Ushers of Modernity
It was in a library, that bastion of collected, preserved, and accessible knowledge, that the sole surviving copy of an ancient Roman poem possessed of astonishingly prescient and, to some, dangerous ideas about the nature of being was found.
In “The Swerve,” Stephen Greenblatt tells the story of Poggio Bracciolini, a tireless book collector who happened upon the sole surviving copy of “On the Nature of Things,” by Lucretius, preserved in a library. Poggio understood the importance of his find and immediately ordered that it be reproduced and proliferated. It is an enthralling tale about a journey of intellectual progress and the enduring gale that ushered the world into modernity through the discovery of paradigm shifting ideas that launched the Italian Renaissance and guided philosophical and scientific progress for centuries.
Poggio’s dedication to knowledge and the resolve he exercised in preserving it inspired the compilation of the following reading list in which we discover the travails and triumphs of a few visionary minds that helped usher the world into modernity.
"The Swerve: How the World Became Modern," Stephen Greenblatt
Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic, "On the Nature of Things," by Lucretius, a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions
"On the Nature of Things," Lucretius
This great poem stands with Virgil's Aeneid as one of the vital and enduring achievements of Latin literature. Based on the tenets of Epicurean philosophy, "On the Nature of Things" asserts that matter is composed of an infinite number of small particles; that even the soul, like the body, is made up of these atoms and dissolves painlessly after death; that there is no afterlife and therefore no cause for fear; and that the universe operates without the aid or attention of gods.
"Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World," Amir Alexander
In "Infinitesimal," the award-winning historian Amir Alexander exposes the deep-seated reasons behind the rulings of the Jesuits and shows how the doctrine persisted, becoming the foundation of calculus and much of modern mathematics and technology. Indeed, not everyone agreed with the Jesuits. Philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians across Europe embraced infinitesimals as the key to scientific progress, freedom of thought, and a more tolerant society. As Alexander reveals, it wasn't long before the two camps set off on a war that pitted Europe's forces of hierarchy and order against those of pluralism and change.
"Longitude: The True Story of a Love Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time," Dava Sobel
Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day?and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution?a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land.
"Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture," Ross King
On August 19, 1418, a competition concerning Florence's magnificent new cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore--already under construction for more than a century--was announced: "Whoever desires to make any model or design for the vaulting of the main Dome....shall do so before the end of the month of September." The proposed dome was regarded far and wide as all but impossible to build: not only would it be enormous, but its original and sacrosanct design shunned the flying buttresses that supported cathedrals all over Europe. The dome would literally need to be erected over thin air.
"The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, Greed, Violence and Depravity in an Age of Beauty," Alexander Lee
Renowned as a period of cultural rebirth and artistic innovation, the Renaissance is cloaked in a unique aura of beauty and brilliance. Its very name conjures up awe-inspiring images of an age of lofty ideals in which life imitated the fantastic artworks for which it has become famous. But behind the vast explosion of new art and culture lurked a seamy, vicious world of power politics, perversity, and corruption that has more in common with the present day than anyone dares to admit. In this lively and meticulously researched portrait, Renaissance scholar Alexander Lee illuminates the dark and titillating contradictions that were hidden beneath the surface of the best-known artworks of the Renaissance.
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