The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
by Richard Holmes
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
If you are looking for a well-written, engaging, and entertaining read, choose this book. Just as it says on the front flyleaf: “A riveting history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end of the eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science.” That is precisely what you get: “a coherent and compelling brief history of the romantic era scientists. Well written, engaging, and a pleasure to read,” writes one reviewer.
There is a 33-page (fine print) index, 28 pages of references, and an eleven-page bibliography for this 552-page book. The 25 pages of pictures (separated into three sections) are useful and excellent. In addition, the author provides a 22-page cast list which makes reading the story easier.
It is as one reviewer said, “a nail biting drama—what will Davy discover next? Will he foil his scientific genius with his outsized ego and penchant for fly fishing? I raced through the chapters to find out what happens next (200 years ago).”
On the front flyleaf of the book, the characters of Holmes narrative are briefly described: “Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his siter Caroline, whose dedication to the stuy of the stars forever changed the public conception of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the meaning of the universe; and Humphry Davy, who with only a grammar-school education stunned the scienfific community with near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners’ lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe.”
What I especially enjoyed is that throughout the book Holmes brings together literature and science. You get Davy’s poems, and although they fill a substantial portion of the book, they provide a delightful respite from the narrative, and it offers, too, a look at the romantic literature of the time.
This book is available from Amazon.com: The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
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