What is the Historical Study of Science and Magic Good for?

Christian Jarrett, an editor at Aeon magazine, approached me after reading my response to a Japanese newspaper query on ghost beliefs in the West last year to commission a short article on a similar topic. I was happy to comply, and my Aeon piece on the hidden history of hallucinations and visions went online in … Read more

New: Science, ‘Atheism’ and Ridicule – Prof. Michael Hunter on the Hidden History of the Decline of Magic in Early Modern British Science

  Nobody knows more about Robert Boyle, a founder of modern experimental science and the Royal Society, than Michael Hunter. Now an Emeritus Professor of History at Birkbeck, Hunter is the author of various essays and books including the award-winning monograph, Boyle: Between God and Science (2009). Apart from producing a catalogue of Boyle’s vast … Read more

Congratulations and Thanks to Dr. Kyle Falcon!

I’m very happy to announce our colleague Kyle Falcon in Canada as the winner of the latest Patreon prize draw. As it happens, Kyle, who has won a copy of Alison Winter’s classical study Mesmerized, is a fellow historian working on themes closely related to those covered on Forbidden Histories: His Ph.D. research at Wilfrid … Read more

Ghosts in the UK and Germany: Responses to a Query from a Japanese Newspaper

Earlier this month I was contacted by a reporter from the Tokyo newspaper Chunichi Shimbun with questions on ghost beliefs in the UK. The occasion for the query was the Obon Festival – the time of the year when spirits of the dead are believed to reunite with their families –, which is currently celebrated … Read more

The Mathematician and the World Beyond: The Visions of Girolamo Cardano. By Andrew Manns

Andrew Manns is a doctoral student at the Warburg Institute. His research focuses on the psychological and political theories of Renaissance philosopher Tommaso Campanella. As the founding editor of thethinkersgarden.com and a contributor to Abraxas Journal, Andrew has written on a number of topics in the history of religion, science, and magic. Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576) … Read more