Cart
Free US shipping over $10
Proud to be B-Corp

Poor Robin's Prophecies Dr. Benjamin Wardhaugh

Poor Robin's Prophecies By Dr. Benjamin Wardhaugh

Poor Robin's Prophecies by Dr. Benjamin Wardhaugh


$10.00
Condition - Very Good
Only 4 left

Summary

From the reign of Charles II to the early 19th century, a curious Almanac - part 'teach-yourself mathematics', part political satire - promoted the use of science in everyday life and trades. Benjamin Wardaugh tells the story of the rumbustious 'Poor Robin of Saffron Walden', and the rise of popular science in Georgian England.

Poor Robin's Prophecies Summary

Poor Robin's Prophecies: A Curious Almanac, and the Everyday Mathematics of Georgian Britain by Dr. Benjamin Wardhaugh

Author, astrologer, journalist, satirist, and 'well-willer to the mathematics', Poor Robin of Saffron Walden was a fantastic, yet invented, figure of British popular culture from the Restoration to the end of the Georgian period. Poor Robin's Almanac first appeared in 1662, developing an enthusiastic following and long outliving its original creator to last until 1828. Benjamin Wardhaugh tells the great story of Georgian popular mathematics - through Poor Robin's remarkable life, from his humble beginnings as an almanac-writer through to best-selling stardom, controversy, and decline. Using the character, wit, and columns of Poor Robin, Wardhaugh explores the mathematics of ordinary people, from learning sums to using mathematics in weighing and measuring, in business, agriculture, map-making, and navigation. This is a history of mathematics that is rarely thought about - creative, popular, and led by practical and social needs. It is centered on the ordinary people that used it. Their names remain little-known; their solutions have vanished along with the situations that required them; but their energy and ideas - as captured by Poor Robin - create a wonderfully rich picture of what mathematics can be, and has been.

Poor Robin's Prophecies Reviews

Wardhaugh has done a brilliant job in revealing a most curious period in British life. Steve Craggs, Northern Echo While the likes of Poor Robin and his pamphlets may have disappeared long ago, mathematics remains a bedrock of our society. This wonderful book goes a long way in highlighting why. Jamie Condliffe, New Scientist Bring back the almanac! Wardhaugh's fascinating account of Poor Robin's Almanac persuasively reveals the power of the almanac to give mathematics a human face. Marcus du Sautoy

About Dr. Benjamin Wardhaugh

Benjamin Wardhaugh lives in Oxford. He trained in mathematics, music and history, and has taught both science to historians and history to mathematicians. He is a former Fellow of All Souls College; he now studies and writes about history, particularly its mathematical parts.

Table of Contents

1. 'Doctor Faustus's Day': Making fun Almanac day - high-class astrology - Poor Robin and his authors - mathematics and its mockers ; 2. 'The dismal and long expected morning': Getting it wrong The eclipse that never was - the South Sea Bubble - mathematics and its reputation - seamen's back-dated wages ; 3. 'Fitted to the meanest capacity': Learning it Isaac Hatch's exercises - maths at school - a gift for a maid - Ann Mohun's book ; 4. 'Beer, wine and malt': Using it Mathematics in your day - John Dougharty's barrel - maths and its instruments - Richard Shittler and his book ; 5. 'Beautifying the mind': Geometry and its effects Thomas Porcher's beautiful pages - How Descartes can change your life - geometry unbound - making yourself mad ; 6. 'A geometrical creation': Ordering the world The gentlemen of Spaulding - Desaguliers and his lectures - reforming the calendar - sawing up an organ ; 7. 'The number of sheep in Ireland': Getting it right Political arithmetic - facts, facts, facts - stacking the guineas - crossing the globe ; 8. 'The terrible Pons asinorum': Playing with it Comedy in the classroom - It might be you - The Ladies' Diary - the obscenometer and the death of Poor Robin

Additional information

GOR005170232
9780199605422
0199605424
Poor Robin's Prophecies: A Curious Almanac, and the Everyday Mathematics of Georgian Britain by Dr. Benjamin Wardhaugh
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press
2012-10-25
256
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Poor Robin's Prophecies