This work contains Steven Shapin's historical exploration into the origins of the modern scientific worldview. What historians have traditionally called the Scientific Revolution was, in Shapin's view, a diversity of practices and ideas that developed over the course of nearly two centuries. Rejecting the idea that there is anything like an "essence" of early modern science, the author shows that the Scientific Revolution in reality lacked the jarring abruptness and cataclysmic nature implied by its "revolutionary" name.