Description: In this innovative work, Scott L. Montgomery explores the diverse roles that translation has played in the development of science from antiquity to the present--from the Arabic translations of Greek and Latin texts whose reintroduction to Europe was crucial to the Renaissance, to the origin and evolution of modern science in Japan.
"[A] book of great richness, as much for its examples as for its ideas, which keenly illustrate the development of knowledge across languages and epochs. It is a book to read and reread. Its subject is important; it is ours, it is our history." -André Clas, Meta: Journal des Traducteurs "[T]his book . . . seems to stand alone on the shelf. A good thing, therefore, that it is so full of good things, both in the content and the prose." --William R. Everdell, MAA Online "[A]n impressive work. . . . By reminding us of the role of diverse cultures in the elevation of science within a particular nation or civilization, the book makes a substantial contribution to the postmodern worldview that emphasizes multiculturalism." --ChoiceBrief description:
Scott L. Montgomery is an author and affiliate faculty member in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. A consulting geologist for more than 25 years, he has written many technical papers and monographs on energy-related subjects and is the author or coauthor of numerous books, most recently The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World and Does Science Need a Global Language? English and the Future of Research, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press. He lives in Seattle.