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Michael F.  Robinson

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Michael F. Robinson

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November 2012


Michael F. Robinson is a professor of history at Hillyer College, University of Hartford. He is the author of The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), winner of the 2008 Book Award for the History of Science in America, and The Lost White Tribe: Explorers, Scientists, and the Theory that Changed a Continent (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016) winner of the History of Science Society's Davis Prize.

Robinson has given lectures about his work at the American Museum of Natural History, The Explorers Club, The British Library, the Library of Congress, and NASA headquarters among others. He is a frequent guest on radio and television programs including American Experience, BB
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Average rating: 3.88 · 64 ratings · 9 reviews · 2 distinct works
The Lost White Tribe: Explo...

3.88 avg rating — 41 ratings — published 2016 — 6 editions
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The Coldest Crucible: Arcti...

3.87 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 2006 — 10 editions
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Gems, Science, and Empire

17th century traders who traveled the sea routes between India and Southeast Asia were interested in spices, but they were also interested in gemstones, objects of desire, commercial value, and increasingly, scientific fascination. Claire Conklin Sabel talks about the gem trade in South and Southeast Asia, and the way this trade was impacted by European traders in the 17th and 18th centuries.

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Published on October 27, 2025 05:33
Gideon the Ninth
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by Tamsyn Muir (Goodreads Author)
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Michael’s Recent Updates

Michael F. Robinson wrote a new blog post

Gems, Science, and Empire



17th century traders who traveled the sea routes between India and Southeast Asia were interested in spices, but they were also interested in gemston Read more of this blog post »
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Audition by Katie Kitamura
Audition
by Katie Kitamura (Goodreads Author)
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Translation State by Ann Leckie
Translation State
by Ann Leckie (Goodreads Author)
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I think Ann Leckie is an amazing writer. Her sci-fi does what sci-fi does best: create alternate worlds which challenge us to rethink our own world. Leckie does this masterfully with issues of gender, identity, and the meaning of individuality. Trans ...more
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Watership Down by Richard  Adams
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So satisfying! I decided to re-read Watership Down, a book I loved as a 12-year old, but for which I remembered none of the details. Although it fits into the categories of juvenile or YA fiction, it has all of the elements of good adult fiction: hig ...more
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These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs
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A banger of a first novel! The characters are well crafted and complex. The writing is tight. The world building is intricate, complicated, and well-thought out. The pacing of the book is very good too and the structure of the chapters oscilates betw ...more
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Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch
Prophet Song
by Paul Lynch (Goodreads Author)
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There are a lot of things I respect about Prophet Song. It is highly relevant to our current moment describing the rise of a fascist government in a modern-day democracy. More than other dystopian political novels (e.g. 1984) it offers a very three-d ...more
Michael Robinson is currently reading
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
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Michael Robinson is currently reading
Prophet Song by Paul    Lynch
Prophet Song
by Paul Lynch (Goodreads Author)
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Old Man's War by John Scalzi
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Old Man's War is funny and fast-paced, a hard sci-fi novel which nods to earlier works like Starship Trooper by Robert Heinlein. It also nods to Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) in so far as it describes a world in which augmented h ...more
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