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A biography of a major figure in the seventeenth-century cultural and scientific revolutions. Robert Hooke combined the skills of engineer, surveyor, architect and inventor. He was appointed London's Chief Surveyor after the Great Fire of 1666, working side by side with Christopher Wren to rebuild the capital, designing many notable public and private buildings, including the Monument to the fire.
`A vivid map of the byways of patronage and politics that governed British intellectual life...fascinating and impeccably researched.' The Guardian
Lisa Jardine is Professor of Renaissance Studies at QMW, London, and honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. She writes regularly for all the UK's major national broadsheets. She has judged the 1996 Whitbread Prize, the 1999 Guardian First Book Award and was chair of the 1997 Orange Prize. She is married, has three children, and lives in London.
'Jardine...has made important archival discoveries...her prose sparkles.' Sunday Telegraph 'Jardine sets out to penetrate the obscurity and show us the man...a fascinating, impeccably researched account.' Jenny Uglow, The Guardian 'Lisa Jardine is a new star on England's literary and historical scene. She has a gift, which so few historians possess, of making the past seem relevant to our own times.' Paul Johnson
