The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus - Softcover

Gingerich, Owen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143034766 ISBN 13: 9780143034766

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 2005

Synopsis

Examines how De revolutionibus, the technical sixteenth-century treatise by Nicolaus Copernicus, helped launch a revolution more profound than the Reformation and how the six hundred surviving copies have evolved into million-dollar cultural icons. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

"'Owen Gingerich knows how to judge a book - by its readers.In this exuberant tale he encounters bookworms and book thieves, book lovers, dealers, and collectors, book restorers and forgers, librarians, auctioneers, even FBI and Interpol agents A detective story, a Renaissance flashback, an exposé, a true confession, an altogether engrossing, edifying romp'" (Dava Sobel)

"'A fascinating story of a scholar as sleuth. His enthusiasm for what might be judged a rather fine point of history is infectious. His book deserves to be read not only by historians and bibliophiles, but by anyone with a taste for arcane detective adventures and a curiosity about the motivations of scholarly perseverance... As in most good adventure stories, the rewards are in the pursuit itself.'" (New York Times)

"'Only one of many illuminations, major and minor, in his book... A driven, fascinating book, and a rarity - a history of science by someone who actually knows about science.'" (John Carey Sunday Times)

From the Publisher:

A wonderfully engaging story of obsession and the love of books, in the tradition of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0143034766
• ISBN 13: 9780143034766
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306