A review by cheshiresnickersnack
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes

4.0

I adored this book. It is filled with great mini-biographies-- I especially liked the parts of William and Caroline Hershel (I knew nothing about Caroline before reading this). But to me one of the most relevant things about the book is that one of the things its about is the creation of the genre of science fiction. There is a chapter about Frankenstein, which is often thought of as the first real science fiction novel, but also it lets you see that the western European world is, even 200 years ago, becoming science fictional. Herschel and Davies both make forays into science fictional speculation. The book gave me a neat historical perspective into one of my favorite fiction genres.