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Every so often a writer finds a way of
reinterpreting the cosmos, of guiding readers through new
fields of knowledge to transcendent understanding. O. B.
Hardison, Jr., is such a writer, and Disappearing Through
the Skylight is such a book: a ground-breaking work
that changes the way we look at our world, our culture,
and ourselves.
"In the nineteenth century," writes
Professor Hardison, "science presented nature as a
group of objects set comfortably and solidly in the middle
distance before the eyes of the beholder…. Today, nature
has slipped, perhaps finally, beyond our field of vision."
In these lavishly illustrated pages, Hardison explores what
this disappearance means for science, for history, for art
and architecture, for music, for language, for our very
definition of humanity. He writes about Darwin and Einstein,
medieval cosmology and modern chaos theory, sixteenth century
clockmaking and the work of Bauhaus architects, computer
graphics and T. S. Eliot, robots and Picasso. He shows us
how the electron microscope, the computer, and the lunar
lander have altered our relationship to our universe and
our sense of the possibilities of that relationship.
Most remarkably, Hardison does this with
rare wit and grace; he is able to infuse the most complex
science with playfulness and clarity. Smithsonian magazine
has said of him, "If anyone qualifies for that much-abused
description -- Renaissance man -- O. B. Hardison, Jr., does.
The proof is apparent on every page of this brilliant and
provocative new book. As we move toward the twenty-first
century and its silicon future, Disappearing Through
the Skylight is essential reading if we are to understand
where we have come from and where we are going.
O. B. Hardison, Jr., is the author of numerous works
of cultural criticism, including, most recently, Entering
the Maze: Identity and Change in Modern Culture. Presently
University Professor at Georgetown University in Washington,
D.C., he was a founding member of the Quark Club, a group
of scientists and humanists interested in cultural change.
In 1980 he was John F. Kennedy visiting lecturer to New
Zealand, and in 1983 he was awarded the Order of the British
Empire.
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