I spent a lot of time in my past, dressed up in medieval garb (or as close as I could get), recreating and demonstrating the nicer parts of the 15th century with my fellow history nerds.

I love reading history, especially of the middle ages. 320 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats (other editions possibly available in other formats). Due out 24th Sept from Penguin UK on their Allen Lane imprint (November in North America), it's ca. The Light Ages is a beautifully annotated and layman accessible survey of astronomy, mathematics, engineering, science, and learning in the middle ages viewed through the lens of a real 14th century monk called John of Westwyk. Written in an engaging tone and in an accessible fashion, this is one of the nonfiction reads of 2020 for me as it crackles with interesting information and fascinating stories illustrating exactly how we reached the level of modernity at which we currently find ourselves. An enlightening history that argues that these times weren't so dark after all, The Light Ages shows how medieval ideas continue to colour how we see the world today. The Light Ages offers a gripping story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man in a precarious world and conjures a vivid picture of medieval life as we have never seen it before. On our way, we encounter a remarkable cast of characters: the clock-building English abbot with leprosy, the French craftsman-turned-spy, and the Persian polymath who founded the world's most advanced observatory. Born in a rural manor, educated in England's grandest monastery, and then exiled to a clifftop priory, Westwyk was an intrepid crusader, inventor, and astrologer.įrom multiplying Roman numerals to navigating by the stars, curing disease, and telling time with an ancient astrolabe, we learn emerging science alongside Westwyk and travel with him through the length and breadth of England and beyond its shores. In The Light Ages, Cambridge science historian Seb Falk takes us on a tour of medieval science through the eyes of one fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk. As medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky, they came to develop a vibrant scientific culture. But the so-called Dark Ages also gave us the first universities, eyeglasses, and mechanical clocks. Soaring Gothic cathedrals, violent crusades, the Black Death: these are the dramatic forces that shaped the medieval era.

The light ages by seb falk