Reader'S Digest: The Age of Reason: 1600 to 1750

This fourth volume in 'The Adventure of Discovery & Inventions' series covers the years 1600 to 1750, the Age of Reason. The intellectual revolution of the Renaissance inspired thinkers to discover more about the workings of the world. By applying powers of reason - observation, analysis, experimentation - scientists reached deeper levels of understanding in many areas, from human anatomy and the circulation of the blood to the transmission of light and the force of gravity. Many discoveries were made possible by new tools, such as the microscope, reflecting telescope, vernier calliper, sextant and Roberval balance, that were invented in the 17th and early 18th centuries. But the primary tool of the Scientific Revolution was mathematics, believed to be the quintessential expression of the rational mind, which emerged from the shadows of philosophy, much as scientists broke free from the confines of theology, to take a pre-eminent role in scholarship.