A biography of a major figure in the 17th century cultural and scientific revolutions.

Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, this book is a captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books. Logging thousands of hours and thousands of miles, the author uncovers a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea.

Focusing on the debates between Robert Boyle and his archcritic Thomas Hobbes over the air-pump, this book proposes that 'solutions to the problem of knowledge are solutions to the problem of social order'. It shows how key scientific givens - facts, interpretations, experiment, truth - were fundamental to a new political order.

Crosby discusses the shift to quantitative perception which made modern science, technology, business practice, and bureaucracy possible.

Tells the story of the people who made science and the turbulent times they lived in. This book details famous figures such as Copernicus, Darwin, Andreas Vesalius, Galileo, Newton, Gregor Mendel and Louis Agassiz.

Written between 1919 and 1926, this text tells of the campaign aganist the Turks in the Middle East, encompassing gross acts of cruelty and revenge, ending in a welter of stink and corpses in a Damascus hospital.