“The Scientific Revolution” by Steven Shapin tries to shed light on the great changes that have molded the present-day modernity. Shapin being a sociologist and historian of science has written a number of books including Leviathan and the Air-Pump (1985), A Social History of Truth (1994), and The Scientific life (2008) among others. In this book, he tries to challenge the 20th century historiography that came up with the notion of the Scientific Revolution, while at the same time, the he recognizes the remarkable scientific work throughout the period.
From his viewpoint, the historical idea of the Scientific Revolution is wrongly portrayed. In fact, he sees the development of the modern scientific perspective as an evolutionary process where …show more content…
Shapin has provided a bibliographic essay containing journals and books at the end of book that readers can use if they are interested in knowing more about the period and anything that concerns it. Though Shapin has provided a long bibliographic essay, I did not like the way he has cited his major quotations as he has done it by topic, but not by page or citation. This makes it difficult for a reader to track his quotations. The warnings provided by the author in the introduction are very important because without them, a reader might feel the scope of the book to be a bit limiting .Case in point his discussion of seventeenth century key figures is very narrow and leaves the reader asking for more.
In my opinion, Shapin’s book is not the best on Scientific Revolution, since it has a very specific point of view but it is does focus on the truth of that period. The book expanded my knowledge and understanding on the subjects discussed. So I would recommend it to any student interested in learning about Scientific Revolution. Because it provides a good introduction to Scientific Revolution period for a reader with limited background in the philosophy and history of science; however, the book might be difficult for a reader without any of that
From his viewpoint, the historical idea of the Scientific Revolution is wrongly portrayed. In fact, he sees the development of the modern scientific perspective as an evolutionary process where …show more content…
Shapin has provided a bibliographic essay containing journals and books at the end of book that readers can use if they are interested in knowing more about the period and anything that concerns it. Though Shapin has provided a long bibliographic essay, I did not like the way he has cited his major quotations as he has done it by topic, but not by page or citation. This makes it difficult for a reader to track his quotations. The warnings provided by the author in the introduction are very important because without them, a reader might feel the scope of the book to be a bit limiting .Case in point his discussion of seventeenth century key figures is very narrow and leaves the reader asking for more.
In my opinion, Shapin’s book is not the best on Scientific Revolution, since it has a very specific point of view but it is does focus on the truth of that period. The book expanded my knowledge and understanding on the subjects discussed. So I would recommend it to any student interested in learning about Scientific Revolution. Because it provides a good introduction to Scientific Revolution period for a reader with limited background in the philosophy and history of science; however, the book might be difficult for a reader without any of that