The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science

Holmes examines the transition period between 1770 to 1830 with his closest focus on the period between 1800-1830 when scientific categories of study and the methodologies required begin to emerge and solidify. Most significantly -- Holmes illuminates the fact, seldom mentioned, of the interplay between the romantic poets and scientists -- how will poetic imagination and the new hyper-rational inductive methods interact and influence each other? They are not yet seen as mutually exclusive (which, in fact, is a false view). Coleridge, in 1819 gives a lecture on the topic at the Royal Society that epitomizes this relationship of scientific genius and poetic inspiration as necessary to one another. The two men Holmes focusses on the most show more involved in broadening the movement are Joseph Banks, the botanist who accompanied Cook on his first voyage and William Herschel the astronomer who created the first enormous telescopes that could penetrate the universe and then studied, theorized and put to rest any thought that the universe is anything other than unimaginably immense (unless you are a stubborn git, of course) and many other discoveries we take for granted now but were almost shattering then. As the president of the Royal Society Banks nurtured the next generation of scientists, a lively and engaging person. Herschel by revolutionizing astronomy provided an example, literally, of 'no limits' to study. Holmes examines many other aspects of the period, not the least of which is that this is when 'explainers' (my word) began to emerge to make the concepts of maths and sciences accessible. Books and public lectures become popular. Holmes also examines how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein embodies this union between imagination and science, and unites the anxieties evoked by learning about the micro and macroscopic, and spectrums of sound and vision invisible to our senses. All of the romantic poets from Wordsworth to Keats were drawing from this urge to unlock and reveal the unknown: was there any mystery that could not be dissected and explained? I had no idea of this close relationship -- this most certainly wasn't ever mentioned by any teacher or professor of mine and I had two rounds with romanticism, one in high school (and intense) and the other in college -- the separation, academically, at that time was too complete. For me it suggests a new dimension to consider of the poetry of that time. I've always been drawn to this time period and now I've been swept in deeper. ***** show less

I really enjoyed this one. In The Age Of Wonder Richard Holmes creates a fascinating multi-biography of some of the greatest scientists of the 18th century. Each biography is unique in its own way, but there is a common thread, lead by Joseph Banks, that ties all threads into one complete story of scientific advancement in Britain during the 18th century. I found this a riveting, moving, educational and ultimately a wondrous read.

One can tell Holmes cares deeply about his cast of characters. The reader will celebrate the successes and lament the failures of each individual. Life's trials and tribulations are laid to bear, and ultimately, their legacies are examined. For me, the most memorable characters are: Joseph Banks and his show more journeys with Captain Cook to the Southern Pacific islands and Brazil. William Herschel and his sister Caroline building revolutionary telescopes, discovering new nebula and planets, and advancing daring new theories of deep space and multiple galaxies outside of the Milky Way. Humphrey Davy exploring the properties of laughing gas, inventing a safety lamp for desperate miners, and ultimately revolutionizing the science of Chemistry. And, finally, this cast wouldn't be complete without multiple, intrepid Hot Air/Hydrogen Balloonists risking it all for science and thrills.

Throughout, Holmes is careful to show the intersection between the humanities and science during this time. Painters, authors, poets and musicians were all inspired by the revolutionary scientific discoveries of the time, and their work clearly shows that inspiration. Holmes gives many examples of this ranging from the poetry of John Keats to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant to Shelly's Frankenstein.

In his epilogue, Holmes sums it up best: "...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 nature of consciousness, or even the existence of God, without knowing how those arose from the hopes and anxieties of the Romantic Generation."


Highly Recommended show less

'The Age of Wonder' reads like several biographies intertwined; offering a narrative reflecting a whole era and its zeitgeist now clearly (or so I personally think...) alien to us.

The time period being highlighted (roughly: late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century) given that it’s a book mainly concerned about science, is remarkable by itself. First, because it’s a time when the term ‘science’ itself hadn’t been coined yet (it will be in 1834, and Richard Holmes stops at Darwin and his voyage onboard the Beagle…). Then, because it’s the triumph of the Romantic era, an intellectual trend that, because of it being underpinned by Idealism, we might not especially associate with how we perform science show more nowadays. The author, though, brilliantly challenges such perception, in clearly showing that here was a time which had nothing to envy to the first scientific revolution, or, for that matter, any other prior era of discoveries. And this, this is precisely what makes the book so striking and engrossing.

Yes: it’s all very well researched and with a lot of facts to assimilate. Yes too: because of its depth and wealth of information, here’s not a read that you will fly through in a hurry while being deeply engrossed. On the contrary, if it’s -undeniably- impossible to put down and is an amazing page turner indeed, it remains a long, sloooow read, which takes time to navigate especially if (like me) you are not already familiar with most of the people involved. Having said that, both the personalities outlined and their worldviews and attitudes are fascinating, not least because they made no disconnection between the theoretical world and the practical one. On the contrary, Robert Hook was also an instrument maker, and William Herschel had to make his own telescopes to suit his needs! Scientist weren’t living off in ivory towers either, many having passionate and dedicated audiences that they loved to cater for (Humphry Davy and his lectures are a case in point). More, if we tend to think in term of black and white when it comes to sciences and the arts, as if the two were cohabiting with not much in common, this was everything but the case back then. This, again, may sound counter-intuitive given that with Romanticism came Idealism, but, as the author shows, there was in fact some cross pollinating. We’re all familiar with ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley, getting to grip with progress and technology. The thing is, the likes of Samuel T. Coleridge or Percy Shelley also embraced the concerns and passions of the ‘natural philosophers’, in the same way that many such scientists weren’t stranger to the arts either (Herschel, for instance, was also a musician).

In the end, then, here’s the fascinating portray of a whole era, when the discoveries of foreign lands and new species went hand-in-hand with a contagious curiosity -from the microscopic (Robert Hook’s micrographia) to the gigantically cosmic (the Herschel sibling’s work) and, even, architecture. Here's the retelling of an age of wonder, then, that can only leave us wonderous too. show less

Very occasionally in my life, I read a book, and have a strong impulse afterwards to seek out the author and shake him vigorously by the hand, or buy him a large pint in thanks for the heavy debt of pleasure I need to repay. This is such a book, and one where in hindsight I believe the publishers missed a trick - I would have happily paid 50 pounds, rather than 10, for the privilege of reading it.

The Age of Wonder recounts in a connected series of scientific biographies the period between around 1770 and 1830 where the fledgling sciences were intimately connected with the arts. Chemists such as Humphrey Davy were also poets, while poets such as Coleridge were also serious students of science. Culture viewed the scientist as a Byronic show more figure, a lone genius bravely revealing the beauty of divine nature. The idea of a professional scientist was slowly being formed in this time, and so too, perhaps, was the schism between science and art that now seems so wide.

Through a highly accomplished, direct style, Holmes argues his points carefully and convincingly. Moreover, his biographical powers are stupendous. Every main character, so honestly described, comes alive on the page. For such a long and potentially dry book, I found myself hooked from the start. I was moved, utterly fascinated, and at times in awe of the herculean effort that must have been involved in producing such an authoritative, yet readable tomb.

Although The Age of Wonder is a book about science and scientists, this is not a book to learn about science itself, though, and I’m rather surprised that it won the 2009 Royal Society Prize (it should surely have won Samuel Johnson Prize, if it wasn’t such a strong year). It’s clear that Holmes is no scientist, and if there is any weakness at all to the book, it is Holmes’ description of some of the scientific principles at work, and his lack of knowledge on the relative import of each discovery. Instead, he centres on the characters, and the scientific atmosphere of the time, and to anyone remotely interested in science or the romantic period, this is a huge achievement and a fabulous book. show less

My interest in the History of Science began with reading biographies of famous scientists like Faraday and Edison when I was not yet a teenager. This interest was intensified by college reading of Arthur Koestler, Loren Eiseley and others, and has continued to this day. Richard Holmes fine volume, The Age of Wonder, brings that interest together with my love of literature. In his prologue he describes the book as "a relay race of scientific stories". That it is and more, combining the literary milieu of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the increasingly wonderful scientific discoveries and enterprises from the voyages of Captain James Cook through the crossing of the English Channel by balloon through excursions show more into the study of gases and electricity, ending with the first voyage of Charles Darwin.

The cast of characters is too numerous to list, but includes geniuses of science from William Herschel to Humphrey Davy and on to Michael Faraday and other discoverers. The episodes include the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel and his sister, the study of Tahitian culture by Joseph Banks, the "vitalist" movement that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein, the practical development of safe lamps for coal miners by Davy, and other momentous moments of wonder that are still of importance to us today. Making his stories more interesting is the influence and intersection of science with literature as evidenced by the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Byron, and others including Davy himself. He does not ignore the interaction with scientists from the continent like Lavoisier, Ritter, Baron Cuvier, and Goethe. Also present is the importance of the influence of philosophers, especially the Germans like Kant, both via the writings of Coleridge and through the readings of the scientists themselves.

It was an age when scientists were still considered philosophers, even masters of the humanities. This is seen in the musical creations of Herschel and the poetic charms of Davy; not to mention the writing abilities of all of them including explorers like Captain Cook with his journals of Pacific voyages, and Mungo Park whose journal of his explorations in Africa are a great read to this day. It was also an age when the foundations of some of our greatest twentieth century scientific developments were laid by men like Charles Babbage, the mathematician who invented "difference engines" (we call them computers today).

The combination of Holmes' superb writing style with fascinating stories, many unfamiliar even to a reader like myself, and with the suspense of voyages and scientific advances that seem to happen an increasing pace makes it understandable why this book was the recipient of multiple awards. I would recommend this to all readers who look at the night sky and wonder about the mysteries of nature and the universe. show less

Kind of book that makes literacy worthwhile. There are still things to learn about the world, about the universe and about the people who have mapped, explored,discovered it.The stories of Herschel and Davy stand out. Davy i knew of, of course, his experiments with laughing gas and invention of the lamp, but how he invented the lamp, how he stopped short of really discovering anaesthetics, how he wrote poetry and was a tortured soul (difficult relationship with his society wife and with his protege Faraday). Herschel was just a name to me, but he really matters; a self-made genius who spent the early part of his life as an accomplished musician, a German who fled his oppressive family to come to England, made all his own instruments, show more was assisted by his feisty spinster sister who became a recognised astronomer in her own right (the first woman ever) and not only discovered and mapped the heavens like never before but created the basics of our current sense of the universe, its vast scale and age. And then there's Mungo Park, the pioneers of ballooning, Joseph Banks and a few more thrown in, all told with human insight, humour, scientific detail and even a bit sexy here and there. Indeed a wonder. show less

This is a fascinating account of the growth of science in Romantic Age of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Holmes looks at the period through the lives of ground-breaking scientists, and illuminates the intersections between science, literature, and art during the period.

Among the scientists discussed in detail are Joseph Banks, William and Caroline Herschel, Humphrey Davy, Michael Faraday, and a collection of truly nutty but ground-breaking (or is that, and ground-breaking) balloonists.

One of the most engaging aspects of science in this period is that it was all new enough that any smart, interested person with some (not necessarily large) resources could potentially make an important contribution. Joseph Banks was educated as a show more botanist, and made one of his greatest contributions with detailed and insightful anthropological observations of the Tahitians. William Herschel was trained as a musician, and his sister Caroline barely educated at all; they became prominent astronomers who made major contributions to the study of the heavens. Michael Faraday was a bookseller who was hired by Humphrey Davy as a lab assistant. Some of these men were born wealthy; some were not. None started out on the path where they made their greatest contributions.

Joseph Banks accompanied James Cook on the first of his voyages to the south Pacific, as a naturalist, the same role in which Charles Darwin later sailed on the HMS Beagle. A major purpose of that voyage was to observe an eclipse of the sun that would be visible in Tahiti. While Banks did a great deal of botany while he was in Tahiti, he also made extensive and detailed observations of the Tahitians, differing from most of his fellow British by being open to--indeed, becoming deeply involved in, the Tahitian culture. Initially friendly relations with the Tahitians soured as Cook and others, unable or unwilling to let go of their own preconceptions, repeatedly offended them. After they left Tahiti, the voyage deteriorated further, with conflicts, epidemic illness, and death. The survivors, including Cook and Banks, arrived back in Britain devastated and took months to recover. Still a young man at this point, Banks was at the beginning of his career, and remained a major force in British science for decades to come--but less as a scientist himself, rather as the president of the Royal Society, guiding and encouraging the scientific careers of others.

With Banks' story setting the framework, we see the Herschels start out as a musician and his singer/housekeeper sister and become two of the most important astronomers of the age, Davy beginning as a medical student and transforming into a chemist and engineer, and then into a mystical, visionary writer. We see the beginnings of true specialization in science, and the founding of the first subject-specialized science professional associations, separate from the Royal Society, which had, and still sought, to encompass them all. We see, also, the connections and interactions between the scientists and the writers and artists of the age, including Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats.

It's a fascinating story, and I promise I have not even scratched the surface of it. Holmes seeks to reveal character as well as accomplishments, and show the ways in which the romantic sensibility, which we generally thing of as antithetical to science, in fact inspired and encouraged the Romantic Age scientists.

Highly recommended.

I borrowed this book from the local library. show less