The Swerve

How the World Became Modern

By: Stephen Greenblatt

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, General Nonfiction, 2012

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2012

Renowned historian Stephen Greenblatt’s works shoot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. With The Swerve, Greenblatt transports listeners to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion.

Nearly six hundred years ago, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late 30s took a very old manuscript off a library shelf, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. That book was the last surviving manuscript of an ancient Roman philosophical epic by Lucretius—a beautiful poem containing the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functioned without the aid of gods, that religious fear was damaging to human life, and that matter was made up of very small particles in eternal motion, colliding and swerving in new directions.

The copying and translation of this ancient book—the greatest discovery of the greatest book-hunter of his age—fueled the Renaissance, inspiring artists such as Botticelli and thinkers such as Giordano Bruno; shaped the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein; and had a revolutionary influence on writers such as Montaigne and Shakespeare, and even Thomas Jefferson.

©2011 Stephen Greenblatt (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"In this gloriously learned page-turner, both biography and intellectual history, Harvard Shakespearean scholar Greenblatt turns his attention to the front end of the Renaissance as the origin of Western culture's foundation: the free questioning of truth." ( Publishers Weekly)

“Pleasure may or may not be the true end of life, but for book lovers, few experiences can match the intellectual-aesthetic enjoyment delivered by a well-wrought book. In the world of serious nonfiction, Stephen Greenblatt is a pleasure maker without peer.” ( Newsday)

About Face

What an excellent performance that captured my moments. It also does not have meaning though.

Not what I was expecting but it blew my mind!

This book has made me think quite a lot. We (humans) knew so much throughout time but we always go back to stupidity. It doesn't give you a great deal of hope for this inflection point! Maybe it's because the last book I read was a truly in-depth look at the 1918 pandemic (which started in KS btw, not Spain). We have repeated just about every error in this pandemic that we did then. That was also a great book and I recommend both this book and that one.

expected more on impact of De Rerum Natura

Fascinating story of Poggio’s life and his discovery of the text but expected and hoped for a deeper analysis of De Rerum Natura itself and its impact from the renaissance through to today

Interesting but not what I thought.

It's more about Christianity than the philosophy of the Roman writer and his poem.

Great review of the early humanist thinking

and the dualist opposition & suppression by inquisition. Inspiring ending noting Thomas Jefferson efforts to integrate both.

Mind. Blown.

This is a mind-expanding, thought-provoking and surprising exploration of two key periods in Western history: the two centuries before the rise of Christianity and the 15th century, when Europe began to shake off the dark ages, and the incredible link between them, and now.

Didnt See That Coming

Surprised at how fascinated I was by the subject of this book — an ancient philosophy I could not define but that has its fingerprints all over our modern world. Kudos to Greenblatt who knows how to tell a good tale about something that seems obscure and intangible. I want more!

Wonderful clear history. From Epicurus to current.

Contrast of humanism and church. Recognition of atoms pre-Christ. The discovery of scrolls and the care given to the written word.

How One Book of Poetry Changed How We THINK!

A fascinating history of both Poggio Bracciolini's persuit of fading Latin texts, focusing on Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things", and the impact that Lucretius' philosophic poem had on the development and shape of the modern world.

outstanding book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Outstanding book tells the story of the rediscovery of classical texts during the late-Middle Ages & early Renaissance. Greenblatt is especially effective in providing context to the period of discovery, the