From Library Journal
Ever since Frances Yates's Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), Bruno has been presented in English-language scholarly books as more a hermetic philosopher or magician than a forerunner of modern science. With this book, Gatti, a professor at the Universita di Roma "La Sapienza," brings Bruno back to the realm of modern science by showing that, like many early scientists, he was in both worlds. Gatti also shows that Bruno was a strong proponent for the emerging new way of examining the world. She does so by closely examining Bruno's mathematical approach to cosmology and comparing it with the approach of other natural philosophers such as Corpernicus and Kepler. She also reviews his contribution to mathematics and the role he felt it had in understanding the world. Concluding with a look at Bruno's writings on how to approach knowledge, Gatti shows how his concepts would later be called science. This insightful academic work helps recast Bruno in a significant role in the history of science. Recommended.?Eric D. Albright, Duke Medical Ctr. Lib., Durham, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"I consider Hilary Gatti's book to be an important contribution to our knowledge of Bruno's thought and a valuable illustration of its relevance to the epistemological crisis of science in our time."-Giovanni Aquilecchia, University College London
"This insightful academic work helps recast Bruno in a significant role in the history of science."-Library Journal
"Hilary Gatti reconsiders Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science, finding him to be a catalyst for the 17th century scientific revolution. From Bruno's sparring with Copernicus to his concepts of 'Infinite Worlds' and what Gatti calls 'Picture Logic,' there is ample evidence for her contentions."-Publishers Weekly
"Now, with persuasive force, a new book by the historian of science Hilary Gatti, Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science, presents a bold argument for Bruno's inclusion not only within the sphere of Renaissance sciences but also within the sphere of science as it is practiced at the present time."-Ingrid D. Rowland, The New York Review of Books, February 2001
"This book is a bold work that covers a wide range of Bruno's writings in depth and with intelligence."-David Tulloch, Victoria University of Wellington. Parergon, 17.2
". . . Hilary Gatti has turned the spotlight back on Bruno, Bruno as a scientific thinker, Bruno as a man whose merits are to be judged by the 'new sicience' and its methods as they were recognized at the end of the sixteenth century and as they were aopted and adapted in the decades that follow. . . .For all who wish to draw closer to an understanding of Bruno's thought processes, this book is essential reading."-J.D. North, Oxford. Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, October 2001
"The author of this balanced and well documented volume, an already experienced scholar in Bruno studies (especially on those aspects of his thought which link him to the birth and early development of modern science) deserves above all to be praised for declaring in her Preface with great clarity and determination what she means to do, and then doing it in very coherent terms."-Arcangelo Rossi, University of Leece. Brunianae e Campanelliana, 2000
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
