"This short work from phenomenologist and psychiatrist Jan Hendrik van den Berg describes the historical and cultural context surrounding the discovery of the first two laws of thermodynamics." "As in previous works by van den Berg, this look at cultural history and trends employs a metabletic approach - that is, the study of changes in our human perception and conceptualization at particular times in history. When a discovery is made in a particular period, then, it often occurs around the same time by different people working independently - and such discoveries may be viewed in relation to the overall sociological, cultural and political climate at that same time."--Jacket.