Biography of Athanasius Kircher by John Glassie
A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change Athanasius Kircher , a 17th-century German Jesuit scholar , scientist, author, and inventor. Published by Riverhead Books in 2012, it is regarded by The New York Times [ 1]
The book traces Kircher's life from his birth in 1602 in Germany through his rise as a scholar at the Jesuit Collegio Romano to the decline of his reputation and his death in Rome in 1680. After Kircher arrived in Rome in 1633, a few months after the Galileo trial, he pursued myriad interests, authoring more than thirty books[ 2] optics , magnetism , music, medicine, and mathematics, and developing a collection of natural specimens and curiosities into a well known Cabinet of Curiosities or early modern museum.[ 3] Gianlorenzo Bernini on his Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona [ 4] decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs . The book places Kircher's work and his interest in natural magic and mysticism within the context of the Scientific Revolution . Glassie draws connections between Kircher and 17th-century figures such as René Descartes ,[ 5] Gottfried Leibniz ,[ 6] Isaac Newton .[ 7] Edgar Allan Poe , Jules Verne , Madame Blavatsky , and Marcel Duchamp .[ 8]
Reviews have appeared in The New York Times ,[ 1] The New York Times Book Review ,[ 9] The New Yorker [ 10] The Wall Street Journal [ 11] The Nation [ 12] The Daily Beast [ 13] NPR shows All Things Considered [ 14] Science Friday [ 15] C-SPAN2 's BookTV [ 16] A Man of Misconceptions was selected as a New York Times Book Review "Editor's Choice."[ 17] Scientific American [ 18] [ 19]
References
John Glassie: A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change . New York, Riverhead, 2012. ISBN 978-1594488719
^ a b "A 17th-Century Genius, a Quack, or Perhaps Both" . The New York Times . Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ "Werke von Athanasius Kircher im Internet – Universität Luzern" . Unilu.ch. 14 January 2014. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ John Glassie: A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change. New York, Riverhead, 2012, p 145-150
^ Glassie, p 134
^ Glassie, p 67, 107–109
^ Glassie, p 215-218, 261–262
^ Glassie, p 250-260
^ Glassie, p 264-271
^ "The New York Times Book Review: "Mistakes? He Made a Few" . The New York Times . Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ "John Glassie's "A Man of Misconceptions" Review" . The New Yorker . 9 December 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ Snyder, Laura J. (4 January 2013). "Book Review: Before Galileo | A Man of Misconceptions | The Secrets of Alchemy - WSJ.com" . Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014 . ^ "Kircher's Cosmos: On Athanasius Kircher" . The Nation. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ "This Week's Hot Reads: November 6, 2012" . The Daily Beast. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ Glassie, John (18 November 2012). "Interview: John Glassie, Author Of 'A Man Of Misconceptions' . NPR. Retrieved 14 May 2014 . ^ John Glassie (28 December 2012). "The Renaissance Man Who Got It All Wrong" . Sciencefriday.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014 . ^ "Book Parties and Festivals – 2013 Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest: John Glassie, author of "A Man of Misconceptions," and Edward Ball, author of "The Inventor and the Tycoon" . BookTV. Retrieved 27 March 2015 .^ "Editor's Choice : A Man of Misconceptions : The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change, by John Glassie. (Riverhead, $26.95.)" . The New York Times . Retrieved 14 May 2014 .^ Ouellette, Jennifer. "Baker's Dozen: Sampling the Best Science Books of 2012 | Cocktail Party Physics, Scientific American Blog Network" . Blogs.scientificamerican.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014 . ^ Sims, David (13 December 2012). "The Books We Loved in 2012 – The Wire" . Theatlanticwire.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2014 .
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