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The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science (Vintage)
by Richard Holmes
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- VG
- ISBN 10
- 1400031877
- ISBN 13
- 9781400031870
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Vintage, March 2010. Trade Paperback. VG. used trade paperback edition. lightly shelfworn, corners perhaps slightly bumped. pages and binding are clean, straight and tight. there are no marks to the text or other serious flaws.
Synopsis
A riveting 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 on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery--astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical--swiftly follow in Richard Holmes's original evocation of what truly emerges as an Age of Wonder. Brilliantly conceived as a relay of scientific stories, The Age of Wonder investigates the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of "dynamic science," of an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whose dedication to the study of the stars forever changed the public conception of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the meaning of the universe; and Humphry Davy, who, with only a grammar school education stunned the scientific community with his near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners' lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe. This age of exploration extended to great writers and poets as well as scientists, all creators relishing in moments of high exhilaration, boundary-pushing and discovery. 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.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Magus Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1004272
- Title
- The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science (Vintage)
- Author
- Richard Holmes
- Format/Binding
- Trade Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - VG
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 1400031877
- ISBN 13
- 9781400031870
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- March 2010
- Pages
- 576
Terms of Sale
Magus Books
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About the Seller
Magus Books
Biblio member since 2005
Seattle, Washington
About Magus Books
Located in Seattle's University District since 1978, Magus is one of the oldest and largest independent used bookstores in the Seattle. With more than 70,000 titles in all fields and hundreds of carefully selected new arrivals every day, Magus is a vibrant and always interesting book shopping experience. Please search or browse our inventory of hard to find, out of print, used and rare books. If you can't find what you like please email us at magus@seanet.com or call us at 206-633-1800 and we will search our off-line inventory for you. We have more than 70,000 books in-store and only 12,000 online so our shelf inventory is significant.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- VG
- Very Good condition can describe a used book that does show some small signs of wear - but no tears - on either binding or...
- Trade Paperback
- Used to indicate any paperback book that is larger than a mass-market paperback and is often more similar in size to a hardcover...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
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