HistoryofScience

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science | Richard Holmes

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I waited 14 years to read this not-difficult book. Sigh.

This tries to capture a transitional era in the sciences, ~1800, when science and the arts were closely linked and science was a wide-open field for adventure, but was also becoming formalized, and a far more stringent field. (The steampunk era? 🙂) But Holmes approach is pure biography (of people instead of ideas). I was entertained. This is an easy, wonderful listen.

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BarbaraJean

Darwin: Texts, Commentary | Charles Darwin

I've seen this quote before, and I love it, but I love this framing of it even more!

Also, I think I need this quote on a t-shirt. For those non-great days.

CSeydel Absolutely! 2w

Deblovestoread Love this! 2w

lil1inblue Well, I'm gonna save this for the next non-great day. 😍 2w

40 likes3 comments

RamsFan1963

Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion | Michael Taylor

so-so

24/100 I don't believe that I have ever listened to a less interesting book involving dinosaurs and paleontology, two subjects that I'm very interested in. IMO the book spends too much time discussing religious leaders, and how they tried to align fossils with the teachings of the bible. Even when discussing Darwin and evolution, it was more about the affect on the religious community than on the validity of the theories. 3 ⭐⭐⭐ #Read2025

inkilea Good to know, thank you! (This was on my as-yet-unpurchased tbr) 3w

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Graywacke

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science | Richard Holmes

My new audiobook, selected to carry me far away from the daily catastrophic news. Three hours there is a whole lot on 18th-century botanist Joseph Banks.

kspenmoll This sounds fascinating- 1mo

Graywacke @kspenmoll It‘s a good place to be right now - distant and optimistic. 1mo

kspenmoll @Graywacke Essential! 1mo

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Robotswithpersonality

Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science | Dava Sobel

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I love when the tone of science non-fiction surprises me. I think doing a tandem read with the print and audiobook helped in this case, because matching audio to speed of print reading gave the narrator a consistently clear, yet palpably upbeat tone, and it was wonderful to hear the audiobook narrator skillfully pronounce all the French words and names, along with a smattering of other European/Eastern European designations. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? There is a version of the history told here that is a great deal more fraught in the way it focuses on the many restrictions women faced, the loss of loved ones, the first world war, the growing understanding of the negative effects of exposure to radium and its emissions. Somehow Sobel's account gives these moments their proper weight without in any way sensationalizing or darkening the narrative. 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 3/? There is so much about Marie Curie's contributions and the web of interpersonal influence that furthered those contributions to science (and medicine) that I didn't know.
Sobel leaves space for an important function of history: not forgetting. Not forgetting how recently the overwhelming misogyny of the patriarchy had its grip somewhat loosened on so-called enlightened scientific institutions, and how that has affected the history of women 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 4/? in science. Of course, that makes every moment spent in this book discussing Marie and all the women she assisted/came into contact with during her work and all they're remembered for that much more triumphant.
What really struck me as a new piece of information in the picture of her position in history was how much she loved and missed her husband, those moments where in his honour, she deferred/transferred honours that would otherwise have 2mo

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Robotswithpersonality 5/? been laid at her feet. Between that and the amount of the book focused on her daughters, the family Curie and to a similar extent, Marie's siblings, are the backbone of the narrative.
I liked the mixing in, the introduction of different (male and female) scientists and their experiments, getting windows into the related science of the time. In that it was often discovering elements and the parts of an atom, it reminded me of 2mo

Robotswithpersonality 6/6 How to Make an Apple Pie From Scratch by Harry Cliff. If you want a work that is at least as much science history as it is biography, I highly recommend.
⚠️ miscarriage 2mo

Singout Thanks for the detailed description and insights. Looks fascinating! 2mo

TheBookHippie Looks amazing! 2mo

Robotswithpersonality @Singout @TheBookHippie Thanks! Hope you enjoy! ☺️ 2mo

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Robotswithpersonality

Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science | Dava Sobel

Yikes!...Yeah. 🫤

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Robotswithpersonality

Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science | Dava Sobel

“scintillate in green“ Sounds like fun, fancy weekend plans. 💚❇️✨☺️

Scintillate:
1)emit flashes of light; sparkle.
2) Physics
fluoresce momentarily when struck by a photon or charged particle

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Robotswithpersonality

Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science | Dava Sobel