The lagoon : how Aristotle invented science

754 Pages·2014·5.49 MB·English

by  Armand Marie Leroi.

THE LAGOON
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body
THE
LAGOON
How Aristotle Invented Science
Armand Marie Leroi
with translations from the Greek by Simon MacPherson
and original illustrations by David Koutsogiannopoulos
VIKING
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First published in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Illustration credits appearhere.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Leroi, Armand Marie.
The lagoon : how Aristotle invented science / Armand Marie Leroi ; with translations from the Greek by
Simon MacPherson and original illustrations by David Koutsogiannopoulos.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-698-17039-1
1. Biology—History. 2. Biology—Philosophy—History. 3. Aristotle. I. Title. II.
Title: How Aristotle invented science.
QH331.L5285 2014
570.1—dc23
2014021366
Version_1
To my parents
Antoine Marie Leroi
(1925–2013)
&
Johanna Christina Joubert-Leroi
LESBOS (MYTILENE)
Among the isles of Greece there is a certain island, insula
nobilis et amoena, which Aristotle knew well. It lies on the
Asian side, between the Troad and the Mysian coast, and far into
its bosom, by the little town of Pyrrha, runs a broad and
sheltered lagoon.
D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson,
On Aristotle as a biologist (1913)
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
At Erato
The Island
The Known World
The Anatomies
Natures
The Dolphin’s Snore
The Instruments
The Bird Winds
The Soul of the Cuttlefish
Foam
The Valley of Sheep
Recipe for an Oyster
Figs, Honey, Fish
The Stone Forest
Kosmos
The Strait of Pyrrha
Glossaries
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Illustrating Aristotle
Acknowledgements
Index