The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Informative and entertaining Tells the story of the 15th century discovery of a manuscript of a previously unknown classic text, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) by Lucretius, written in the first century BC. The manuscript was discovered by an Italian, Poggio Bracciolini, who was the chief secretary for several Popes. Much of the book is devoted to Poggio's life. Greenblatt also gives lots of interesting information on early R. "The suppression of great ideas and their return to enlighten the world" according to Eric S.. Excellent and wide ranging book on the history of the origins of scientific thought in Greece and how those ideas survived the dark ages and reappeared to shape the modern world. Of particular interest to me was the role religion played in suppressing the ideas, but also in preserving the manuscripts for future scholars to "rediscover". A fascinating story of Lucretius's The Nature of Things and so much more. TH said Engaging introduction to Epicureanism and the recovery of the Greek and Roman literary tradition. This well-written, well-documented book makes for a fascinating read assuming one has interest in the topic. One begins the book expecting an account of Epicurean/Lucretian doctrine, and one gets some of that, but the book's focus is more the recovery and dissemination of the Lucretian text than its content or even prosody. I happen to have an interest in the process through which Greek and Roman texts were

The copying and translation of this ancient book-the greatest discovery of the greatest book-hunter of his age-fueled the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno; shaped the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein; and had a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare, and even Thomas Jefferson.. With The Swerve, Greenblatt transports listeners to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2012National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2012Renowned historian Stephen Greenblatt's works shoot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius-a bea