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Pseudodoxia Epidemica or Enquiries into Very Many Received Tenents and Commonly Presumed Truths, 1672.
This is Thomas Browne's final the 1672 edition.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1646
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305 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Browne
642 books127 followersSir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English polymath and author of works on various subjects, including science, medicine, religion and esoteric.
Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffering from melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence.
After graduating M.A. from Broadgates Hall, Oxford (1629), he studied medicine privately and worked as an assistant to an Oxford doctor. He then attended the Universities of Montpellier and Padua, and in 1633 he was graduated M.D. at Leiden.
Browne's medical education in Europe also earned him incorporation as M.D. from Oxford, and in 1637 he moved to Norwich, where he lived and practiced medicine until his death in 1682. While Browne seems to have had a keen intellect and was interested in many subjects, his life was outwardly uneventful, although during the Civil War he declared his support for King Charles I and received a knighthood from King Charles II in 1671.
Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world, influenced by the scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. Browne's literary works are permeated by references to Classical and Biblical sources as well as the idiosyncrasies of his own personality. Although often described as suffering from melancholia, his writings are also characterised by wit and subtle humour, while his literary style is varied, according to genre, resulting in a rich, unique prose which ranges from rough notebook observations to polished Baroque eloquence.
After graduating M.A. from Broadgates Hall, Oxford (1629), he studied medicine privately and worked as an assistant to an Oxford doctor. He then attended the Universities of Montpellier and Padua, and in 1633 he was graduated M.D. at Leiden.
Browne's medical education in Europe also earned him incorporation as M.D. from Oxford, and in 1637 he moved to Norwich, where he lived and practiced medicine until his death in 1682. While Browne seems to have had a keen intellect and was interested in many subjects, his life was outwardly uneventful, although during the Civil War he declared his support for King Charles I and received a knighthood from King Charles II in 1671.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 19, 2020
The work explicates in the first section its intention of refuting several phoninesses by the use of documentation and scientific observation in the fashion of those times.
For who is in search of content informative by itself this will look as a dense and hard to break brick of idiocies. For readers wanting to read earnest argumentation about fanciful topics, it will accomplish a similar experience to Herodotus' Histories; could be considered an ancestor of fantasy erudition. There are discussions about if crystal isn't fossilized water, if elephants have stiff legs and how do they copulate, if bear cubs are modelled by their mother after birth, how the basilisk kills with luminous poison directed to the brain, why it is unlikely that Jews stink, why "negroes" have darker skin, if someone lived longer than Methuselah. The work is enormous, nearer to an encyclopedia than to a novel or essay, the prose isn't hard, and the reader can, and in my opinion should, skip parts and return along the years.
For who is in search of content informative by itself this will look as a dense and hard to break brick of idiocies. For readers wanting to read earnest argumentation about fanciful topics, it will accomplish a similar experience to Herodotus' Histories; could be considered an ancestor of fantasy erudition. There are discussions about if crystal isn't fossilized water, if elephants have stiff legs and how do they copulate, if bear cubs are modelled by their mother after birth, how the basilisk kills with luminous poison directed to the brain, why it is unlikely that Jews stink, why "negroes" have darker skin, if someone lived longer than Methuselah. The work is enormous, nearer to an encyclopedia than to a novel or essay, the prose isn't hard, and the reader can, and in my opinion should, skip parts and return along the years.
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May 1, 2015Alan Jacobs says that this is one of his favorite books.
September 29, 2021
The treatise on unicorns that the world doesn't deserve, but needs.
"Primus sapientiæ gradus est, falsa intelligere."
"Primus sapientiæ gradus est, falsa intelligere."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews