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"It was 1733 when the poet and philosopher Voltaire met Emilie du Chatelet, a beguiling - and married - aristocrat who would one day popularize Newton's arcane ideas and pave the way for Einstein's theories. In an era when women were rarely permitted any serious schooling, this twenty-seven-year-old's nimble conversation and unusual brilliance led Voltaire, then in his late thirties, to wonder, "Why did you only reach me so late?" They fell immediately and passionately in love." "Through the prism of their tumultuous fifteen-year relationship we see the crumbling of an ancient social order and the birth of the Enlightenment. Together the two lovers rebuilt a dilapidated and isolated rural chateau at Cirey where they conducted scientific experiments, entertained many of the leading thinkers of the burgeoning scientific revolution, and developed radical ideas about the monarchy, the nature of free will, the subordination of women, and the separation of church and state." "But their time together was filled with far more than reading and intellectual conversation. There were frantic gallopings across France, sword fights in front of besieged German fortresses, and a deadly burning of Voltaire's books by the public executioner at the base of the grand stairwell of the Palais de Justice in Paris. The pair survived court intrigues at Versailles, narrow escapes from agents of the king, a covert mission to the idyllic lakeside retreat of Frederick the Great of Prussia, forays to the royal gambling tables (where Emilie put her mathematical acumen to lucrative use), and intense affairs that bent but did not break their bond." "Along with its riveting portrait of Voltaire as a vulnerable romantic, Passionate Minds at last does justice to the supremely unconventional life and remarkable achievements of Emilie da Chatelet - including her work on the science of fire and the nature of light. Long overlooked, her story tells us much about women's lives at the time of the Enlightenment. Equally important, it demonstrates how this graceful, quick-witted, and attractive woman worked out the concepts that would lead directly to the "squared" part of Einstein's revolutionary equation: E=mc[superscript 2]." "Based on a rich array of personal letters, as well as writings from houseguests, neighbors, scientists, and even police reports, Passionate Minds is both panoramic and intimate in feeling. It is an unforgettable love story and a vivid rendering of the birth of modern ideas."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
This is another of those books that makes me happy I was born in the US in the latter half of the 20th century. When men read books that document how women were treated like crap, are they at all ashamed? Honestly it’s so insulting and unnecessary, especially the extremes to which some cultures
The thing that is most interesting to me is how this kind of treatment makes women into the empty-headed, overly-emotional, crafty and conniving creatures men think them to be innately. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy so to speak. Emilie herself often despairs at her lack of quality female friends specifically because they are so spiteful and stupid. Their men, their whole society convinces them that this is all they should be or should even want to be. How women like Emilie endured it is beyond me. It’s a wonder she didn’t take her fencing prowess and run a few of the bastards through.
Even for the smart women like Emilie, this automatic assignment of the inferior undermines everything she does. Certainly more than any other man then, and even probably today, she second-guesses everything she does and thinks. She wonders if she can do what she intends to do with her writing, her relationships and most of all her study and reading. And instead of encouraging her, Voltaire often competes with her out of his own sense of inferiority and at the same time superiority with regard to her. His ego just wouldn’t let her succeed. It’s the same old thing; men fear women will laugh at them and women fear men will kill them. If it weren’t so pathetic and true, it would be funny.
But enough of that. You want to hear about the book. It’s excellent. It isn’t as deep as some books would have gone insofar as background information goes, but I found that to work better for the narrative. It didn’t get tangled up in pages and pages of explanatory information regarding societal norms, scientific approaches, laws, church doctrine or any of the other countless influences on their lives. Instead Bodanis just states a thing was what it was and gets on with showing how it influenced the situation. There was a lot; corruption and abuse of power chief among them because they could physically affect the people involved. Really this was Voltaire’s constant problem. The man was a dope. Time after time he either says or writes something he knows could get him in trouble. Insulting the aristocracy or the church would do it and even if he didn’t deliberately publish something incendiary, he’d often leave his writing vulnerable for enemies to steal and pass on to those who could jail him or worse. He never learned and that was only one of his more obnoxious character traits. Malingering was another. But the man could write and obviously had the ability to somewhat understand that Emilie had an impressive intellect.
Just thinking about what came to her so easily makes my head hurt and vaguely gives me an inferiority complex. She understood and could expand upon Newton’s Principia. She could solve long and complex mathematical calculations in mere seconds. She could take obscure concepts and make them understandable to the rest of us. She read Latin and was fluent in several languages. She was a master planner and tactician. She was polished and a shrewd diplomat when she had to be. I only wonder at how famous she’d be if she’d worn her sex organs on the outside (how silly).
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go, in this case the French, to keep women as mere objects is unreal. I truly don’t understand it at all. Why are women so threatening to men? When Emilie was submitting her paper to the French Academy of Science, I hoped she’d do it under a man’s name to see if it made a difference. Alas, she didn’t and of course she didn’t win.The thing that is most interesting to me is how this kind of treatment makes women into the empty-headed, overly-emotional, crafty and conniving creatures men think them to be innately. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy so to speak. Emilie herself often despairs at her lack of quality female friends specifically because they are so spiteful and stupid. Their men, their whole society convinces them that this is all they should be or should even want to be. How women like Emilie endured it is beyond me. It’s a wonder she didn’t take her fencing prowess and run a few of the bastards through.
Even for the smart women like Emilie, this automatic assignment of the inferior undermines everything she does. Certainly more than any other man then, and even probably today, she second-guesses everything she does and thinks. She wonders if she can do what she intends to do with her writing, her relationships and most of all her study and reading. And instead of encouraging her, Voltaire often competes with her out of his own sense of inferiority and at the same time superiority with regard to her. His ego just wouldn’t let her succeed. It’s the same old thing; men fear women will laugh at them and women fear men will kill them. If it weren’t so pathetic and true, it would be funny.
But enough of that. You want to hear about the book. It’s excellent. It isn’t as deep as some books would have gone insofar as background information goes, but I found that to work better for the narrative. It didn’t get tangled up in pages and pages of explanatory information regarding societal norms, scientific approaches, laws, church doctrine or any of the other countless influences on their lives. Instead Bodanis just states a thing was what it was and gets on with showing how it influenced the situation. There was a lot; corruption and abuse of power chief among them because they could physically affect the people involved. Really this was Voltaire’s constant problem. The man was a dope. Time after time he either says or writes something he knows could get him in trouble. Insulting the aristocracy or the church would do it and even if he didn’t deliberately publish something incendiary, he’d often leave his writing vulnerable for enemies to steal and pass on to those who could jail him or worse. He never learned and that was only one of his more obnoxious character traits. Malingering was another. But the man could write and obviously had the ability to somewhat understand that Emilie had an impressive intellect.
Just thinking about what came to her so easily makes my head hurt and vaguely gives me an inferiority complex. She understood and could expand upon Newton’s Principia. She could solve long and complex mathematical calculations in mere seconds. She could take obscure concepts and make them understandable to the rest of us. She read Latin and was fluent in several languages. She was a master planner and tactician. She was polished and a shrewd diplomat when she had to be. I only wonder at how famous she’d be if she’d worn her sex organs on the outside (how silly).
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LibraryThing member pw0327
In writing history for the masses, the author can take a major or a minor role. In the former, the history is more important than entertaining and the author has to pull the narrative along with great effort and undergo great travails to make the story interesting to the reader. In the latter, the
David Bodanis, much to his credit, combined the best of both situations. The history is remarkbable to begin with, AND he put forth a valiant effort in research and sheer completeness. The story of Emilie Du Chatelet is so amazing and so very interesting that I wondered why I had not heard about her before this book. I think that it is because the story lay so deep and domant within the history of the French revolution and Voltaire's biographical details that no one lese had bothered to look it up and comprehend the importance and fun of her story.
Since the history involves two people who were lovers and partners, it is inevitable that we compare the two in terms of intellect, temperament, achievement, and personality. In my humble opinion, Voltaire came out the worse for wear on that account. Perhaps this was Bodanis' intent, perhaps it is just the charm of Emilie Du Chatelet. If I had my wish, I would much rather have an audience with her than with him, but not by much. Her achievements were astounding, she was, a natural philosopher in the finest sense of the phrase. Given the discriminatory stance of the scientific establishment at the time, her achievements were remarkable.
Far beyond that, it seems she was also the better diplomat, realist, politician, and intellect of the pair. This is not to denigrate Voltiare's prowess as playwright or provocateur extraordinaire, but his intellect seem less impressive by comparison.
The added incentive to read the book comes from the swashbuckling episodes in their lives together that was worthy of a cinematic presentation. Bodanis does an excellent job of building the suspense while also keeping the story line flowing through his fine skills. I guess the best compliment I can pay him is to say that I had to check the book cover numeorus times to ascertain that I was, indeed, reading non-fiction rather than fiction.
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history is so compelling and so entertaining that it defies logic, all the author has to do is tell the tale without much ornamentation nor effort.David Bodanis, much to his credit, combined the best of both situations. The history is remarkbable to begin with, AND he put forth a valiant effort in research and sheer completeness. The story of Emilie Du Chatelet is so amazing and so very interesting that I wondered why I had not heard about her before this book. I think that it is because the story lay so deep and domant within the history of the French revolution and Voltaire's biographical details that no one lese had bothered to look it up and comprehend the importance and fun of her story.
Since the history involves two people who were lovers and partners, it is inevitable that we compare the two in terms of intellect, temperament, achievement, and personality. In my humble opinion, Voltaire came out the worse for wear on that account. Perhaps this was Bodanis' intent, perhaps it is just the charm of Emilie Du Chatelet. If I had my wish, I would much rather have an audience with her than with him, but not by much. Her achievements were astounding, she was, a natural philosopher in the finest sense of the phrase. Given the discriminatory stance of the scientific establishment at the time, her achievements were remarkable.
Far beyond that, it seems she was also the better diplomat, realist, politician, and intellect of the pair. This is not to denigrate Voltiare's prowess as playwright or provocateur extraordinaire, but his intellect seem less impressive by comparison.
The added incentive to read the book comes from the swashbuckling episodes in their lives together that was worthy of a cinematic presentation. Bodanis does an excellent job of building the suspense while also keeping the story line flowing through his fine skills. I guess the best compliment I can pay him is to say that I had to check the book cover numeorus times to ascertain that I was, indeed, reading non-fiction rather than fiction.
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LibraryThing member Chatterbox
This book is one of those rare reading events: a work of non-fiction dealing with events that transpired several hundred years ago, that reads like a suspenseful novel. I literally stayed up all night to finish it, because I couldn't bear to go to bed not knowing what happened to Voltaire and
Voltaire's name was, of course, familiar to me, as was some of his story. I had simply never heard of Emilie, however, and at first this book (borrowed) lingered unread on my shelf. It's the kind of narrative that I particularly enjoy, one that blends social and cultural history with the political backdrop of the time, that gives me an insight into life as it was lived and the changes that were taking place during the era that is being written about. I was daunted, however, by the fact that part of the material would be scientific history, particularly the explorations in physics and mathematics made by Emilile that led to major breakthroughs and, as Bodanis clearly makes his case, prepared the way for everything from suspension bridges to photography. But Bodanis, as well as having a chatty writing style that is lively and compelling without being flippant or silly (one that is scholarly and does justice to the lives of his characters), has a knack for conveying scientific information in such a way that even math-phobes like myself can follow.
This is a poignant story of a woman born into France's nobility and who, throughout her life, struggled to transcend the restrictions placed on her by others, including the man with whom she spent a majority of her adult life. While Voltaire adored her, when it became clear to him that her scientific knowledge and her intellect exceeded his own, it was a bitter pill to swallow, and resentment followed.
If you're at all interested in the 18th century and the Enlightenment and haven't read this yet, I urge you to do so. It's a wonderfully-written book that brims with life and the excitement of intellectual discovery and moves at a rapid clip, making it accessible to someone new to the subject; at the same time, I can imagine that even a historian would find much to admire here. I'd give it six stars if I could.
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Emilie du Chatelet, two of the leading figures of the French Englightenment. Voltaire's name was, of course, familiar to me, as was some of his story. I had simply never heard of Emilie, however, and at first this book (borrowed) lingered unread on my shelf. It's the kind of narrative that I particularly enjoy, one that blends social and cultural history with the political backdrop of the time, that gives me an insight into life as it was lived and the changes that were taking place during the era that is being written about. I was daunted, however, by the fact that part of the material would be scientific history, particularly the explorations in physics and mathematics made by Emilile that led to major breakthroughs and, as Bodanis clearly makes his case, prepared the way for everything from suspension bridges to photography. But Bodanis, as well as having a chatty writing style that is lively and compelling without being flippant or silly (one that is scholarly and does justice to the lives of his characters), has a knack for conveying scientific information in such a way that even math-phobes like myself can follow.
This is a poignant story of a woman born into France's nobility and who, throughout her life, struggled to transcend the restrictions placed on her by others, including the man with whom she spent a majority of her adult life. While Voltaire adored her, when it became clear to him that her scientific knowledge and her intellect exceeded his own, it was a bitter pill to swallow, and resentment followed.
If you're at all interested in the 18th century and the Enlightenment and haven't read this yet, I urge you to do so. It's a wonderfully-written book that brims with life and the excitement of intellectual discovery and moves at a rapid clip, making it accessible to someone new to the subject; at the same time, I can imagine that even a historian would find much to admire here. I'd give it six stars if I could.
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LibraryThing member willyt
I've read this book several years ago, so I will not provide a detailed review of this particular book. I will say that I have immensely enjoyed all of the David Bodanis books that I have read. I am a working scientist, and I believe that Mr. Bodanis does an excellent job of writing popular
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science. His books always provide me with ideas or concepts that I will study in more detail. Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
Liked this book about this love affair and the beginning of humanistic thought in France. Grew particularly attached to Emilie and her out-of-place feel.
LibraryThing member RavRita
It was a good book and I learned a lot about the Enlightenment Movement and Emile du Chatelet. It is unfortunate that the writer, similar to the scholars of her day, did not give Ms Chatelet enough credit for her work and described her mostly by the notches that she or Voltaire scratched into the
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head of her bed. The...re has to be a better book out about her and I will find it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Beej415
This is, first and foremost, as story of the decades long love affair between Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire. The title surely doesn't lie. Unfortunately, I didn't find the love story particularly interesting. Voltaire and du Chatelet did all those standard (and quite boring, when you're on the
What I found much more interesting was the societal context within which the love affair occurred. Voltaire was from the working class, du Chatelet was an aristocrat, and they shared intense philosophical and scientific interests. Their relationship, Voltaire's political writings, and du Chatelet's scientific work challenged the religious and political moors which existed to ensure the dominance of the wealthy ruling class. Unfortunately, while these structures were raised for context, they were not really given as much attention as I would have liked.
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outside looking in) things that lovers do -- talked late into the night, cooed in silly love notes to each other, and had lots and lots of sex.What I found much more interesting was the societal context within which the love affair occurred. Voltaire was from the working class, du Chatelet was an aristocrat, and they shared intense philosophical and scientific interests. Their relationship, Voltaire's political writings, and du Chatelet's scientific work challenged the religious and political moors which existed to ensure the dominance of the wealthy ruling class. Unfortunately, while these structures were raised for context, they were not really given as much attention as I would have liked.
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LibraryThing member Devil_llama
An easy to read, interesting account of the love affair of Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet, with a great deal of focus on science and poetry, as well as the politics of eighteenth century France just before the Revolution.. The author is interested in correcting the idea that du Chatelet didn't
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amount to much as an original thinker, and is only interesting for her affair with Voltaire. He does a good job of that, but I would have like to get a bit more of the science and a bit less of the intrigue and running around from Voltaire's constant scrapes with the authorities. His descriptions of Voltaires experiments on fire were well written, and his discussion of the rationale behind denying the prize in science to both Voltaire and du Chatelet was an interesting look at the politics of a world even more divided than now, when France wouldn't consider Newton's work because he was British and they were determined to stick with Descartes. Of course, du Chatelet had the additional handicap of being female, so it was amazing they considered her work worthy of honorable mention at all. Her thoughts on light and heat were spot on, and ahead of the time, and it's a shame she wasn't able to set up the equipment to do the simple experiments that would have discovered the different heats behind the electromagnetic spectrum 80 years earlier than it was in fact discovered. Overall, a satisfying work, and a page-turner. Show Less
LibraryThing member EricKibler
An interesting book about the lifelong relationship between Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet. Emilie was a mathematician and physicist who furthered understanding of Newton's work and expanded on it. Unfortunately, being female, her work didn't get the recognition it should have gotten at the
There are some great anecdotes in the book, imparting an intimate understanding of the daily lives (including the love lives) of numerous major and minor personages, and also an understanding of the intellectual life of Enlightenment Era France. Being Catholic and an absolute monarchy (supported by a powerful aristocracy, France at the time was an inhospitable place for intellectuals, who were likely at any time to be tossed into the Bastille for expressing unorthodox ideas.
My favorite anecdote concerned an English actor named Bond who, after failing to be cast in one of Voltaire's plays, rented a theater himself so that he could stage his own production and take on a coveted role. In doing do, he emoted so powerfully during his death scene at one performance that he actually died. The patrons and other actors weren't too put off by this. Actors clamored to play the role and patrons flocked to see the only play with the "Role that Kills." Voltaire was impressed and pleased.
My only beef with the book was with the writing. Often the sentences were awkwardly written, with multiple clauses that made the meanings of the sentences hard to parse. Also, the author, in his introduction, criticized a previous bio of du Chatelet, saying that since its writer wasn't a scientist, the import of du Chatelet's work wasn't highlighted sufficiently. Accordingly, Bodanis's intro led me to expect some cogent science writing, which this book doesn't really offer in any great quantity.
Still, fans of history and biography are likely to give this book higher marks than I. I take books like these as a kind of medicine. Some greens, roughage, and antioxidants to go along with the tasty fiction I usually read.
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time.There are some great anecdotes in the book, imparting an intimate understanding of the daily lives (including the love lives) of numerous major and minor personages, and also an understanding of the intellectual life of Enlightenment Era France. Being Catholic and an absolute monarchy (supported by a powerful aristocracy, France at the time was an inhospitable place for intellectuals, who were likely at any time to be tossed into the Bastille for expressing unorthodox ideas.
My favorite anecdote concerned an English actor named Bond who, after failing to be cast in one of Voltaire's plays, rented a theater himself so that he could stage his own production and take on a coveted role. In doing do, he emoted so powerfully during his death scene at one performance that he actually died. The patrons and other actors weren't too put off by this. Actors clamored to play the role and patrons flocked to see the only play with the "Role that Kills." Voltaire was impressed and pleased.
My only beef with the book was with the writing. Often the sentences were awkwardly written, with multiple clauses that made the meanings of the sentences hard to parse. Also, the author, in his introduction, criticized a previous bio of du Chatelet, saying that since its writer wasn't a scientist, the import of du Chatelet's work wasn't highlighted sufficiently. Accordingly, Bodanis's intro led me to expect some cogent science writing, which this book doesn't really offer in any great quantity.
Still, fans of history and biography are likely to give this book higher marks than I. I take books like these as a kind of medicine. Some greens, roughage, and antioxidants to go along with the tasty fiction I usually read.
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LibraryThing member EricKibler
An interesting book about the lifelong relationship between Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet. Emilie was a mathematician and physicist who furthered understanding of Newton's work and expanded on it. Unfortunately, being female, her work didn't get the recognition it should have gotten at the
There are some great anecdotes in the book, imparting an intimate understanding of the daily lives (including the love lives) of numerous major and minor personages, and also an understanding of the intellectual life of Enlightenment Era France. Being Catholic and an absolute monarchy (supported by a powerful aristocracy, France at the time was an inhospitable place for intellectuals, who were likely at any time to be tossed into the Bastille for expressing unorthodox ideas.
My favorite anecdote concerned an English actor named Bond who, after failing to be cast in one of Voltaire's plays, rented a theater himself so that he could stage his own production and take on a coveted role. In doing do, he emoted so powerfully during his death scene at one performance that he actually died. The patrons and other actors weren't too put off by this. Actors clamored to play the role and patrons flocked to see the only play with the "Role that Kills." Voltaire was impressed and pleased.
My only beef with the book was with the writing. Often the sentences were awkwardly written, with multiple clauses that made the meanings of the sentences hard to parse. Also, the author, in his introduction, criticized a previous bio of du Chatelet, saying that since its writer wasn't a scientist, the import of du Chatelet's work wasn't highlighted sufficiently. Accordingly, Bodanis's intro led me to expect some cogent science writing, which this book doesn't really offer in any great quantity.
Still, fans of history and biography are likely to give this book higher marks than I. I take books like these as a kind of medicine. Some greens, roughage, and antioxidants to go along with the tasty fiction I usually read.
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time.There are some great anecdotes in the book, imparting an intimate understanding of the daily lives (including the love lives) of numerous major and minor personages, and also an understanding of the intellectual life of Enlightenment Era France. Being Catholic and an absolute monarchy (supported by a powerful aristocracy, France at the time was an inhospitable place for intellectuals, who were likely at any time to be tossed into the Bastille for expressing unorthodox ideas.
My favorite anecdote concerned an English actor named Bond who, after failing to be cast in one of Voltaire's plays, rented a theater himself so that he could stage his own production and take on a coveted role. In doing do, he emoted so powerfully during his death scene at one performance that he actually died. The patrons and other actors weren't too put off by this. Actors clamored to play the role and patrons flocked to see the only play with the "Role that Kills." Voltaire was impressed and pleased.
My only beef with the book was with the writing. Often the sentences were awkwardly written, with multiple clauses that made the meanings of the sentences hard to parse. Also, the author, in his introduction, criticized a previous bio of du Chatelet, saying that since its writer wasn't a scientist, the import of du Chatelet's work wasn't highlighted sufficiently. Accordingly, Bodanis's intro led me to expect some cogent science writing, which this book doesn't really offer in any great quantity.
Still, fans of history and biography are likely to give this book higher marks than I. I take books like these as a kind of medicine. Some greens, roughage, and antioxidants to go along with the tasty fiction I usually read.
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LibraryThing member Paulagraph
More on 18th century French scientist/ philosopher Emilie du Chatelet, although this rollicking non-fiction tale focuses a bit more on Voltaire than on his friend and lover, & in any event, more on their relationship then on aspects of du Chatelet's life & work not contingent upon that
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relationship. I do love one episode related late in the book. After their carriage toppled over & while Voltaire & du Chatelet waited for their servants to return with help from the nearest town, they "placed cushions in the thick snow beside the road, got under their favorite furs, and then lay back beneath the stars." According to Voltaire's valet, "they discoursed--while shivering, I should point out--on the nature and paths of the stars, and on the destiny of so many immense globes spread in space. I believe that only the fact that they lacked a telescope kept them from being perfectly happy. Their spirit being lost in the depths of the heavens, they no longer saw their situation on the earth--or, if I might be exact, their situation on the snow and in the middle of so much ice." Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
I thoroughly enjoyed this book while I was reading it. Emilie and Voltaire are such fascinating people and the author writes engagingly about their lives. There is not a lot about the actual science that Emilie studied; this is more of a general biography than a scientific one. I liked it a lot at
In the preface, the author says Emilie's contributions to scientific knowledge have been underplayed and remain largely unknown; that is his inspiration for writing about her. He then proceeds to frame his narrative in terms of her relationship with Voltaire. In doing so, he also downplays her scientific contributions in favour of her personal life. Her contributions do not come through very clearly at all. So, "the morning after" I was less of a fan.
One more note (a bit off-topic): reading this book about the aristocratic class of France provides, I think, a good basis for understanding why there was a Revolution!
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first, but, the day after I'd finished it, I gave my head a shake.In the preface, the author says Emilie's contributions to scientific knowledge have been underplayed and remain largely unknown; that is his inspiration for writing about her. He then proceeds to frame his narrative in terms of her relationship with Voltaire. In doing so, he also downplays her scientific contributions in favour of her personal life. Her contributions do not come through very clearly at all. So, "the morning after" I was less of a fan.
One more note (a bit off-topic): reading this book about the aristocratic class of France provides, I think, a good basis for understanding why there was a Revolution!
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Awards
The Economist Best Books (2006.20)