In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife of the Seventeenth Century's Most Inquiring Mind
By Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Read by Simon Vance
Unabridged
Format :
Retail CD (In Stock)
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2 Formats: Retail CD
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2 Formats: MP3 CD
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$46.99
ISBN: 9781665153409
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$41.99
ISBN: 9781665153393
| Runtime: | 9.94 Hours |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Biography & Autobiography |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
Summary
Summary
A New York Times bestseller
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
In an intellectual adventure akin to Sarah Bakewell's book Montaigne, How To Live, Hugh Aldersey-Williams sets off not just to tell the story of Browne's life but also champion his skeptical nature and inquiring mind for our own age. Mixing botany, etymology, medicine, and literary history, Aldersey-Williams journeys in his hero's footsteps to introduce us to witches, zealots, natural wonders, and fabulous creatures of Browne's time and ours. He reveals how Browne's preoccupations—how to disabuse the credulous of their foolish beliefs, what to make of order in natures, how to unite science and religion—are relevant today. And he shows how Sir Thomas Browne himself remains, and Stephen Greenblatt has written, "unnervingly one of or most adventurous contemporaries."
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“Fascinating…[A] cleverly constructed and amusing book, on a subject deserving of fresh attention.” —Wall Street Journal
“A delightful portrait.” —New York Times Book Review
“A triumph. With humor, humility, and intelligent generosity, Aldersey-Williams brings Sir Thomas Browne splendidly to life, urns and all.” —Financial Times (London)
“Simon Vance is adept at balancing the author’s contemporary approach with Browne’s famously baroque style…For those who love the unique and obscure and odd, as Browne did, this title offers many pleasures. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” —AudioFile
“An elegant, pleasantly obsessive study of a ‘life of tolerance, humour, serenity, and untiring curiosity.’” —Kirkus Reviews
“A wonderfully erratic, promenading book, in which we see how different, yet how similar we still are today to that most serene, most enigmatic science pioneer and literary master, Sir Thomas Browne, whose prose style is one of the highest peaks in English literature, according to Borges and to my humble self.” —Javier Marías, author of A Heart So White
“This is just the kind of celebration Sir Thomas Browne needs and deserves: not a conventional biography but a meditation filled with intellectual curiosity, tolerance, humane observation, and gentle wit. It shows Browne as a man caught in the currents of his times while musing on timeless questions―and, like Aldersey-Williams, determined to weigh up the evidence without dogmatism, and to enjoy the richness of the world.” —Philip Ball, editor, Nature
Author
Author Bio: Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Hugh Aldersey-Williams is the author of numerous books on architecture, design, and science, including Panicology and The Most Beautiful Molecule, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
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Details
Details
| Available Formats : | Retail CD, MP3 CD |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Biography & Autobiography |
| Runtime: | 9.94 |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
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