Lost Discoveries

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

By: Dick Teresi

Narrated by: Peter Johnson

Lost Discoveries, Dick Teresi's innovative history of science, explores the unheralded scientific breakthroughs from peoples of the ancient world -- Babylonians, Egyptians, Indians, Africans, New World and Oceanic tribes, among others -- and the non-European medieval world. They left an enormous heritage in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology.

The mathematical foundation of Western science is a gift from the Indians, Chinese, Arabs, Babylonians, and Maya. The ancient Egyptians developed the concept of the lowest common denominator, and they developed a fraction table that modern scholars estimate required 28,000 calculations to compile. The Babylonians developed the first written math and used a place-value number system. Our numerals, 0 through 9, were invented in ancient India; the Indians also boasted geometry, trigonometry, and a kind of calculus.

Planetary astronomy as well may have begun with the ancient Indians, who correctly identified the relative distances of the known planets from the sun, and knew the moon was nearer to the earth than the sun was. The Chinese observed, reported, dated, recorded, and interpreted eclipses between 1400 and 1200 b.c. Most of the names of our stars and constellations are Arabic. Arabs built the first observatories.

Five thousand years ago, the Sumerians said the earth was circular. In the sixth century, a Hindu astronomer taught that the daily rotation of the earth on its axis provided the rising and setting of the sun. Chinese and Arab scholars were the first to use fossils scientifically to trace earth's history.

Chinese alchemists realized that most physical substances were merely combinations of other substances, which could be mixed in different proportions. Islamic scholars are legendary for translating scientific texts of many languages into Arabic, a tradition that began with alchemical books. In the eleventh century, Avicenna of Persia divined that outward qualities of metals were of little value in classification, and he stressed internal structure, a notion anticipating Mendeleyev's periodic chart of elements.

Iron suspension bridges came from Kashmir, printing from India; papermaking was from China, Tibet, India, and Baghdad; movable type was invented by Pi Sheng in about 1041; the Quechuan Indians of Peru were the first to vulcanize rubber; Andean farmers were the first to freeze-dry potatoes. European explorers depended heavily on Indian and Filipino shipbuilders, and collected maps and sea charts from Javanese and Arab merchants.

The first comprehensive, authoritative, popularly written, multicultural history of science, Lost Discoveries fills a crucial gap in the history of science.Executive Producer: Orli Moscowitz
Producer: David Rapkin
Adapted for audio.
©2002 by Dick Teresi
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.

A Great Mix of History, Anthropology, & Science

Would you listen to Lost Discoveries again? Why?

Yes. The book is a great piece of scientific history which turns many popular misconceptions of scientific history on their heads.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Peter Johnston has a great voice reminiscent of Carl Sagan. He kept me interested the whole way through and conveyed the text very clearly.

Have you listened to any of Peter Johnson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard any of Mr. Johnston's other performances, but I hope to hear more in the future.

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

Yes. It was too interesting to stop listening to.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in anthropology, history, or the sciences.

Depends on what your looking for

I liked the history of ancient discoveries by non-Western cultures. The problem that I had was the author's constant reference back to what Western civilization had not done. One must keep in mind that yes, indeed, Western science was a "late bloomer," but in keeping with trend of the author, don't Western science since Newton blow every other culture out of the water?

Excellent reading for a history buff

The book is well researched, meticulous, pays attention to details, perhaps a bit too much in some parts. But it gives a broad and comprehensive review of history of ideas which led to discovery of reason and birth of science. It is not an easy reading for a sleepy traveler. But for a prepared mind it opens the history of human thought unbiased by both proponents and opponents of world domination by a single cultural tradition. Human mind has been forged by multitude of cultures and civilizations - this book tells loud and clear.

Excellent!!!

Amazing insight to the missing pieces of the puzzle; fills the vacuum left by European scholarship.

Highly informative!

If you are looking for a no-nonsense guide to non-Western science history, look no further. Lost Discoveries was slightly more entertaining than a textbook, so I wouldn't recommend it for the timid or casual reader. But in it you will find a wealth of fascinating stories and well-researched, colorful details. A staple for anyone with a passion for science history, I absolutely loved it!