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sharon_geitz's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this account of 18th/19th century science told through biographical chapters of major figures like Joseph Banks, William Herschel and his sister Caroline, the early balloonists, explorers like Mungo Park and great figures of science like Humphrey Davy and all interlinked with reference to the great poetry and literature of the age. A wonderful account of the romantic age, how romanticism impacted on science and how science impacted on culture. A great readable book that has left me now wanting to read more about some of the central figures in this account.
hjmo's review against another edition
4.0
This book examines the interesting lives of several notable scientists of the late-Georgian era. Beginning with Sir Joseph Banks and the HMS Endeavour and connecting it to Darwin and the HMS Beagle. The research is detailed and the approach brings the men, women, and events to life. The writing is clear but at times the detail slowed the pace for me.
I came into the book with a definite goal as I was reading it to learn more about Sir Joseph and the culture of scientific discovery of the time (novel research). I enjoyed learning about Herschel and the early adventures in ballooning but was less interested in the chapters on Davy. It picked back up again toward the end.
The book was pretty long. I read the first bit on my kindle so I could make notes for research and then listened to the rest.
I came into the book with a definite goal as I was reading it to learn more about Sir Joseph and the culture of scientific discovery of the time (novel research). I enjoyed learning about Herschel and the early adventures in ballooning but was less interested in the chapters on Davy. It picked back up again toward the end.
The book was pretty long. I read the first bit on my kindle so I could make notes for research and then listened to the rest.
blckngld18's review against another edition
3.0
wanted more actual science but learned alot about some of the great scientists of the period.
fallchicken's review against another edition
3.0
Speaking only of the Kindle edition: This is one of the poorest quality Kindle books I've read.
- I'm 15% of the way through the book. My kindle has crashed three times while I've been reading, more than doubling its total number of crashes.
- The editing is the pits. Closed-up hyphens are consistently used as dashes; on a typewriter you could use space-hyphen-space or two hyphens, but modern typography allows you to use a em-dash. This is a dash-y author, so it's really annoying. Too many times I've stumbled over what was being said, only to find it was the wrong punctuation mark. (Having not seen a printed copy, I can't say if this is a problem only in the Kindle edition.)
- Words sometimes have extraneous hyphens.
- There are endnote/footnotes, which are citations to source material, and footnotes within each "chapter". Getting to these (and back) is a major difficulty. First, there's the kindle bug where the first time you go to a note, it wants to go to the dictionary or the web. But when you finally get to the note, getting back to the text is sometimes a challenge.
- This book is almost 600 pages. It is divided in ten (what I would call) sections. Each of these is divided into (what I would call) chapters. But the Kindle compiler calls the bigger things chapters. This means the where-am-I-in-the-chapter indicator doesn't tell you how long to before you reach a reasonable stopping point, unless you're close to the end of the bigger section.
Altogether an annoying Kindle reading experience, even though I'm enjoying the book itself.
The book: The first half of the book was quite a good read, potted biographies of Joseph Banks, William Herschel (and his sister Caroline), and Humphry Davy, scientists of (Britain's) Romantic period. As we move on, the Romanticism begins to dominate. Scientists write poetry, poets write about science. Gets a bit tiring.
- I'm 15% of the way through the book. My kindle has crashed three times while I've been reading, more than doubling its total number of crashes.
- The editing is the pits. Closed-up hyphens are consistently used as dashes; on a typewriter you could use space-hyphen-space or two hyphens, but modern typography allows you to use a em-dash. This is a dash-y author, so it's really annoying. Too many times I've stumbled over what was being said, only to find it was the wrong punctuation mark. (Having not seen a printed copy, I can't say if this is a problem only in the Kindle edition.)
- Words sometimes have extraneous hyphens.
- There are endnote/footnotes, which are citations to source material, and footnotes within each "chapter". Getting to these (and back) is a major difficulty. First, there's the kindle bug where the first time you go to a note, it wants to go to the dictionary or the web. But when you finally get to the note, getting back to the text is sometimes a challenge.
- This book is almost 600 pages. It is divided in ten (what I would call) sections. Each of these is divided into (what I would call) chapters. But the Kindle compiler calls the bigger things chapters. This means the where-am-I-in-the-chapter indicator doesn't tell you how long to before you reach a reasonable stopping point, unless you're close to the end of the bigger section.
Altogether an annoying Kindle reading experience, even though I'm enjoying the book itself.
The book: The first half of the book was quite a good read, potted biographies of Joseph Banks, William Herschel (and his sister Caroline), and Humphry Davy, scientists of (Britain's) Romantic period. As we move on, the Romanticism begins to dominate. Scientists write poetry, poets write about science. Gets a bit tiring.
jayft0312's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent account of early scientists and emerging philosophers, - how they developed the disciplines and brought about new discoveries - and then interlaced with the literary giants of the time, Shelley, Byron, Keats, etc. A rather slow read, but well worth the time.
mlindner's review against another edition
5.0
I quite enjoyed this. But do yourself a favor and do NOT attempt to read it as an ebook. It has both footnotes and endnotes and is an utter bitch to read as an ebook. It also has a couple groups of photos that would be far easier to correlate with their subjects throughout the book.
I believe the author is a scholar of Romantic poets/poetry (primarily) and his thesis is that [in Britain primarily] many people claim that the Romantic movement was a counter-movement to the Enlightenment, and in particular Enlightenment science, but that this is a highly oversimplified view. Much of our imagery of science comes from this period and many of the early scientists were poets and lovers of nature and so on and many of the poets were trained in science, attended lectures, and were friends with many of the leading scientists. Many famous (and not so famous) poems take on the scientific issues of the day.
Highly recommended.
I believe the author is a scholar of Romantic poets/poetry (primarily) and his thesis is that [in Britain primarily] many people claim that the Romantic movement was a counter-movement to the Enlightenment, and in particular Enlightenment science, but that this is a highly oversimplified view. Much of our imagery of science comes from this period and many of the early scientists were poets and lovers of nature and so on and many of the poets were trained in science, attended lectures, and were friends with many of the leading scientists. Many famous (and not so famous) poems take on the scientific issues of the day.
Highly recommended.
christopherborum's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
There should be a mood option for "over-informative". This book proposes a connection between the rise of British science in the late 1700s and early 1800s and the Romantic era in the arts, particularly poetry. The author uses Joseph Banks as the through-line, from his early travels with Cook and exploration of Tahiti to his formation and leadership of the Royal Society, and finally to his death and the passing of the mantle to younger scientists like Humphry Davy, John Herschel, and Charles Babbage and eventually, Darwin. The connection posited is faintly illuminated, as each chapter struggles to tie the two paths together. Certainly, Shelley and Byron appear frequently, along with Coleridge, Keats, Wordsworth and others. But how their work inspired and was inspired by the scientific work of Banks, William Herschel, Davy, and others is hard to discern.
The problem is, there's simply too much detail. It's as if the author set out to write about Banks, and found so many other interesting facts and anecdotes that he decided to put them all in a book. And by all, I mean ALL. There are asides within the text that could have been excised without losing the story. There are references to other figures of the age-politicians, clergy, and the like-with no context as if any reader ought to know who they are. I read a lot, and I was often confused. And there are numerous footnotes relating something in the main text to modern cognate that again, we could have done without. And there are pages of end notes which are actually interesting, but they're at the end, so I could choose whether to read them.
I rated three stars because the story is interesting. I didn't know much about Banks or Herschel or Davy, who, along with Caroline Herschel, are the key scientific figures profiled. And I also don't know much about the Romantic poets or Mary Shelley, although they were described more in terms of their relationship with the scientific figures. So if you're OK with a lot of detail, some of which you may find interesting, give it a shot. But you might do better to grab a biography of Banks or Davy or Herschel-there seem to be several highly-rated options for each-and then get an anthology of the Romantics, something like this: The Portable Romantic Poets: 9780140150520 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books .
The problem is, there's simply too much detail. It's as if the author set out to write about Banks, and found so many other interesting facts and anecdotes that he decided to put them all in a book. And by all, I mean ALL. There are asides within the text that could have been excised without losing the story. There are references to other figures of the age-politicians, clergy, and the like-with no context as if any reader ought to know who they are. I read a lot, and I was often confused. And there are numerous footnotes relating something in the main text to modern cognate that again, we could have done without. And there are pages of end notes which are actually interesting, but they're at the end, so I could choose whether to read them.
I rated three stars because the story is interesting. I didn't know much about Banks or Herschel or Davy, who, along with Caroline Herschel, are the key scientific figures profiled. And I also don't know much about the Romantic poets or Mary Shelley, although they were described more in terms of their relationship with the scientific figures. So if you're OK with a lot of detail, some of which you may find interesting, give it a shot. But you might do better to grab a biography of Banks or Davy or Herschel-there seem to be several highly-rated options for each-and then get an anthology of the Romantics, something like this: The Portable Romantic Poets: 9780140150520 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books .
paulfidalgo's review against another edition
4.0
Richard Holmes' tome is aptly titled. It's a wonder, and it takes an age to read it. Right. I wanted to get that out of the way, as the fact of its lengthiness weighs on me as I consider penning a reaction to its substance. It feels really long.
But, as with many efforts, it is worth it. The Age of Wonder is an exhaustive chronicle of the Romantic era of science -- indeed, the dawn of the very term. It focuses primarily on a small cluster of main "characters," beginning with the intrepid Joseph Banks (and his utterly fascinating adventures in Tahiti) all the way through the Herschel lineage (William, his sister Caroline, and William's son John) -- and just before Charles Darwin takes his voyage on the Beagle. It is a tale of presumptions shattered, egos inflated and exploded, and orthodoxies forever upended -- and not just those of stodgy religionists, but of even the most open-minded of explorers and philosophers. As Humphrey Davy, perhaps the most prominent of Holmes' subjects, said, "The first step towards the attainment of real discovery was the humiliating confession of ignorance." There is a lot of that documented here.
Perhaps the most prominent theme throughout the book, with all of its detailed (often to a fault) recountings of experiments, arguments, and internal struggles, is that of the development of a professional discipline whose aim is more than the sum of its parts. What would eventually be known as science would become a practice not simply of confirming or denying the veracity of hypotheses, but it would perhaps be the one great force that ushers humanity beyond its terrestrial and provincial understanding of itself. Holmes summarizes the thinking of Samuel Taylor Coleridge on this subject:
This was not so simple, of course. Even the previously noted Davy faced his own crisis on conscience as reason as a force behind a moral, and not just practical, philosophy challenged even the least superstitious of minds. In 1828 Davy wrote,
But "living happy" is not the same as living well, not the same as progress, not the same as advancing overall well-being.
There were those of this time who began to see something more than a happy illusion being stripped away, but rather a means to liberation of the species, a new reigniting of the the Enlightenment's flame. Holmes offers the words of Percy Shelley as the technology of ballooning had become the center of international awe and controversy.
This did not happen literally, of course, but it reminds us that within genuine understanding of all things lies the potential to transcend them.
Side note:
Also rife within The Age of Wonder are examples of the seemingly timeless wars between religion and science, and science's struggle to be seen as something other than raw atheism. Holmes tells of the profession's coming to terms, as it were, with its own moniker, and the old demons are ever-present:
Same as it ever was.
But, as with many efforts, it is worth it. The Age of Wonder is an exhaustive chronicle of the Romantic era of science -- indeed, the dawn of the very term. It focuses primarily on a small cluster of main "characters," beginning with the intrepid Joseph Banks (and his utterly fascinating adventures in Tahiti) all the way through the Herschel lineage (William, his sister Caroline, and William's son John) -- and just before Charles Darwin takes his voyage on the Beagle. It is a tale of presumptions shattered, egos inflated and exploded, and orthodoxies forever upended -- and not just those of stodgy religionists, but of even the most open-minded of explorers and philosophers. As Humphrey Davy, perhaps the most prominent of Holmes' subjects, said, "The first step towards the attainment of real discovery was the humiliating confession of ignorance." There is a lot of that documented here.
Perhaps the most prominent theme throughout the book, with all of its detailed (often to a fault) recountings of experiments, arguments, and internal struggles, is that of the development of a professional discipline whose aim is more than the sum of its parts. What would eventually be known as science would become a practice not simply of confirming or denying the veracity of hypotheses, but it would perhaps be the one great force that ushers humanity beyond its terrestrial and provincial understanding of itself. Holmes summarizes the thinking of Samuel Taylor Coleridge on this subject:
. . . Coleridge was defending the intellectual discipline of science as a force for clarity and good. He then added one of his most inspired perceptions. He thought that science, as a human activity, ‘being necessarily performed with the passion of Hope, it was poetical’. Science, like poetry, was not merely ‘progressive’. It directed a particular kind of moral energy and imaginative longing into the future. It enshrined the implicit belief that mankind could achieve a better, happier world.
This was not so simple, of course. Even the previously noted Davy faced his own crisis on conscience as reason as a force behind a moral, and not just practical, philosophy challenged even the least superstitious of minds. In 1828 Davy wrote,
The art of living happy is, I believe, the art of being agreeably deluded; and faith in all things is superior to Reason, which, after all, is but a dead weight in advanced life, though as the pendulum to the clock in youth.
But "living happy" is not the same as living well, not the same as progress, not the same as advancing overall well-being.
There were those of this time who began to see something more than a happy illusion being stripped away, but rather a means to liberation of the species, a new reigniting of the the Enlightenment's flame. Holmes offers the words of Percy Shelley as the technology of ballooning had become the center of international awe and controversy.
Yet it ought not to be altogether condemned. It promises prodigious faculties for locomotion, and will allow us to traverse vast tracts with ease and rapidity, and to explore unknown countries without difficulty. Why are we so ignorant of the interior of Africa? — Why do we not despatch intrepid aeronauts to cross it in every direction, and to survey the whole peninsula in a few weeks? The shadow of the first balloon, which a vertical sun would project precisely underneath it, as it glided over that hitherto unhappy country, would virtually emancipate every slave, and would annihilate slavery forever.
This did not happen literally, of course, but it reminds us that within genuine understanding of all things lies the potential to transcend them.
Side note:
Also rife within The Age of Wonder are examples of the seemingly timeless wars between religion and science, and science's struggle to be seen as something other than raw atheism. Holmes tells of the profession's coming to terms, as it were, with its own moniker, and the old demons are ever-present:
There was no general term by which these gentlemen could describe themselves with reference to their pursuits.
‘Philosophers’ was felt to be too wide and lofty a term, and was very properly forbidden them by Mr. Coleridge, both in his capacity as philologer and metaphysician. ‘Savans’ was rather assuming and besides too French; but some ingenious gentleman [in fact Whewell himself] proposed that, by analogy with ‘artist’, they might form ‘scientist’ — and added that there could be no scruple to this term since we already have such words as ‘economist’ and ‘atheist’ — but this was not generally palatable.
The analogy with ‘atheist’ was of course fatal. Adam Sedgwick exploded: ‘Better die of this want [of a term] than bestialize our tongue by such a barbarism.’ But in fact ‘scientist’ came rapidly into general use from this date, and was recognised in the OED by 1840. Sedgwick later reflected more calmly, and made up for his outburst by producing a memorable image. ‘Such a coinage has always taken place at the great epochs of discovery: like the medals that are struck at the beginning of a new reign.’
This argument over a single word — ‘scientists’ — gave a clue to the much larger debate that was steadily surfacing in Britain at this crucial period of transition 1830-34. Lurking beneath the semantics lay the whole question of whether the new generation of professional ‘scientists’ would promote safe religious belief or a dangerous secular materialism.
Same as it ever was.
davidr's review against another edition
5.0
This is a wonderful book about science during the Romantic era. The first few chapters are best for understanding the development of science. The last few chapters are best for understanding the interactions between science and culture, mostly prose and poetry. At the beginning of the story, the English word "scientist" did not even exist. Scientists were called "philosophers", and many of the greatest works of scientists during this era, were philosophical speculations. This is a beautiful book, in all senses of the word.