The Swerve: How the World Became Modern in Science and Inquiry

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The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

Stephen Greenblatt

Start date: October 1, 2012

Finish date: October 31, 2012

Discussion: Book Club 2012

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Book Club 2012

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What Members Thought

Dec 21, 2012 Libyrinths rated it it was ok

Major disappointment, this book. First, the title and subtitle suggest that the rediscovery of the manuscript of Lucretius' On the Nature of Things had a major influence on Renaissance thinking. Greenblatt does not make his case on this, in fact, offers only the palest of evidence: a sentence here or there from a handful of Renaissance types. It's as though he came up with an idea, started doing the research, found out the thesis didn't wash, but wrote the book anyway. The misguided ideas about Major disappointment, this book. First, the title and subtitle suggest that the rediscovery of the manuscript of Lucretius' On the Nature of Things had a major influence on Renaissance thinking. Greenblatt does not make his case on this, in fact, offers only the palest of evidence: a sentence here or there from a handful of Renaissance types. It's as though he came up with an idea, started doing the research, found out the thesis didn't wash, but wrote the book anyway. The misguided ideas about epicureanism, and the Catholic Church's opposition to them, predated the rediscovery of the Lucretius manuscript. The valid -- in view of Church theology -- criticisms had been around for centuries. Epicureanism had little influence either way on the trends in Renaissance thinking. Neoplatonism was by far the more important development and had far-ranging influence.

Greenblatt seems to do a lot of padding. While the story of the discovery of a still-existing manuscript was intersting, it became almost juvenile in its execution. Many of the details, apparently meant to give some sense of the times, seemed irrelevant and interrupted the narrative of the discovery. A lot of words about very little.

If you haven't read Lucretius' work, he has a chapter which is basically an outline of the ideas found in The Nature of Things. However, it's far into the book, so if this is what you're looking for, you have to wade through a lot to get there. This chapter is the best thing in the book. His outline is accurate, and covers all the major ideas. Unfortunately, it does read a bit like a Cliff Notes version of Lucretius.

I gave this two stars rather than one only because I love to read anything about the Renaissance. And there are times when Greenblatt's writing is engaging. But overall, if you want to understand Lucretius, read him in an Oxford or Penguin translation. If you think Greenblatt is going to show you an influence of epicurean thinking you never knew about, don't bother with this book. You can't create an influence just because you want it to be there. If Greenblatt proved anything, it's that.

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May 08, 2012 Katy rated it it was ok

Shelves: history, 2025_pulitzers_nonfiction

2025: Doing a reread.

2012:
I would not call this book "riveting" as described on the book jacket -- but it was an interesting read, although it was slow for me. A nice background on some history, but not the best I've read. ...more

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