An edition of The Age of Wonder (2009)

The age of wonder

how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science

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Last edited by ImportBot
February 25, 2022 | History
An edition of The Age of Wonder (2009)

The age of wonder

how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science

  • 5.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 3 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

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.From the Hardcover edition.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
552

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Age of Wonder
The Age of Wonder
2009, HarperCollins
E-book in English
Cover of: The age of wonder
Cover of: The Age of Wonder
The Age of Wonder
2009, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Electronic resource in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Joseph Banks in paradise
Herschel on the moon
Balloonists in heaven
Herschel among the stars
Mungo Park in Africa
Davy on the gas
Dr. Frankenstein and the soul
Davy and the lamp
Sorcerer and apprentice
Young scientists.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
509.41/09033
Library of Congress
Q127.G4 H65 2009, Q127.G4 H65 2008

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.
Number of pages
552

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL22680046M
Internet Archive
ageofwonderhowro0000holm
ISBN 13
9780375422225
LCCN
2008049587
OCLC/WorldCat
264044731
Library Thing
6287571
Goodreads
6005088

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
February 25, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
May 9, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
July 22, 2019 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
June 17, 2010 Edited by ImportBot add details from OverDrive
December 9, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page