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    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

    Written by Stephen Greenblatt

    Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Renowned historian Stephen Greenblatt's works shoot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. With The Swerve, Greenblatt transports listeners to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. "More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

    Editor's Note

    Life as we know it…

    This compulsively readable history reveals how a chance encounter inspired an ancient bookworm to save the last copy of a book considered radical and dangerous — leading to the Renaissance and the world as we know it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 23, 2011
    ISBN9781461846901
    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
    Author

    Stephen Greenblatt

    Stephen Greenblatt is The Class of 1932 Professor of English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Two of his publications, Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England and Representing the English Renaissance (of which he is the editor) are available in paperback from California. His most recent book is Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World (1991).

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    Reviews for The Swerve

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    • 4/5
      62. The Swerve : How the World Became Modern (Audio) by Stephen Greenblatt, read by Edoardo Ballerini (2011, 9 hrs 42 mins, 368 pages in Paperback, Listened October 17-27)The title of this book bothers me, as does the comment "A riveting tale of the great cultural "swerve" known as the Renaissance."The book is actually about the rediscovery in the 15th century of "On the Nature of Things" by the Roman Epicurean philosopher Lucretius. The "Swerve" refers to one translation of one of the fundamental aspects of the atom-based concepts promoted in the poem. Yes, Lucretius believed in what we today call atoms, or really, elements, or maybe really protons, neutrons and electrons. He also had the basic ideas of natural selection worked out, and what we would consider a more modern view of the cosmos. The "swerve" is a translation of his variety of what we might call atomic level chaos theory.The book is pretty good stuff. It's overly dramatic, but Greenblatt looks closely into the world of books and monasteries in the 15th century and how they got there, at the political world of the Popes, early humanists, and one momentarily out-of-work scholarly humanist, Poggio Bracciolini, who found a copy of Lucretius in a still unknown but likely isolated monastery.Then Greenblatt has to somehow deal with what I would consider several plot obstacles in that Poggio never really did anything with Lucretius, and that almost no authors could directly acknowledge influence of Lucretius since his ideas are so far outside the Christian, and especially Catholic, concepts of the times. So Greenblatt looks for anything he can find on atomic theory and claims it is either a reference to Lucretius or influenced by him. I was sometimes skeptical, and felt Greenblatt way overstated Lucretius's influence on the already underway Renaissance. But still this was enjoyable and worth pondering.Fun stuff and decent on audio.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book, really enjoy the well documented narrative with the well known personal author touch.
    • 5/5
      An intellectual detective story.
    • 5/5
      An intellectual detective story.
    • 5/5
      I didn’t think a book about the resurgence of classical literature could be so exciting as this book. I chugged through the last pages and was entirely engrossed by such an old yet thoroughly modern, even if only now, ideas.
    • 5/5
      Fascinating book, full of history and ideas. I often had to go back and listen to parts again.
      It opened up my curiosity about a time in history I knew little about. I have so much more to learn!
    • 4/5
      This fast-moving narrative history focuses on the rediscovery of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura, On the Nature of Things, in a monastery library in Germany in 1417. While acknowledging that this single work did not jump start the Renaissance, Greenblatt uses the story to tell a broader tale: how classical learning fell to pieces in Late Antiquity; how it was rediscovered in the Renaissance; and how it provided a vital alternative to centuries of dominance by Catholic and scholastic theology. If you've read about Late Antiquity or the Renaissance, this book won't offer much new depth, but will offer a lively tour of familiar ground. What Lucretius actually says in his book gets just one chapter - the best in the book, I thought, and a spur to read in greater depth about the Epicureans and the ancient and modern legacies.
    • 4/5
      A window on the history of ideas and life before the renaissance.
    • 4/5
      This book is a good read. Quite a bit of background info and context which proves as fascinating as the main subject. I believe the author fails to prove his basic thesis, however, and was left wanting a smoking gun, which never materialized.
    • 4/5
      An engaging book that covers a range of fascinating historical moments and milieus. The central character of Poggio Bracciolini and his discovery of an ancient text by Lucretius serves as a vehicle tracing the rise and fall of cultures and the slow progression to modernity. Very enjoyable read.
    • 5/5
      amazing audiobook a must listem for all história and philosophy lovers
    • 4/5
      The search for the classics in the Middle Ages.
    • 3/5
      Fascinating journey traces the rediscovery of Lucretius' poem, On the Nature of Things -- which is both extraordinarily ahead of its time and a really interesting philosophy of hedonism. I find the articulation of his ideas both terrifying and comforting, and the story of the Humanist search through monastic libraries in the 1500s is equally interesting.
    • 3/5
      Fairly interesting nonfiction. I had no idea how much of the writings of Ancient Greek and Roman authors has, barring new discoveries, been lost forever. I guess I just assumed it had all been preserved on stone tablets or something. I wouldn't really say it lived up to its subtitle "How the World Became Modern". It spent far more time chronicling some of the key figures involved and how people reacted to this poem of Lucretious hundreds of years ago than talking about how it pertains to modern life. The fact that it won the Pulitzer to me is a bit of a stretch, however it's a decent work of nonfiction.
    • 4/5
      This is a fantastic 2/3rds of a book and a flat 1/3rd of a book. If you quit at the 2/3rds mark, I'm fine with that because the last third falls flat.

      Swerve is about the re-discovery of Lucretius's "On the Nature of Things," an Epicurian poem extolling an early Roman atheist worldview of a universe made of atoms descended directly from the Greek Epicurians. For the first third, Swerve dives into the literature movement of the Roman Empire, the nature and industry of hand-written books on scrolls, libraries, and a world of literacy in a time of hegemony. And then Rome fell apart bit by bit and the books were lost to mold, moisture, Christians with torches, and monks who didn't care to make copies. The early Christian Saints clutched their chests and fell on their fainting couches about how Roman Literature in its beautiful literate manicured Latin, so much better than the crude Greek or Hebrew of the Levant, destroyed their souls and should never be read -- wink wink -- really don't read it except you should. To no one's surprise, people took the Saints seriously and it went from oh no we're not reading that to NO WE REALLY AREN'T READING THAT and thus, books get lost and destroyed and neglected and used for kindling. Some of the books were copied and recopied in rotation in forgotten mountainous monasteries. On the Nature of Things was one of those.

      The second third of the book is about the academics of early Renaissance Florence who fought precisely like academics do. Nothing is better than threats and slander and lies and assassination attempts over translations of Latin. Some of the books crept out, some of the books stayed in collections, but fundamentally these crazy academics established fonts and notation and procedure and pedantic lexicography and everything the modern world needs to analyze literature. These are good people, the crazy ones who go to the Alps to steal books from monasteries. It's like an Umberto Eco novel except it all really happened.

      So thus the book about the atoms and the atheism is returned to circulation.

      This is all well and good. But the last third of the book stretches to make Lucretius's poem important in the course of history. The arguments are tenuous at best. Galileo! Thomas Jefferson! Newton! I think there was a Kant reference stuffed in there. The argument isn't very good because it was an whole body of literature, not just one poem, entering the literary market once again (histories, plays, philosophy, huge books of maps) that helped kick things along. Sure a book talking about atoms had some impact but wow, it felt overblown. This is unlike Fourth Corner of the World where the return of Ptolemy's Geography had noticeable and traceable effect -- before Geography, no maps; after Geography, maps -- it's unclear what the return of Lucretius's poem actually had.

      Again! Absolutely fantastic first two thirds of a book. Worth reading. Perfect in its awesomeness. Last third -- merely good and sometimes bordering on okay. Recommend for the first two thirds, which is more than I can say for 90% of the history books I've ever read.
    • 4/5
      As I was listening to this, I felt the title was sort of misleading for a long time, but eventually Greenblatt gets to the heart of the matter, the book itself - Lucretius's The Nature of Things (or The Nature of the Universe, or whatever your particular publisher has decided to call it.) This book is just as much, or more, a biography of Poggio Bracciolini, who re-disovered the book in a German monastery and was responsible for its subsequent influence on the development of Western thought. Or at least Western thought outside of the United States, where we seem to still, despite the recent election, be living in some sort of dark age of religious fundamentalism where much of the population would be happy to see anyone who doesn't share their views burned at the stake. All of Greenblatt's context turns out to be interesting and mostly necessary for understanding Lucretius's book and the reaction to it over the centuries. Two things that emerge from the story: 1) Christianity was really a tragedy for Western Civilization; and 2) Thomas More was no saint. The ideas in The Nature of Things were drawn from the teachings of Epicurus and were centuries ahead of their time. They threatened the power of the church, but the ideas were too powerful to stamp out, and with the invention of the printing press, suppression became pretty much impossible. Greenblatt (as always, I guess) has very strong opinions that come though in his writing. If you agree with them, as I do, you'll love it. If you are close-minded or religious, you may not.The audiobook version was very well done and was not a barrier in appreciating the subject matter. (I have always found audiobooks to be great for stories that don't require stopping to think about things or look things up or backtrack a few pages to make sure you understood. But Greenblatt's writing is quite clear and logically organized, so confusion is never a problem.)
    • 4/5
      Maybe the book is not true but it is beautiful.
    • 1/5
      I was listening to the audio, and for some reason the audio gave out. I was about to discontinue listening to it anyway. Another review said it best:
      "A dubious thesis propped up by selective evidence and punctuated by digressions that were often only tenuously connected to the book's argument. Greenblatt massively overstates Epicurean philosophy's significance in the ancient world and his bold claims for the influence of Lucretius' poem in the Renaissance are rarely supported by the evidence he presents to any sufficient degree. Worst of all is his bizarre caricatures of the Medieval period - he doesn't seem to know the Twelfth Century revival ever happened and universities get one passing mention, though the worst aspects of monasticism get repeated emphasis and flagellation gets pages of loving detail. And his claims Christianity somehow suppressed Lucretius' poem are undermined by his underplayed references to various medieval manuscripts of the poem (though these are often tucked away in footnotes). For an institution trying to "destroy" this poem, the Medieval church sure went about it in a strange way.
      Greenblatt is an expert in literature rather than history, and it shows. The fact this book won a Pulitzer says something about a triumph of style and marketing over substance and basic fact checking. A book that actively distorts history is not a good history book."
    • 1/5
      I was very disappointed with this book. I still fail to see why it received the pre-publication buzz that it did or, for that matter, why it picked up so many rewards. It is a very weak book and has the feeling of a writing project that was rushed. This is not Stephen Greenblatt's best work.
    • 4/5
      The fifteenth century was one of discovery and reinvigoration of culture. It is rightly known as the Renaissance. Stephen Greenblatt has written a book, The Swerve, about one of those discoverers who remade culture and gained fame in particular from one book, On The Nature of Things by Lucretius. This work by a Roman of the first century BC is an extended poem about philosophy and science. The extent to which Lucretius covers things and described them in a way that is very modern is breathtaking. Added to that is the beauty of his poetry. Yet, in spite of this, the book had been lost for more than a thousand years hidden away in a remote monastery.Greenblatt provides the background of the discoverer, one Poggio Bracciolini, a classicist who for a time became secretary to the Pope. He scoured the Italian countryside for old books and with Lucretius found a book that would influence thinkers from Machiavelli to Montaigne and beyond into the twentieth century. The Swerve derives its name from one of the most important concepts in Lucretius' poem, that everything is made of small particles called atoms by the Greek philosopher Democritus, and that everything in the Universe is informed by the movement of these particles - the "swerve" - and not by the gods of the Romans or the god of the Catholic church. Perhaps more importantly Lucretius was a follower of Epicurus whose philosophy taught that one should take no part in the struggle for wealth and power, one should attach the greatest importance to friendship, and thus achieve tranquility of mind. All of this to be achieved without a reliance on gods (although he did not deny the existence of gods, rather that they did not interact with humans). Cicero, while disliking Epicureanism, read On the Nature of Things and thought well of Lucretius' poetry.Greenblatt's prose is a delight to read and his history reads like a novel. Some critics think that he speculates too much and does not provide enough evidence for some of his claims, but that is part and parcel of writing about the world that is removed from our current age by more than a millennia.After providing the story of Poggio's life and his discovery Greenblatt concludes the book with a discussion of the impact of Lucretius in the centuries after the discovery. The book was reprinted with copies spreading throughout Europe. Greenblatt writes: "Once Gutenberg's clever technology was commercially established, printed editions quickly followed. The editions were routinely prefaced with warnings and disavowals." (to placate the ecclesiastical authorities).This is cultural history that proves both entertaining and enlightening. It may encourage some to read Lucretius' poem which this reader has enjoyed reading more than once. It is accessible and worth the effort to discover for yourself what an ancient Roman poet had to say about the way things are.
    • 5/5
      Fascinating true story of the rediscovery of Lucretius's De Rerum Naturae, perhaps the most unknown and most influential poem / treatise that helped launch the Renaissance.
    • 1/5
      Well, I am not a nonfiction lover, but I read the first 100 pages. This reads well and is full of interesting information...who knew!
    • 4/5
      Was hoping for more history of the ideas, less biography of Bracchiolini. The last few chapters really pick up and it's an exciting read to the end. The Partially Examined Life podcast episodes on De Rerum Natura are an excellent companion for brushing up on Lucretius.
    • 5/5
      This was a really interesting book about a "book hunter" in 1417 who goes around to various places (like monasteries) seeking old manuscripts that had been lost for centuries. It talks about old books and the risks to their survival, both from storage and from reading, and why so many are gone forever (at least so far...). The main subject is a hunt for On the Nature of Things by Lucretius. I knew a little about the work but had no idea of its effect on what happened in history and science after it was found. It was a Pulitzer Prize winning book and got me looking for other winning books, figuring (somehow this had never occurred to me before) that could be a source of other interesting books. And it was.
    • 4/5
      I love books about classic books that are otherwise difficult, a guide is welcome. Despite the subtitle chosen by the publisher, I don't think Greenblatt is saying this one book by Lucretius created the modern world, but he is saying it was influential to some degree and he succeeded in showing that. Lucretius provided a model, atomism, for understanding the physical world that was in the end correct, at least more so than the alternative of faith. Critics say Greenblatt is anti-religious and falls into the trap created by Italian Humanists who depict the "middle" ages (a term they invented) as being "dark" (a concept they created); that these intellectual models were part of a propaganda campaign to restore the glory of Rome, one that lives on in the modern imagination for various reasons. In short, anyone who uses the term or concept of a "Dark Ages" is not a serious historian rather a populist. These are valid criticisms.. and yet. This is still a good book, as a history of On the Nature of Things, of Italian "book hunters" and some Humanists brought back to life.
    • 5/5
      For me, this is a gem of a book. For some, Mr. Greenblatt overstates his thesis, and I think that's absolutely correct. But, even accepting that fact, it did not diminish the read for me. If anything, it inspires me to further study and examination. Ultimately, I do think Lucrectuis' poem played a part (and its questionable how big) in moving forward intellectual and scientific thought.

      There are many things to like about this book. It's part ancient history, part travelouge/book hunt, part scientific study, part religious study/critique. And to top it all off, it is beautifully written and conceived.

      Some of my highlights:

      I was completely engrossed by how books were made, organized, written, copied and maintained by religious monks 600 yrs ago. I found the quotes and descriptions lamenting the slow wasting away of many books by spills, sneezes, dirty hands and parasites fascinating - Mr. Greenblatt generously supplies an entire chapter on this - "The Teeth of Time" (pg 81).

      I found the story of Poggio Bracciolini, the humanist, scribe, book hunter, and personal secretary to several Pope's, interesting and inspiring. He was born of modest means, but through beautiful handwriting and training in notary, rose to be an early humanist, collector of ancient art/books and an intimate part of the Pope's inner circle. He also wrote some scathing satires on the Catholic Church - exposing the hypocrisy and greed that surrounded him.

      I also enjoyed how Mr. Greenblatt devotes an entire chapter breaking down Lucretius' poem, "On The Nature of Things" for the layman - "The Way Things Are" (pg 182). He offers a breakdown of many of its key points in clear logical prose. It helped me, since I am unfamiliar with the work, and it may encourage readers to tackle the original. At the bare minimum, it gives the reader a clear overview.

      The poem, the driving force behind this book, drew much of its inspiration from the Greek philosopher, Epicurus. Mr. Greenblatt does a fine job giving a brief overview and tying the poem into the philosophy of Epicureanism. The clash between this philosophy and Christianity is highlighted many times throughout the book. For some, it may become too iconoclastic. Mr. Greenblatt does seem to be a staunch ally of Epicureanism - The pursuit of pleasure, the soul and body dies at death, and that atoms, continously in motion, swerving in all directions, are the building blocks of all things.

      I enjoyed this book. It's a launching pad for further study for the lay person, and it's a fun read!

      Recommended.
    • 5/5
      Here's another rambling biography about a fascinating time in history. Like Shorts' biography of Geologist Saint Nicolas Steno, or Cutler's treatment of Descarte's bones, Stephen Goldblatt is all over the place, and it works. Philosophy, European history, religion, and natural history, -- it's all there. And best of all, the story is wrapped like a scroll of Herculaneum papyrus, around a love of books.
    • 5/5
      I thought this book was riveting and eye-opening. It's a must-read if you are at all interested in intellectual history. And well-written, too.
    • 5/5
      What do atoms and hedonism have to do with the inquisition and the American Constitution? Stephen Greenblatt traces the development of those lines of philosophical/political thought in an extensive study of the millennia-long wars that have been waged for control of our minds and the salvation of our souls. That war continues to this day.Greenblatt begins by introducing to Poggio Bracciolini, papal secretary to Pope Martin V. Although most likely unfamiliar to most readers, Poggio was an Italian scholar and humanist who is credited with the recovery of a great many classical Latin manuscripts. Foremost among these was a copy of an epic philosophical poem written by Titus Lucretius Carus' (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC), De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) is the intellectual gold mine that Greenblatt credits with setting in motion the intellectual revolution that shaped modern society. After a brief introduction to Poggio and the ideas expressed in De rerum natura, Greenblatt backtracks to explain how and why the work, and many other works by classic Latin humanists, was systematically destroyed. De rerum natura, in particular, challenges the core beliefs of Christianity: that the universe functions without the aid of gods; that religious fear is damaging to human life; that pleasure and virtue are not opposites but intertwined; and that matter is made up of very small material particles that are in eternal motion and randomly collide and swerve in new directions. Christian leaders regarded these ideas as heresy.Greenblatt follows the efforts of numerous advocates of the ideas expressed in De rerum natura; many were burned alive at the stake for their efforts while others such as Galileo were imprisoned. Even an established figure like Darwin who lived in the more tolerant United Kingdom, cautiously withheld publication of his work for years in anticipation of vehement opposition from organized religion. Thomas More, for example, advocated that there be no tolerance for those who do not believe in an afterlife or do not believe that the gods concern themselves with the doings of mankind. Those people, he believed, are less than human and unfit to remain in society. Greenblatt concludes The Swerve with a brief note on Thomas Jefferson, who owned five Latin editions of De rerum natura as well as translations in English, Italian and French. In one of the earliest acts of the fledgling United States Jefferson, insured that a central tenet of Lucretius' philosophy became a bedrock principle upon which the country was founded. Lucretius' philosophy, through Jefferson's work in drafting the U. S. Constitution, expresses the belief that all humans have an inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. One minor criticism I have is that Greenblatt ends The Swerve with Jefferson and the U. S. Constitution. The Swerve provides a front row seat to a centuries long battle between those who want to suppress Lucretius' thoughts and those who find them compelling. I suppose he wanted to end on a positive note, but the battle continues. Examples include the religiously motivated wars consuming the Middle East; the intolerance of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/questioning life styles; the unceasing efforts to outlaw abortions; the intolerance of divorce; and other efforts to limit individuals' right to pursue happiness. Greenblatt's thesis that Lucretius' philosophy exerted a profound impact on modern society, and I think that is clearly evident in numerous ways.
    • 4/5
      Many Greek and Roman classics are known to modern scholars only from references in other classical works. On the Nature of Things, a scientific poem by Lucretius, was almost one of them. Renaissance scholar Poggio Bracciolini discovered a copy of Lucretius' poem in a monastery library in the early 15th century. As Poggio's copy began to circulate and more copies spread, Lucretius' poetic explication of the Epicurean philosophy of science shifted the worldview of its new audience. Poggio, a career papal secretary, had opened a Pandora's box that led to a decline in the church's authority in secular matters such as science. Greenblatt's narrative loses some of its momentum when his own focus swerves from Lucretius, his work, and its influence both in his own day and after its rediscovery, to an extended biographical section about Poggio. Greenblatt speculates about details of Poggio's early life in the absence of documentation. Those details don't appear to have much relevance to the history of On the Nature of Things. An author of an earlier generation might have confined such speculations to footnotes.