The Light Ages
by Seb Falk · first published 2020
5mentions
1recommended by
3HN commenters
2021–2024first – last mentioned
33% recommend67% neutral
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…the concept that the universe can be studied by human reason and described with mathematics started as a philosophical/religious idea. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend that you check out “The Light Ages” by Seb Falk.
on “First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll by 21yo CS student” ↗…trigonometry) by hand. Some phenomena, like the precession of the equinoxes, required aggregating observations which had been taken over several centuries. A good book to get a sense of this complexity is “The Light Ages” by Seb Falk.
on “Timekeeping Before Clocks” ↗The Middle ("Medieval") Ages had a lot going on: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_Philosophers * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2071784.God_s_Clockmaker The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science by Seb Faulk was recently (2020) published and won a few awards (lots of interview on YouTube): * https://twitter.com/Seb_Falk Intellectual Curiosity and the…
on “Ask HN: Any recommendation for a good History of Science book?” ↗The book The Light Ages by Seb Falk: > In The Light Ages, Cambridge science historian Seb Falk takes us on an immersive tour of medieval science through the story of one fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk. From multiplying…
on “Keeping Time at Stonehenge” ↗…is far brighter. Falk, who researches the history of science in the later Middle Ages, has more recently focused on how — and by whom — science was actually done in medieval times. His latest book, The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science, gives an insider’s look through the tumultuous life of a single 14th-century monk and astronomer, John Westwyk."
on “The Light Ages: Science Was Alive and Well in the Dark Ages” ↗