The Age of Wonder
How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
by Richard Holmes
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“It's about discovery, and whether it's discovery in the stars, or discovery in South Pacific, or discovery in science, or discovery in the arts, and I love that. | Okay I cannot recommend this book enough. Every few pages I find myself chucking aloud at such things as a particularly beautiful turn of phrase, a clever way of explaining something, a lovely historical detail, etc. Absolutely topnotch history & philosophy of science!”
Source →“It's about discovery, and whether it's discovery in the stars, or discovery in South Pacific, or discovery in science, or discovery in the arts, and I love that. | Okay I cannot recommend this book enough. Every few pages I find myself chucking aloud at such things as a particularly beautiful turn of phrase, a clever way of explaining something, a lovely historical detail, etc. Absolutely topnotch history & philosophy of science!”
Source →Recommended by 4 notable people, including Brian Cox and Ed Cooke
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Recommended by 5 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Science, and History.
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...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 5 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Science, and History.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Brian Cox
“It's about discovery, and whether it's discovery in the stars, or discovery in South Pacific, or discovery in science, or discovery in the arts, and I love that. | Okay I cannot recommend this book enough. Every few pages I find myself chucking aloud at such things as a particularly beautiful turn of phrase, a clever way of explaining something, a lovely historical detail, etc. Absolutely topnotch history & philosophy of science!”
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Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
The Age of Wonder
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