The Story of Western Science

From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory

By: Susan Wise Bauer

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

A riveting road map to the development of modern scientific thought.

Far too often, public discussion of science is carried out by journalists, voters, and politicians who have received their science secondhand. The Story of Western Science shows us the joy and importance of reading groundbreaking science writing for ourselves and guides us back to the masterpieces that have changed the way we think about our world, our cosmos, and ourselves.

Able to be referenced individually or listened to together as the narrative of Western scientific development, the book's 28 succinct chapters lead listeners from the first science texts by Hippocrates, Plato, and Aristotle through 20th-century classics in biology, physics, and cosmology. The Story of Western Science illuminates everything from mankind's earliest inquiries to the butterfly effect, from the birth of the scientific method to the rise of earth science and the flowering of modern biology.

Each chapter recommends one or more classic books and provides entertaining accounts of crucial contributions to science, vivid sketches of the scientist-writers, and clear explanations of the mechanics underlying each concept. The Story of Western Science reveals science to be a dramatic undertaking practiced by some of history's most memorable characters. It reminds us that scientific inquiry is a human pursuit - an essential, often deeply personal, sometimes flawed, frequently brilliant way of understanding the world.

In the tradition of her perennial best seller The Well-Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer delivers an accessible, entertaining, and illuminating springboard into the scientific education you never had.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 Susan Wise Bauer (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

This is one I will listen to again.

Worth the time it takes to get through this book. We don't learn how the sciences developed historically. We also don't get a concept for how recent so many discoveries have been. I wish the Audio book chapters were labeled with more than numbers so it was more easy to reference back to it.

witty, brilliant, and funny

Bauer does it again. Another brilliantly crafted historical overview, this time of western scientific thought and the men and women who contributed to our current understanding of the world around us. I highly recommend this and all of Dr. Bauer's other titles as a satisfying read that will entertain and enlighten in equal measure.

Good summary of Science

It was just brief on certain topics, good book in all. Short and to the point.

Good overview

This provides a good, relatively brief and easy to understand overview of the development of science as a discipline apart from philosophy and religion.

My only (minor) disappointment was in the choice of narrator; generally I would expect that a book written by a woman would be narrated by a woman unless there is an obvious reason for a male narrator (e.g. in some fiction). Other than this, the narrator did his job professionally.

Good survey of the science.

Not too deep in the weeds so that a layman can't understand the science. .