Book Notes: Renaissance Exploration by J.R. Hale

I have a number of positive things to say about this book and nothing negative. First of all, it is a survey and its brevity is consistent with this. It covers the the period of Renaissance exploration in just around one hundred pages, so you can read it in an afternoon and get a good survey of the topic.

His manner of storytelling was also pleasant. It was rarely boring and the pace made it easy to continue paying attention. This historical period is interesting and he kept it that way in his telling (in contrast, I just finished a book on the Mongols that took a fascinating period of history and made it dull—a shame). As someone interested in the history of ideas, the author’s focus on how their wrong ideas and miscalculations led to discovery was particularly useful.

It also contained a number of photographs of maps, woodcuttings and tools from the era. This was helpful and gives the reader a better sense of context.

I picked this book up at Half-Price Books for just a few bucks. But even though this is an older book (1968), it is still in print and you can buy it from Amazon. If you are interested in the time period, I heartily recommend it.

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