Peter H. Marshall

I gave this book three stars because it had enough meat to get me through it but the writing is definitely a two star effort and GoodReads doesn't allow me to assign a half-star.

I was very disappointed in this book. The writing is dry and technical with little love or verve on the subject. Some of the chapters were fantastic, as was the one on John Dee, but the latter part of the book focuses on Rudolf's decline and it reads like a rendition of a list of facts.

I wanted more. More on the alchemists. More on the astrologers. More on their culture and their books. More on some of the local players and politics. More on the Church and the Counter-Reformation. More on the Jesuits and the Capuchin Monks!

There's just not enough meat on this book for me to recommend it. For a vague overview of this period in Prague's history it's fine, but for more on Alchemy and Astrology in Renaissance Prague, it means looking for other sources.… (plus d'informations)

Contents

Part I :Ancient Roots
1 Taosim : The Way of Nature.............9
2 Hinduism : The Way of Understanding.............24
3 Buddhism :The Way of Compassion................41
4 Ancient Egypt : Waters on High.........................54
5 Early Greece : Gaia...........................................62
6 The Romans : The Way of Soldier....................80
7 Celtic Mysteries : Neither This nor That............89
8 The Judaeo-Christian Tradition : Man's Dominion over Nature....97
9 Christianity : The Good Shepherd....................108
10 Islam : The Goodly Tree..................................127
11 North American Indians : The Way of the Eagle..........137

Part II Seeds beneath the Snow
12 Alchemy : Sacred Philosophy........................151
13 The Scientific Revolution : Nature on the Rack..........168
14 Philosophers of the Brave New World........................180
15 The Philosophical Counter-Revolution........................194
16 The Enlightenment : The Disenchantment of Nature..214
17 To Follow Nature.......................222
18 Primitivism and the Noble Savage..............235
19 Changing Sensibilities................................245

III Green Visions
20 The Romantic Mind and Imagination.........267
21 Romantic Cosmology................................281
22 Utopian Seers............................................299
23 Darwinism and the Web of Life.................319
24 The New World of Ecology........................333
25 Philosophers of the Earth..........................348
26 Time and Being : Modern Organic Science..........358
27 The Cosmic Joy of the New Science.........373
28 The Ressurection of Gaia..........................391

Part IV Teh Joining of the Ways
29 Envrionmental Ethics ................................403
30 Deep Ecology versus Social Ecology........413
31 Towards a Libertarian Ecology...................430
32 Ecotopia Revisited.....................................448

Notes............464
Select Bibliography..........490
Index.............502… (plus d'informations)