Ingenious Pursuits : Building the Scientific Revolution

Rating:
Summary: thorough yet aimless; detailed yet unclear
Review: This is a tough book to finish because it isn't clear where the story is. The research is thorough, as you might expect from an author who is "Professor of Renaissance Studies". But the book touches on all kinds of scientific advances and technology that would be interesting if explained. Jardine mentions the introduction of the ruby bearing for chronometers. But she doesn't explain or illustrate the jewelled watch movement. By contrast I've watched Gerry Sussman, an MIT EECS professor, hold an audience spellbound with a clear explanation of what the 17 jewels in a 17-jewel watch movement do. Next time Jardine writes about science, I hope that she collaborates with an engineer or scientist and an illustrator.

Rating:
Summary: Ok for those new to this field - otherwise unsatisfactory
Review: This isn't a bad book for beginners in the history of science. The narrative is well told, in a lively style, and ought to provoke more interest in this fascinating topic. However anybody with a basic knowledge of this field might end up feeling a little short changed. Many of the significant characters Jardine looks at are given less examination than they might deserve, and important developments are sometimes given only cursory attention. For example, her early assertion that a range of characters including John Flamsteed, Hevelius, Robert Hooke and even Kepler are "largely unknown" will not sit easily with many historians of science - and perhaps this indicates the book's target audience. Also some of Jardine's attempts to draw parallels between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries can lead to some questionable conclusions. Were the British-French research efforts into blood transfusions in the 1600's really "The precursor to the US-USSR space race" as is claimed, for example? All in all, an adequate introduction, well illustrated and with a satisfactory bibliography and list of suggested further reading. But neither a work of huge originality or particularly noteworthy perception.