Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change

With humor and insight, John Glassie returns Kircher to his rightful place as one of history's most unforgettable figures. The interests of Athanasius Kircher, the legendary seventeenth-century priest-scientist, knew no bounds. From optics to music to magnetism to medicine, he offered up inventions and theories for everything, and they made him famous across Europe. His celebrated museum in Rome featured magic lanterns, speaking statues, the tail of a mermaid, and a brick from the Tower of Babel. Holy Roman Emperors were his patrons, popes were his friends, and in his spare time he collaborated with the Baroque master Bernini. But Kircher lived during an era of radical transformation, in which the old approach to knowledge-what he called the 'art of knowing'- was giving way to the scientific method and modern thought. A Man of Misconceptions traces the rise, success, and eventual fall of this fascinating character as he attempted to come to terms with a changing world. With humor and insight, John Glassie returns Kircher to his rightful place as one of history's most unforgettable figures. 'This fascinting biography . . . explores the birth of modern science through the life of one of the last premodern geniuses.'The New Yorker 'Leaves you contemplating the big questions, delightedly scratching your head, and laughing - all at the same time.'Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod and Salt 'I've been waiting my entire adult life for someone to write a popular biography of the loopy, ingenious scholar-priest Athanasius Kircher, and John Glassie has delivered marvelously.'Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein