The Light Ages

A Medieval Journey of Discovery

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Waterstones.com
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 24 Sep 2020 | Archive Date 16 Dec 2020

Talking about this book? Use #TheLightAges #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

The Middle Ages were a time of wonder. They gave us the first universities, the first eyeglasses and the first mechanical clocks as medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky.

In this book, we walk the path of medieval science with a real-life guide, a fourteenth-century monk named John of Westwyk - inventor, astrologer, crusader - who was educated in England's grandest monastery and exiled to a clifftop priory. Following the traces of his life, we learn to see the natural world through Brother John's eyes: navigating by the stars, multiplying Roman numerals, curing disease and telling the time with an astrolabe.

We travel the length and breadth of England, from Saint Albans to Tynemouth, and venture far beyond the shores of Britain. On our way, we encounter a remarkable cast of characters: the clock-building English abbot with leprosy, the French craftsman-turned-spy and the Persian polymath who founded the world's most advanced observatory.

An enthralling story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man and an extraordinary time, The Light Ages conjures up a vivid picture of the medieval world as we have never seen it before.

The Middle Ages were a time of wonder. They gave us the first universities, the first eyeglasses and the first mechanical clocks as medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from...


A Note From the Publisher

For publicity requests, please contact: Isabel Blake, IBlake@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk | For marketing requests, please contact: Julie Woon, JWoon@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

For publicity requests, please contact: Isabel Blake, IBlake@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk | For marketing requests, please contact: Julie Woon, JWoon@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk


Advance Praise

'Like a fictional scientist cloning dinosaurs from wisps of DNA, Seb Falk takes barely surviving fragments of evidence about an almost forgotten astronomer in a storm-chilled, clifftop cell to conjure the vast, teeming world of scientific research, practice and invention in the late Middle Ages. Profoundly scholarly, wonderfully lucid and grippingly vivid' Felipe Fernández-Armesto

'Compulsive, brilliantly clear and superbly well-written, it's a charismatic evocation of another world ... I can't recommend it highly enough' Ian Mortimer

'A wonderful book ... Required reading for anyone who thinks that the Middle Ages were a dark age' Tom Holland

'Hugely enlightening and important' Jim Al-Khalili

'A world of science on every page' Nancy Marie Brown

'A fascinating book' Lord Martin Rees



'Like a fictional scientist cloning dinosaurs from wisps of DNA, Seb Falk takes barely surviving fragments of evidence about an almost forgotten astronomer in a storm-chilled, clifftop cell to...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780241374252
PRICE £20.00 (GBP)
PAGES 384

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)
Download (PDF)

Average rating from 58 members


Readers who liked this book also liked: