Forgotten Revolution: How Science Was Born in 300 BC and Why It Had to Be Reborn (2004)

The third and second centuries BC witnessed, in the Greek world, a scientific and technological explosion. In the age of Archimedes and Euclid, science as we know it was born, and gave rise to sophisticated technology that would not be seen again until the 18th century. What were the landmarks in the meteoric rise of science 2300 years ago? Why are they so little known today, even among scientists, classicists and historians? How do they relate to the post-1500 science that we are familiar with from school? These are the questions that this book discusses, in the belief that the answers bear on choices we face today.