The History of Science

A Sweeping Visage of Science and its History

By: Professor Michael Shermer

Narrated by: Dr. Michael Shermer

This is a sweeping look at science, its history and philosophy from the Middle Ages to the present, with special emphasis on defining science within the cultural context of the age, who was doing science at the time, and what their goals were in conducting science. This course reflects Dr. Shermer's doctoral training at Claremont Graduate School.©2009 Michael Shermer (P)2009 Michael Shermer

Cut in the wrong places

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The lectures should not be cut so often. There is a lot of side talk that isn't really interesting.

The recording quality is maddening

I struggled to finish it but I finally got through it. I don't want to write a less than stellar review unless I've listened to the entire thing. There were some interesting points scattered throughout that kept me from shutting it off. I would like to hear a far better curated version of this from Dr. Shermer.

Old and bad sound recording

The line of thought is often interesting - but the low quality of the sound with whisperings and chairs ruminating in the background as well as inaudible questions makes it difficult to recommend. Also we listeners do not have at hand or on-line the many handout that are used ad referenced throughout. All-in-all its a lecture recording "on the cheap" that needs to be updated and applied for tape/digital to make real sense.

It's lectures recorded on magnetic tape.

What did you love best about The History of Science?

It's interesting to look back to 1991 both in the tech that recorded this, the overhead projector he's obviously using, and the understanding of world politics (this is ten years before 9/11).

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The recording is sometimes difficult to hear, particularly the audience.

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

25+ hours? Heck no!

Any additional comments?

I think some of the other reviewers didn't understand what this is (lectures) and don't recall or never experienced older tech recording.

Deceptive Title

I was hoping for a somewhat concise history of science when I purchased this but was suprised to find that the author supports very little with dates and facts, rather this seems little more than a backyard philosophical conversation about science, full of opinions from the author and running conversations with his audience.

I agree with the other reviews that the title is deceptive and I did not get what I thought I was getting and feel that I wasted my credit as well.