Universe of Stone by Philip Ball
In the twelfth century, Christians in Europe began to build a completely new kind of church - soaring, spacious monuments flooded with light from immense windows. These were the first Gothic churches, the crowning example of which was the cathedral of Chartres: a revolution in thought embodied in stone and glass, and a bridge between the ancient and modern worlds. In Universe of Stone, Philip Ball explains the genesis and development of the Gothic style. He argues that it signified a profound change in the social, intellectual and theological climate of Western Christendom. As the church represented nothing less than a vision of heaven on earth, this shift in architectural style marked the beginning of the argument between faith and reason which continues today, and of a scientific view of the world that threatened to dispense with God altogether.
"[Ball] has a knack for translating difficult concepts into lucid prose: he offers a refreshingly sceptical guided tour of Chartres Cathedral and the intellectual contents that helped produce it" Daily Telegraph "Lucid and resplendent..a model of explanatory writing" -- John Carey Sunday Times "Consistently and healthily sceptical ... an intelligent, enjoyable and well-produced book which deserves a wide audience" Times Literary Supplement "An original and imaginative synthesis of art history and history of science" History Today "Lucid and resplendent" The Times
Philip Ball writes regularly in the scientific and popular media and worked for many years as an editor for physical sciences at Nature. His books cover a wide range of scientific and cultural phenomena, and include Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads To Another (winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books), The Music Instinct, Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People, Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything and Serving The Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Science Under Hitler.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780099499442 |
| ISBN 10 | 0099499444 |
| Title | Universe of Stone |
| Author | Philip Ball |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2009-04-30 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |