From Leonardo da Vinci to Oliver Sacks: the first history of the Western polymath from the Renaissance to the present. A fascinating group portrait and intellectual history - Kirkus Reviews. A remarkable combination of curation and knowledge - Robert Wilson, Wall Street Journal.
From Leonardo da Vinci to John Dee and Comenius, from George Eliot to Oliver Sacks and Susan Sontag, polymaths have influenced the boundaries of knowledge in countless ways. Yet, history is often unkind to learners with such encyclopedic interests; too often, these individuals are remembered only for part of their valuable accomplishments. In this fascinating and scholarly account, renowned cultural historian Peter Burke argues for a more comprehensive view.
Tracing 500 Western polymaths, Burke explores their broad achievements and shows how their rise coincided with a rapid expansion of knowledge during the age of the printing press, the discovery of the New World, and the Scientific Revolution. Only recently, the further acceleration of knowledge has led to increased specialization and an environment less supportive of widely skilled scholars and scientists. Covering the Renaissance to the present, Burke reshapes the understanding of this remarkable intellectual type.
