The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

"The Swerve: How the World Became Modern" by Stephen Greenblatt explores how the rediscovery of an ancient Latin text, Lucretius’s "On the Nature of Things," in the 15th century sparked a profound shift in Western thought. This rediscovery challenged medieval ideas about the universe and emphasized human experience, science, and individualism. The book shows how this "swerve" away from traditional authority and dogma laid the intellectual groundwork for the Renaissance, shaping the modern world’s focus on reason, exploration, and secular understanding. It’s a story of how a single find helped transform our view of life and the universe.