("Hannam
has written a splendid book and fully supported his claim that the Middle
Ages laid the foundations of modern science. He has admirably met another of
his goals, namely that of acquainting a large non-academic audience about
the way science and various aspects of natural philosophy functioned in
medieval society and laid the foundation for modern science. Readers will
also learn much about medicine, magic, alchemy, astrology, and especially
technology. And they will learn about these important matters in the history
of science against the broad background of the life and times of medieval
and early modern societies.")
("Hannam's extremely
well-written account of mediaeval theologians and writers in Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, as well as in the Islamic empire, is therefore to be
welcomed... The book can be highly recommended as the very best kind of
popular history.")