The age of wonder : how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science / Richard Holmes.

Author: Holmes, Richard, 1945-

Edition: 1st U.S. ed.

Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, c2008.

ISBN: 9780375422225 :
0375422226 :

Description: xxi, 552 p., [24] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm.

Subject(s): Herschel, William, Sir, 1738-1822.
Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 1750-1848.
Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829.
Science Great Britain History 18th century.
Discoveries in science Great Britain History 18th century.

Contents: Joseph Banks in paradise -- Herschel on the moon -- Balloonists in heaven -- Herschel among the stars -- Mungo Park in Africa -- Davy on the gas -- Dr. Frankenstein and the soul -- Davy and the lamp -- Sorcerer and apprentice -- Young scientists.

Summary: "The Age of Wonder" explores the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of "dynamic science": an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel, his sister Caroline, and Humphry Davy.