Dean, Graeme Only later, after the rediscovery of the Plato whose fascination with numbers and ratios bordered on worship, did science begin to take on a properly quantitative quality.
Crosby is best known for his path-breaking scholarship on European colonial expansion, Ecological Imperialism and The Columbian Exchange, which discuss the happenstance biological advantages that allowed Europeans to overwhelm the Americas & springboard to world domination, and this book makes a lovely conclusion to this trilogy. And that is the transformation addressed in a very accessible and readable way by Crosby’s stimulating, wide-ranging study of the intellectual development of the medieval West.’ Clarke, Frank He was married to linguist Frances Karttunen. In 1972 he created the term "Columbian Exchange" in his book of the same name. Herrero-Solana, Víctor This book started out well, not diving too deeply into that end of the pool. Only later, after the rediscovery of the Plato whose fascination with numbers and ratios bordered on worship, did science begin to take on a properly quantitative quality. Seriously, you'll like it!Anyone who seriously wants to understand why Europe and its offshoots surged so far ahead of the rest of the world in the past several centuries must read this book.A fascinating and unique account of how scientific thinking matters so much and the way It has shaped everything we now take for granted. In Alyssa Cole’s unnerving social thriller When No One is Watching, Sydney Green returns to Brooklyn after a traumatic breakup to find...Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. He retired from the chair of Professor Emeritus of History, Geography, and American Studies of the University of Texas at Austin in 1999.
O'Leary, Michael If you want to know about the rise of quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600, this is a great resource.The columbian exchange and ecological imperialism were both amazing books. As the subtitle of the book hints, this begins to happen sometime in the mid-thirteenth century, and this is precisely the set of stories that Crosby seeks to elucidate for the general reader. Reviews.
Some very provocative answers are provided by Alfred Crosby in his clear and ambitious book The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society 1250-1600. A very interesting treatise on the development of "measurement" in the Western world. i love this book. saving…. However, it is short and worth it for anyone interested in the origins of many things we take for granted today.The ascent of west started with quantification. by Cambridge University Press Beyond that, I don't see why you might want to read this. González-Molina, Antonio The Measure of Reality, first published in 1997, discusses the epochal shift from qualitative to quantitative perception in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Honestly, I can't say I understood anything that Crosby wrote in the chapter about music. Corera-Álvarez, Elena The science of Aristotle, arguably the biggest influence on post-Hellenic science west of the Levant, was thoroughly qualitative. This book started out well, not diving too deeply into that end of the pool. 2016. There is an important lesson here for today.’‘Crosby shows us how Europeans prepared for their world encompassing expansion after 1500 by learning how to measure, calculate and control the world around them by breaking reality into equal, arbitrary units. By the sixteenth century more people were thinking quantitatively in western Europe than in any other part of the world. Buried somewhere among the thickets of impenetrable prose, run-on sentences and sundry atrocities against the English language is a semi-decent idea. The Measure of Reality, first published in 1997, discusses the epochal shift from qualitative to quantitative perception in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. While it may seem that such a development was in all ways positive, there have been obvious negative consequences, which may or may not be resolvable by such a philosophical change. Kuriakose, Bineeth I'm not an eager or happy reader of philosophy. Don't make that mistake! and on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Crosby systematically compares the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period in the areas of astronomy, cartography, mathematics, painting, music, commerce, accounting, military techniques space as well as spiritual and historical time.I enjoy reading about the history of science, which if I had to categorize this book, it would most appropriately fit there. The key point of The Measure of Reality is that our notion of the world, our way of making sense of things, changed from one that was purely qualitative to one that is largely quantitative.
The Measure of Reality. Chinchilla-Rodríguez, Zaida However, by the middle of the book, it took hold. For those purely interested in the history and not the philosophy and ideologies, Wikipedia should suffice.This is a history of how Western Europe became quantified. The science of Aristotle, arguably the biggest influence on post-Hellenic science west of the Levant, was thoroughly qualitative.
2010. Crosby studied at Harvard University and Boston University. As the subtitle of the book hiW. It hits a deep and abiding nerve in me. Lots of talk about perspective in painting, doubleentry bookkeeping, musical notation etc and so on. Writing a longue durée history is a challenge for anyone, but especially when tackling changes, rather than continuities, across generations and cultures. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Some very provocative answers are provided by Alfred Crosby in his clear and ambitious book The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society 1250-1600.