First published 2011
Stephen Greenblatt tells the story of how a single manuscript changed history. Six centuries ago, a book hunter in his thirties pulled an ancient text from a monastery shelf. He recognized its importance immediately and arranged for copies to be made. The manuscript contained Lucretius's On the Nature of Things, a Roman philosophical poem that had survived a thousand years of neglect. This work presented ideas that challenged medieval thinking: the universe operates without divine intervention, religious fear harms human life, and all matter consists of tiny particles in constant motion. Greenblatt traces how this rediscovered text sparked the Renaissance and influenced major figures across centuries. Artists like Botticelli drew inspiration from its ideas. Scientists including Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein built upon its atomic theory. Writers from Montaigne to Shakespeare to Thomas Jefferson felt its impact on their work. The book shows how one man's discovery in a forgotten library became a catalyst for intellectual transformation that continues today.
Genres: biography, history, literary-fiction, non-fiction, art-history, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Monastery
Period: 6th Century, Renaissance
356 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company