The Age of Wonder [Hardcover]

'Exuberant...Holmes suffuses his book with the joy, hope and wonder of the revolutionary era. Reading it is like a holiday in a sunny landscape, full of fascinating bypaths that lead to unexpected vistas...it succeeds inspiringly" John Carey, Sunday Times '"The Age of Wonder" gives us...a new model for scientific exploration and poetic expression in the Romantic period. Informative and invigorating, generous and beguiling, it is, indeed, wonderful' Jenny Uglow, Guardian 'This is a book to linger over, to savour the tantalising details of the minor figures..."The Age of Wonder" allows readers to recapture the combined thrill of emerging scientific order and imaginative creativity' Lisa Jardine, Financial Times 'If ever there was an argument for a biographical analysis of complex scientific and technological history, this is it...well paced and rich in detail...Heartbreaking accounts of hope and fears, ambitions and disappointments dance along the pages. Even the choice of pictures gives us new insights into old favourites...There is no dry page in this visceral, spirited and sexy account' The Times 'Richard Holmes's stellar collective biography...gives a gripping account of the scientific research that inspired a sense of wonder in poets and experimenters alike...fascinating...this beautifully crafted book deserves all the praise it will undoubtedly attract. Well-researched and vividly written The Age of Wonder will fascinate scientists and poets alike' Literary Review 'Holmes triumphantly shows the Romantic age was one of symbiosis rather than opposition...no biographer is better than Holmes at evoking the thrill of the chase...elegant ...fascinating...entrancing' Sunday Telegraph 'Exhilarating...instructive and delightful...finely observed...generous and hugely enjoyable' Daily Telegraph 'Romanticism and Science are justly reunited in Richard Holmes's new book...a revelation...thrilling' Independent "Vividly conveys the compelling fusion of art and science in the 18th century!his is a book to linger over, to savour the tantalising details of the minor figures!'The Age of Wonder' allows readers to recapture the combined thrill of emerging scientific order and imaginative creativity" Financial Times 'wonderfully engaging!Holmes brilliantly illuminates the human and subjective aspects of science-making' Scotsman "The Age of Wonder gives us!a new model for scientific exploration and poetic expression in the Romantic period. Informative and invigorating, generous and beguiling, it is, indeed, wonderful" Guardian "delicious...exuberant and thought-provoking" New Statesman Praise for Coleridge: Early Visions 'One of the greatest literary biographies ever written.' Daily Telegraph 'Dazzling. A biography like few I have ever read.' James Wood, Guardian Praise for Coleridge: Darker Reflections 'One of the greatest biographies of the century. Pure joy to read, it is a shimmering portrait of the mature artist veering between brilliance and despair' Financial Times 'This - and I can't remember ever thinking this before so strongly - is a biography to grow old with' Independent Praise for Shelley: The Pursuit 'If the art of biography was ever damned, Shelley: The Pursuit redeemed it.' New York Times Praise for Dr Johnson and Mr Savage 'As tense as a detective story and as rich as a Hogarth print, this is the work of a master-biographer.' John Carey, Sunday Times Praise for Footsteps 'This exhilarating book, part biography, part autobiography, shows the biographer as sleuth and huntsman, tracking his subjects through space and time.' Hilary Spurling, Observer 'Nothing is simple in this intricate, complicated and fascinating book, which is like a set of Russian dolls, biography containing travel-writing containing autobiography containing and so on! Holmes is indeed a biographer and a romantic in every sense.' Richard Boston, Guardian Praise for Sidetracks 'A masterful study of the human heart - his, yours, mine - demonstrating that, in the right hands, biography can be the most dazzling literary form of all.' Sara Wheeler, Daily Telegraph

This book tells the story of three remarkable scientific friendships during the Romantic Age in Britain. The astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, the chemists Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday and the medical scientists, John Abernethy and William Lawrence all challenged traditional ideas about human identity, morality and religious belief. They were pioneers in a time where distinctions between poetry, art and science were yet to take hold.Holmes captures an age on the cusp of modernity, when science and faith in God were mutually incompatible, and shows through the vivid dramas of his central relationships how ideas are nurtured, scientific discoverise made, and how religious faith and scientific truth collide.This book seeks to answer questions that are as relevant to us as they were to Coleridge’s generation: What are the sources of creativity? In what sense is there a human soul? Is it a fundamental mistake to regard science as a purely rational pursuit, or must we also recognise it as an imaginative and emotional one? With Holmes’s customary sense of place, personality, past and period, his ability to get to the heart of what drives a person, his sensitivity to human failings and desires, and his immense authority, this accessible and hugely readable book is breathtaking in its originality and its intellectual importance.