Description

“Edward Dolnick’s smoothly written history of the scientific revolution tells the stories of the key players and events that transformed society.” — Charlotte Observer

From New York Times bestselling author Edward Dolnick, the true story of a pivotal moment in modern history when a group of strange, tormented geniuses—Isaac Newton chief among them—invented science and remade our understanding of the world.

At a time when the world was falling apart— in an age of religious wars, plague, and the Great Fire of London—a group of men looked around them and saw a world of perfect order. Chaotic as it looked, these earliest scientists declared, the universe was in fact an intricate and perfectly regulated clockwork. This was the tail-end of Shakespeare’s century, and these were brilliant, ambitious, confused, conflicted men. They believed in angels and alchemy and the devil, and they believed that the universe followed precise, mathematical laws. This is the story of the bewildered geniuses who made the modern world.

About the Author

Edward Dolnick is the author of Down the Great Unknown, The Forger’s Spell, and the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist. A former chief science writer at the Boston Globe, he lives with his wife near Washington, D.C.

Praise For…

“Dolnick’s book is lively and the characters are vivid.” — New York Times Book Review

“A character-rich, historical narrative.” — Wall Street Journal

“Edward Dolnick’s smoothly written history of the scientific revolution tells the stories of the key players and events that transformed society.” — Charlotte Observer

“An engrossing read.” — Library Journal

“Dolnick . . . writes clearly and unpretentiously about science, and writes equally well about the tumultuous historical context . . . [He] also offers penetrating portraits of the geniuses of the day, many of them idiosyncratic in the extreme, who offer fertile ground for entertaining writing. [Dolnick] has an eye for vivid details in aid of historical recreation, and an affection for his subjects . . . [An] informative read.” — Publishers Weekly

“A lively account of early science. . . . Colorful, entertainingly written and nicely paced.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Dolnick furnishes a fine survey introduction to a fertile field of scientific biography and history.” — Booklist

“[Dolnick] offers penetrating portraits of the geniuses of the day . . . who offer fertile ground for entertaining writing. [He] has an eye for vivid details in aid of historical recreation, and an affection for his subjects . . . [An] informative read.” — Publishers Weekly