The Age of Wonder (Hardcover)

Too often, scientific historians focus solely on the achievements of individuals, and neglect to detail the cultural environment which either nurtured or hindered our greatest advancements in science and technology. Richard Holmes deftly avoids that trap with this thrilling history of the Romantic Age, the latter half of the 18th century, when men and women around the globe followed their sense of wonder at the natural world down the path to scientific discovery. Holmes uses the stories of individual scientists, such as William Herschel (discoverer of Uranus) and renowned British chemist Humphry Davy, to capture the zeitgeist of romanticism which marked their time, when people in all walks of life were endeavoring to replace ignorance with knowledge. Holmes blurs the boundaries between art and science by showing that Herschels cosmological discoveries were inherently tied to his musical sensibility, while Davy was a poet at heart who lyrically described his reactions to his dangerous experiments inhaling