Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea

New
Unabridged
2008
$8.77

Contrary to popular belief, fostered in countless school classrooms the world over, Christopher Columbus did not discover that the world was round. The idea of the world as a sphere had been widely accepted in scientific, philosophical and even religious circles from as early as the fourth century bc. Bizarrely, it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion that the world might actually be flat really took hold. Even more bizarrely, it persists to this day. Based on a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-earth beliefs - from the Babylonians to the present day - raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science, its relationship with religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. Flat Earth is the first definitive study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas, and evokes all the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual turmoil of the modern age.
'Highly entertaining and often hilarious ... an enjoyable romp through the dottier history of scientific and religious eccentricity' Sunday Times
`This entertaining history of the Flat Earth movement is full of crazy characters and fascinating details' Daily Telegraph
`Wonderful ... an intriguing chronicle of 150 years of self- delusion' Financial Times

Synopsis

Contrary to popular belief, fostered in countless school classrooms the world over, Christopher Columbus did not discover that the world was round. The idea of the world as a sphere had been widely accepted in scientific, philosophical and even religious circles from as early as the fourth century bc. Bizarrely, it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion that the world might actually be flat really took hold. Even more bizarrely, it persists to this day. Based on a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-earth beliefs - from the Babylonians to the present day - raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science, its relationship with religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. Flat Earth is the first definitive study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas, and evokes all the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual turmoil of the modern age.

'Highly entertaining and often hilarious ... an enjoyable romp through the dottier history of scientific and religious eccentricity' Sunday Times

`This entertaining history of the Flat Earth movement is full of crazy characters and fascinating details' Daily Telegraph

`Wonderful ... an intriguing chronicle of 150 years of self- delusion' Financial Times

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More Information

Format: Unabridged
Pages: 448
Edition: Unabridged
Publisher: Pan Books
Published: 18 Apr 2008
ISBN 10: 0330432893
ISBN 13: 9780330432894

Media Reviews

An energetic, all-inclusive, and amusing account of man's impressive capacity for self-delusion. Every creationist should read it. ---Steve Jones, author of Darwin's Ghost Highly entertaining and often hilarious. --- Sunday Telegraph The focus of Garwood's impressive research is a forgotten episode in the history of science. --- New Scientist A glorious romp around the world of Flat Earthism. --- Daily Express Garwood's often hilarious book is a serious look at an aberrant belief and those who took it up in modern times, centuries after the ?at Earth had been scientifically dismissed. . . . Garwood's books shows just how doggedly faith in an unscienti?c idea can hold. --- The Commercial Dispatch [A] quirky and highly entertaining slice of intellectual history. Elicits plentiful laughter and astonishment. --- Sunday Times Wonderful . . . dispassionate, and understanding. --- Financial Times

Author Bio

Dr. Christine Garwood is an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, and former Research Fellow on the Alfred Russel Wallace Project. Flat Earth is her first book.