Heretics! The Wondrous (and Dangerous) Beginnings of Modern Philosophy

by Ben Nadler (illustrator) & Steven Nadler

In Heretics! Steven Nadler, an American philosopher who is one of the leading experts on the early modern period (we interviewed him about the best books on Spinoza), teams up with his son Ben Nadler, an illustrator, to bring us a brilliant account of 17th century natural philosophy (a.k.a. the Scientific Revolution). It’s an incredibly challenging topic, partly because these scientists and philosophers were partly wrong and partly right, and their world view so different from ours. The stakes were also very, very high, and the book starts with someone being burnt at the stake.