Before Copernicus : the cultures and contexts of scientific learning in the fifteenth century

Summary/Review: "This collection of essays explores the multi-cultural, multi-religious, and multi-lingual context of learning on the eve of the Copernican revolution. Although Copernicus's work and its influence have been subject to a number of excellent studies, there has been surprisingly little attention paid to Copernicus's sources and the diverse cultures and contexts of learning in which he lived and by which he could have been inspired. Previous authors who have attended to this background have tended to put forth singular and rather narrow explanations of Copernicus's turn to heliocentrism. In contrast, this volume does not seek to provide "the" explanation, or even "an" explanation, but rather provides the reader with aspects of the complex and surprisingly rich intellectual and scientific world before Copernicus."--