Excerpts from the writings of those early discoverers from the Renaissance to the 19th century who invented the scientific method and discovered much of that basic knowledge that we blindly learned in grade school. The author presents the writings with very little commentary other than a biographical sketch for each writer. The articles cover the range from biology and chemistry to mathematics and astronomy.

The readings range from surprising, such the story of how the speed of light was discovered, to almost pointless as when the author seems to have selected a writing that does not demonstrate the true contributions of the author to the storehouse of knowledge. Overall, it was worthwhile to rediscover the history of science through these original resources . ( )

Anthology of original (translated) selections from works completed over three centuries by European scientists. Professor Boyton includes a Foreword touching upon the rapid advance of Science in the last three centuries culminating in the unbelievable power demonstrated at Bikini Lagoon in 1946. Professor Boyle also wrote the summaries of each Chapter in which he has collected the significant and original papers of the seminal scientists themselves. ( )