The Beauty and Terror of Science

Richard Holmes new book, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science looks at the impact of the scientific revolution at the end of the 18th century. Reviewed in The Times by John Carey:

"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. He believes that we must engage the minds of young people with science by writing about it in a new way, entering imaginatively into the biographies of individual scientists and showing what makes them just as creative as poets, painters and musicians. The Age of Wonder is offered, with due modesty, as a model, and it succeeds inspiringly."
Read the full review here