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Cargando... Circumference: Eratosthenes and the Ancient Quest to Measure the Globepor Nicholas Nicastro
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Esta reseña ha sido escrita por los Primeros Reseñadores de LibraryThing. A good read, particularly for those interested in the topic. If you enjoyed "Longitude", you'll likely enjoy this book but towards the end it seems to get a bit 'fuzzy'. The first 2/3rds was really quite interesting even if the author's style may make it somewhat more difficult for readers to understand. Drawing a straight line - around the earth or in a book's presentation of topic - is never an easy task. It's a good read, though, and a book I'm glad I picked up! Esta reseña ha sido escrita por los Primeros Reseñadores de LibraryThing. A very well written, necessarily tangential account of Erastosthenes' calculation of the circumference of the Earth. I really enjoy these excursions into popular science. If you enjoyed Longitude, you will enjoy Circumference. Esta reseña ha sido escrita por los Primeros Reseñadores de LibraryThing. Author Nicholas Nicastro has written several historical novels set in the ancient world; here he moves into popular history with an account of Eratosthenes' calculation of the circumference of the Earth. Since little is known about Eratosthenes, much of the book involves filling in various tangents, such as details about ancient Alexandria where Eratosthenes became head librarian of the Museum in 245 BC. The beginning of the book is rather choppy with the first chapter moving from ancient sea travel to the Pharos lighthouse, Euergetes, the Ptolemaic king who brought Eratosthenes to Alexandria, the author's own trip to Alexandria in 2007, and finally the method and assumptions Erathosthenes used to calculate the Earth's circumference.Esta reseña ha sido escrita por los Primeros Reseñadores de LibraryThing. This is another of that group of books of which Longitude is probably the most famous example. Nicholas Nicastro explores the history of the idea of the circumference of the globe. It is a journey that starts with questions raised by an ancient Greek named Eratosthenes, about whom we learn a great deal more than his discovery of circumference, and doesn't end until almost two thousand years later. For those who love the history of science and how ideas develop it is a great read. Enjoy! sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
How do you measure the size of the planet you're standing on? "Circumference" is the story of what happened when one man asked himself that very question. Nicholas Nicastro brings to life one of history's greatest experiments when an ancient Greek named Eratosthenes first accurately determined the distance around the spherical earth. In this fascinating narrative history, Nicastro takes a look at a deceptively simple but stunning achievement made by one man, millennia ago, with only the simplest of materials at his disposal. How was he able to measure the land at a time when distance was more a matter of a shrug and a guess at the time spent on a donkey's back? How could he be so confident in the assumptions that underlay his calculations: that the earth was round and the sun so far away that its rays struck the ground in parallel lines? Was it luck or pure scientific genius? Nicastro brings readers on a trip into a long-vanished world that prefigured modernity in many ways, where neither Eratosthenes' reputation, nor the validityof his method, nor his leadership of the Great Library of Alexandria were enough to convince all his contemporaries about the dimensions of the earth. Eratosthenes' results were debated for centuries until he was ultimately vindicated almost 2000 years later, during the great voyages of exploration. "Circumference" is a compelling scientific detective story that transports readers back to a time when humans had no idea how big their world was--and the fate of a man who dared to measure the incomprehensible. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Antiguo miembro de Primeros reseñadores de LibraryThingEl libro Circumference de Nicholas Nicastro estaba disponible desde LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Debates activosNinguno
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)526.1092Natural sciences and mathematics Astronomy Mathematical geography; cartography, map making Theory and determination of Earth's figureClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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I feel this readable book could have been condensed into a volume half its size. Interesting to me was the fact that Columbus knew the world was round, BUT he underestimated the size of its circumference. Also interesting was the fact that his successor at the Great Library, Aristophanes of Byzantium, was the man who first developed a system of diacritics used in the Greek language; they are still used today in Modern Greek in a simpler form. The author closes with a metaphor: as the Eratosthenes Mountain Range 6000 feet undersea, Eratosthenes the man has remained obscure to us.
Recommended for popular science fans. ( )