000			05281nam a22004574a 4500
001			ocm56614342
003			OCoLC
005			20251028092333.0
008			060407s2005 njuab b 001 0 eng
010			_a 2004022624
020			_a0691121338 (alk. paper)
020			_a9780691121338
029	1		_aNLGGC _b268503656
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780691121338
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780691121338
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780691121338
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780691121338
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780691121338
035			_z(Sirsi) 169511
040			_aDLC _cDLC _dYDX _dEYE _dBAKER _dXY4 _dVP@ _dNLGGC _dVF$
042			_apcc
050	0	0	_aQ125 _b.P323 2005
090			_aQ 125 .P323 2005
100	1		_aPark, David, _d1919-2012.
245	1	4	_aThe grand contraption : _bthe world as myth, number and chance / _cDavid Park.
260			_aPrinceton : _bPrinceton University Press, _cc2005.
300			_axiv, 331 p. : _bill., maps ; _c25 cm.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [311]-325) and index.
505	0		_aVoices from the Sands -- Managing the World -- Guesswork -- Earth and Heaven -- Beginnings and Endings -- Philosophy Continued -- Interlude: The World Map -- Towards a New Astronomy -- What is the World Made of? -- The Universe Measured -- The View from Here.
520			_aThe story of humankind's attempts to make sense of the world, understand its physical nature, and know its real and imagined inhabitants is chronicled in an in-depth study that brings together the fields of history, philosophy, literature, religion, and the physical sciences in an analysis of four thousand years of written history in which humans have imagined the earth they inhabit. "The Grand Contraption is the long-needed antidote to all those top-heavy histories of scientific thought that pass brusquely over the philosophies of the ancient world, eager to find the sure footing of modernity. Park tells us not only what science now knows, but how it got to know it: from an enthralling mix of myth, genius, logic, careful observation, guesswork, invention, and a dash of inspired lunacy."--Philip Ball, author of Life's Matrix and consultant editor, Nature "This book literally grabs you. The facts presented, the stories told, the author's reflections on the information he presents, are rendered beautifully-and masterfully. This is a labor of love, and the passion with which David Park has written the book is readily apparent and makes one want to keep on reading. And in doing so one is richly rewarded with keen insights, judicious appraisals, and with questions regarding courses of action and consequences that are not only thought provoking but also relevant."--Silvan S. Schweber, Brandeis University and Harvard University, author of QED and the Men Who Made It (Princeton) "The Grand Contraption is an impressive feat of scholarship in the history of science, and it is even more impressive if one considers that it is written in clear and unpretentious English. Park offers, in plain language, an attractive way to think about cosmological ideas from a single perspective. No one will put this book down without having their level of consciousness raised by a few notches."--Christian Wildberg, Princeton University Annotation. The Grand Contraption tells the story of humanity's attempts through 4,000 years of written history to make sense of the world in its cosmic totality, to understand its physical nature, and to know its real and imagined inhabitants. No other book has provided as coherent, compelling, and learned a narrative on this subject of subjects. David Park takes us on an incredible journey that illuminates the multitude of elaborate "contraptions" by which humans in the Western world have imagined the earth they inhabit--and what lies beyond. Intertwining history, religion, philosophy, literature, and the physical sciences, this eminently readable book is, ultimately, about the "grand contraption" we've constructed through the ages in an effort to understand and identify with the universe. According to Park, people long ago conceived of our world as a great rock slab inhabited by gods, devils, and people and crowned by stars. Thinkers imagined ether to fill the empty space, and in the comforting certainty of celestial movement they discerned numbers, and in numbers, order. Separate sections of the book tell the fascinating stories of measuring and mapping the Earth and Heavens, and later, the scientific exploration of the universe. The journey reveals many common threads stretching from ancient Mesopotamians and Greeks to peoples of today. For example, humans have tended to imagine Earth and Sky as living creatures. Not true, say science-savvy moderns. But truth isn't always the point. The point, says Park, is that Earth is indeed the fragile bubble we surmise, and we must treat it with the reverence it deserves.
650		0	_aScience _xHistory.
650		0	_aScience _xSocial aspects.
650		0	_aScience and civilization.
650		0	_aNatuurkunde.
650		0	_aKosmologie.
650		0	_aSterrenkunde.
650		0	_aRegelmaat.
856	4	1	_3Table of contents _uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip051/2004022624 .html
999			_c101848 _d101848