Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional
Reviews"...highly original....Crosby writes in an easy, chatty style punctuated with fascinating questions...appealing to the general reader as well as the scholar....[makes] valuable contributions to the current discussion on cultural studies." Library Journal, ‘Crosby shows us how Europeans prepared for their world encompassing expansion after 1500 by learning how to measure, calculate and control the world around them by breaking reality into equal, arbitrary units. The Measure of Reality is a brilliant, provocative essay, as original and persuasive as his earlier Ecological Imperialism. A really significant little essay, full of new information and delightfully written as well.’William H. McNeill, 'Crosby shows us how Europeans prepared for their world encompassing expansion after 1500 by learning how to measure, calculate and control the world around them by breaking reality into equal, arbitrary units. The Measure of Reality is a brilliant, provocative essay, as original and persuasive as his earlier Ecological Imperialism. A really significant little essay, full of new information and delightfully written as well.' William H. McNeill, ‘In this thoroughly fascinating monograph, Alfred W. Crosby asks a fundamental question: How and why did it come to pass that Europeans, seemingly backward bumpkins in medieval times, became so successful as imperialists?’John Allen Paulos, LA Times, "...we have all benefited from Crosby's attempt to sum up the age." Paula Findlen, The Sixteenth Century Journal, "...very accessible and readable...[a] stimulating, wide-ranging study of the intellectual development of the medieval West....Mr. Crosby tracks a magnificent journey, from the introspective mentality of the early Middle Ages, which willingly tolerated ignorance and lack of precision, to a mentality that conceived of the physical universe in visual and quantitative terms....Mr. Crosby tells a heroic story of discovery and change that many readers will turn to for enlightenment." New York Times Book Review, ‘How the numerate urge developed and blossomed is the subject of this gracefully written book. … Crosby constructs a convincing account of how different forces came together to elevate quantification as a social and economic good in Western European society. … Crosby helps us fathom the arcane past - and understand our number-driven civilization.’ Karen Pennar, Business Week, ‘Western Europe did remake itself during that thousand years in a way that no other culture in the world did - or even attempted to do. And that is the transformation addressed in a very accessible and readable way by Crosby’s stimulating, wide-ranging study of the intellectual development of the medieval West.’Richard Holt, The New York Times Book Review, ‘The Measure of Reality has all the intellectual scope, vivid detail, imaginative interpretation and delicious wit that I expected from Crosby’s earlier books. Here Crosby argues that Western Europeans were better imperialists than any humans before them in part because, from the thirteenth century onward, they thought about reality in quantitative terms and did so more consistently than other peoples. There is an important lesson here for today.’Joel E. Cohen, Rockerfeller University, "Here, at last, is a theme that may provoke students and maybe also mature scholars--the primacy of art and commerce in the formation of a scientific-technological mentality." Theodore M. Porter, Technology & Culture, 'Western Europe did remake itself during that thousand years in a way that no other culture in the world did - or even attempted to do. And that is the transformation addressed in a very accessible and readable way by Crosby's stimulating, wide-ranging study of the intellectual development of the medieval West.' Richard Holt, The New York Times Book Review, "...[an] engrossing study....It is a joy for anyone interested in why we think the way we think." Publishers Weekly, "How the numerate urge developed and blossomed is the subject of this gracefully written book by Alfred W. Crosby....Crosby constructs a convincing account of how different forces came together to elevate quantification as a social and economic good in Western European society." Business Week, 'In this thoroughly fascinating monograph, Alfred W. Crosby asks a fundamental question: How and why did it come to pass that Europeans, seemingly backward bumpkins in medieval times, became so successful as imperialists?' John Allen Paulos, LA Times, "It's not often that one wishes a scholarly book were longer. In the case of The Measure of Reality, one does." Civilization, 'The Measure of Reality has all the intellectual scope, vivid detail, imaginative interpretation and delicious wit that I expected from Crosby's earlier books. Here Crosby argues that Western Europeans were better imperialists than any humans before them in part because, from the thirteenth century onward, they thought about reality in quantitative terms and did so more consistently than other peoples. There is an important lesson here for today.' Joel E. Cohen, Rockerfeller University, "The author provides some remarkable insights on modern culture....This is one of those rare books, one that changes the reader's view of the world just beyond the page." The Baltimore Sun, 'How the numerate urge developed and blossomed is the subject of this gracefully written book. ... Crosby constructs a convincing account of how different forces came together to elevate quantification as a social and economic good in Western European society. ... Crosby helps us fathom the arcane past - and understand our number-driven civilization.' Karen Pennar, Business Week
Edition DescriptionReprint
Table Of ContentPart I. Pantometria Achieved: 1. Pantometria, an introduction; 2. The venerable model; 3. Necessary, but insufficient; 4. Time; 5. Space; 6. Mathematics; Part II. Striking the Match: Visualization: 7. Visualization, an introduction; 8. Music; 9. Painting; 10. Bookkeeping; Part III. The New Model.
SynopsisThis 1997 book discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception which occurred in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance and which was to lead to western domination of science and technology., Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. By the sixteenth century more people were thinking quantitatively in western Europe than in any other part of the world. The Measure of Reality, first published in 1997, discusses the epochal shift from qualitative to quantitative perception in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. This shift made modern science, technology, business practice and bureaucracy possible., Crosby discusses the shift to quantitative perception which made modern science, technology, business practice, and bureaucracy possible., Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, precise algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. More people in Western Europe thought quantitatively in the sixteenth century than in any other part of the world, enabling them to become the world's leaders. With amusing detail and historical anecdote, Alfred Crosby discusses the shift from qualitative to quantitative perception that occurred during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of five books, including the award-winning Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Cambridge, 1986)
LC Classification NumberD202 .C76 1997