The First Scientist: A Life of Roger Bacon

Roger Bacon was the most important scientist of his time, his life spanned from 1214 to 1294. Though living in the darkness of the Middle Ages, he shed a tremendous amount of light on the understanding of science in his day, and spent over 20 years imprisoned for his writings which challengd much of the supersitition of the church at that time.

So little is known about the real life of Friar Bacon that the author is obliged to make up many details of his life, based on speculation and inference. The stories feel like they could be credible, but one is reminded that the subtitle of this book is "A Life of Roger Bacon" not "THE Life of Roger Bacon." In order to fill out a scanty bushel of facts the author delves into Medieval politics, alchemy, early church struggles et cetera, giving the reader a fairly good grounding in the times of Roger Bacon. Nevertheless, I think it would have been very possible to delve deeper into Bacon's five known works to dissect where he anticipated Renaissance science, where he hewed to Bible-based orthodoxy, and where he went off on flights of fancy. The analysis of his works -- which ARE known -- is a bit light in the loafers.

This is an excellent work for historians and science buffs.It describes a friar who lived in the 13th century. Roger Baconpredicted horseless carriages and telescopes. He is one of thefirst scientists to link science with the experimental method.Early in life, he studied astronomy, grammar, mathematics,music, logic and rhetoric. He presented a fairly detailedearth map. The work describes his incarceration for teachingscontrary to the orthodoxy of the day. This work would makea perfect class project for students in grammar or high school.

The great thing about this book is it's not over-academic like practically everything else I've seen about Bacon, but rather gives a real insight into the man and his times. If you are at all interested in science, where it comes from and the people who made it happen this book should be on your have-to-buy list!