"A century ago, most scientists would have agreed that science progressed by accumulating observations. According to this account, science proceeded by formulating hypotheses based on observation and testing those hypotheses through further experiment. If the hypotheses passed the test of experiment then they were confirmed as true descriptions of reality. More recently, the idea that science proceeds by falsifying rather than confirming hypotheses has gained currency. History tends to show us that in practice, it is difficult to discern any kind of consistent method in what scientists do. On the contrary, different accounts of scientific method are very much the products of particular historical circumstances. The Oxford Illustrated History of Science offers an accessible and entertaining introduction to the history of science as well as a valuable and authoritative reference work. Providing a chronological account of the variety of human efforts to understand the natural world over three millennia, it includes chapters on Islamic science, science in the medieval west, as well as detailed discussion of the Scientific Revolution. This beautifully illustrated volume demonstrates how the transformations that have taken place in human understanding of the world were very much products of the cultures within which they took place." -- Publisher's description