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Carregando... The Shadow Club: The Greatest Mystery in the Universe--Shadows--and the Thinkers Who Unlocked Their Secrets (2000)de Roberto Casati
   Nenhum(a) Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. 2   paradoxosalpha | Apr 9, 2016 |   leestgraag | Dec 20, 2010 |  )1 ftownsend | Mar 18, 2010 | normaleistiko | Jul 9, 2008 | Unlike most writers, rather than simply informing us of each anecdote or historical fact, he usually follows up by explaining issues around the fact, and concludes with a summary as to why the supposed fact, the received wisdom, is nonsense. This could be tiresome in the wrong author's hands, but works well here. (Don't be put off by the idiot subtitle, obviously forced on the author by the publisher.) The subject matter is something of a random mixture, perhaps * a third dealing with cognitive issues surrounding shadows (how do babies perceive shadows; how does the language we use to discuss shadows tell us something about how we naturally classify things; the naive physics of the prescientific mind), * perhaps a third deals with how shadows (for example eclipses and transits) helped advance the science of astronomy, * and a third is misc other things like how shadows helped renaissance artists come up with a theory of perspective. It's rather a strange mixture, but if, like me, you're broadly interested in psychology, history, astronomy and just the world at large, every chapter is fascinating. (  ) name99 | Nov 13, 2006 |
 Schlemihlische Mentoren der neuen Kulturwissenschaft werden an diesem Buch ihre Freude haben. Der gängigen "Schattenwirtschaft" wird, nach den Explorationen von Gombrich, Stoichiti und Baxandall, eine zunehmend greifbare "Schattenwissenschaft" zur Seite gestellt, auf dem Turnierfeld von Geistes- und Naturwissenschaft. Von der letzteren kommt der italienische Wissenschaftshistoriker Robert Casati her und behandelt nichts weniger als das Unbewusste des ganzen Feldes. Das verdient uneingeschränkte Bewunderung. Dem Symbol aller Obskuranz, nein: der Quelle aller astronomischen Erkenntnis wird zu Leibe gerückt, aufs Genaueste interdisziplinär, liebevoll didaktisch und zugleich streng mit den achtlosen Betrachtern unserer Erde.
A remarkable exploration of how shadows have forever fascinated us: their extraordinary hold on our fears and imagination; their importance to astronomers, scientists, philosophers, and artists; their influence on myth and religious beliefs. What's stranger than a shadow? Shadows are messengers from the world of darkness, images that we can't shake off, black spots that have troubled our sleep through the ages. And yet shadows have been the key to unlocking some of our toughest scientific problems: the reason for eclipses, the distances between planets, the shape and size of the earth, the structure of the solar system, the nature of time itself. In this unique study-combining history, science, and anthropology-Roberto Casati discusses the famous and the obscure who, armed with imagination and creativity, struggled with the concept of shadow and provided us with explanations of and uses for our constant companion. Among those who were part of this "shadow club" were Eratosthenes and Galileo, ancient Arab astrono-mers and modern mathematicians, classical Greek painters and Leonardo da Vinci. And now, the name Casati-who has given us the first book devoted to the subject-can be added. Roberto Casati was born in Milan in 1961. A research director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, he lives in Paris and works at the Institut Nicod, a laboratory of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and of the Ecole Normales. He studies the cognition of strange things-images, colors, sounds, places, holes-and shadows. With Achille Varzi he is the author of Holes and Other Superficialities and Parts and Places. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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 Google Books — Carregando...GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)535.4Natural sciences and mathematics Physics Optics Dispersion; Diffraction; AbsorptionClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia: (3.6)
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The bulk of the book surveys a history of science trained on shadows, and the resulting contributions to geography, astronomy, and other disciplines. It also draws on psychology of cognition and perception in an effort to understand what shadows are and why people interact with them in the ways that they do. There is no mention of the Jungian notion of the shadow archetype. Still, Casati does touch on the uncanniness of shadows, and the extent to which they elude our conscious object inventories and categories.
Despite the title, the book features no "club" as such, but presents a long string of personalities throughout history who were scientifically and philosophically engaged with shadows. Also, in later chapters, it includes a good bit of art history. Although Casati calls the 17th century--however metaphorically--the era of "the shadow wars," I never got a clear sense of opposing sides in the alleged conflict.
After exploring the evolution of solar timekeeping, Casati mentions, "If you open up a wristwatch, under the face you'll find balance wheels and gears. If you open up a sundial, you'll find a planet and its star" (86-87). I can recommend this section of the book in particular to practitioners of (or aspirants to) Batrachophrenoboocosmomachia. The Shadow is in the Light, not the light in the Shadow. Worship then the Shadow, and behold my light shed over you.