Showing posts with label zodiac of paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zodiac of paris. Show all posts
20.12.10
Nice news!
The Zodiac of Paris made the 2010 Library Journal bestseller list in the history of science!
26.8.10
Rumbles of interest
Pleased to report some rumbles of interest in THE ZODIAC OF PARIS. A quick roundup:
Over at Five Books, I helped out with a fun interview on five books that were really useful to our research. I wrote them a very special bio, too, which you might want to check out if you are interested in learning more about my, um, checkered career.
(By the way, Five Books was recently picked up by Very Short List, one of my favorite places to find pointers to good writing, art, and music, on the web and off.)
Mark Bernstein reviewed the book at Goodreads. Entries there show up on WorldCat, too, so this is multiply wonderful. Thanks, Mark!
The legendary Seminary Co-Op placed THE ZODIAC OF PARIS on their virtual front table. Thanks!
Over at Five Books, I helped out with a fun interview on five books that were really useful to our research. I wrote them a very special bio, too, which you might want to check out if you are interested in learning more about my, um, checkered career.
(By the way, Five Books was recently picked up by Very Short List, one of my favorite places to find pointers to good writing, art, and music, on the web and off.)
Mark Bernstein reviewed the book at Goodreads. Entries there show up on WorldCat, too, so this is multiply wonderful. Thanks, Mark!
The legendary Seminary Co-Op placed THE ZODIAC OF PARIS on their virtual front table. Thanks!
13.8.10
A bookstore event!
On Friday, August 20th, I'll be at Books on the Square, 471 Angell St. in Providence, to read, discuss and sign copies of THE ZODIAC OF PARIS. We'll begin at 7 pm. Hope to see you there!
28.6.10
The "Egyptian Service"
In August 1799, Napoleon returned to France from an ill-fated imperial adventure in Egypt, leaving behind a demoralized force headed by Jean-Baptiste Kléber, the Revolutionary hero shortly to be assassinated in Cairo. “L’oiseau était déniché” was how the disappointed Kleber described Napoleon’s departure: The bird had flown the coop.
In France, Napoleon touted the campaign as a triumph despite the late debacles at Acre and in Aboukir Bay, where not only lives but also the expedition’s greatest prize, the Rosetta Stone, were lost. Back home in France, his propaganda touched off a wave of popular enthusiasm for all things Egyptian. This “Egyptomania” was additionally fueled by the publication of compelling eye-witness travelers’ accounts, such as the artist Vivant Denon’s illustrated Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte.
These immensely popular publications provided rich sources of imagery for fine and decorative artists. Wallpapers featuring Egyptian motifs, furniture carved with Egyptian emblems, and variations on themes from Egyptian architecture (including the 1806 peristyle of the Hôtel de Beauharnais in Paris) flooded French homes and buildings.
Perhaps the strangest—certainly the most fragile—of these artifacts was the “Egyptian Service,” a 115-piece, Egyptian-themed porcelain dinner service commissioned from the Sèvres porcelain factory by Napoleon in 1804. ...
Read more at Wonders and Marvels, and enter to win a free copy of The Zodiac of Paris by leaving a note in the comments section.
1.6.10
Seek No More
At GLA, from an interview with literary agent Ryan Fischer-Harbage:
GLA: If tomorrow was a perfect day, what would you find in the slush pile besides “good writing”? [...]
RFH: I’d like to see more academics writing about history and science for the general audience.
We aim to please.
GLA: If tomorrow was a perfect day, what would you find in the slush pile besides “good writing”? [...]
RFH: I’d like to see more academics writing about history and science for the general audience.
We aim to please.
10.5.10
THE ZODIAC OF PARIS is on sale now...
"Seven years ago one of us wandered into a small bookshop near the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. A volume half-clad in red Morocco sat intriguingly apart on a lower shelf ..."
Intrigued? Get the book. It's on sale now for almost $10 off the cover price and it's in stock at BN.com (it'll be back in stock at Amazon soon).
(Hope you'll forgive the self-promotion ... This book was such fun to write, and I'm excited to see it in print.)
Intrigued? Get the book. It's on sale now for almost $10 off the cover price and it's in stock at BN.com (it'll be back in stock at Amazon soon).
(Hope you'll forgive the self-promotion ... This book was such fun to write, and I'm excited to see it in print.)
8.2.10
Praise for THE ZODIAC OF PARIS
The early buzz for
THE ZODIAC OF PARIS is encouraging!
"This book presents important and fascinating themes, and skillfully combines them. The birth of Egyptology, the French Revolution, the rule of Napoleon, the age of the Earth, and our knowledge of the stars all feature in its chapters. Above all there is the ever-shifting relationship between science, religion, and atheism. I discovered something new on every page."--John Ray, University of Cambridge
"This is a fascinating study of how politics, science, and religion intersected in the heated debates over the meanings of the hieroglyphics on a pair of stones brought from Egypt to Paris in 1821. At the heart of the tale is the question of how we know the past. It has the excitement of a real-life archeology mystery combined with a clash between science and theology that has great resonance for today."--Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe
"Buchwald and Josefowicz give an account of the controversy surrounding the discovery of the spectacular circular zodiac of the temple of Dendera, currently installed in the ceiling of a room in the Louvre, discovered in the course of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt. The authors skillfully weave the phases of that discourse, and its attendant scientific, personal, and theological controversies, into a brisk overview of the religious and political history of France from the late Enlightenment until the July Monarchy. At issue was the age of the temple, and hence of Egyptian civilization, as indexed by the zodiac, assumed to represent the contemporary state of the sky."--Charles C. Gillispie, professor emeritus, Princeton University
"This book makes a major contribution to European scientific, intellectual, and cultural history. Buchwald and Josefowicz have wrested from oblivion a subject that no previous author, French or English, has analyzed in this form or breadth. The Zodiac of Paris not only embodies interdisciplinarity at its very best, but also exposes the nineteenth-century roots of many concerns of the twenty-first century."--Darius A. Spieth, author of Napoleon's Sorcerers: The Sophisians
"This is an important book about an exciting topic. By tackling a subject that has largely been forgotten about--the role technical science could play in religious debates--Buchwald and Josefowicz open up new avenues for understanding eighteenth- and nineteenth-century science. The Zodiac of Paris provides fascinating insights into the wide-ranging debates in Napoleonic and Restoration France."--John Steele, Brown University
THE ZODIAC OF PARIS is encouraging!
"This book presents important and fascinating themes, and skillfully combines them. The birth of Egyptology, the French Revolution, the rule of Napoleon, the age of the Earth, and our knowledge of the stars all feature in its chapters. Above all there is the ever-shifting relationship between science, religion, and atheism. I discovered something new on every page."--John Ray, University of Cambridge
"This is a fascinating study of how politics, science, and religion intersected in the heated debates over the meanings of the hieroglyphics on a pair of stones brought from Egypt to Paris in 1821. At the heart of the tale is the question of how we know the past. It has the excitement of a real-life archeology mystery combined with a clash between science and theology that has great resonance for today."--Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe
"Buchwald and Josefowicz give an account of the controversy surrounding the discovery of the spectacular circular zodiac of the temple of Dendera, currently installed in the ceiling of a room in the Louvre, discovered in the course of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt. The authors skillfully weave the phases of that discourse, and its attendant scientific, personal, and theological controversies, into a brisk overview of the religious and political history of France from the late Enlightenment until the July Monarchy. At issue was the age of the temple, and hence of Egyptian civilization, as indexed by the zodiac, assumed to represent the contemporary state of the sky."--Charles C. Gillispie, professor emeritus, Princeton University
"This book makes a major contribution to European scientific, intellectual, and cultural history. Buchwald and Josefowicz have wrested from oblivion a subject that no previous author, French or English, has analyzed in this form or breadth. The Zodiac of Paris not only embodies interdisciplinarity at its very best, but also exposes the nineteenth-century roots of many concerns of the twenty-first century."--Darius A. Spieth, author of Napoleon's Sorcerers: The Sophisians
"This is an important book about an exciting topic. By tackling a subject that has largely been forgotten about--the role technical science could play in religious debates--Buchwald and Josefowicz open up new avenues for understanding eighteenth- and nineteenth-century science. The Zodiac of Paris provides fascinating insights into the wide-ranging debates in Napoleonic and Restoration France."--John Steele, Brown University
5.1.10
Zodiac Book a Heritage Key Pick for 2010
Heritage Key features THE ZODIAC OF PARIS in a roundup of books to watch this year:
"The Zodiac of Paris by Jed Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz is a study of the Dendera zodiac, an ancient bas-relief temple ceiling adorned with mysterious symbols of the stars and planets. It was first discovered by the French during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, and quickly provoked a controversy between scientists and theologians. Brought to Paris in 1821 and ultimately installed in the Louvre (where it can still be seen today), the zodiac appeared to depict the night-time sky from a time predating the Biblical creation, and therefore cast doubt on religious truth. Jed Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz give a comprehensive account of this incredible archaeological find and its role in disputes over science and faith."
Nice!
"The Zodiac of Paris by Jed Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz is a study of the Dendera zodiac, an ancient bas-relief temple ceiling adorned with mysterious symbols of the stars and planets. It was first discovered by the French during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, and quickly provoked a controversy between scientists and theologians. Brought to Paris in 1821 and ultimately installed in the Louvre (where it can still be seen today), the zodiac appeared to depict the night-time sky from a time predating the Biblical creation, and therefore cast doubt on religious truth. Jed Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz give a comprehensive account of this incredible archaeological find and its role in disputes over science and faith."
Nice!
25.11.09
THE ZODIAC OF PARIS available at Amazon!
THE ZODIAC OF PARIS is now available for pre-order on Amazon!
"This book makes a major contribution to European scientific, intellectual, and cultural history. Buchwald and Josefowicz have wrested from oblivion a subject that no previous author, French or English, has analyzed in this form or breadth. The Zodiac of Paris not only embodies interdisciplinarity at its very best, but also exposes the nineteenth-century roots of many concerns of the twenty-first century." -- Darius A. Spieth, author of Napoleon's Sorcerers: The Sophisians
"This book makes a major contribution to European scientific, intellectual, and cultural history. Buchwald and Josefowicz have wrested from oblivion a subject that no previous author, French or English, has analyzed in this form or breadth. The Zodiac of Paris not only embodies interdisciplinarity at its very best, but also exposes the nineteenth-century roots of many concerns of the twenty-first century." -- Darius A. Spieth, author of Napoleon's Sorcerers: The Sophisians
12.10.09
Egypt Cuts Ties With Louvre Over Stolen Antiquities
Via HuffPost
CAIRO -- Egypt's antiquities czar took his campaign to recover the nation's lost treasures to a new level on Wednesday by cutting ties with one of the world's premier museums, the Louvre, over disputed artifacts.
Scroll down: The Dendera zodiac, the focus of my new book, THE ZODIAC OF PARIS, with Jed Z. Buchwald, is among the disputed items.
CAIRO -- Egypt's antiquities czar took his campaign to recover the nation's lost treasures to a new level on Wednesday by cutting ties with one of the world's premier museums, the Louvre, over disputed artifacts.
Scroll down: The Dendera zodiac, the focus of my new book, THE ZODIAC OF PARIS, with Jed Z. Buchwald, is among the disputed items.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)