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Amazon.com review.
Oliver Sacks is the author of Musicophilia , Awakenings , The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat , and many other books, for which he has received numerous awards, including the Hawthornden Prize, a Polk Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and lives in New York City, where he is a practicing neurologist. Read his exclusive guest review of The Age of Wonder :
I am a Richard Holmes addict. He is an incomparable biographer, but in The Age of Wonder , he rises to new heights and becomes the biographer not of a single figure, but of an entire unique period, when artist and scientist could share common aims and ambitions and a common language--and together create a "romantic," humanist science. We are once again on the brink of such an age, when science and art will come together in new and powerful ways. For this we could have no better model than the lives of William and Caroline Herschel and Humphry Davy, whose dedication and scientific inventiveness were combined with a deep sense of wonder and poetry in the universe. Only Holmes, who is so deeply versed in the people and culture of eighteenth-century science, could tell their story with such verve and resonance for our own time.
(Photo © Elena Seibert)
From the new yorker, from bookmarks magazine, about the author.
Richard Holmes is the author of Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer ; Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer ; Dr. Johnson & Mr. Savage ; Shelley: The Pursuit (for which he received the Somerset Maugham Award); Coleridge: Early Visions ; and Coleridge: Darker Reflections (a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist). He lives in England.
Gildart Jackson 's acting credits span the stage and screen. He is most often recognized for his roles as Gideon on Charmed and Simon Prentiss on General Hospital . He has also starred in numerous television shows, including CSI and Vegas , and recently played the lead in the highly acclaimed independent feature film You , directed by his wife, Melora Hardin.
Excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.
Richard holmes.
Richard Holmes was one of Britain's most distinguished and eminent military historians and broadcasters. For many years Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science, he also taught military history at Sandhurst. He was the author of many best-selling and widely acclaimed books including Redcoat, Tommy, Marlborough and Wellington, and famous for his BBC series such as War Walks, In the Footsteps of Churchill and Wellington. He served in the Territorial Army, retiring as a brigadier and Britain's most senior reservist, and was Colonel of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment from 1999 to 2007. Richard Holmes died suddenly in April 2011 from pneumonia. He had been suffering from non-Hodgkins' Lymphoma.
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Customers find the book extremely informative and well-written. They also appreciate the lively narrative style that provides a wealth of detail and brings the characters to life. Readers describe the themes as profound, riveting, and timeless. Opinions differ on the storyline, with some finding it vivid and interesting, while others say there are too many details.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book extremely informative, wonderful, and an adventure through the history of science. They also say it would have great appeal to many non-scientists, contains a decent bibliography at the end, and presents a comprehensive, colorful, detailed history of scientific principles. Customers also mention that the emerging theory is testable and falsifiable and can be used to make predictions.
"...There are many terrific parts : Banks in Tahiti, anything having to do with the Herschels, and the vitalism controversy are some of my favorites...." Read more
"...came to exist and how the universe truly worked, is a fascinating exploration of the topic and its figures...." Read more
"...the sense while reading this book that it would have great appeal to many non-scientists ...." Read more
"...It is well documented with references and bibliography , and includes a "cast list" in the back so I can read a quick "bio" on all the many people..." Read more
Customers find the writing style of the book well written.
"...Holmes is a fantastic writer who takes complex subjects and breaks them into parts that are easily understood by anyone willing to take the time to..." Read more
"...-readings, it is refreshing to revisit the passage because it is so well written ; it feels the same as when you go right back to the top of the page..." Read more
"...The writing itself is a pleasure in Holmes' books and his skill in painting a scene comes from that dedication to the task he writes of in some of..." Read more
"... Very readable , at times poignant, and very thoughts provoking...." Read more
Customers find the narrative style lively, providing a wealth of detail. They also say the characters really spring to life and the book is an engrossing snapshot of the late 18th to early 19th century.
"...are fascinating in their own right, and Holmes’s lively style provides a wealth of detail about their personal as well as professional lives without..." Read more
"...This is a nice image and provides an interesting premise for the book...." Read more
"...Under Holmes's story-telling, they are so human and so extraordinary- this book will make you cry. It'll also make you laugh!" Read more
"...It is character-driven , focusing on the lives and works of some of the great men of the era- Joseph Banks, William and Caroline Herschel, Mungo Park..." Read more
Customers find the themes in the book profound, riveting, and enthralling. They also appreciate the passion and exuberance with which the stories are told.
"...The first batch are unmistakably brilliant, profound , and timeless...." Read more
"...it immensely because it has the flavor of a novel and is filled with human interest along with the science of their accomplishments...." Read more
"...It was an exciting and unsettling time and that makes for a great reading experience." Read more
"...Very readable, at times poignant , and very thoughts provoking...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the storyline. Some find the accounts vivid and compelling, providing a great view into their life style. They also say the book provides a poignant view into the lives of key historical figures. However, some customers feel the book contains way too many details and there is no interactive table of contents. They mention the prose about art is too dense.
"...But to end this review positively, as I mean it to be: the stories are great , the context is wonderful, and the points well made...." Read more
"...concentrating on the discoveries and achievements, the author belabors irrelevant details ...." Read more
"...Davy, John Herschel, Joseph Banks, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley are poignant ...." Read more
"This book is a thrilling account of the personalities that shaped 19th century science and paved the way for professional scientists...." Read more
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COMMENTS
The twin energies of scientific curiosity and poetic invention pulsate through this study of the Romantic generation's "second scientific revolution."
THE AGE OF WONDER. Enjoyable excavation of a time when science and art fed off each other, to the benefit of both communities. Energetic analysis of the "Romantic Age of Science.". Romanticism, the deeply emotional artistic movement of the second half of the 18th century, was partly a reaction against the pragmatism of Enlightenment scientists.
His latest book, The Age of Wonder (2008), is an examination of the life and work of the scientists of the Romantic age who laid the foundations of modern science.
Richard Holmes's amazingly ambitious book about the Romantics fuses history, art, science, philosophy and biography — and makes a splendid case for treating the history of science in a bright ...
Reviews of The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes, plus links to a book excerpt from The Age of Wonder and author biography of Richard Holmes.
The Age of Wonder (2008, Vintage Books) focuses on some of the engaging figures in science as it emerges from its chrysalis into the modern discipline - the title reflects the blending of data and observation with musing on the sublime, the supernatural, and the holy that characterized the era. It roughly covers the years 1768 to 1820; the dates are my own, beginning with Cook's voyage to ...
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.
Throughout the book, the author explores both the Romantic fascination with science and the fear that science might make nature less amazing. Age of Wonder winds down with the death of Joseph Banks and the rise of a new generation of scientists including Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, and John Herschel (William Herschel's son).
The Age of Wonder: Review of The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes, plus back-story and other interesting facts about the book.
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science is a 2008 popular biography book about the history of science written by Richard Holmes.
-The Washington Post "In this big two-hearted river of a book, the twin energies of scientific curiosity and poetic invention pulsate on every page." —The New York Times Book Review "The Age of Wonder is the long-awaited fermentation of the author's knowledge of the Romantic poets and his lifelong fascination with science." —The Economist
THE AGE OF WONDER is Richard Holmes's first major work of biography in over a decade. It has been inspired by the scientific ferment that swept through Britain at the end of the eighteenth century, 'The Age of Wonder' and which Holmes now radically redefines as 'the revolution of Romantic Science'.The book opens with Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain Cook's first Endeavour voyage, stepping ...
Moving tale of facially different boy with inner beauty. Read Common Sense Media's Wonder review, age rating, and parents guide.
- The Washington Post "In this big two-hearted river of a book, the twin energies of scientific curiosity and poetic invention pulsate on every page." — The New York Times Book Review " The Age of Wonder is the long-awaited fermentation of the author's knowledge of the Romantic poets and his lifelong fascination with science."
-The Washington Post "In this big two-hearted river of a book, the twin energies of scientific curiosity and poetic invention pulsate on every page." —The New York Times Book Review "The Age of Wonder is the long-awaited fermentation of the author's knowledge of the Romantic poets and his lifelong fascination with science." —The Economist
Review 'Rich and sparkling, this is a wonderful book.' Claire Tomalin, Guardian, Books of the Year '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.'
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes is a history of western science at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, but is really a serial biography, telling the stories of Joseph ...
-The Washington Post "In this big two-hearted river of a book, the twin energies of scientific curiosity and poetic invention pulsate on every page." —The New York Times Book Review "The Age of Wonder is the long-awaited fermentation of the author's knowledge of the Romantic poets and his lifelong fascination with science." —The Economist
The short description of "The Age of Wonder" is a collection of intertwined biographies of English scientists around the Romantic Era. The stars are Joseph Banks, Anthropologist (before there was such a thing); William Herschel, Astronomer; and Humphry Davy, Chemist.
Read Wonder reviews from parents on Common Sense Media. Become a member to write your own review.
Richard Holmes, prize-winning biographer of Coleridge and Shelley, explores the scientific ferment that swept across Britain at the end of 18th century in his ground-breaking new biography 'The Age of Wonder'. 'The Age of Wonder' is Richard Holmes's first major work of biography in over a decade.
It is an essential aspect of being human. In the captivating, award-winning New York Times bestselling novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio, the theme of exhibiting kindness is explored in an inspiring way. The story revolves around a 10-year-old boy named August Pullman living with rare facial deformities. Auggie, as he is affectionately called ...
The Age of Wonder is a colorful and utterly absorbing 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.