Lost Discoveries

The Ancient Roots of Modern Science from the Babylonians to the Mayans

By: Dick Teresi

Narrated by: Peter Johnson

Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

In the tradition of Daniel Boorstin, the co-founder of Omni delivers an original work of history that demonstrates why modern science rests on a foundation built by ancient and medieval non-European societies.

Lost Discoveries explores the mostly unheralded scientific breakthroughs from the ancient world - Babylonians, Egyptians, Indians, Africans, New World, and Oceanic tribes, among others, and from the non-European medieval world. By example, the Egyptians developed the concept of the lowest common denominator and the Indians developed the use of zero and negative numbers. The Chinese observed, reported, and dated eclipses between 1400 and 1200 B.C. The Chinese also set the stage for later Hindu scholars, who refined the concept of particles and the void. Five thousand years ago, Sumerians were able to assert that the earth was circular. Islamic scientists fixed problems in Ptolemy's geocentric cosmology. The Quechuan Indians of Peru were the first to vulcanize rubber.

This first comprehensive, authoritative, popularly written, multicultural history of science fills in a crucial gap in the history of science.

Lost Discoveries is also available in print from Simon and Schuster.

©2002 by Dick Teresi
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"If you think that modern science is rooted in the golden age of Greece, you owe it to yourself to [hear this] book." (Library Journal)
"A reliable and fascinating guide to the unexplored field of multicultural science." (Amazon.com)

Something for the spirituality section?

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The basic premise of the book is great and I have to say that I found it interesting and informative at first.

Somewhat light on hard facts and full of opinions which is OK until about half way through the book when it became clear that this appear to be a selection of facts and anecdotes to build up a religious and/or spiritual message/point of view.

What about Peter Johnson’s performance did you like?

I liked Peter's performance, enjoyable narration.

Any additional comments?

Differing points of view are always welcome and even though I do not agree with the authors point of view it was a good listen.

Great information but seems repetitive.

I liked all the information in this book, but I think it needed better editing. It is hard to go back and check in an audible book but I thought I heard a lot of repeated information between sections. The narrator was fine.

more political than scientific

This book has a very interesting premise, but does not develop it well at all. It is full of broad assertions with little concrete evidence to back them. If the author spent as much time supporting his assertions with evidence as he did repeating them this would be a great book. As it is, the author seems to want to shame and reform the modern western memory with only the strength of his own scorn. The most redeeming quality of the book is the bits of historical information about the history of science peppered though the book. If you are an advocate of or have an interest in non-western societies and their contribution to the world, you may enjoy learning about these isolated bits of scientific history. If you are looking for a rigorous history of early science, you may be disappointed.

A disappointment

This is a read that would be best relegated to the reference section of the National Library of Congress.

Nothing new here !

I suppose it should be said that I'v read everything available on ancient histories. Having said that, the narrator seems to just recite lots of facts here, without much enthusiasm. If you know almost nothing about the ancients, you may enjoy this more. I found no substantial errors in the reading---it just jumps around from place to place a lot, giving you a little knowledge about many things.

A little long winded and repetitive

This work's subject is greatly interesting to me but it's treatment in this book leaves something to be desired.

While the information compiled in this tome is interesting and while the information may not always be new to me the conclusions are sometimes thought provoking and enlightening.

The major drawback of the work is that the author tends to repeat information continually. It is supposed that this may add functionallity to this book if used as a reference book, but greatly takes away from from the stand point of a novel or straight-forward read.

Distilled, the new and interesing information could have been contained within 1/4 of the space this book has taken. And therefore makes it a labour to read (ok listen to).

The narration though as usuall is great.

Views the past through a contemporary lens

Don't bother with this book. All you will get from it are childish interpretations of old ideas. Just because an idea from a faraway era resembles some modern empirically established fact does not mean that that ancient idea has any connection at all to the currently accepted fact. All this book does is try to patronize minorities after ripping them off (it is quite overpriced for the kind of book it is).
Yes, I believe that non european peoples may have had sophisticated intellectual traditions at times in their history, however, this book is not the way to learn about them.
It is a misleading book that you will be better off not reading.

Drones on and on

I don't know if it was the narration or the book itself, but after mamking some initially interesting points the book began to simple drone on and on about things I really didn't care about. Either the story bored the narrator or it was just plain boring. Either was I stopped listening about half way through.

Intellectually fraudulent waste of time

What would have made Lost Discoveries better?

Dick Teresi loses all credibility very early in this poorly titled waste of time and money. The publisher's "review" does a grave disservice to the former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin by comparing this schlock to his oeuvre. Be forewarned! This is not a celebration of the multicultural contributions to modern Western science and math to our modern understanding. It is yet another attempt to dismiss modernity in favor of mythology and spirituality. Sadly, Teresi demonstrates his poor grasp of his subject matter at every step. His attempt to flex his (sorely small and flaccid) intellect with an obviously invented anecdote which is based on his attempt to get a mathematician at a predominant technical university to "admit that zero is a Counting Number. I don't believe that there are any teachers of even Junior High math that don't know that zero is most assuredly NOT a Counting Number, despite Teresi's attempt to categorize it as such. And that is just one example from this jarring piece of Cognitive Dissonance.

Arrogant Western Science Apologist

Teresi is obviously a member of the "mainstream science" community that loves to have drinks with his academic colleagues while giggling at "foolish pseudo-scientists", a moniker they apply to anyone who dares dispute their superiority or claims, "the emperor has no clothes". Truly, the emperor of the sciences has been parading naked for decades and thanks to condescending choir boys like Teresi, it appears that the emperor's next get-up will be no less transparent and no less lauded and applauded by the "scientific" community.
I must admit that I listened to the first 1.5 chapters. Once the text became so dismissive of claims some had made concerning lifestyles and theology of ancient Egypt my bull#$%^ alarm went off. It was so arrogantly written that even the narrator's inflection took on a dismissive and ridiculing tone. This was done concerning a field of study that is so clearly enigmatic to mainstream science that anyone with minor interests is aware that the "experts" are totally stumbling in the dark. Even a cursory examination of current "beliefs" held by mainstream Egyptology will lead any rational and honest person to conclude that their theories are literally comical. My point is; if Teresi is truly a skeptic and honest reporter, how can he laugh at some theories as idiotic, (theories I am also very suspect myself) but then lend credence to mainstream Egyptology without even examining the sheer nonsense that is promulgated in the same field?
The above is all the evidence required to place Teresi squarely in the roll of one that seeks to please the priesthood with his quite "acceptable" little ditty.