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The Age of Wonder
- How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 21 hrs and 26 mins
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Publisher's summary
National Book Critics Circle Award, Nonfiction, 2010
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.
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 in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes's thrilling evocation of the second scientific revolution. Through the lives of William Herschel and his sister Caroline, who forever changed the public conception of the solar system; of Humphry Davy, whose near-suicidal gas experiments revolutionized chemistry; and of the great Romantic writers, from Mary Shelley to Coleridge and Keats, who were inspired by the scientific breakthroughs of their day, Holmes brings to life the era in which we first realized both the awe-inspiring and the frightening possibilities of science—an era whose consequences are with us still.
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The Metaphysical Club was an informal group that met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1872, to talk about ideas. Its members included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., future associate justice of the United States Supreme Court; William James, the father of modern American psychology; and Charles Sanders Peirce, logician, scientist, and the founder of semiotics. The Club was probably in existence for about nine months. No records were kept. The one thing we know that came out of it was an idea - an idea about ideas. This book is the story of that idea.
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Hands down the best non fiction book I've read
- By Bryan Decker on 01-15-20
By: Louis Menand
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Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea
- Why the Greeks Matter
- By: Thomas Cahill
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Best selling history writer Thomas Cahill continues his series on the roots of Western civilization with this volume about the contributions of ancient Greece to the development of contemporary culture. Tracing the origin of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European horsemen into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, he follows their progress into the creation of the Greek city-states, the refinement of their machinery of war, and the flowering of intellectual and artistic culture.
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Super super
- By Richard on 12-28-03
By: Thomas Cahill
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The Places in Between
- By: Rory Stewart
- Narrated by: Rory Stewart
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In January 2002, Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan, surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day, he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past.
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A Brilliant Work of Nonfiction
- By Kimberlee Joos on 01-26-07
By: Rory Stewart
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A More Perfect Heaven
- How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In her graceful, compelling style, Dava Sobel chronicles the history of the Copernican Revolution, relating the story of astronomy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages. In its midst will be her play, And the Sun Stood Still, imagining the dialogue that would have transpired between Rheticus and Copernicus in their months together. As she achieved with her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Sobel expands the bounds of science writing, giving us an unforgettable portrait of scientific achievement.
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Interesting but Not Perfect
- By John on 09-01-12
By: Dava Sobel
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The Ornament of the World
- How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain
- By: Maria Rosa Menocal, Harold Bloom - foreword
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Widely hailed as a revelation of a "lost" golden age, this history brings to vivid life the rich and thriving culture of medieval Spain, where, for more than seven centuries, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together in an atmosphere of tolerance, and literature, science, and the arts flourished.
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Excellent Book
- By Zahid Ahmad on 08-14-18
By: Maria Rosa Menocal, and others
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The Strangest Man
- The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom
- By: Graham Farmelo
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul Dirac was among the great scientific geniuses of the modern age. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, the most revolutionary theory of the past century, his contributions had a unique insight, eloquence, clarity, and mathematical power. His prediction of antimatter was one of the greatest triumphs in the history of physics.
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Excellent biography of great physicist
- By Eileen on 05-09-13
By: Graham Farmelo
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Confronting the Classics
- Traditions, Adventures and Innovations
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Lynne Jenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the world's leading historians provides a revolutionary tour of the Ancient World, dusting off the classics for the twenty-first century. Mary Beard, drawing on thirty years of teaching and writing about Greek and Roman history, provides a panoramic portrait of the classical world, a book in which we encounter not only Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal, but also the common people - the millions of inhabitants of the Roman Empire, the slaves, soldiers, and women.
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Annoying narrator
- By Chris E on 02-27-15
By: Mary Beard
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American Gospel
- God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation
- By: Jon Meacham
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In American Gospel (literally meaning the "good news about America"), New York Times best-selling author Jon Meacham sets the record straight on the history of religion in American public life. As Meacham shows, faith, meaning a belief in a higher power, and the sense that we are God's chosen, has always been at the heart of our national experience, from Jamestown to the Constitutional Convention to the Civil Rights Movement to September 11th.
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what you weren't taught in school
- By Stanley on 06-12-06
By: Jon Meacham
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Zenith Man
- Death, Love & Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom
- By: McCracken Poston Jr.
- Narrated by: Lee Goettl
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In October 1997, the town of Ringgold, Georgia, was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley's house—and even more shockingly, she was the wife no one knew he had.
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The perfect mix
- By Poejax19 on 05-12-24
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The Lost City of Z
- A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon. After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to find out what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z.
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A Worthy Read for Armchair Explorers
- By Jennifer Seattle, WA on 03-01-09
By: David Grann
What listeners say about The Age of Wonder
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Andrew Glasgow
- 07-28-15
Fascinating history and biography rolled into one.
Great storytelling of an incredible time in human history, the evolution of the scientist in Western culture.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Corry Venema-Weiss
- 04-30-19
wonder-full
a great listen. a literal fleshing out of history. how early scientists invented their individual disciplines, but more importantly how they invented the very idea of scientist.
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- Granack
- 09-28-20
Fine book, poorly labeled chapters
Really disappointed the chapters are unlabeled, and out of sync, making it hard to really dig-in to this good book. Cross-referencing is frustrating, and irritating. It wouldn't take much to label these chapters just like the book.
This is a fine scholarship, written well, and told by an excellent reader. I just wish this audio book format was more accessible.
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- Diane
- 08-04-11
Misleading title
I had greatly anticipated the release of this book, believing that it would explore how the growing field of scientific inquiry influenced the development of Romantic thought as expressed in politics, literature, philosophy, art and music in the first half of the 19th century.The title seems to suggest an exploration of the question of how science plays into the culture of a period--a question of ever increasing relevance to subsequent generations.
The book should instead be titled something like, "The History of Science in England from the mid-18th Century through the early 19th century." The lives and work of 8-10 "scientists" (the term being something of an anachronism for the period) working in England are described in excruciating detail--great for someone interested in the history of science, I suppose, but very tedious for someone interested in the the culture as a whole. Literature of the period is only passingly referenced with the exception of Coleridge (Holmes' special area of interest, I believe) and Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein," the latter treatment being, by far, the best part of the book in my opinion. Authors whose connection to the science of the age is less clear or who rebelled against rationalism altogether, such as William Blake, are generally ignored. The impact of the new science on religion and politics are occasionally referenced but there is essentially no discussion of philosophy, the arts or of anything that takes place outside of England unless it is a direct precursor to the main topic of discussion--which occurs in England, of course.
Even if one accepts Holmes' limited use of the term "romantic" as limited to romanticism in science (a limitation which is not at all clear from the "Romantic Generation" of the title), his exposition of the transition from Enlightenment principles of rationalism and universality to Romantic thought is obscured by the sheer weight of prosaic factual detail--honestly, the last thing I felt was "wonder."
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33 people found this helpful
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- Rums
- 06-03-18
Great history of early scientific explorations
I enjoyed learning about early scientific explorations in Georgian and Regency England, both as a scientist, and as someone interested in the time-period an an Austen fan. It is a long book and the narrative jumps around sometimes, but the author does a great job in trying to present a coherent picture.
The audiobook narrator does an excellent job.
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2 people found this helpful
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- A reader
- 02-19-13
Voyages of discovery and ages of wonder
This is, in essence, a very detailed history of science in the period between Newton and the dawn of modern science in the mid-1800s, with a particular focus on excitement of discovery and the lives of a few scientists. The book opens with Captain Cook's trip to Tahiti, and then swings through the discovery of Uranus, the birth of air travel (by balloon), and the rapid evolution of chemistry, among other topics. The biographies are quite detailed, covering the work, personal, and professional lives of the scientists involved. To that end, I would agree with the other reviewer - the title is misleading to the extent that the classic Romantics (Byron, Keats, Shelly, etc.) are covered only in passing, and art and literature is not the clear focus.
On the other hand, this book covers a fascinating period in science, one that is rarely written about, since it is less sexy than either the time of Newton or the birth of modern physics. In the stories in this book, you can see how science transitions from a period of pure discovery to an attempt to follow a scientific method. And this is told through engaging stories of life in Tahiti, the early experiments with electricity by genuine mad scientists, and the early days of flight (the President of the Royal Society's first thought when he heard about balloons was to tie them to carriages in order to make the load lighter for horses!) Additionally, for someone like me who doesn't usually like biographies, I found the coverage of the lives of the scientists compelling and the storytelling to be top notch.
A couple of things weigh the experience down. First, the book is a bit long, but there is a lot to keep you listening, though the detail does pile up. Also, the reader is mostly average, except when he tries to do American accents, which is outside his range.
Overall, though, if you like the history of science and want something different, or you are interested in the late 18th/early 19th century, this is a really great listen. For others, it may be a less compelling subject, but it is well written and full of new information.
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20 people found this helpful
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- A
- 01-26-15
Fantastic Book! Great science history
I loved learning about all the amazing scientific figures especially William Herschel and Humphry Davy. Also the section on the advent of balloon flight. The book features mini-biographies that are woven together seamlessly. It's sprinkled with fun anecdotes and details throughout.
The one suggestion would be to get through the first section on Joseph Banks. It's more about geographic exploration and less about science- it's the least interesting part of the book- which gets much better afterwards.
The narration by Gildart Jackson is sublime. He handles all the French, German, Latin, scientific terms and even gives distinct accents to all spoken characters. He gives Davy what I assume is a Cornish accent. His American accent is charming if not perfectly accurate. He's a terrific reader.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-03-16
An in depth look at the romantic science period
A great story of the beginning of the science most of us know about, before after Newton and before Darwin, there was a time where they found the beginning of the universe, the idea of electromagnetic forces and many other sciences that the Victorian era stood upon to reach such lofty heights.
This is the story of the men... and women who made science something that people did as a pursuit for the good of humanity.
A well told and often gossipy tone, the story of the time of science is well told. A good read for the history and science buff in us.
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- Adam Mason
- 09-23-21
History's interesting stories that are rarely told
Great ride through history and the lives that changed the investigation of our universe when coming out of a dark period for our species.
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- Christopher M. Wiley
- 07-26-22
Surprisingly Fascinating!
With just the right amount of detail, and covering all the most interesting aspects of these great scientists' lives, this book takes you through all the most memorable and important episodes of the Romantic age of scientific exploration. Exquisite narration.
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