Excerpted from HERETICS! The Wondrous (and Dangerous) Beginnings of Modern Philosophy by Steven Nadler and Ben Nadler. Copyright © 2017 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission.

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What Is a Beautiful Experiment?
Finding beauty in science is timeless. But we shouldn’t let it blind us.
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Finding the Color of an Empire
What a particular shade of black can teach us about an ancient civilization.
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The 19th-Century Trippers Who Probed the Mind
In the age of self-experiment, scientists took mind-altering drugs to test the limits of subjectivity.
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The Ancient Architecture that Defies Earthquakes
Stone buildings in northern India reveal secrets of old structures that could save lives.
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The Strange Life of Glass
This essential substance has a history—and future—that’s far from clear.