Shakespeare and the Dawn of Modern Science (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781604977332)

In Shakespeare and the Dawn of Modern Science, renowned astronomy expert Peter Usher expands upon his allegorical interpretation of Hamlet and analyzes four more plays, Love's Labour's Lost, Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice, and The Winter's Tale. With painstaking thoroughness, he dissects the plays and reveals that, contrary to current belief, Shakespeare was well aware of the scientific revolutions of his time. Moreover, Shakespeare imbeds in the allegorical subtext information on the appearances of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars that he could not have known without telescopic aid, yet these plays appeared coeval with or prior to the commonly accepted date of 1610 for the invention and first use of the astronomical telescope. Dr. Usher argues that an early telescope, the so-called perspective glass, was the likely means for the acquisition of these data. This device was invented by the mathematician Leonard Digges, whose grandson of the same name contributed poems to the First and Second Folio editions of Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare and the Dawn of Modern Science is an important addition to literature, history, and science collections as well as to personal libraries.

Author: Peter D. Usher
ISBN-10: 1604977337
ISBN-13: 9781604977332
Publisher: Cambria Press
Language: English
Published: 11/18/2010
Pages: 426
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.75lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.06d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2011
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2011 pg. 232