Book Review: Visionen neuer Wissenschaft: Zur Dialogischen Dichtung von Dante Alighieri und Johannes Kepler

Partly motivated by 2021 being the 700th anniversary of Dante's death and the 450th of Kepler's birth, this massive tome explores the world systems of both. Dante is best known for his _Divine Comedy_, but there is very little theology discussed here; at the same time, those who think of Kepler as one of the founders of modern science might be surprised at how similar his poetry and cosmology are to those of Dante. The tradition of combining poetry (in the broadest sense) and science continued for a while, for example with Goethe, but is essentially extinct today, perhaps the closest approach being made by some popular-science writers who go beyond the merely didactic. Despite the complex nature of the work, it reads well and contains fewer typos and questionable style decisions than most broadly similar books. Although it contains many references for those who want to follow things up in more detail, it is nevertheless self-contained enough to be understood even by those with little background in the subject matter. Although the emphasis is on the juxtaposition of Dante and Kepler, the book could be read for either alone or even just the introductory material on ancient world systems. Not only professional historians of science should be interested but also others looking for detailed yet accessible information on the topics covered.