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.

An excellant read

Would you listen to The Clockwork Universe again? Why?

I am listening to The Clockwork Universe again. There is so much information and the book is so interesting it's one of the few books I've felt compelled to listen to again.

What did you like best about this story?

The book gives the culture, belief system and politics during the time the Royal Society began. The author is able to make very complicated ideas pretty simple to understand.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

One of the best books I've listened to. Educational and interesting. I recommend this book highly.

good entertainment.

I have listened three times. I learn something new each time. The discovery of Neptune was a surprise.

Science and its impact in the 1600's

A few curious men shared their interest and ideas and in doing so forever changed our understanding of the world. This is an entertaining look back at the building blocks of scientific inquiry and its impact on the modern world.

Great read

Wow ! This is a great book about the history of science. Very interesting story, reads like a thriller. I will listen to it again.

Amazing brainpower

The book actually made me pity that I did not listen to history lessons at school more carefully. I found it amazing how powerful some minds can be, how they can break beyond the limits of the current knowledge. Can you calculate how far the moon is? 400 years ago, they could...

Lucid writing brings early days of science to life

Well-written science nonfiction is a treat that I relish and this book delivers in spades. Newton is the book's main focal point but it also spends considerable time detailing the contributions of Galileo, Kepler, Leibniz, Hook, Leeuwenhoek and others. The description of calculus was clear and even, I have to admit, compelling (I have a BA rather than a BS because I refused to take calculus). The religious devotion of these pioneers was surprising and Dolnick does a nice job of pointing out the irony of the effects Newton and Leibniz' work on religion and society.

I had put off purchasing this one because I disliked Alan Sklar's reading of "Before the Dawn" but I really liked his narration with this one. He tends to chuckle from time to time and sound a bit like a bombastic professor but that worked in a way here that it didn't in the other book.

If you have an interest in the history of science, especially the early days, I can heartily recommend this book's pleasing blend of narrative and scientific explanation.

Very interesting, I enjoyed listening to it.

I thought that it was very interesting, and much more entertaining than a simple history book.

Great Insight!

A fascinating trek through the times and thoughts of Newton and his contemporaries that is well worth reading. Written with an eye toward the less-scientific thinker, it still shares much of the big science ideas in a way that was engaging and, mostly, understandable. I did get lost among the calculations once or twice and skipped one bit about the planets that seemed to drone on. Well worth the time!

A page turner science history's book

This book is indeed entertaining and interesting, pointing out many aspects of Newton's and Leibniz' time. There is no math requirement, neither philosophy needed to be known in advance. The book is an interesting distraction for curious people of all ages.

مدخل لتاريخ العلوم التطبيقيه و النادي العلمي

لو لا اصرار الكاتب على ان ينفي وجود الله طول الكتاب ك رد فعل على ايمان هؤلاء العلماء لكان الكتاب رائع جدا.. على العموم الكتاب ممدح كمدخل لمعرفة تاريخ العلوم الحاليه

ايضا كعادة الغربين نفي كل العلم او تجاهل كل العلوم التي جائة من غيرهم فلم يذكر اي شيء عن اي عالم مسلم كانهم لم يوجدوا نهائيا ولا كانهم من جاء بالجبر وغيره