Friday, April 20, 2012

A book I'm looking forward to: Darin Hayton, The Astrologers of Emperor Maximilian I

Not long ago I came across Darin Hayton's website and blog, which linked to his list of publications, where I was happy to see that he is revising The Astrologers of Emperor Maximilian I: Nature, Knowledge, and Politics in the Holy Roman Empire for publication. I took a look at his dissertation while working on Printing and Prophecy, and it was a very helpful source on several topics, particularly on rounding out the acrimonious dispute between Andreas Perlach and Johann Carion. (As far as disputes between sixteenth-century German astrologers go, this one's pretty good, with accusations of necromancy, illiteracy, and methodological incompetence.) I'll also be quite interested to see what he says about Joseph Grünpeck and the controversy over a second deluge in 1524, two topics where there has been a real lack of good scholarship in English.

A quick look at Darin Hayton's blog provides another reason to look forward to the book: He's been reflecting about the place and function of academic writing, and thinking about how to reach audiences outside of the history of science. This book might be not just useful, but also readable.

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