THE DEVIL'S DOCTOR : Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science

New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. New/Near Fine. Text/NEW & Bright. First Edition, 1st Printing. Gilt embossed bi-color boards/Fine. DJ/Fine w/a whisper of rubs to corner tips. Intellectual history of the 16th century via the biography genre from British science writer Philip Ball (1962 -) celebrated for The Critical Mass (2004, Aventis Science Book Prize). In this book Ball deftly brings to life the intellectually rich & fertile times, albeit beset w/social discord, of the Renaissance via his colorful subject --- Switzerland born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (1493 - 1541), who referred to himself as Paracelsus. Through his life we see the "intellectual ferment" leading to a new age of science & rationalism. Legend in his own times, he was an enemy of the medical establishment, a scourge of the universities, an alchemist, an army surgeon & radical theologian (contemporary of Luther), all the while many believed his travels were astride a magical white horse w/the elixir of life on hand. His name was linked with that of Faust, who did indeed bargain with the Devil. Exploring the intellectual, political & religious undercurrents of the16th century, Ball reveals how doctors practiced, how people traveled, how wars were fought; how Paracelsus was a product of his age of change & strife, of renaissance & reformation, and how, through the very attacks from established, contemporary conservatives & traditionalists on his ideas, elucidates the rise of the age of science & rationalism. 436 pgs in 20 chapters.