The Age of Wonder
How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
Here is a colorful, utterly absorbing history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science. When Joseph Banks arrived in Tahiti in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment in Britain, the botanist sailed with Captain Cook in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery follow in this thrilling account of the second scientific revolution. Through the lives of William Herschel and his sister, who changed the public conception of the solar system; Humphry Davy, whose gas experiments revolutionized chemistry; and the great Romantic writers, from Mary Shelley to Keats, who were inspired by the scientific breakthroughs of their day, Holmes brings to life the era in which we first realized the awe-inspiring and the frightening possibilities of science.
