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Sep 22, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I struggled with this book. I started it in March and finished it last night. I wasn't going to pick it back up, actually. It had been so interesting when I started but a hundred pages in I realized it wasn't going to be the book I had expected. Then something happened recently and I had to come back to it. It was suddenly important in my life again -

Background, About Me

I work in the software industry. I work for one of those big companies that even my mother has heard o More...

203 comments like (42 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2011

Tyler rated it:

I was a little upset at this book for having to end. Holmes writes with a palpable compassion for his subjects. The book's major players are so fully animated that I couldn't help but feel a sadness at parting with these historical figures, most of whom I had never heard of before and all of whom, of course, had been dead for more than a century before I was born. I think that the way Holmes structured the book, with the same kind of intricate plot architecture as a good 19th century novel, real More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2010

Aminatou rated it:

This is EXACTLY how human history and the exciting spirit of scientific discovery should be conveyed to us- as something important, vital, and inspiring.

In assessing the quality of mind that poets and scientists of the Romantic generation had in common, Holmes stresses moral hope for human betterment. Coleridge was convinced that science was imbued with “the passion of Hope,” and was thus “poetical.” Holmes finds in Davy’s rapid and systematic invention of a safety lamp for English m More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2009

Kemper rated it:

There's nothing like reading a book about really smart and energetic people back in ye olden days to make you feel like a lazy piece of crap. I'm sitting here in front of a magic box where I could type in the words 'Hubble telescope' in an image search and instantly see pictures of distant planets and galaxies but it seems like too much effort. William Herschel had to invent his own telescopes just to get a decent view of the moon. I'm sure Sir William would like nothing better than to crawl o More...

0 comments like (22 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Moonglum rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2011

Stephen rated it:

A beautiful and sympathetic account of the great age of British science, through which Holmes proves yet again that he is our foremost chronicler of the Romantic Age. His deft handling the scientific discoveries that made these men and women - the Herschels (William, Caroline, and John), Joseph Banks, Michael Farady, Humphry Davy, et al - so important is admirable, of course, but more impressive is his ability to marshal an enormous amount of research into a coherent, pleasurable narrative. A ma More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Eppursimuov3 rated it:

It was an age when men braved wind and waves, diseases and 'savages', to discover new worlds; when men and women both worked day and night, so that they could be the first to see what no one else had seen before; when they would put their own lives on the line, so that they could experience new sensations. It was a time when no dichotomies existed between science, philosophy and the arts; when science inspired poetry, and scientists were also philosphers and artists; it was an Age of Wonder – th More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Bart rated it:

This is an account of a period of time in English science that Holmes names The Age of Wonder. It can be loosely pegged to the late 18th and early 19th century.

This book is much more than a recap, a chronological march around the discoveries of that time. It is a profile of a few fascinating individuals in science (Joseph Banks, William Herschel, Humphrey Davies, and some others). It is a portrait of an incredibly dynamic period in science, when much of the unknown world became both More...

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May 15, 2011

Benjaminxjackson rated it:

This book is sort of a Plutarch's Lives of British Scientists in the late 1700s and early 1800s. This is both a good an bad thing, because Holmes gives sketches of a number of scientists and talks about a broad range of experiments and fields. He also introduces some of the human element of science and the relationship some scientists had with poets like Byron and Shelly.

That said, this book have easily been three or four books about different people. As I read the book, I kept look More...

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May 03, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This is an amazing book. It doesn't have as much to do with literary Romanticism as I had originally hoped, but by the end of the first chapter I didn't care. Holmes is an excellent writer, and he makes the excitement and amazement of the scientists and explorers he profiles live. I think my favorite sections are the ones that deal with Joseph Banks, who went on a scientific voyage to Tahiti as a young man and, despite a successful career as a botanist in England, mentor to many younger scientis More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 14, 2011

Mike rated it:

The title for this book caught my eye, but it was the subtitle that made me really want to spend my money on it. The subtitle reads: "How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science," and that sums up the themes of the book fairly well. Here we have the story of the Enlightenment, demonstrating a time in history where science had the power to move people emotionally the way that the arts did -- in fact, the arts and the sciences were at this time very intertwine More...

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Jan 26, 2011

Frank rated it:

This was the first book assigned for my new semester, which means I'm going back to reading school stuff round the clock again, but luckily this first one was a great one. It's really a combined biography of Joseph Banks (President of the Royal Society for the Advancement of Science, explorer of Tahiti), William Herschel (discovered Uranus), and Humphrey Davy (experimented with nitrous oxide, and also became President of Royal Society), along with a couple of other secondary stories. The best More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 26, 2010

Becky rated it:

What an incredible book! Holmes is a biographer and the book is more like a biography, or several biographies, than a science book - as it should be.

Isaac Newton died in 1727 and Darwin didn’t make his voyage until 1831. Science was not dead between those years. Holmes uses those years to identify the years of what he calls the age of Romantic science - the Age of Wonder.

The big names were Joseph Banks, William Herschel and Humphrey Davy. Banks explored and wr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2010

Charles rated it:

One book leads to another. When I finished Being Shelley, I took this one down from the shelf and added it to my to-be-read stack. And when I read Mason & Dixon I was all the more convinced that I should read it. Both of those books are rooted in the material covered by Holmes's: the scientific discoveries of the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Half a century ago, the physicist and novelist C.P. Snow stirred up talk with an essay called "The Two Cultures," in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 11, 2010

Jrobertus rated it:

This book describes the science and times the Romantic age. The first wave of modern science, Newton, Descartes, Huygens, are gone. A second wave of institutionalized science begins and its power to explain and reveal the world captivates Europe. The book begins with the south sea explorer Joseph Banks and how he fostered British science through the Royal Society. We also see the German/British astronomer WIlliam Herschel (builder of the 40' telescope and discoverer of Uranus) and his brilli More...

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Apr 04, 2010

Donna rated it:

I don't like science and haven't truly studied lab science since high school chemistry. This book, however, captured my imagination. Studying the history of science...learning along with each man and woman as they make a scientific breakthrough...is more easily grasped than needing to know the mathematics of full scientific inquiry.

This book focuses on British science beginning with Joseph Banks' voyage with Captain Cook on the Endeavour (1768) through Charles Darwin's voyage on th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2010

Andrew rated it:

This is a great book covering the romantic generation of scientists. It focuses primarily on three main scientists from England; Sir Joseph Banks and his intrepid adventures in Otahite; Sir William Herschel, German astronomer, discoverer of Uranus and other notable sidereal bodies; and lastly, Sir Humphry Davy, discoverer of the effects of Nitrous Oxide and its recreational uses, famous chemist and inventor of the famed Davy Safety Lamp.

While some instantly recognizable names from hi More...

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Jul 28, 2009

Tony rated it:

Holmes, Richard. THE AGE OF WONDER: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. (2009). *****. This masterfully written book is really about the history of science – primarily that in England – in the years between 1760 and 1830. These were years of great discoveries and great men. What promoted the exploration of natural phenomena was the organization and development of the Royal Society. The history of this society and its members is really at the heart of More...

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Jul 18, 2009

Paul rated it:

Holmes, author of a magisterial two volume biography of Coleridge, probably knows more about the Romantic Poets and their circle than anyone alive, knowledge which informs every page of this wonderful historical narrative. A narrative of scientific discovery, hinged upon the belief that there existed at the end of the 18th century one culture -- not two -- in which poets and scientists conversed in the same language. Call it 'romantic science.' It is a rip-roaring tale, filled with indelibly dra More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2009

Elaine rated it:

An examination of (primarily English) science from Joseph Banks to Charles Darwin -- using the round-the-world voyages of each as bookends, follows the early professionalization of science as it evolved from "natural philosopher" to "scientist." The other major figures of the book are William Herschel, his sister Caroline, and Humphrey Davy. Fascinating biographies: lots of folks literary and scientific wander through. I would have liked to have seen more of the Romantic poet More...

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Apr 04, 2011

Will rated it:

Whereas Newton, Hooke, Locke and Descartes were pop stars of the first scientific revolution in the 17th century, Richard Holmes looks at what Coleridge called a “second scientific revolution,” the era of scientific breakthrough between Captain Cook’s first circumnavigation in 1768 and Darwin’s journey on the Beagle in 1831. He does this by a sort of relay, beginning with Joseph Banks, a botanist on Cooks’ ship, Endeavor, connecting him to William Herschel, an astronomer who with his sister, Car More...

7 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2012

Katie rated it:

The Age of Wonder is a stellar book about science in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and about the dialog between science and literature in this period. It's common today to think of Romantic literature as fundamentally opposed to scientific rationality, but poets like Coleridge were fascinated and inspired by science. Leading scientists of the era were moved by a sense of wonder that was in keeping with the spirit of the times.

The Age of Wonder brings the scienti More...

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Aug 26, 2011

Jennifer (JC-S) rated it:

‘Science is truly a relay race, with each discovery handed on to the next generation.’

Richard Holmes dates the period of Romantic science as extending (at least symbolically) between two celebrated voyages of exploration: Captain Cook’s expedition around the world aboard the Endeavour which began in 1768, and Charles Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos Islands aboard the Beagle, which began in 1831.

While this is a group biography, covering a number of different scientists a More...

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Oct 17, 2009

Athena rated it:

Richard Holmes follows the great scientists of (mostly) England, from Joseph Banks' trip with Captain Cook to Tahiti to Sir Humphry Davy's death just before Darwin heads off in the Beagle. These men were friends and acquaintances of the Romantic poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, Keats: the objects of Holmes' writing prior to this book. Many of the scientists Holmes considers were musicians (William Herschel) or poets (Davy) and were as informed by the Romantic poets in their understa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

"Critics described Age of Wonder, a synthesis of history, science, philosophy, and biography, as ""intoxicating,"" ""gripping,"" and ""juicy."" Rather than a dry account of scientific advances, the book offers lively, compelling portraits of the men and women who made discoveries whose legacies resound today. Holmes paints both the big picture of such discoveries and the smaller details that engaged reviewers, from the scientists' More...

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Jul 18, 2010

Miguel rated it:

What is the hullaballoo 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 c More...

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Jan 11, 2011

Mary rated it:

This book spans a time of scientific enlightenment in England from 1769 to roughly 1835. The era saw a boom of scientific findings in a number of areas, including chemistry, astronomy, physics, and botany. The book is written from an English world view, but acknowledges scientists in other countries, and how their research, and competition, spurred the growth.

The premise is exciting, but this was a very uneven book. I raced through parts, enjoying the science and the characters invol More...

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Feb 18, 2010

Dwhren rated it:

I saw this book listed on a ton of best of booklists for 2009, so I decided I should read it. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting based on the title. I never really got the whole terror part, which made me think it was going to be a whole lot of stuff about people having a backlash about scientific advances that they didn't understand. In fact, that wasn't the case at all. Perhaps I would have been more prepared if I remembered anything from my high school or college English classes. Whe More...

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Dec 13, 2010

Paul rated it:

This was an excellent read. Spanning the development of what was to become known as science - from the 18th century Tahitian voyage of Joseph Banks, to the Cape Town astronomical work of John Herschel - this book does a remarkable job of showing how the Romantic era shaped the way we think about science, knowledge, and the world. The reader follows (primarily) British scientific endeavors as they evolve, first in the hands of adventurers and amateurs, and finally into a young, rising class of sc More...

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Feb 10, 2010

Brad rated it:

One of the most moving and charming history’s I have read in a long while! Holmes’s analysis of the ‘second scientific revolution’ centers primarily on 4 characters: the dedicated brother/sister team of astronomers, William and Caroline Herschel; the enthusiastic Joseph Banks and the complex Humphry Davy. Along the way, we learn of the first air balloons over France, the tragic tale of an explorer in the African unknown, and the earliest works of those destined to become the prime movers of the More...

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