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The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London
by: Lisa Jardine

List Price: £9.99

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Used Price: £5.10
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 509
EAN: 9780007151752
ISBN: 0007151756
Label: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: September 06, 2004
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Studio: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Sales Rank: 98632

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Disappointed reader
Having admired for a long time some of the theorems of Robert Hooke, and also being amazed of his diversity, I looked forward to reading this book. But I was astonished how an exciting thinker could actually be put back in the cupboard he should have leaft a long time ago! The sometimes tedious descriptions of all correspondences and repetitions of some facts, and the lack of synthetizing the ideas and discoveries of this man, that maybe stand as the sole witnesses of his accomplishments, is somewhat strange. Also, the negligence of defining the time and the environment he lived in, and foremost the probably disadvantage of not being born noble, has not been elucidated far enough. Was he the sole man in the scientific life of the 17th century ... Read More:

Rating:

- A great book about our most under-rated scientist
The word polymath was made for Robert Hooke. This man was prodigious and it is time he was given the accolades that he didn't receive during a lifetime overshadowed by the genius of Isaac Newton. Not only did he prepare weekly experiments for The Royal Society over a period of years but he also found time to make scientific discoveries (Hooke's Law of Elasticity), to rebuild most of the London areas devastated by the Great Fire and make the first serious microscopic observations. He was a superb engineer, architect, designer and artist who has left an indelible imprint on science. You may also like to try "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Stephen Inwood.

Rating:

- Well Done Lisa
An excellent insight into the life of Robert Hooke. I have read a couple of biographies on Issac Newton, but only ever seen passing references to Hooke and his claims against Newton. Now I understand better the man, his character and his strengths and weaknesses. This book takes the romance out of the story of the Royal Society and shows that its founders were human after all.

Rating:

- A disappointing and poorly structured biography
This biography falls short of Lisa Jardine's usual high standard. It needs a good edit and reorganization to provide form, remove repetition and add depth to a very haphazard account. Hooke's fascinating and varied life fails to come alive in these pages. For a man who never quite made the scientific impact he deserved, this biography shows a fitting symmetry and should also be overshadowed.

Rating:

- A lively and beautifully written account
Robert Hooke was very much a Renaissance man: artist, scientist, instrument-maker, and architect, he is remembered today only for Hooke's law which still forms the foundation of structural mechanics. However, he was at the time the major driving force behind the Royal Society. As its curator of experiments it was Hooke that both put forward the ideas to be tested and devised and built the equipment. He pioneered work in microscopy, made contributions in anatomy, changed the way we make clocks and watches and first put forward the idea that gravity obeyed the inverse square law. All this he did in his spare time between surveying London after the Great Fire and acting as an architect both in his own right and as Christopher Wren's chief assistant ... Read More:

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