It's not quite the original Sumerian Tablets of Gilgamesh, but this is BY FAR my oldest book yet. Tonight's book was published in 1658 by Dr. Thomas Brown, titled, "Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Or Enquiries into Very many Received Tenets, and Commonly Presumed Truths," also known simply as "Pseudodoxia Epidemica" or "Vulgar Errors." It's a work challenging and refuting the "vulgar" or common errors and superstitions of Brown's age. The work was in the vanguard of work-in-progress scientific journalism during the 17th-century scientific revolution and includes evidence of his adherence to the Baconian method of empirical observation of nature. And as we'll see throughout its pages, frequent examples of Browne's subtle humor can also be found.
Browne's three determinants for obtaining truth were the authority of past scholarly works, the act of reason, and empirical experience. Each of these determinants is employed upon subjects ranging from common folklore to the cosmological. Subjects covered in Pseudodoxia Epidemica are arranged in accordance to the time-honoured Renaissance scale of creation; the learned doctor essaying on the nature of error itself (Book 1), continuing with fallacies in the mineral, vegetable (Book 2), and animal (Book 3) kingdoms onto errors concerning Man (Book 4), Art (Book 5), Geography and History (Book 6), and finally Astronomy and the Cosmos (Book 7).
Pseudodoxia Epidemica was a valuable source of information which found itself upon the shelves of many homes in seventeenth century England. Being in the vanguard of the scientific writing, it paved the way for much subsequent popular scientific journalism and began a decline in the belief in mythical creatures.
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0:00 Unboxing
14:15 Book Reveal
23:20 Table of Contents and Ceremonial Candle Lighting
55:50 Reading
