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Telegraph.co.uk

Richard Holmes

The Age of Wonder

We live in a scientific age, with new discoveries coming at a rapid rate. In The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes shows how similar it was two centuries ago when there were also rapid advances in science and exploration.

The book starts with Joseph Banks voyage to Tahiti, and continues with Herschel's astronomical observations, including the discovery of Uranus. There are chapters on the first flights using balloons, on Mungo Park's exploration of Africa and on Humphrey Davy's discovery of laughing gas. The book is mostly biographical in nature, describing the lives of Banks, Herschel and Davy and showing how each played a part in generating the enthusiasm of the era for scientific advances.

This era was also that of the Romantic movement in the arts, and this is sometimes seen to be in opposition to the science of the day. This book shows what nonsense that is - the poets of the day were eager to find out about the latest advances in science, and the scientists would often go in for writing poetry.

Its a long book but it has a lively style - Holmes keeps the reader's interest throughout. I would tip it as a possible winner of the 2009 Royal Society Prize for Science Books

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Hardcover 576 pages
ISBN: 0375422226
Salesrank: 46973
Weight:1.8 lbs

Published: 2009 Pantheon

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Hardcover 380 pages
ISBN: 0007149522
Salesrank: 30462
Weight:2.12 lbs

Published: 2008 HarperPress

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Hardcover 380 pages
ISBN: 0007149522
Salesrank: 55131
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Published: 2008 UK General Books

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Product Description
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. When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes’s original evocation of what truly emerges as an Age of Wonder. Brilliantly conceived as a relay of scientific stories, The Age of Wonder investigates the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of “dynamic science,” of an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whose dedication to the study 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 scientific community with his near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners’ lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe. This age of exploration extended to great writers and poets as well as scientists, all creators relishing in moments of high exhilaration, boundary-pushing and discovery. Holmes’s extraordinary evocation of this age of wonder shows how great ideas and experiments—both successes and failures—were born of singular and often lonely dedication, and how religious faith and scientific truth collide. He has written a book breathtaking in its originality, its storytelling energy, and its intellectual significance.

Product Description

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.

When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes’s original evocation of what truly emerges as an Age of Wonder.

Brilliantly conceived as a relay of scientific stories, The Age of Wonder investigates the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of “dynamic science,” of an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whose dedication to the study 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 scientific community with his near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners’ lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe. This age of exploration extended to great writers and poets as well as scientists, all creators relishing in moments of high exhilaration, boundary-pushing and discovery.

Holmes’s extraordinary evocation of this age of wonder shows how great ideas and experiments—both successes and failures—were born of singular and often lonely dedication, and how religious faith and scientific truth collide. He has written a book breathtaking in its originality, its storytelling energy, and its intellectual significance.

Sharp Focus On an Overlooked Era ****
First off, this is a highly readable and entertaining work about an overlooked era of scientific achievement. There exists a gap in general science history between the foundation of Newton and subsequent progress of Faraday/Maxwell. Holmes brings this period into focus in the midst of a Romantic age while we ride through the streets of London in a carriage to an evening's science lecture and special effects extravaganza. This is all good. But Holmes looks at the era through the forty footer where the sweeper might have been a bit more effective. We follow Humphry Davy from first breath to last gasp in a detailed biography that at times simply distracts from the good stuff. On the other hand, I am much obliged for the details presented on William Herschel and Caroline. I was astounded by their accomplishments and wondered why this was new to me. I've read a lot of popularized science yet did not know of the team who expanded our narrow universe into deep space and manifold galaxies, who unveiled the evolution of the stars. Perusing my bookshelves, John Gibbin's The Scientists gives William Herschel two sentences; Arthur Koestler in the Sleepwalkers, no reference; Bill Bryson, two sentences and a footnote; Timothy Ferris' The Whole Shebang, no reference (although he gives them 10 pages in Coming of Age in the Milky Way) and so on. So thank you for that, Mr Holmes. The biography of Joseph Banks is also more balanced than Davy's nuanced depth, while the balloonists and jungle-hacking journey through Africa of Mungo Park expand the range of exploration. Then there are the poets, a seminal breed in a time possibly lost on the modern reader who might not appreciate the scope of poetic influence prior to the Twentieth Century with its more dynamic communications media. In a polarity reversal, unless you are acquainted with the Romantic poets' lives, you'll get scant help within, but the attention to their scientific influences is right on. Mr Holms characterizes the emotion and intuition of the Romantic movement as reactionary to the formalistic and austere science pressing down on society and challenging its need for a Biblical creation and judgment. True enough, and we see a reflection of it yet again today as science flirts with DNA, cloning, and continued evolutionary revelation while the villagers in America light torches and teabags and chant in the streets, taking their cues from the electromagnetic medium that fuels their outrage. I personally feel that understanding the history of science, knowing of its hard-earned advance, and of the men and women who defied conformational thinking to free humankind from mind-numbing superstition, provides a wholesome appreciation of progress and the tremendous accomplishments of present-day research. Holmes ends with a summary statement reprising the rigid debates of science versus religion, science versus the arts, science versus traditional ethics. I would hope that by now - moving along rapidly in the Twenty-first Century - that we've earned the objective right to shift that inquisition to religion versus science, religion versus mythology, religion versus morality, and religion versus human rights.

Sharp Focus On an Overlooked Era ****

First off, this is a highly readable and entertaining work about an overlooked era of scientific achievement. There exists a gap in general science history between the foundation of Newton and subsequent progress of Faraday/Maxwell. Holmes brings this period into focus in the midst of a Romantic age while we ride through the streets of London in a carriage to an evening's science lecture and special effects extravaganza. This is all good. But Holmes looks at the era through the forty footer where the sweeper might have been a bit more effective. We follow Humphry Davy from first breath to last gasp in a detailed biography that at times simply distracts from the good stuff. On the other hand, I am much obliged for the details presented on William Herschel and Caroline. I was astounded by their accomplishments and wondered why this was new to me. I've read a lot of popularized science yet did not know of the team who expanded our narrow universe into deep space and manifold galaxies, who unveiled the evolution of the stars. Perusing my bookshelves, John Gibbin's The Scientists gives William Herschel two sentences; Arthur Koestler in the Sleepwalkers, no reference; Bill Bryson, two sentences and a footnote; Timothy Ferris' The Whole Shebang, no reference (although he gives them 10 pages in Coming of Age in the Milky Way) and so on. So thank you for that, Mr Holmes. The biography of Joseph Banks is also more balanced than Davy's nuanced depth, while the balloonists and jungle-hacking journey through Africa of Mungo Park expand the range of exploration. Then there are the poets, a seminal breed in a time possibly lost on the modern reader who might not appreciate the scope of poetic influence prior to the Twentieth Century with its more dynamic communications media. In a polarity reversal, unless you are acquainted with the Romantic poets' lives, you'll get scant help within, but the attention to their scientific influences is right on.

Mr Holms characterizes the emotion and intuition of the Romantic movement as reactionary to the formalistic and austere science pressing down on society and challenging its need for a Biblical creation and judgment. True enough, and we see a reflection of it yet again today as science flirts with DNA, cloning, and continued evolutionary revelation while the villagers in America light torches and teabags and chant in the streets, taking their cues from the electromagnetic medium that fuels their outrage. I personally feel that understanding the history of science, knowing of its hard-earned advance, and of the men and women who defied conformational thinking to free humankind from mind-numbing superstition, provides a wholesome appreciation of progress and the tremendous accomplishments of present-day research. Holmes ends with a summary statement reprising the rigid debates of science versus religion, science versus the arts, science versus traditional ethics. I would hope that by now - moving along rapidly in the Twenty-first Century - that we've earned the objective right to shift that inquisition to religion versus science, religion versus mythology, religion versus morality, and religion versus human rights.

Britain's Got Talent *****
After a long, dry season of disappointing reads, it is always particularly exciting when something finally comes along that can really quench my thirst. THE AGE OF WONDER did just that. This is the engrossing story of the Romantic Age of British Science, roughly from 1770-1830. About halfway through I realized that the scientists of the age (the term "scientist" wasn't coined until the very end of this period) were the pop stars of their era. Their lectures were sell-outs. The first one-way street in London was created to ease the traffic jams in front of the lecture hall during Davy's chemistry lectures. His audience consisted of large numbers of adoring young female fans. Both the Beauty and Terror of Science, as promised in the subtitle, are chronicled. The Beauty is evident. The Terror is not predominantly of the Dr. Frankenstein type, although this is discussed. The Terror referred to is how the discovery of deep time and deep space rendered a divine creation unnecessary. Science didn't exclude it. What Science said was that it wasn't necessary to explain the universe. This was as fundamentally unsettling then as a confirmed extraterrestrial landing would be today. This is most definitely written for the lay reader. It's meant to be a popular history. And it succeeds on those terms. It is quite anecdotal, almost picaresque in the way it moves from one episode to another. What binds the parts into a whole are the fully explored lives of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and his sister Caroline, and Humphry Davy. So yes there is science (although not overly technical), but there are very human stories here too. It is well written and engaging from first page to last. Highly recommended.

Britain's Got Talent *****

After a long, dry season of disappointing reads, it is always particularly exciting when something finally comes along that can really quench my thirst. THE AGE OF WONDER did just that. This is the engrossing story of the Romantic Age of British Science, roughly from 1770-1830. About halfway through I realized that the scientists of the age (the term "scientist" wasn't coined until the very end of this period) were the pop stars of their era. Their lectures were sell-outs. The first one-way street in London was created to ease the traffic jams in front of the lecture hall during Davy's chemistry lectures. His audience consisted of large numbers of adoring young female fans.

Both the Beauty and Terror of Science, as promised in the subtitle, are chronicled. The Beauty is evident. The Terror is not predominantly of the Dr. Frankenstein type, although this is discussed. The Terror referred to is how the discovery of deep time and deep space rendered a divine creation unnecessary. Science didn't exclude it. What Science said was that it wasn't necessary to explain the universe. This was as fundamentally unsettling then as a confirmed extraterrestrial landing would be today.

This is most definitely written for the lay reader. It's meant to be a popular history. And it succeeds on those terms. It is quite anecdotal, almost picaresque in the way it moves from one episode to another. What binds the parts into a whole are the fully explored lives of Joseph Banks, William Herschel and his sister Caroline, and Humphry Davy. So yes there is science (although not overly technical), but there are very human stories here too. It is well written and engaging from first page to last. Highly recommended.

Romantic Science *****
I read many books about math and science. It is rare, however, that a book on science gives me the kind of pleasure that this book does. It stands close to unique among books in the field: more than history or biography, it is a microscope on an era told through the biographies of some of the important scientists of the period. This story spans a time period from roughly the late 1760's through the mid 1830's. It starts with a beautiful chapter on the exploration of Tahiti by Joseph Banks. Soon after his return, Banks becomes president of the Royal Society. From this powerful position, Banks drives the development of British science for the next forty years so we see him continually pop-up as the rest of the book progresses. After Tahiti, the main scientists we follow are the great astronomer, William Herschel, and his sister, Caroline (a great astronomer is her own right), as well as the chemist, Humphrey Davy. We learn about their great scientific discoveries, of course (Herschel is famous for the discovery of the planet Uranus while Davy launched the field of electrochemistry and invented the miners' lamp that bears his name). We also get some great information of the importance of ballooning which developed during this time. Still, Holmes gives us so much more. He shows how this science flowed from the Romantic culture of the time and how these scientists were reflections of it. For example, though I have read many other works about these two men, I never really gave much thought to Herschel as a musician. His training and early working life was that of a musician. Astronomy was a "hobby" at which he happened to excel and which he melded into his life. Davy, for his part, is often considered the inheritor of Bacon in his respect for inductive reasoning and experiment; however, I never realized the important of his friendships with key poets of the period (Coleridge, in particular), and his own attempts at writing verse. It gives quite a different perspective on the man. In fact, Holmes gives us a wealth of information about the impact of Romantic authors on the acceptance of science by the public at large (Mary Shelly's Frankenstein being the prime example). Davy's famous public lectures on science are another example of this relationship. As the book draws to a close, Holmes also does a great job of showing how the generally positive view of science during this period began to give way to darker musings. Romantic spiritualism begins to give way to atheism, which creates ripples in the wider culture with which we continue to deal. The unity of "natural philosophy" gives way to specialization (physicist, chemist, botanist, etc.) which puts up walls between the branches of science. The groundwork of the modern age is being laid. Even a book as wonderful as this has some flaws. I found the brief chapter on Mungo Park to be sort of a strange aside to the general flow of the narrative. Holmes also assumes some knowledge on the part of the reader that may not be generally known to the non-scientific reader. (For example, he often mentions the strained relationship between Davy and Michael Faraday, but never really explains it. Anyone familiar with science of the period would know about this but others may not.) That being said, I got the sense while reading this book that it would have great appeal to many non-scientists. I plan on suggesting it to a number of English teachers I know whose lessons on Romantic poets may benefit from Holmes' insights. This is definitely not a book for scientists alone. It deserves a wide readership.

Romantic Science *****

I read many books about math and science. It is rare, however, that a book on science gives me the kind of pleasure that this book does. It stands close to unique among books in the field: more than history or biography, it is a microscope on an era told through the biographies of some of the important scientists of the period.

This story spans a time period from roughly the late 1760's through the mid 1830's. It starts with a beautiful chapter on the exploration of Tahiti by Joseph Banks. Soon after his return, Banks becomes president of the Royal Society. From this powerful position, Banks drives the development of British science for the next forty years so we see him continually pop-up as the rest of the book progresses.

After Tahiti, the main scientists we follow are the great astronomer, William Herschel, and his sister, Caroline (a great astronomer is her own right), as well as the chemist, Humphrey Davy. We learn about their great scientific discoveries, of course (Herschel is famous for the discovery of the planet Uranus while Davy launched the field of electrochemistry and invented the miners' lamp that bears his name). We also get some great information of the importance of ballooning which developed during this time. Still, Holmes gives us so much more. He shows how this science flowed from the Romantic culture of the time and how these scientists were reflections of it.

For example, though I have read many other works about these two men, I never really gave much thought to Herschel as a musician. His training and early working life was that of a musician. Astronomy was a "hobby" at which he happened to excel and which he melded into his life. Davy, for his part, is often considered the inheritor of Bacon in his respect for inductive reasoning and experiment; however, I never realized the important of his friendships with key poets of the period (Coleridge, in particular), and his own attempts at writing verse. It gives quite a different perspective on the man. In fact, Holmes gives us a wealth of information about the impact of Romantic authors on the acceptance of science by the public at large (Mary Shelly's Frankenstein being the prime example). Davy's famous public lectures on science are another example of this relationship.

As the book draws to a close, Holmes also does a great job of showing how the generally positive view of science during this period began to give way to darker musings. Romantic spiritualism begins to give way to atheism, which creates ripples in the wider culture with which we continue to deal. The unity of "natural philosophy" gives way to specialization (physicist, chemist, botanist, etc.) which puts up walls between the branches of science. The groundwork of the modern age is being laid.

Even a book as wonderful as this has some flaws. I found the brief chapter on Mungo Park to be sort of a strange aside to the general flow of the narrative. Holmes also assumes some knowledge on the part of the reader that may not be generally known to the non-scientific reader. (For example, he often mentions the strained relationship between Davy and Michael Faraday, but never really explains it. Anyone familiar with science of the period would know about this but others may not.)

That being said, I got the sense while reading this book that it would have great appeal to many non-scientists. I plan on suggesting it to a number of English teachers I know whose lessons on Romantic poets may benefit from Holmes' insights. This is definitely not a book for scientists alone. It deserves a wide readership.

What is the fuss? ***
What is the hullabaloo about this book? What does it add to our knowledge of either nineteenth century science or Romantic literature? In order not to scare off the litcrit crowd, Holmes skims very lightly over the science, which is (presumably) the reason why we are interested in these people in the first place. Speaking as a litcrit/humanities emigré, I could have used slightly more enlightenment about the science underlying Davys's experiments with nitrous oxide or the preceding context of chemistry under Lavoisier and Priestly. However, we are spared these weighty subjects like children who are told about sexual reproduction only in vague or allegorical terms ("You want the truth? You can't handle..." etc.). OK, the Romantics were not as averse to science as high-school texts claim. Surely any English major should know that. Oh well, the book contains a decent bibliography at the end for the reader interested in expanding his horizons.

What is the fuss? ***

What is the hullabaloo about this book? What does it add to our knowledge of either nineteenth century science or Romantic literature? In order not to scare off the litcrit crowd, Holmes skims very lightly over the science, which is (presumably) the reason why we are interested in these people in the first place. Speaking as a litcrit/humanities emigré, I could have used slightly more enlightenment about the science underlying Davys's experiments with nitrous oxide or the preceding context of chemistry under Lavoisier and Priestly. However, we are spared these weighty subjects like children who are told about sexual reproduction only in vague or allegorical terms ("You want the truth? You can't handle..." etc.). OK, the Romantics were not as averse to science as high-school texts claim. Surely any English major should know that. Oh well, the book contains a decent bibliography at the end for the reader interested in expanding his horizons.

Inspires interests in history of science ****
Growing up, I was never really fond of history or science, not to mention history about science, and I think mainly it was because of the way these subjects were introduced and taught to me in school, which was by rote memory and for the purpose of good performance in standardized tests. For me, it was a sad case of high scores without true, or lasting lessons or interests. On the contrary, a book like this, to me, makes history and science come alive and exciting and relevant to our everday life, it shows the continuity, and the close connections between literature, music, art, science, philosophy etc. It is amazing and refreshing to learn about the incredible versatility of the scientists--Banks, Herschel, Davy, Brewster--who were not the stereotypical modern day "geeky" engineers/scientists, these scientists actually wrote music and poetry, and were explorers and philosophers! And the writers and poets of that time went to science lectures and incorporated science into their arts! Painters and writers had dinner parties and discussed philosophies in scientific discoveries! (We are not talking about old,white hair sages here, we are talking about relatively young people. I guess when you don't have to tweet every hour about the food you ate or how many hours you excercised or what Lidsey Lohan was wearing, you can actually think about more profound things.) As the author writes in his epilogue, the rigid boundaries between science vs art, or religion or traditional ethics are no longer enough. We need "the sense of individual wonder, the power of hope, and the vivid and QUESTING belief in a future for the globe." Take it from Newton, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great Ocean of truth lay all before me." This book is educational and informative, but not in a dry textbook way. It was FUN!

Inspires interests in history of science ****

Growing up, I was never really fond of history or science, not to mention history about science, and I think mainly it was because of the way these subjects were introduced and taught to me in school, which was by rote memory and for the purpose of good performance in standardized tests. For me, it was a sad case of high scores without true, or lasting lessons or interests. On the contrary, a book like this, to me, makes history and science come alive and exciting and relevant to our everday life, it shows the continuity, and the close connections between literature, music, art, science, philosophy etc. It is amazing and refreshing to learn about the incredible versatility of the scientists--Banks, Herschel, Davy, Brewster--who were not the stereotypical modern day "geeky" engineers/scientists, these scientists actually wrote music and poetry, and were explorers and philosophers! And the writers and poets of that time went to science lectures and incorporated science into their arts! Painters and writers had dinner parties and discussed philosophies in scientific discoveries! (We are not talking about old,white hair sages here, we are talking about relatively young people. I guess when you don't have to tweet every hour about the food you ate or how many hours you excercised or what Lidsey Lohan was wearing, you can actually think about more profound things.) As the author writes in his epilogue, the rigid boundaries between science vs art, or religion or traditional ethics are no longer enough. We need "the sense of individual wonder, the power of hope, and the vivid and QUESTING belief in a future for the globe." Take it from Newton, "I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great Ocean of truth lay all before me." This book is educational and informative, but not in a dry textbook way. It was FUN!

Science, Romance, and Wonder *****
The Age of Wonder, not only describes the surge in scientific discovery and geographical exploration in late 18th century English society; it also links it with the contemporary romantic movement in poetry. Superbly written, with interesting biographical details of the characters involved.

Science, Romance, and Wonder *****

The Age of Wonder, not only describes the surge in scientific discovery and geographical exploration in late 18th century English society; it also links it with the contemporary romantic movement in poetry. Superbly written, with interesting biographical details of the characters involved.

What a time to be alive ****
Fascinating stuff. Haven't finished it yet (well it is quite long) but it's very easy to read and gives you stacks of interesting stuff on the science and the people. I'm sure that eventually someone will write something similar about the 2nd half of the 20th century.

What a time to be alive ****

Fascinating stuff. Haven't finished it yet (well it is quite long) but it's very easy to read and gives you stacks of interesting stuff on the science and the people. I'm sure that eventually someone will write something similar about the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Cutting-edge science, royalty and best-selling authors inter-relate ****
Reading this book reminded me of the adage that inside every fat man is a thin man, vigorous and strong, eager to break free. There is much good writing here, about an exciting period for the emergence of modern science, populated by many fascinating characters. And it appears to be based on a lot of original research. But what a pity that one of the first requirements of modern popular histories is that they should extend to 500 pages. Poetry by Sir Humphrey Davy? For the most part we could do without it. Similarly, in this context, that of Byron and Shelley; some dreary speculation on the lines of "as he did such and such a thing, he must have been thinking...."; the author's evangelistic promotion of atheism; and the inclusion, especially in the early chapters, of any available sexual titillation, much of which is in any case based only on speculation. But the book is worth reading. The Age of Wonder, well named, opens with Joseph Banks' stay on Tahiti in 1769. He was a member of an expedition sponsored by the Royal Society and led by Captain James Cook, the primary objective of which was to observe the transit of Venus across the sun. Banks returned to England with a huge number of botanical and other specimens, and much carefully recorded anthropological and other information, founding his reputation as a popular, if essentially untrained and amateur scientist (throughout his lifetime scientists were known as philosophers). He was in due course rewarded with the Presidency of the Royal Society and it is through his Presidency that the link is made with much of the other material in this book. He and the Society did much to encourage and facilitate the work of the young Humphrey Davy, who eventually succeeded Banks to the Presidency. Davy died in 1829 and it is with his death that The Age of Wonder as a book essentially ends. Many related developments were still to come - in particular, Michael Faraday had yet to produce the work on electricity and electromagnetism for which he is best known - and Holmes rightly anticipates much that at the time lay in the future. Besides Banks, Davy, his famous miner's lamp and other discoveries, the book majors on William Hershel, his development of telescopes and discovery of Uranus; also sister Caroline and her independent discovery of eight comets; Central African explorer Mungo Park; and the early development of hot air and hydrogen ballooning. Many other late eighteenth and early nineteenth century players also feature. For some it might be possible to discover as much, if not more, from other sources, but this book - which is exceptionally well indexed and has a useful Cast List as an Appendix - would still be worth checking as a route to discovering how individuals interrelated - Sir Humphrey Davy to Sir Walter Scott, for example, or Joseph Banks to King George III, who in turn was not averse to popping round to a garden party at the home of William and Caroline Herschel. It was indeed an Age of Wonder.

Cutting-edge science, royalty and best-selling authors inter-relate ****

Reading this book reminded me of the adage that inside every fat man is a thin man, vigorous and strong, eager to break free. There is much good writing here, about an exciting period for the emergence of modern science, populated by many fascinating characters. And it appears to be based on a lot of original research. But what a pity that one of the first requirements of modern popular histories is that they should extend to 500 pages. Poetry by Sir Humphrey Davy? For the most part we could do without it. Similarly, in this context, that of Byron and Shelley; some dreary speculation on the lines of "as he did such and such a thing, he must have been thinking...."; the author's evangelistic promotion of atheism; and the inclusion, especially in the early chapters, of any available sexual titillation, much of which is in any case based only on speculation.

But the book is worth reading. The Age of Wonder, well named, opens with Joseph Banks' stay on Tahiti in 1769. He was a member of an expedition sponsored by the Royal Society and led by Captain James Cook, the primary objective of which was to observe the transit of Venus across the sun. Banks returned to England with a huge number of botanical and other specimens, and much carefully recorded anthropological and other information, founding his reputation as a popular, if essentially untrained and amateur scientist (throughout his lifetime scientists were known as philosophers). He was in due course rewarded with the Presidency of the Royal Society and it is through his Presidency that the link is made with much of the other material in this book. He and the Society did much to encourage and facilitate the work of the young Humphrey Davy, who eventually succeeded Banks to the Presidency. Davy died in 1829 and it is with his death that The Age of Wonder as a book essentially ends. Many related developments were still to come - in particular, Michael Faraday had yet to produce the work on electricity and electromagnetism for which he is best known - and Holmes rightly anticipates much that at the time lay in the future.

Besides Banks, Davy, his famous miner's lamp and other discoveries, the book majors on William Hershel, his development of telescopes and discovery of Uranus; also sister Caroline and her independent discovery of eight comets; Central African explorer Mungo Park; and the early development of hot air and hydrogen ballooning. Many other late eighteenth and early nineteenth century players also feature. For some it might be possible to discover as much, if not more, from other sources, but this book - which is exceptionally well indexed and has a useful Cast List as an Appendix - would still be worth checking as a route to discovering how individuals interrelated - Sir Humphrey Davy to Sir Walter Scott, for example, or Joseph Banks to King George III, who in turn was not averse to popping round to a garden party at the home of William and Caroline Herschel. It was indeed an Age of Wonder.

Inspiring reading. *****
The Darwin bicentennial got me reading much more about science, scientists, and all sorts of related stuff, for which I'm extremely grateful. After an orgy of Darwin related reading and viewing, I felt I needed to broaden my horizons, so I bought this in a local book shop (the fabulous Heffers, on Trinity St, Cambridge). It's a real tour de force, and makes for very compulsive reading. I was barely able to put it down to perform basic functions like eating and sleeping. My favourite chapters were those that featured the Herschels: William, and his sister, Caroline. I'm a writer, musician and artist. I make no claims to excellence in any of these fields, nor pretend to compare myself with people like William Herschel (he was an accomplished musician, composer and teacher, as well as becoming one of the world's leading astronomers and cosmologists). But I do find the energy and industrious enthusiasm of people like him, his sister, and many others detailed in this superb book, enormously inspiring. Reading about Herschel's obsessive casting, grinding and polishing of his mirrors, and the construction of ever larger telescopes, not to mention the drama of Caroline's own discoveries, or her terrible injury sustained whilst working in the dark, observing (you'll have to read the book to find out what happened, but it makes me wince just to recall it), was truly exciting. When I was at school the sciences seemed extremely drab. The more I educate myself about science, the more I realise what an amazing branch of human inquiry it is. This book helps capture the vibrancy, energy, and multifarious voraciousness for knowledge and understanding - not to mention the wonderful conditions of awe-inspired humility and almost sublime trembling in the face of nature and our experience of it - that lie at the roots of scientific inquiry. Well done Mr Holmes: I'll certainly be seeking out more of your inspired and inspiring work!

Inspiring reading. *****

The Darwin bicentennial got me reading much more about science, scientists, and all sorts of related stuff, for which I'm extremely grateful. After an orgy of Darwin related reading and viewing, I felt I needed to broaden my horizons, so I bought this in a local book shop (the fabulous Heffers, on Trinity St, Cambridge). It's a real tour de force, and makes for very compulsive reading. I was barely able to put it down to perform basic functions like eating and sleeping.

My favourite chapters were those that featured the Herschels: William, and his sister, Caroline. I'm a writer, musician and artist. I make no claims to excellence in any of these fields, nor pretend to compare myself with people like William Herschel (he was an accomplished musician, composer and teacher, as well as becoming one of the world's leading astronomers and cosmologists). But I do find the energy and industrious enthusiasm of people like him, his sister, and many others detailed in this superb book, enormously inspiring. Reading about Herschel's obsessive casting, grinding and polishing of his mirrors, and the construction of ever larger telescopes, not to mention the drama of Caroline's own discoveries, or her terrible injury sustained whilst working in the dark, observing (you'll have to read the book to find out what happened, but it makes me wince just to recall it), was truly exciting.

When I was at school the sciences seemed extremely drab. The more I educate myself about science, the more I realise what an amazing branch of human inquiry it is. This book helps capture the vibrancy, energy, and multifarious voraciousness for knowledge and understanding - not to mention the wonderful conditions of awe-inspired humility and almost sublime trembling in the face of nature and our experience of it - that lie at the roots of scientific inquiry.

Well done Mr Holmes: I'll certainly be seeking out more of your inspired and inspiring work!

Fascinating Collection of Characters ****
I had coveted this book for some time, thinking that it could almost be considered a follow-on from, if a more scientific (rather than industrial) version of Jenny Uglow's Lunar Men. However, although this was what I expected, it was not what I got. I had ups and downs with this book. I found the first chapter covering Joseph Banks trip Tahiti a little difficult to get into and wondered if I had added the wrong book to my wish list. However, I think this is just me, having read about Banks as a Botanist, I guess I expected more botany and less anthropology. Once I got part way through the second chapter, focussing on William and Caroline Herschel I was hooked. I discovered about explorers and scientists (although that term was apparently a bit of a divisive subject) that I knew little or nothing about - Mungo Park, the various balloonists, even William Herschel was merely a name prior to this book. The author skillfully weaves the characters in and out of the chapters. The aforementioned Joseph Banks appears in and out as president of the Royal Society, appropriately feted as a scientific talent spotter and mentor. Then we move onto the life of Humphrey Davy, and, to a lesser extent Michael Faraday, with guest appearances from the likes of Babbage and Mary Somerville. Also interwoven are the great poets and writers of the day; Shelley, Byron and Davy's great friend, Coleridge. My only complaint from the book is that there is perhaps too much page room given to the poets and, indeed the poetry of, for example, Davy. It seems that there is so much of interest with the scientific figures and the legacy they left that it felt as though the stories of the scientists were sacrificed for poetry - perhaps that is just the miserable scientist in me! Whether you are interested in science, Georgian history or the poets, buy this book - there is something in here for all tastes. You won't regret your purchase and you will no doubt find something new and interesting in there.

Fascinating Collection of Characters ****

I had coveted this book for some time, thinking that it could almost be considered a follow-on from, if a more scientific (rather than industrial) version of Jenny Uglow's Lunar Men. However, although this was what I expected, it was not what I got.

I had ups and downs with this book. I found the first chapter covering Joseph Banks trip Tahiti a little difficult to get into and wondered if I had added the wrong book to my wish list. However, I think this is just me, having read about Banks as a Botanist, I guess I expected more botany and less anthropology. Once I got part way through the second chapter, focussing on William and Caroline Herschel I was hooked. I discovered about explorers and scientists (although that term was apparently a bit of a divisive subject) that I knew little or nothing about - Mungo Park, the various balloonists, even William Herschel was merely a name prior to this book.

The author skillfully weaves the characters in and out of the chapters. The aforementioned Joseph Banks appears in and out as president of the Royal Society, appropriately feted as a scientific talent spotter and mentor. Then we move onto the life of Humphrey Davy, and, to a lesser extent Michael Faraday, with guest appearances from the likes of Babbage and Mary Somerville. Also interwoven are the great poets and writers of the day; Shelley, Byron and Davy's great friend, Coleridge.

My only complaint from the book is that there is perhaps too much page room given to the poets and, indeed the poetry of, for example, Davy. It seems that there is so much of interest with the scientific figures and the legacy they left that it felt as though the stories of the scientists were sacrificed for poetry - perhaps that is just the miserable scientist in me!

Whether you are interested in science, Georgian history or the poets, buy this book - there is something in here for all tastes. You won't regret your purchase and you will no doubt find something new and interesting in there.

great research but writing that lacks a lot ***
Look, I get this is an academic subject but to draw me in you have to write a whole lot better. I gave up halfway through this book as although I found the information on the Mongolfier brothers' ballooning, Joseph Banks' life in Tahiti and William Herschel's exploration of the stars really wonderful, the chapters all began to sound exactly the same. They'd all seem to start off introducing the topic or person with background on their parents and family life leading up to whatever it is they became famous for. Then we'd end all chapters with some connection to a Romantic poet. I also found the whole book way too English-centric. Yes, there are French scientists and inventors thrown in but I just felt could it really be that Britain rules the science waves, too? Anyway, another annoying point is the fact some totally fascinating aspects are never fully explained. Apparently back in 1700s, ordinary people attended scientific and medical lectures and this created "stars" of these people. It seems unfathomable in this day and age so was this the way the world was back then pre-movies/TV? Then there's the whole ability to actually earn a living by having royalty pay for scientists to tinker around. Again, a different era as today scientists would be employed by the private sector or in universities. There's also the case of William Herschel originally making a living in music by farming himself out as a music teacher cum conductor in small towns around England. I found that totally fascinating as if every little town competed against every other town for some musical status. These nuggets do make the book rise but then are dragged down by this dirge-like text. This book needed a much sharper editor to pare it down to crisper text. The thing is 466 pages long and has a 58-page index! That's all well and good if you doing an academic paper but this is put out by Harper Press for the general public. Cut the chafe and get to the wheat of the matter and this book would be a solid 5 stars.

great research but writing that lacks a lot ***

Look, I get this is an academic subject but to draw me in you have to write a whole lot better. I gave up halfway through this book as although I found the information on the Mongolfier brothers' ballooning, Joseph Banks' life in Tahiti and William Herschel's exploration of the stars really wonderful, the chapters all began to sound exactly the same.

They'd all seem to start off introducing the topic or person with background on their parents and family life leading up to whatever it is they became famous for. Then we'd end all chapters with some connection to a Romantic poet.

I also found the whole book way too English-centric. Yes, there are French scientists and inventors thrown in but I just felt could it really be that Britain rules the science waves, too?

Anyway, another annoying point is the fact some totally fascinating aspects are never fully explained. Apparently back in 1700s, ordinary people attended scientific and medical lectures and this created "stars" of these people. It seems unfathomable in this day and age so was this the way the world was back then pre-movies/TV?

Then there's the whole ability to actually earn a living by having royalty pay for scientists to tinker around. Again, a different era as today scientists would be employed by the private sector or in universities. There's also the case of William Herschel originally making a living in music by farming himself out as a music teacher cum conductor in small towns around England. I found that totally fascinating as if every little town competed against every other town for some musical status.

These nuggets do make the book rise but then are dragged down by this dirge-like text. This book needed a much sharper editor to pare it down to crisper text. The thing is 466 pages long and has a 58-page index! That's all well and good if you doing an academic paper but this is put out by Harper Press for the general public. Cut the chafe and get to the wheat of the matter and this book would be a solid 5 stars.

A brilliant examination of the Romantic spirit and its "great journey" during the evolution of science *****
While explaining "how the Romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science," Richard Holmes focuses on what "became the first great age of the public scientific lecture, the laboratory demonstration and the introductory textbook, often written by women. It was the age when science began to be taught to children, and the `experimental method' became the basis of a new, secular philosophy of life, in which the infinite wonders of Creation (whether divine or not) were increasingly valued for their own sake...Finally, it was the age which challenged the elite monopoly of the Royal Society, and saw the foundation of scores of new scientific institutions, mechanics institutes and `philosophical' societies." Although Holmes poses and then responds to hundreds of questions or has others do so, "the book remains a narrative, a piece of biographical storytelling. It tries to capture something of the inner life of science, its impact on the heart, as well as on the mind. In the broadest sense it aims to present scientific passion, so much if it which is summed up in that childlike, but infinitely complex word, [begin italics] wonder [end italics]." In the Epilogue, offering an especially eloquent and compelling conclusion to his book, Holmes acknowledges that "there is a particular problem with finding endings in science. Where do these science stories really finish? Science is truly a relay race, with each discovery handed on to the next generation. Even as one door is closing, another door is already being thrown open.... "But science is now continually reshaping its history retrospectively. It is starting to look back and rediscover its beginnings, its earliest traditions and triumphs, but also its debates, its uncertainties and its errors...Similarly, it seems to me impossible to understand fully the contemporary debates about the environment, or climate change, or genetic engineering, or alternative medicine, or extraterrestrial life, or the future of consciousness, or even the existence of God, without knowing how these arose from the hopes and anxieties of the Romantic generation. "But perhaps most important, right now, is the changing appreciation of how scientists themselves fit into society as a whole, and the nature of the particular creativity they bring to it. We need to consider how they are increasingly vital to any culture of progressive knowledge, to the education of young people (and the not so young), and to our understanding of the planet and its future. Foe this, I believe science needs to be presented and explored in a new way. We need not only a new history of science, but an enlarged and imaginative biographical writing about individual scientists... "The old, rigid debates and boundaries - science versus religion, science versus the arts, science versus traditional ethics - are no longer enough. We should be impatient with them. We need a wider, more generous, more imaginative perspective. Above all, perhaps, we need the three things that a scientific culture can sustain: the sense of individual wonder, the power of hope, and the vivid but questing belief in a future for the globe. And that is how this book might possibly end." And indeed so it does. Congratulations to Richard Holmes on a brilliant achievement. Bravo!

A brilliant examination of the Romantic spirit and its "great journey" during the evolution of science *****

While explaining "how the Romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science," Richard Holmes focuses on what "became the first great age of the public scientific lecture, the laboratory demonstration and the introductory textbook, often written by women. It was the age when science began to be taught to children, and the `experimental method' became the basis of a new, secular philosophy of life, in which the infinite wonders of Creation (whether divine or not) were increasingly valued for their own sake...Finally, it was the age which challenged the elite monopoly of the Royal Society, and saw the foundation of scores of new scientific institutions, mechanics institutes and `philosophical' societies."

Although Holmes poses and then responds to hundreds of questions or has others do so, "the book remains a narrative, a piece of biographical storytelling. It tries to capture something of the inner life of science, its impact on the heart, as well as on the mind. In the broadest sense it aims to present scientific passion, so much if it which is summed up in that childlike, but infinitely complex word, [begin italics] wonder [end italics]."

In the Epilogue, offering an especially eloquent and compelling conclusion to his book, Holmes acknowledges that "there is a particular problem with finding endings in science. Where do these science stories really finish? Science is truly a relay race, with each discovery handed on to the next generation. Even as one door is closing, another door is already being thrown open....

"But science is now continually reshaping its history retrospectively. It is starting to look back and rediscover its beginnings, its earliest traditions and triumphs, but also its debates, its uncertainties and its errors...Similarly, it seems to me impossible to understand fully the contemporary debates about the environment, or climate change, or genetic engineering, or alternative medicine, or extraterrestrial life, or the future of consciousness, or even the existence of God, without knowing how these arose from the hopes and anxieties of the Romantic generation.

"But perhaps most important, right now, is the changing appreciation of how scientists themselves fit into society as a whole, and the nature of the particular creativity they bring to it. We need to consider how they are increasingly vital to any culture of progressive knowledge, to the education of young people (and the not so young), and to our understanding of the planet and its future. Foe this, I believe science needs to be presented and explored in a new way. We need not only a new history of science, but an enlarged and imaginative biographical writing about individual scientists...

"The old, rigid debates and boundaries - science versus religion, science versus the arts, science versus traditional ethics - are no longer enough. We should be impatient with them. We need a wider, more generous, more imaginative perspective. Above all, perhaps, we need the three things that a scientific culture can sustain: the sense of individual wonder, the power of hope, and the vivid but questing belief in a future for the globe. And that is how this book might possibly end." And indeed so it does.

Congratulations to Richard Holmes on a brilliant achievement. Bravo!