Horizons

SuperbSunday Times
RevolutionaryAlice Roberts
Hugely importantJim Al-Khalili

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A radical retelling of the history of science that foregrounds the scientists erased from history

In this major retelling of the history of science from 1450 to the present day, James Poskett explodes the myth that science began in Europe.

The blinkered Western gaze focusing on individual genius - Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Einstein - was only one part of the story. The reality was an utterly global, non-linear pattern of cross-fertilization, competition, cooperation and outright conflict. Each rupture in history carved fresh channels for global exchange.

Here, for the first time, Poskett celebrates how scientists from Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific were integral to this very human story. We meet Graman Kwasi, the African botanist who discovered a new cure for malaria; Hantaro Nagaoka, the Japanese scientist who first described the structure of the atom; and Zhao Zhongyao, the Chinese physicist who discovered antimatter.

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Remarkable. Challenges almost everything we know about science in the WestJerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps

Perspective-shatteringCaroline Sanderson, The Bookseller, Editors Choice

Horizons upends traditional accounts of the history of scienceRebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred

Poskett deftly blends the achievements of little-known figures into the wider history of science . . . brims with clarityChris Allnutt, Financial Times