Reviews
Leon Lederman Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and coauthor ofThe God ParticleWow, Teresi'sLost Discoveriesis a romp through the history of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology. Teresi must have pored through tons of ancient manuscripts and scholarly compendia to unearth a rich mine of historical achievements of largely non-Western civilizations that preceded and enabled the Golden Age of Greece. For science buffs who are curious about 'How do we know?' and 'How did we learn?' this is a spectacular canvas, and it illuminates the power of cultural diversity. Yes, there were peaks in the progress of science, but today science is the only universal culture, the same in the West, East, North, and South. Teresi's important book helps to explain why., Dava SobelAuthor of Galileo's Daughter and Longitude If you think, as I did, that science flowered in ancient Greece -- the way Athena sprang fully formed from the brow of Zeus -- then read Dick Teresi's Lost Discoveries and revel in the global expression of early genius, from Sumerian mathematics and ancient Indian particle physics to the sky maps of the Skidi Pawnee and the rubber 'factories' of the Aztecs., Dava Sobel Author of Galileo's Daughter and Longitude If you think, as I did, that science flowered in ancient Greece -- the way Athena sprang fully formed from the brow of Zeus -- then read Dick Teresi's Lost Discoveries and revel in the global expression of early genius, from Sumerian mathematics and ancient Indian particle physics to the sky maps of the Skidi Pawnee and the rubber 'factories' of the Aztecs., Leon Lederman Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and coauthor of The God Particle Wow, Teresi's Lost Discoveries is a romp through the history of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology. Teresi must have pored through tons of ancient manuscripts and scholarly compendia to unearth a rich mine of historical achievements of largely non-Western civilizations that preceded and enabled the Golden Age of Greece. For science buffs who are curious about 'How do we know?' and 'How did we learn?' this is a spectacular canvas, and it illuminates the power of cultural diversity. Yes, there were peaks in the progress of science, but today science is the only universal culture, the same in the West, East, North, and South. Teresi's important book helps to explain why., Dava SobelAuthor ofGalileo's DaughterandLongitudeIf you think, as I did, that science flowered in ancient Greece -- the way Athena sprang fully formed from the brow of Zeus -- then read Dick Teresi's Lost Discoveries and revel in the global expression of early genius, from Sumerian mathematics and ancient Indian particle physics to the sky maps of the Skidi Pawnee and the rubber 'factories' of the Aztecs.