized society, many of the commonplace devices we now take for granted had their origin in the Middle Ages. Divided into ten thematic chapters, the accessible text allows the reader to sample areas of interest or read the book from beginning to end for a complete historical overview.A chapter on the paper revolution shows that innovations in mill power enabled the mass production of cheap paper, which was instrumental in the later success of the printing press as a means of disseminating affordable books to more people. Another chapter examines the importance of Islamic civilization in preserving ancient Greek texts and the role of translation teams in Sicily and Spain in making those texts available in Latin for a European readership. A chapter on instruments of discovery describes the impact of the astrolabe, which was imported from Islamic lands, and the compass, originally invented in China; these tools plus innovations in ship building spurred on the expansion of European trade and the later age of discovery at the time of Columbus.Complete with original drawings to illustrate how these early inventions worked, this guided tour through a distant era reveals how medieval farmers, craftsmen, women artisans, and clerical scholars laid the foundations of the modern world.… (plus d'informations)

I would like to be able to give this more stars--the writing was competent for the most part and there were some great ideas in the book. The reading for the audiobook was good, if a little rushed. However, I spent most of the time listening to it feeling quite confused about what was going on and why characters were doing things, and many of the characters seemed to have little to distinguish them from one another. I'd try another book by this author because I think there's quite a bit of potential there. This one, though, could have used the attentions of a substantive editor before it made its way to readers and listeners.… (plus d'informations)

I wholeheartedly concur with Randy's review of this one: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/58436314

One of the criticisms Randy makes is that this is largely based on secondary sources. In fact there is a huge archive available of Lemaitre's papers etc. and yet I don't believe this book refers to it at all. That is quite incredible. The cover boasts that it is the first biography of Lemaitre when there was already a substantial one available in French referred to occasionally in the course of this book. Although French works are given in the bibliography and referred to in the endnotes, I wonder if Farrell actually speaks/reads French.

Not surprisingly, then, from the historian's point of view, I find this book entirely inadequate.

As a writer, ditto. The book is a complete shambles. Why a publishing house would have published this as it, is beyond me. EMPLOY EDITORS. Everybody. EDITORS. P-leeaasssse.

An hour later...having said that, it is no easy matter, I imagine, to write a biography of somebody in which something highly technical and specialised plays so big a part. Maybe if I read more books of this type I will come around to thinking that as far as presentation goes, the author hasn't done as bad a job as I now feel he has.

And I have to say this: much as it claims otherwise, this is NOT a biography of Lemaitre. It is the story of his physics, that's all.… (plus d'informations)