Lucretius III - by Thomas Nail (Hardcover)

About the Book

A guidebook to living in a world that's destined to die, through a new reading of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura

Book Synopsis

For Lucretius, history means something surprisingly different than we ordinarily think. Instead of thinking of history in terms of time, he thought of it in terms of motion. This book unpacks the implications of this unique kinetic philosophy of history. In the final volume of his trilogy on Lucretius, Thomas Nail argues that in books five and six of De Rerum Natura, Lucretius described a world born to die - long before humans theorised about thermodynamics or began to see the catastrophic consequences of man-made climate change. What does it mean to live in such a world; a world that is increasinly obviously our world? Nail shows us how De Rerum Natura provides a guidebook for us to answer this question.

Review Quotes

In an age of pandemics and climate change, Nail offers a Lucretian path to a less destructive and more beautiful world. For a decade, Nail has walked step-by-step with Lucretius. With this concluding volume of the Trilogy, we are invited to follow that ancient philosopher of movement through our history and into our precarious future.-- "Ryan J. Johnson, Elon University"

In writing a history of matter and of nature, Thomas Nail argues, we are only now catching up with Lucretius' insights. This concluding volume of Nail's impassioned and compelling trilogy continues to pose fresh challenges, philosophical, literary, and historical, to received interpretations of Lucretius.--Duncan F. Kennedy, University of Bristol

Presenting numerous challenges to traditional perspectives on the Lucretian contribution to literature and philosophy, this volume will both encourage readers to reengage with the poem and stimulate vigorous debate as to its contemporary significance.--J. S. Louzonis "CHOICE"