The Monster in the Machine: Magic, Medicine and the Marvellous in the Time of the Scientific Revolution by Zakiy Hanafi
I got this book to read on my trip to Florence and it was perfect for that. It was a scholarly book about an area I know little and a time I know even less but for the most part I still found it to be interesting and easy to follow. The author translated a lot of primary sources and focused on those instead of secondary literature to make her arguments. The first part of the book was by far the most interesting to me. She looked at how people viewed monsters and how their views towards monsters changed during the renaissance. One of the most descriptive parts that will stay with me was the description of a dissection in an elite Florentine garden of a monstrous corpse of stillborn twin girls who were attached at birth.
From looking at monsters as reflections of ourselves she went on to look at the nature of what humanity was. I have to say I found this part to be not as interesting, monsters are more interesting than people, and I was unfamiliar with the people she was discussing. But the last chapter talking about the monstrous attractions and the competition for people’s attention between the entertainers and the church was very interesting again. In the end she was even able to explain a link to daleks! (Without of course mentioning daleks or aliens by name).
Definitely one I’d recommend to people interested in the period (particularly
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sahra_patroness) and/or the history of monsters.
