Lost Discoveries : The Ancient Roots of Modern Science--from the Babylonians to the Maya - Hardcover

Teresi, Dick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684837188 ISBN 13: 9780684837185

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2002

Synopsis

Documents scientific investigations and discoveries that were made by ancient civilizations, including the lowest common denominator, negative numbers, eclipses, the awareness of a round planet, geocentric cosmology, and rubber vulcanization. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Dick Teresi is the author or coauthor of several books about science and technology, including The God Particle. He is cofounder of Omni magazine and has written for Discover, The New York Times Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly, and is a frequent reviewer and essayist for The New York Times Book Review. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Reviews

Science journalist Teresi (coauthor of The God Particle) has combed the literature to catalogue the scientific advances made by early non-Western societies and to determine their impact on Western science. His work spans millennia and encompasses the full extent of the globe. He points out, for example, that five millennia ago the Sumerians concluded that the earth was round. He also provides information on cultures of the Middle East, India, China, Africa and Oceania, as well as a host of New World cultures, predominately those of Mesoamerica. Throughout, readers learn that scientific knowledge of various sorts in diverse forms has been a part of all cultures. In chapters on mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry and technology, Teresi makes a convincing argument that Western science has often been indebted to advances made elsewhere (mineralogy was studied in Africa as early as 5000 B.C.). Teresi is at his strongest in the section on mathematics, where he discusses the evolution of Arabic numerals from the ancient Indians and the earliest conceptualizations of zero and infinity. Much less compelling are his assertions that early societies foreshadowed the ideas of quantum mechanics. Although a bit uneven, Teresi offers a great deal of fascinating material largely ignored by many histories of science.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

What a terrific read! Teresi, a reviewer, essayist, and cofounder of Omni magazine, brings to light the many fascinating advances made by ancient, non-Western cultures. If you think that modern science is rooted in the golden age of Greece, you owe it to yourself to read his book. Supported by exhaustive research and a board of expert advisers, the author details the rich intellectual gifts from peoples whose histories are often neglected by our Eurocentric culture. He explores important contributions in the areas of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology made by Pacific Islanders, Africans, Chinese, Indians, Arabs, and others. While it is an excellent multidisciplinary text for college-level classes, Teresi's work will also appeal to readers interested in science and intrigued by cultural histories. Extensive notes and a selected bibliography are organized by discipline. A wonderful addition to both academic and public libraries. Denise Hamilton, Franklin Pierce Coll. Lib., Rindge, NH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is a compendium of premodern knowledge of the natural world. Teresi structures his exploration into the science of Sumerian, Babylonian, Mayan, Chinese, and other non-European, premodern cultures around the thesis that classical Greece is not the sole fount of Western science. Certainly this pertains to mathematics--the Indians (and Mayans) invented the zero, Islamic scholars invented algebra, and the Chinese were the first to engage in observational astronomy. Teresi's presentation here is persuasive; it is also convincing when it turns to physics, chemistry, and geology, where he successfully contrasts erroneous ancient Greek ideas with better ones conceived elsewhere. On the other hand, the impression lingers that the lineage of Western science back to ancient discoveries is tenuous at best: precious few ancient ideas or inventions, Greek or otherwise, are involved in modern scientific research. Such impressions won't dampen the popularity of Teresi's tome, however, because curiosity about ancient civilizations is perennial. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684837188
• ISBN 13: 9780684837185
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464