Bag of Spoons
Just off the A1(M)

Thu, 22 Dec 2005

The Curious Life of Robert Hooke by Lisa Jardine 3/5

In my quest to catch up on some history I have read biographies of Newton and Pepys. My latest read was a bout the slightly less known Robert Hooke. He was a great experimenter who did all sorts of work with microscopes, telescopes, biology and mathematics. He did a lot of demonstrations for the early Royal Society, but didn't seem to get the recognition he deserved. He was also responsible for a lot of the rebuilding of London after the great fire of 1666, which made him quite rich.He was not the happiest of people and was continuously experimenting on himself with strange medicines that probably killed him in the end.

This book is a fairly accademic affair, but gives a pretty good picture of the man. There's a twist in that last line as there are thought to be no surviving pictures of him, but the author thinks she may have found one.

As with other similar books there is a large section of notes, but I find it annoying to have to keep flicking to the back to read the details of some quote or remark and tend to give up after a while, even though there may be interesting material there. There has to be a better way to present that information.

I did actually finish this just after System of the World, but that's because I took this when travelling as it's a much lighter book to carry around.

My next read is about the cracking of Japanese codes during WWII. Expect a report here eventually.

[22:23] | [] | comments (0) | G

Name:


E-mail:


URL:


Comment:



About

Categories

Calendar
< December 2005 >
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
     1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Archives
2008-Nov
2008-Oct
2008-Sep
2008-Aug
2008-Jul
2008-Jun
2008-May
2008-Apr
2008-Mar
2008-Feb
2008-Jan
2007-Dec
2007-Nov
2007-Oct
2007-Sep
2007-Aug
2007-Jul
2007-Jun
2007-May
2007-Apr
2007-Mar
2007-Feb
2007-Jan
2006-Dec
2006-Nov
2006-Oct
2006-Sep
2006-Aug
2006-Jul
2006-Jun
2006-May
2006-Apr
2006-Mar
2006-Feb
2006-Jan
2005-Dec
2005-Nov
2005-Oct
2005-Sep
2005-Aug
2005-Jul
2005-Jun
2005-May
2005-Apr
2005-Mar
2005-Feb
2005-Jan
2004-Dec
2004-Nov
2004-Oct
2004-Sep
2004-Aug
2004-Jul
2004-Jun

Blogging
Subscribe if you like
XFN Friendly

Adverts
Linux.org
Get Firefox!
Flying Spaghetti Monster

Hosted at VeloceSystems

My reading
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
Epic

The Bridge, by Iain Banks
Bargain

Colony, by Rob Grant
Bargain

That's Me In The Corner, by Andrew Collins
Xmas present

Global Village Idiot, by John O'Farrell
News humour

more...