The Clockwork Universe

Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World

By: Edward Dolnick

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The Clockwork Universe is the story of a band of men who lived in a world of dirt and disease but pictured a universe that ran like a perfect machine. A meld of history and science, this book is a group portrait of some of the greatest minds who ever lived as they wrestled with natures most sweeping mysteries. The answers they uncovered still hold the key to how we understand the world.

At the end of the 17th century, an age of religious wars, plague, and the Great Fire of London when most people saw the world as falling apart, these earliest scientists saw a world of perfect order. They declared that, chaotic as it looked, the universe was in fact as intricate and perfectly regulated as a clock. This was the tail end of Shakespeare's century, when the natural and the supernatural still twined around each other. Disease was a punishment ordained by God, astronomy had not yet broken free from astrology, and the sky was filled with omens. It was a time when little was known and everything was new. These brilliant, ambitious, curious men believed in angels, alchemy, and the devil, and they also believed that the universe followed precise, mathematical laws, a contradiction that tormented them and changed the course of history. The Clockwork Universe is the fascinating and compelling story of the bewildered geniuses of the Royal Society, the men who made the modern world.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2011 Edward Dolnick (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Very Interesting narrative and characters

This book was great. I loved learning about the characters in the Royal Society and others. There is quite a bit of attention paid to Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, which I really liked. It was also nice to learn about the discoveries that were being made and how they affected popular beliefs surrounding God and Science and the nature of the universe.

Additionally, the narrator was great and it was easy to follow and pick up at any time.

Interesting

Such an interesting book. For someone who doesn't get math intuitively this was very interesting to get a glimpse of the minds of these men.

terrific book

Easy to listen to... made Newton understandable. A transition from the middle ages to modern times.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

the narrator is good

When you listen to the narrator at first, it seems over overwrought and over done. by the first few chapters though, I was really enjoying it. He seems to enjoy the story, and even adds a chuckle when it is appropriate. The book is excellent, of course.

A poor start, but persevere, it gets better!

Any additional comments?

To start with, a book that focusses on Isaac Newton and the Royal Society doesn't seem right with an American accent, but I suppose since the author is an American its acceptable.The first few chapters seemed to me to be a sort of "Walt Disney" version of British history and of the Christian faith of Isaac Newton and his contemporaries. Mr Dolnick would have done well to consult some intelligent modern day Christians before setting down such a cartoon like image.Likewise the broad brush he uses for setting the scene of British history in the early chapters made me feel that the narrator from Winnie-the-Pooh was trying to tell me about the history of my own country.

Having said that, the book improves once he moves on to the main subject and I really enjoyed the last 70% of the book. It was informative and interesting. It helped me to understand the origins of ideas that I learned at school and university, and still use today.

Super annoying performance

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Meh. I feel churlish giving Alan Sklar a bad review because there is clearly a lot of effort there, but try less hard, please, Mr. Sklar. The little chuckles and rolling intonations distract from listening to the story and make you as the reader feel condescended to.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The rivalry between Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke and the patient help of Edmund Halley were the most interesting parts but the book dawdled far too long on breathless descriptions about how "It was REALLY different back then!"

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Stagey. We want to hear the author, not the narrator.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

maybe

A narrative of science

I loved this book! It was fascinating to hear about the motivations and stories from some of the early science icons. The book is presented almost like a story and the narrator was excellent!

Outstanding work

This is a great history of scientific developments in the 17th century. I found it very interesting and listened to the whole thing over the course of a few days. The narration is also outstanding. I highly recommend.

WHEN TECHNOLOGY EXPLODES

This book describes the "Scientific Revolution" and its key players. Revolutions, except for the one in France, move the world up to the next level. Today, we are in the opening chapters of the "Information Revolution", which few of us understand, and still fewer can even contemplate. This book gives us some perspective as to what happens to society when "the earth moves".

Interesting Enough?

Isaac Newton and the Royal Society (and Leibniz) present a really captivating subject. In terms of the history of ideas, arguments for and against progress, philosophical uncertainty and the like this time period is perfect. However, Dolnick's characterization of the late 17th Century is just that: a characterization. Its presentation is horribly naive and often anachronistic. Dolnick frequently uses unnecessary anachronistic metaphors in order to relate, I presume, to lowest denominator readers when there are plenty of periodic examples that would be commonsensical enough for any reader.

It's hard to say whether Dolnick is doing this because of poor historical research or in order to be more of a pop-history for the sake of higher sales. All that said, I do not think Dolnick is naive or a poor historicist in general, that is another question altogether. What is evident is that he simplifies a time period drastically and with no apparent means. The most disappointing aspect of Dolnick's characterization is that it lacks respects for the reader's intelligence. However, once Dolnick gets into the profound ideas of these figures, the whole book is much more enjoyable. It is apparent he had a deep relationship with their ideas. While I'm not convinced he understands the history of ideas or the gravity (no pun intended) of them, it is apparent his knowledge of science and mathematics is proficient. And he'd probably make a pretty great teacher (especially since he seems like the kind of guy who would go off on some pretty great tangents).

After listening to the book and writing this review, I think it is fair to say that I am just not the audience Dolnick was writing for. I expected a lot more from the historical part of this book and much less from the comical side notes part. But this book was certainly enjoyable even though I did not find it very accurate.

The narration of this book is, overall, pretty great. I have an odd liking for older voices. I doubt I would have given up on this book, but it certainly helped to have Sklar forging forward. He seemed to realize Dolnick's whimsical tone and kept a pretty quick pace. Sklar definitely brought the words to life. Like a grandfather's tale, while I may not have fully agreed with everything I heard, I certainly enjoyed it.

This books seems like a good starting point. It is somewhat superficial. But definitely a nice find for someone that does not know much or anything about this subject.