{"product_id":"flat-earth-the-history-of-an-infamous-idea-9780312382087","title":"Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea","description":"\u003cp\u003eContrary to popular belief fostered in countless school classrooms the world over  Christopher Columbus did not discover that the earth was round. The idea of a spherical world had been widely accepted in educated circles from as early as the fourth century b.c. Yet  bizarrely  it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion of a ?at earth really took hold. Even more bizarrely  it persists to this day  despite Apollo missions and widely publicized pictures of the decidedly spherical Earth from space. Based on a range of original sources  Garwoods history of ?at-Earth beliefs---from the Babylonians to the present day---raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science  its relationship to religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. Flat Earth is the ?rst de?nitive study of one of historys most notorious and persistent ideas  and it evokes all the intellectual  philosophical  and spiritual turmoil of the modern age. Ranging from ancient Greece  through Victorian England  to modern-day America  this is a story that encompasses religion  science  and pseudoscience  as well as a spectacular array of people and places. Where else could eccentric aristocrats  fundamentalist preachers  and conspiracy theorists appear alongside Copernicus  Newton  and NASA  except in an account of such a legendary misconception? Thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating  Flat Earth is social and intellectual history at its best.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279541657653,"sku":"ByrdShop_0312382081","price":31.87,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780312382087.jpg?v=1780601813","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/flat-earth-the-history-of-an-infamous-idea-9780312382087","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}