For high school students and undergraduates, Krebs (retired associate dean for research at the U. of Illinois Health Sciences) provides the lowdown on a time of scientific reawakening. He describes some 75 experiments, inventions, and discoveries of the period in astronomy, geography and exploration, botany and zoology, medicine, mathematics, physics and chemistry, weaponry and war, and other areas of innovation. The reference covers individuals including Leonardo da Vinci, Marco Polo, and Galileo as well as topics such as reconstructive surgery, Stonehenge, eyeglasses, the microscope, and the identification of smallpox. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)