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The Man Who Saw Through Time (The Scribner Library, Lyceum Editions, No. SL429) by Loren Eiseley
In this collection of haunting essays, Loren Eiseley, anthropologist and interpreter of science, invokes the image of a great 'statesman and strategist of science' of 400 years ago, Francis Bacon. With ardor and poetry Eiseley rekindles the importance of Bacon's thought and evokes its depth as well as its modern relevancy.
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First published January 1, 1962
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About the author
Loren Eiseley
50 books312 followersLoren Corey Eiseley (September 3, 1907 – July 9, 1977) was a highly respected anthropologist, science writer, ecologist, and poet. He published books of essays, biography, and general science in the 1950s through the 1970s.
Eiseley is best known for the poetic essay style, called the "concealed essay". He used this to explain complex scientific ideas, such as human evolution, to the general public. He is also known for his writings about humanity's relationship with the natural world; these writings helped inspire the modern environmental movement.
Eiseley is best known for the poetic essay style, called the "concealed essay". He used this to explain complex scientific ideas, such as human evolution, to the general public. He is also known for his writings about humanity's relationship with the natural world; these writings helped inspire the modern environmental movement.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 27, 2015
Loren Eiseley has been hanging out on my shelves for years, far too long unread. I finally pulled this volume off the to-be-read pile because it was short (116 pages) and would be easily carried on a trip out of town. Thank goodness!! What sheer pleasure to read the beautiful essays Eiseley has assembled on the importance and impact of the scientist, philosopher, lawyer, and King's counsel - Frances Bacon. Eiseley combines his own knowledge of history, anthropology, philosophy of science in a set of essays easily accessible to any interested general reader.
Eiseley paints, often out of Bacon's own words, a picture of the late 16th century - an "age of violence" (the title of the first essay), power, patronage - an age in which learning was defined as mastering the knowledge of the ancients. Within that age, Bacon germinated and planted the seeds for the sciences that have become fundamental building blocks of our world today. Francis Bacon argued for a new way of understanding and thinking about nature and man's role within nature. "This is the foundation of all, for we are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover, what nature does or may be made to do." Learning about nature should involve direct observation and induction, combined and made more effective by the use of the 'arts of man' - experimentation - to see what nature "may be made to do." Eiseley describes for us Bacon's vision of a "mundus alter" or "other world" produced by and as part of human culture through the course of such experimentation - a sophisticated insight into the blending of human thought with non-human "nature."
Eiseley's rendering is interesting, insightful, well-written. It will drive me to pursue a fuller treatment of the life of Francis Bacon. In the meantime, I'll also be pulling those two other Eiseley volumes from my shelves so that I can tag along with Eiseley on "The Immense Journey" and into "The Night Country." What a great find in the midst of my "I'll read them when I retire" collection!
Eiseley paints, often out of Bacon's own words, a picture of the late 16th century - an "age of violence" (the title of the first essay), power, patronage - an age in which learning was defined as mastering the knowledge of the ancients. Within that age, Bacon germinated and planted the seeds for the sciences that have become fundamental building blocks of our world today. Francis Bacon argued for a new way of understanding and thinking about nature and man's role within nature. "This is the foundation of all, for we are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover, what nature does or may be made to do." Learning about nature should involve direct observation and induction, combined and made more effective by the use of the 'arts of man' - experimentation - to see what nature "may be made to do." Eiseley describes for us Bacon's vision of a "mundus alter" or "other world" produced by and as part of human culture through the course of such experimentation - a sophisticated insight into the blending of human thought with non-human "nature."
Eiseley's rendering is interesting, insightful, well-written. It will drive me to pursue a fuller treatment of the life of Francis Bacon. In the meantime, I'll also be pulling those two other Eiseley volumes from my shelves so that I can tag along with Eiseley on "The Immense Journey" and into "The Night Country." What a great find in the midst of my "I'll read them when I retire" collection!
March 31, 2017
interesting set of lectures. would not mind reading more of Eiseley, or of Bacon. As a kid I was fascinated with Atlantis and was always curious about The New Atlantis...now I have a bit more of a glimmer.
May 30, 2023
Not my first time to read this great book by the distinguished scientist, humanist and poet, Loren Eiseley. In a brief volume, Eiseley illuminates the life and work of Francis Bacon, viewed by many as the father of experimental science. Since Eiseley wrote the book (perhaps at least partially because he wrote the book), Bacon's reputation and historical standing, once somewhat tarnished, have been enhanced and his contributions are more widely appreciated. Eiseley delivers to this mission his usual erudition, piercing insights, and beautiful prose style. A tour de force.
Reread 5/30/23 Little to add to my review; a great book about a great man.
Reread 5/30/23 Little to add to my review; a great book about a great man.
January 30, 2014
I did not know much about Francis Bacon before I read this wonderful book, but Eiseley makes it clear that Bacon was one of the greatest scientists of all time despite the fact he never conducted an experiment or invented a thing. If you are at all interested in the beginnings of modern scientific thought, read this book.
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August 21, 2021I've known fans of Eiseley's writing over my lifetime but had never read anything by him. I picked this up at a book give away some time ago. It's a short and easy read, but after a few weeks distance, my impression is that the book has more style than substance. I fell into the rhythm of the writing and found it soothing. In substance, it's an appreciation of Sr. Francis Bacon and his promotion of the scientific method and perhaps an argument for humanism. These are topics I have sympathy for, but I'm not sure the book gave me any more insight into Bacon than I might gain from a Wikipedia article. Perhaps the man is too distant from our era in history to be more than the purveyor of an idea. I'm sure there are more thorough Bacon biographies, but I haven't searched them out. So far, my take on Eiseley as a writer is that I would read him for the style and rhythm of his sentences.
August 4, 2016
Francis Bacon takes a lot of heat in the social science discourse for his vision of a world that runs like a giant machine which can be reduced and understood by humans so as to be brought under our dominion. He is often blamed for providing the impetus behind modern industrialization and the ravages wrought upon the Earth.
Eiseley's short biography is a great counter to such unfair critiques, revealing the unorthodox brilliance of Bacon's insight during a time when learning was stuck looking backwards to teachings derived from Aristotle. As Eiseley says, Bacon promoted rigorous investigation into nature as a means for improving the human condition and we should not scapegoat him as the source behind our own modern excesses because (referring to Bacon's vision of a world eventually falling under the 'charitable light of reason'):
"Ours cannot be the light he saw. Ours is still the vague and murky morning of humanity. He left his name, the name of all of us, to the charity of foreigners and the next ages. We presume if we think we are those addressed in his will. We are, instead, only a weary renewed version of the court he knew and the days he wore out in blackness. The inertial guidance system in the warhead has no new motive behind it; the Elizabethan intrigues that flung up men of power and destroyed them have a too familiar look; the religious massacres that shook Bacon's century have only a different name in ours."
If we continue evolving in the manner Bacon foresaw and urged, we will one day look back upon him under a very charitable light and upon our own time as one filled with shortsighted ignorance, albeit lit a bit by Bacon's light.
Eiseley's short biography is a great counter to such unfair critiques, revealing the unorthodox brilliance of Bacon's insight during a time when learning was stuck looking backwards to teachings derived from Aristotle. As Eiseley says, Bacon promoted rigorous investigation into nature as a means for improving the human condition and we should not scapegoat him as the source behind our own modern excesses because (referring to Bacon's vision of a world eventually falling under the 'charitable light of reason'):
"Ours cannot be the light he saw. Ours is still the vague and murky morning of humanity. He left his name, the name of all of us, to the charity of foreigners and the next ages. We presume if we think we are those addressed in his will. We are, instead, only a weary renewed version of the court he knew and the days he wore out in blackness. The inertial guidance system in the warhead has no new motive behind it; the Elizabethan intrigues that flung up men of power and destroyed them have a too familiar look; the religious massacres that shook Bacon's century have only a different name in ours."
If we continue evolving in the manner Bacon foresaw and urged, we will one day look back upon him under a very charitable light and upon our own time as one filled with shortsighted ignorance, albeit lit a bit by Bacon's light.
June 19, 2015
Excellent overview of Francis Bacon's contribution to the sciences and of the flight as percieved by major writers who followed him. This is the starting point for enjoying Bacon's works and appreciating their worth.
March 2, 2009
Not my favorite of Eiseley's works, but well worth the reading.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews