PDF The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes 9781400031870 Books
Download As PDF : The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes 9781400031870 Books
The Age of Wonder is a colorful and utterly absorbing 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 in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes's thrilling evocation of the second scientific revolution. Through the lives of William Herschel and his sister Caroline, who forever changed the public conception of the solar system; of Humphry Davy, whose near-suicidal gas experiments revolutionized chemistry; and of the great Romantic writers, from Mary Shelley to Coleridge and Keats, who were inspired by the scientific breakthroughs of their day, Holmes brings to life the era in which we first realized both the awe-inspiring and the frightening possibilities of science—an era whose consequences are with us still.
PDF The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes 9781400031870 Books
"I fail to understand how some people are able to give this book a bad rating because it's "too academic" or has "too many details." This is truly one of the most enjoyable books I've read in quite some time. Yes, it's a commitment, but it's well worth it. This book is a gold mine for anyone who has a general interest in the Romantic period, history, science or literature. Holmes is a fantastic writer who takes complex subjects and breaks them into parts that are easily understood by anyone willing to take the time to read them. This isn't a book you read on the beach and then forget about. This is a book that stimulates interest. It has sent me to my computer several times to look up more information (and books!) about the people and subjects. This book involves more than just moving your eyes across the page. It will excite and challenge you to go off and do more research and will enrich you. However, if that sounds "too intellectual" perhaps you should stick with Dr. Seuss."
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Tags : The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science [Richard Holmes] on . The Age of Wonder </i>is a colorful and utterly absorbing 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,Richard Holmes,The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science,Vintage,1400031877,Europe - Great Britain - General,History,Davy, Humphry,Discoveries in science - Great Britain - History - 18th century,Discoveries in science;Great Britain;History;18th century.,Herschel, Caroline Lucretia,Herschel, William,Science - Great Britain - History - 18th century,Science;Great Britain;History.,Science;Great Britain;History;18th century.,1778-1829,18th century,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science Technology,Davy, Humphry,,Discoveries in science,GREAT BRITAIN - HISTORY - 18TH CENTURY,General Adult,Great Britain,Great Britain/British Isles,HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General,History of science,Non-Fiction,PHILOSOPHY / History Surveys / General,SCI/TECH,SCIENCE / History,Science,Science - Great Britain - History - 18th century,Science/Math,Science/Mathematics,Science;Great Britain;History.,Science;Great Britain;History;18th century.,Sir,,United States,biography; science books; autobiography; philosophy; philosophy books; biographies of famous people; history of science; evolution; chemistry; biology; biographies; physics; mathematics; astronomy; holmes; autobiographies; history books; science; history; history of philosophy; gifts for history buffs; history gifts; history buff gifts; history teacher gifts; history lovers gifts; classic; nature; innovation; science gifts; science book; science books for adults; science gifts for adults; england; historical; medicine,holmes;biography;history of science;philosophy;biographies;mathematics;autobiography;science books;innovation;autobiographies;biographies of famous people;history books;science;history;philosophy books;science gifts;history of philosophy;gifts for history buffs;science book;history buff gifts;science books for adults;science gifts for adults;history gifts;history teacher gifts;history lovers gifts;physics;astronomy;chemistry;evolution;biology;nature;classic;england;historical;medicine,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science Technology,HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General,PHILOSOPHY / History Surveys / General,SCIENCE / History,1778-1829,18th century,Davy, Humphry,,Discoveries in science,Great Britain,Sir,,Great Britain - History - 18th Century,Science,Science/Mathematics,History of science
The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes 9781400031870 Books Reviews :
The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science Richard Holmes 9781400031870 Books Reviews
- The author is deep into poetry (see his other books), which I'm not, and, perhaps with the exception of the chemist / poet Humphrey Davy, the relationship between science and poetry seems forced to me, HOWEVER, this is an absolutely SUPERB BOOK as an introduction to the science of the late 1700's / early 1800's. Highly recommended.
I have read a lot of science history, particularly physics, but this book introduced me to a number of the late natural philosophers / early scientists with whom I was only faintly aware.. Consider Holmes book as a sequel to Lisa Jardines "Ingenious Pursuits." - Holmes profiles leading British scientists of the late 18th--early 19th century, such as William & Caroline Herschel, beginning with the South Seas exploration of Joseph Banks (1769-1771) who accompanied Capt. Cook on his first voyage. Banks used his botanical collections to found Kew Gardens. His fame and influence led to his being named President of the Royal Society in 1778. A position he held for 41 years. As such he promoted scientific investigations of all sorts and encouraged younger researchers. This was a period of great scientific advance for many different fields. These researchers included William and Caroline Herschel who made important discoveries in astronomy. Herschel's discoveries led him to argue for the existence of extra terrestrial beings. Henry Cavendish and Joseph Priestley discovered the lighter than air gas hydrogen. Mungo Park explored the Niger River in West Africa, ending with his fatal disappearance in 1806. Humphrey Davy, a self-taught Cornishman, began his career in chemistry by experimenting with nitrous oxide (laughing gas). He invented a safety lamp for miners that prevented explosions. He made numerous important discoveries in chemistry and came to argue that chemistry was the most important of the sciences. He succeeded Banks as President of the Royal Society (1820-1827). The chemist and physicist Michael Faraday invented the electric motor, dynamo, and transformer.
Because many of these discoveries revealed natural phenomena at work, belying any supernatural explanations, many of these investigators became agnostics or atheists.
One surprising revelation by Holmes was the close interplay between scientific research and the arts. Poets such as Coleridge, Byron, Keats,Peacock, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley, Robert Southey, and Edward Young often wrote about science or referred to scientific achievements in their writings.On the other hand the scientists themselves were often inspired to express themselves with their own poetical musings. - I fail to understand how some people are able to give this book a bad rating because it's "too academic" or has "too many details." This is truly one of the most enjoyable books I've read in quite some time. Yes, it's a commitment, but it's well worth it. This book is a gold mine for anyone who has a general interest in the Romantic period, history, science or literature. Holmes is a fantastic writer who takes complex subjects and breaks them into parts that are easily understood by anyone willing to take the time to read them. This isn't a book you read on the beach and then forget about. This is a book that stimulates interest. It has sent me to my computer several times to look up more information (and books!) about the people and subjects. This book involves more than just moving your eyes across the page. It will excite and challenge you to go off and do more research and will enrich you. However, if that sounds "too intellectual" perhaps you should stick with Dr. Seuss.
- When I was in Junior HS I did a report on Kepler and his great and famous laws. The first batch are unmistakably brilliant, profound, and timeless. They have to do with mathematical generalizations he made from observations of the positions of planets. Orbits are ellipses. The sweep of an orbit covers uniform area in time independent of the distance from the sun. “The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.†[Wikipedia] But there was another law just as famous and “brilliant†in its time. It states that the reason there were six planets is that there are five Platonic solids. Utter nonsense! That someone as brilliant as Kepler would have gotten something so wrong is astounding. But when you think about it, what did he do in the three laws for which he is still famous? He generalized observations with math (equations). The emerging theory is testable and falsifiable and can be used to make predictions. How is his Platonic solids hypothesis different? It is predictive no other planets will be discovered. It is falsifiable; and was falsified by Herschel’s discovery of Uranus, if not before with the discovery of some asteroids. But while the ellipse theories--which can all be derived immediately from Newton’s gravity equation--are all solid to the modern scientific sensibility, the hokum about Platonic solids is not. Why not?
Taking this thread in a more immediate direction today we are faced with scientific denialism not seen in a century. News is false. Science is false. Climate change is just made up by paranoid liberals and grant grubbing scientists. But crucially – How is the public to be able to tell the difference? Between charlatanry and brilliance? In the end, all complex truth comes down to authority. We are taught that proof-by-authority is the weakest type of “proof.†That it is laughable. And yet – science would be nowhere without it. We don’t have time to read every manuscript or fund every proposal that comes our way. How can we tell the bizarre truth from the crackpot? We cannot reproduce every experiment.
These are two BIG ideas both having to do with the nature of belief in science. And as can be seen from Richard Holmes’s book, they are also evolving. To summarize the points so far what is the “intuition†of scientific belief, both by the scientist and the non-scientist? (Of course the great thing about science is that it advances even with very poor intuition, but it might take eons longer to get anywhere.)
The short description of “The Age of Wonder†is a collection of intertwined biographies of English scientists around the Romantic Era. The stars are Joseph Banks, Anthropologist (before there was such a thing); William Herschel, Astronomer; and Humphry Davy, Chemist. Just below the marquee are Mungo Park, explorer and William Lawrence, physician. There is a huge cast of vital supporting actors, led by the heroic Caroline Herschel, Astronomer, assistant to brother William, and both beloved and abused. Others are the balloonists; certain secondary intellects; the previous generation, including Erasmus Darwin; the next generation, the most prominent of whom is the great physicist Michael Faraday; the romantic poets and authors, Coleridge, Shelly, Mary Shelly, Wordsworth, Byron, and many others; and wives, friends, family, patrons, children, etc.
Of the leads, Herschel is by far the best known today he discovered Uranus and so upended the eternal truth of the number of planets. He also discovered the shape of our galaxy with its spiral arms. And conjectured that nebulae were themselves galaxies and so made the universe virtually infinite. An astounding career that makes Herschel one of the great astronomers in history. However, the nebula conjecture, as plausible (and true!!) as it was, and as influential, would not be proven until the era of Hubbell a hundred years later. But Herschel is also, perhaps, the best demonstration of the first point in this review why did (do?) scientists believe stupid things? Although the “island universe†conjecture was one of the most amazing findings in the history of science, it was just that, a conjecture. Herschel also believed he could see forests on the moon. And published papers on those forests. Why is one monumental and the other ridiculous? With hindsight, the problems are obvious. Although the scientific method was widely worshiped, there was no peer review. There was little validation. Grants were given on the whim (often good whim) of a single patron or a tiny elite. Specifically, forests on the moon can be verified (someone else can look), while external nebulae must remain a hypothesis.
This is the real subject of the book the last era of science before it was really modern science. The last era before it was called science; scientists were natural philosophers. The last era where the public, or at least amateur patrons, but often the general middle class public, were actively engaged in science. And scientists were poets and writers. And friends of poets and writers and artists. It was the time when investigating recreational drugs was mainstream science. When scientists were rock stars, complete with groupies. When scientists and poets were all amazed at the wonder of nature.
The book is divided into ten chapters. Most have a single scientist as its primary subject, with some repeats. Many begin broadly, often with many characters, but then usually converge to the subject, and a specific story. There are many terrific parts Banks in Tahiti, anything having to do with the Herschels, and the vitalism controversy are some of my favorites. Also excellent are his forays into the supporting cast, especially the continental scientists (too brief), and Faraday. There is plenty of personal detail. These really are biographies. And plenty of racy stuff. Did Davy have sex or, at least, molest, his nubile subjects of NO2 tests? Interestingly, I think the weakest parts are where the subject matter intersects with Holmes’s expertise, literature of the English Romantic. He searches for influences of current science in romantic poems. The results are almost always slight. And presents the poetry of the scientists. Most of which is, not surprisingly, forgettable. But to end this review positively, as I mean it to be the stories are great, the context is wonderful, and the points well made. And to use the cliché’, especially relevant today.
