Introduction, by Edward Peters
Chapter 1. The Early Middle Ages
Chapter 2. The Twelfth Century
-Selections from Adelard of Bath, Natural Questions
-Selections from Anonymous, On the Elements
Chapter 3. Robert Grosseteste and Scientific Method
-Selections from Robert Grosseteste, The Impressions of the Elements
-Selections from Robert Grosseteste, The Heat of the Sun
Chapter 4. The Tides
-Selections from Robert Grosseteste, An Inquiry into the Causes of the Tides
Chapter 5. Studies of the Rainbow
-Selections from Carl B. Boyer, "The Theory of the Rainbow: Medieval Triumph and Failure"
Chapter 6. Studies of Local Motion
-Selection from H. Lamar Crosby, Jr., ed., Thomas of Bradwardine His Tractatus de Proportionibus
-Selections from John Buridan, Questions on the Heavens and the World
-Selections from Marshall Clagett, The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages
-Selections from Nicole Oresme, On the Book of the Heavens and the World of Aristotle

The scientists of the twelfth century were daring, original, inventive, and above all determined to discover purely rational explanations of natural phenomena. Their intense interest in the natural world for its own sake, their habits of precise observation, and the high value they place on man as a rational being portend a new age in the history of scientific thought. This book offers a comprehensive sampling of medieval scientific thought in the context of an historical narrative.