The Man Who Knew Too Much. The Strange and Inventive Life of Robert Hooke 1635-1703

Inwood, Stephen

ISBN 10: 0333782860 / ISBN 13: 9780333782866

Published by Macmillan / Pan Macmillan Ltd, London, 2002

About this Item

First edition, first impression with full number line. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, WITHOUT DEDICATION, IN BLUE INK, ON TITLE PAGE. Some edge wear and creasing to top and bottom of jacket and spine, 'signed copy' sticker to front jacket, corners bruised, not price clipped (£18.99), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg copy. 485pp. Robert Hooke was one of the most inventive, versatile and prolific scientists of the late 17th century, but for 300 years his reputation has been overshadowed by those of his two great contemporaries, his friend Sir Christopher Wren and his rival Sir Isaac Newton. If he is remembered today, it is as the author of the law of elasticity or as a misanthrope who accused Newton of stealing his ideas on gravity. This book seeks to rescue its subject from centuries of obscurity and misjudgement. It shows us Hooke the prolific inventor, the mechanic, the astronomer, the anatomist, the pioneer of geology, meteorology and microscopy, the precursor of Lavoisier and Darwin. It also gives us Hooke the architect of Bedlam and the Monument, the supervisor of London's rebuilding after the Great Fire, the watchmaker, the consumer of prodigious quantities of medicines and purgatives, the candid diarist, the lover, the hoarder of money and secrets, the coffee house conversationalist. Very scarce signed.

Seller Inventory # 006052

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Man Who Knew Too Much. The Strange and Inventive Life of Robert Hooke 1635-1703
• Publisher: Macmillan / Pan Macmillan Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0333782860
• ISBN 13: 9780333782866
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Robert Hooke was one of the most inventive, versatile and prolific scientists in an age of brilliant scientists, but for 300 years his reputation has been overshadowed by those of his two great contemporaries, his friend Sir Christopher Wren and his rival Sir Isaac Newton. In Stephen Inwood's new book, Hooke and Hooke's world are recreated, with all their contradictions, their successes and failures.

About the Author

Stephen Inwood is the son of a London taxi driver and has lived in London all his life. He completed a doctorate at Oxford at the age of 23. He was a lecturer in English and social and economic history for 20 years. He is author of the very highly acclaimed A History of London.