The Book of My LifeNew York Review of Books, 2002 M10 31 - 320 páginas A bright star of the Italian Renaissance, Girolamo Cardano was an internationally-sought-after astrologer, physician, and natural philosopher, a creator of modern algebra, and the inventor of the universal joint. Condemned by the Inquisition to house arrest in his old age, Cardano wrote The Book of My Life, an unvarnished and often outrageous account of his character and conduct. Whether discussing his sex life or his diet, the plots of academic rivals or meetings with supernatural beings, or his deep sorrow when his beloved son was executed for murder, Cardano displays the same unbounded curiosity that made him a scientific pioneer. At once picaresque adventure and campus comedy, curriculum vitae, and last will, The Book of My Life is an extraordinary Renaissance self-portrait—a book to set beside Montaigne's Essays and Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography. |
Contenido
Native Land and Forebears | 3 |
My Nativity | 5 |
Certain Traits of My Parents | 8 |
A Brief Narrative of My Life From the Beginning to the Present Day That Is the End of October 1575 | 10 |
Stature and Appearance | 18 |
Concerning My Health | 20 |
Sports and Exercises | 25 |
Manner of Life | 27 |
Perils Accidents and Manifold Diverse and Persistent Treacheries | 91 |
Happiness | 105 |
Honors Conferred | 110 |
Dishonors What Place to Dreams? The Swallow in My Coat of Arms | 118 |
My Teachers | 126 |
Wards and Students | 127 |
My Will | 129 |
Certain Natural Eccentricities and Marvels Among Which Dreams | 131 |
A Meditation on the Perpetuation of My Name | 31 |
Concerning My Course of Life | 35 |
Prudence | 40 |
Debating and Lecturing | 42 |
Customs Vices and Errors | 46 |
Virtues and Constancy | 52 |
Concerning My Friends and Patrons | 56 |
Concerning My Enemies and Rivals | 60 |
Calumny Defamations and Treachery of My Unjust Accusers | 61 |
Those Things in Which I Take Pleasure | 65 |
Gambling and Dicing | 66 |
Dress | 68 |
My Manner of Walking and of Thinking | 70 |
Religion and Piety 71 | 71 |
My Own Particular Rules of Conduct | 73 |
My Dwelling Places | 76 |
Poverty and Losses in My Patrimony | 78 |
Marriage and Children 80 | 80 |
The Disasters of My Sons | 82 |
Processes at Law | 86 |
Journeys | 87 |
Am Helped | 144 |
Erudition or the Appearance of It | 148 |
Successes in My Practice | 152 |
Rare Circumstances of My Life The Avenging of My Son | 166 |
Powers of Foreknowledge in My Art and in Other Matters | 174 |
Things Absolutely Supernatural | 178 |
Things of Worth Which I Have Achieved in Various Studies | 187 |
Books Written by Me | 192 |
Concerning My Own Existence | 207 |
Guardian Angels | 209 |
Testimony of Illustrious Men Concerning Me | 216 |
My Opinion Concerning Worldly Things | 223 |
Familiar Sayings | 229 |
Things in Which I Feel I Have Failed | 242 |
Change from Age to Age | 245 |
Quality of Conversation | 250 |
And This Is the Epilogue | 254 |
Notes | 257 |
Bibliography | 289 |
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