The polymath : a cultural history from Leonardo Da Vinci to Susan Sontag

The Resource The polymath : a cultural history from Leonardo Da Vinci to Susan Sontag
Label
The polymath : a cultural history from Leonardo Da Vinci to Susan Sontag
Title remainder
a cultural history from Leonardo Da Vinci to Susan Sontag
Statement of responsibility
Peter Burke
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
From Leonardo Da Vinci to John Dee and Comenius, from George Eliot to Oliver Sacks and Susan Sontag, polymaths have moved the frontiers of knowledge in countless ways. But history can be unkind to scholars with such encyclopaedic interests. All too often these individuals are remembered for just one part of their valuable achievements. In this account, renowned cultural historian Peter Burke argues for a more rounded view. Identifying 500 western polymaths, Burke explores their wide-ranging successes and shows how their rise matched a rapid growth of knowledge in the age of the invention of printing, the discovery of the New World and the Scientific Revolution. It is only more recently that the further acceleration of knowledge has led to increased specialisation and to an environment that is less supportive of wide-ranging scholars and scientists. Spanning the Renaissance to the present day, Burke changes our understanding of this remarkable intellectual species
Cataloging source
YDX
Dewey number
305.5/520922
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • plates
Index
index present
LC call number
HM728
LC item number
.B87 2020
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography

Context

Context of The polymath : a cultural history from Leonardo Da Vinci to Susan Sontag

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