Perfect for anyone with an interest in our scientific history, When the Earth Was Flat exposes the scientific theories that were once widely believed to be true but have since been disproved.

When the Earth Was Flat tells the fascinating story behind scientific theories we once believed to be true, and shows how the way we view the world, and the way we think the world works, has changed completely throughout history.

From pseudoscience to incorrect assumptions and unfounded belief, science hasn't always been right. Contrary to recent debate on the internet, nowadays we are fairly confident that the earth is not flat and that we are in fact inhabitants of a spherical planet. However, this was not always the case, with a widespread belief that if you reached the horizon, you would simply fall off into space. Along with assumptions about the health benefits of heroin, the advantages of injecting monkey glands into the human body and bumps on your head being indicators of personality and temperament, science has a colourful past. In this entertaining and informative look at a dubious history, Graeme Donald examines the origins of some of the most extraordinary and mind-boggling scientific theories of the past.

Contrary 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 flat 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, Garwood's history of flat-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 first definitive study of one of history's 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.

Explores globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks--environmental, social, and political.

Reveals the facts behind the deceiving myths that have been professed about Columbus and his time.

Much may be gathered, indirectly, from the arguments in these pages, as to the real nature of the Earth on which we live and of the heavenly bodies which were created for us. The reader is requested to be patient in this matter and not expect a whole flood of light to burst in upon him at once, through the dense clouds of opposition and prejudice which hang all around. Old ideas have to be gotten rid of, by some people, before they can entertain the new; and this will especially be the case in the matter of the Sun, about which we are taught, by Mr. Proctor, as follows: “The globe of the Sun is so much larger than that of the Earth that no less than 1,250,000 globes as large as the Earth would be wanted to make up together a globe as large as the Sun.” Whereas, we know that, as it is demonstrated that the Sun moves round over the Earth, its size is proportionately less. We can then easily understand that Day and Night, and the Seasons are brought about by his daily circuits round in a course concentric with the North, diminishing in their extent to the end of June, and increasing until the end of December, the equatorial region being the area covered by the Sun’s mean motion. If, then, these pages serve but to arouse the spirit of enquiry, the author will be satisfied.

This book is a sequel to Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology (Springer 2011). With the help of many pictures, the reader is introduced into the way of thinking of ancient believers in a flat earth. The first part offers new interpretations of several Presocratic cosmologists and a critical discussion of Aristotle’s proofs that the earth is spherical. The second part explains and discusses the ancient Chinese system called gai tian. The last chapter shows that, inadvertently, ancient arguments and ideas return in the curious modern flat earth cosmologies.

This book deals with one of the most important and most controversial topics; the question of the shape of the earth in several respects. In which the author divided his book chapters in which he dealt with various topics organized in a fine wire to give the reader a solid system and a universal view. He discusses the shape of the Heavens and the Earth in the Qur'an, discusses the evidences of the commentators of the Quran, discusses the logical and scientific evidences that confirms the form of the earth as is currently recognized, and brought a new perspective that has not been previously mentioned and that in several topics scattered in the pages of this book. The book also puts in the hands of the reader an integrated system of the Heavens and the Earth

It seems odd to have to say this after about 2600 years of scientific verification, but the Earth is NOT flat. There is a growing and vocal group of people using to Internet to disagree with that statement, however, and that's what this book is about. If you haven't encountered the world of the flat-Earthers yet, you're in for an eye-opener. Here you'll find the arguments that the flat-Earth proponents make, from the almost reasonable to the truly bizarre. The purpose of this book is not to prove its title--it certainly should not be necessary--but to explore the propagation of a pseudoscience, and explore why it matters. One reviewer (who didn't actually buy the book) wrote: "A one sided and close minded attack on another belief system. Uncalled for attacks and misrepresentations are made of the #Flatearth community and any evidence said community has provided. An obvious attempt to use the inflammatory mood and trend to sell what is in all cases a poorly written diatribe about another system to boost his poor following and poorer debate skills." High praise indeed from the flat-Earth community. Get your copy today!