In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife of the Seventeenth Century's Most Inquiring Mind

Biography & Memoir, Philosophers, Reference, Literary
Cover of the book In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife of the Seventeenth Century's Most Inquiring Mind by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Hugh Aldersey-Williams ISBN: 9780393243116
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: June 15, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Hugh Aldersey-Williams
ISBN: 9780393243116
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: June 15, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

The extraordinary life and ideas of one of the greatest—and most neglected—minds in history.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English writer, physician, and philosopher whose work has inspired everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Jorge Luis Borges, Virginia Woolf to Stephen Jay Gould. In an intellectual adventure like Sarah Bakewell's book about Montaigne, How to Live, Hugh Aldersey-Williams sets off not just to tell the story of Browne's life but to champion his skeptical nature and inquiring mind.

Mixing botany, etymology, medicine, and literary history, Aldersey-Williams journeys in his hero's footsteps to introduce us to witches, zealots, natural wonders, and fabulous creatures of Browne's time and ours. We meet Browne the master prose stylist, responsible for introducing hundreds of words into English, including electricity, hallucination, and suicide. Aldersey-Williams reveals how Browne’s preoccupations—how to disabuse the credulous of their foolish beliefs, what to make of order in nature, how to unite science and religion—are relevant today.

In Search of Sir Thomas Browne is more than just a biography—it is a cabinet of wonders and an argument that Browne, standing at the very gates of modern science, remains an inquiring mind for our own time. As Stephen Greenblatt has written, Browne is "unnervingly one of our most adventurous contemporaries."

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The extraordinary life and ideas of one of the greatest—and most neglected—minds in history.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English writer, physician, and philosopher whose work has inspired everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Jorge Luis Borges, Virginia Woolf to Stephen Jay Gould. In an intellectual adventure like Sarah Bakewell's book about Montaigne, How to Live, Hugh Aldersey-Williams sets off not just to tell the story of Browne's life but to champion his skeptical nature and inquiring mind.

Mixing botany, etymology, medicine, and literary history, Aldersey-Williams journeys in his hero's footsteps to introduce us to witches, zealots, natural wonders, and fabulous creatures of Browne's time and ours. We meet Browne the master prose stylist, responsible for introducing hundreds of words into English, including electricity, hallucination, and suicide. Aldersey-Williams reveals how Browne’s preoccupations—how to disabuse the credulous of their foolish beliefs, what to make of order in nature, how to unite science and religion—are relevant today.

In Search of Sir Thomas Browne is more than just a biography—it is a cabinet of wonders and an argument that Browne, standing at the very gates of modern science, remains an inquiring mind for our own time. As Stephen Greenblatt has written, Browne is "unnervingly one of our most adventurous contemporaries."

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Teach Like Finland: 33 Simple Strategies for Joyful Classrooms by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book A Clockwork Orange (Restored Text) by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Heart of Darkness by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Seizure: A Novel by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Gun Dealers' Daughter: A Novel by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book The Bear Comes Home: A Novel by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Being a Brain-Wise Therapist: A Practical Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book The Teacher's Guide to Student Mental Health by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Limits of the Known by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book From Wall Street to the Great Wall: How Investors Can Profit from China's Booming Economy by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Cover of the book Love & Will by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy