Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Faber and Faber (2002), Edition: 1st Edition, 608 pages
Description
"In the 1760s a group of amateur experimenters met and made friends in the English Midlands. Most came from humble families, all lived far from the center of things, but they were young and their optimism was boundless: together they would change the world. Among them were the ambitious toymaker Matthew Boulton and his partner James Watt, of steam-engine fame; the potter Josiah Wedgwood; and the larger-than-life Erasmus Darwin, physician, poet, inventor, and theorist of evolution (a forerunner of his grandson Charles). Later came Joseph Priestly, discover of oxygen and fighting radical." "With a small band of allies - the chemist James Keir, the doctors William Small and William Withering (the man who put digitalis on the medical map), and two wild young followers of Rousseau, Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Thomas Day - they formed the Lunar Society of Birmingham, so called because it met at each full moon, and kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Blending science, art, and commerce, the Lunar Men built canals; launched balloons; named plants, gases, and minerals; changed the face of England and the china in its drawing rooms; and plotted to revolutionize its soul."--Jacket.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
I am in awe of this lady! I would find it difficult to write the biography of a single person: to take on that of a group, would appear madness!
Not to Jenny Uglow, she takes it in her stride. She seems to effortlessly pass from one member to another and to keep the characters as separate personae.
The only people that I could admire as much, are her subjects - the Lunar Men. These are a group of eighteenth century men of science; Wedgwood, Boulton,Watt et al, who communicated regularly and met monthly (on the night of the full moon, so that there was light to find their way home!) At this early stage in science, the world was ruled by amateurs who could move effortlessly from chemistry to biology to physics. Their grasp of concepts which the lay man struggles with today, is truly awesome.
This book is am eminently simple read but filled with information. I defy anyone to read this book and nit be entertained and enlightened.
Not to Jenny Uglow, she takes it in her stride. She seems to effortlessly pass from one member to another and to keep the characters as separate personae.
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Whilst reading, I never once got confused as to whether a certain character was the one with a set trait, or another.The only people that I could admire as much, are her subjects - the Lunar Men. These are a group of eighteenth century men of science; Wedgwood, Boulton,Watt et al, who communicated regularly and met monthly (on the night of the full moon, so that there was light to find their way home!) At this early stage in science, the world was ruled by amateurs who could move effortlessly from chemistry to biology to physics. Their grasp of concepts which the lay man struggles with today, is truly awesome.
This book is am eminently simple read but filled with information. I defy anyone to read this book and nit be entertained and enlightened.
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LibraryThing member kukulaj
England in the late 18th Century was surely a crucible for the transformation of our world, and the group that Uglow sketches were leaders. What's wonderful about this book is not so much the depth of investigation into any particular person or topic, but the network of people and topics that gives
Watt's improvements to steam engines let them extend the range of their application beyond pumping water to turning shafts to drive mills to grind grain, spin cotton, etc. There was a frenzy to catalog minerals and plants. Chemistry was transformed as different types of gases were discovered and classified.
Uglow covers a wide range of such discoveries and inventions, painting in the political and economic landscape that the creative geniuses had to work with.
What I found most remarkable - maybe it's just because it was at the end of the book, so it's freshest in my mind - was the transformation in the political landscape brought about by the French Revolution. Priestey's house was burned down by a reactionary mob and he ended up fleeing to America.
That's a remarkable feature of history. The stream of trouble is never ending but constantly shifting. If you're lucky enough to figure out how to crack a problem or two, it just earns you the opportunity to confront new challenges from whole other directions.
Uglow's book was a fascinating portrait of a time and place that have had a huge impact on history and our world today.
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a sense of how the world was changing. Watt's improvements to steam engines let them extend the range of their application beyond pumping water to turning shafts to drive mills to grind grain, spin cotton, etc. There was a frenzy to catalog minerals and plants. Chemistry was transformed as different types of gases were discovered and classified.
Uglow covers a wide range of such discoveries and inventions, painting in the political and economic landscape that the creative geniuses had to work with.
What I found most remarkable - maybe it's just because it was at the end of the book, so it's freshest in my mind - was the transformation in the political landscape brought about by the French Revolution. Priestey's house was burned down by a reactionary mob and he ended up fleeing to America.
That's a remarkable feature of history. The stream of trouble is never ending but constantly shifting. If you're lucky enough to figure out how to crack a problem or two, it just earns you the opportunity to confront new challenges from whole other directions.
Uglow's book was a fascinating portrait of a time and place that have had a huge impact on history and our world today.
Show Less
LibraryThing member isabelx
Darwin's support of Beddoes and work on Zoonomia let him envisage the improvement of society through medicine, rather than politics. Most of his work was serious; some of it was fun, like his correspondence with Tom Wedgewood on making an air bed. ('He thinks feathers always stink', Darwin told
The second half of the eighteenth century was a ferment of invention and the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group whose members were mostly Midlands and Lowland Scots, was in the thick of it. Members included engineers, manufacturers, potters, chemists and doctors, but their scientific and entrepreneurial interests were varied and overlapping. They competed and collaborated, and urged each other onwards. They went into business together, their sons and daughters married each other, and their friendships were lifelong, excepting the relationship between William Withering and Erasmus Darwin, which was irreparably damaged by accusations of plagiarism.
A well-written and engrossing tale, of pumping engines, porcelain and patent infringements, canals, caves and chemistry, mining, manufacturing and minting, botanical taxonomy and balloons.
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Watt with amusement, 'and wishes to rest on clouds, like the Gods and Goddesses, which you see sprawling on ceilings.') The second half of the eighteenth century was a ferment of invention and the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group whose members were mostly Midlands and Lowland Scots, was in the thick of it. Members included engineers, manufacturers, potters, chemists and doctors, but their scientific and entrepreneurial interests were varied and overlapping. They competed and collaborated, and urged each other onwards. They went into business together, their sons and daughters married each other, and their friendships were lifelong, excepting the relationship between William Withering and Erasmus Darwin, which was irreparably damaged by accusations of plagiarism.
A well-written and engrossing tale, of pumping engines, porcelain and patent infringements, canals, caves and chemistry, mining, manufacturing and minting, botanical taxonomy and balloons.
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LibraryThing member lewallen
This turned out to be quite an enjoyable book about a group of men who lived in the 1700s and contributed greatly to the advancement of science and the arts (back when they were more often the same thing) during the eighteenth century. The principles include Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of 'the'
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Charles Darwin; James Watt of steam engine fame; Josiah Wedgewood, a famous potter; and Matthew Boulton, a forward-thinking and influential, if ruthless, businessman. Well-researched and sympathetically written. Show Less
LibraryThing member Maquina_Lectora
What was happening in England, during the Georgian period, was dramatic. In two generations, roughly from 1730 to 1800, the country changed from a mainly agricultural nation into an emerging industrial force. The same time, new political ideas and revolutions, transformed the social and political
Within this political and social unrest, a diverse group of men, in Birmingham, are pursuing, as a hobby, scientific knowledge. Each of them has its own strong character and temperament. All are passionate, venturous, and progressive. They found a society, the Lunar Society of Birmingham. Their meetings are held every month, on a date near the full moon, starting with dinner at two and following with discussions and experiments until late evening. The discussed topics are many and diverse, from literature and philosophy to chemistry and engineering. These are the Lunar men, the men that by using science and technology, transform the way of doing things and lead the way towards the industrial revolution.
The ingenious engineer James Watt, who improved the Newcomen’s design and created with his partner Matthew Boulton, a market for a new, improved steam engine. The same Matthew Boulton, the “toymaker” who also established the Soho manufactory north of Birmingham and when asked by the George III what he was doing for living, he replied: “I am engaged, your majesty, in the production of a commodity which is the desire of Kings”. When the King what was that, Boulton said “Power, your Majesty”.
The potter Josiah Wedgwood, the fist to industrialise pottery manufacturing; he experimented with a wide variety of pottery techniques and used artists to garnish his vases. His interests were many and diverse, and it was in his house, the Etruria Hall, where photography was first invented.
Joseph Priestley, a theologian and natural philosopher, a teacher and political theorist. His work is vast, it is expanded to scientific inventions, most considerable his invention of soda water. He wrote about electricity and photosynthesis but become famous with the discovery of oxygen – the “dephlogisticated air” as he dubbed it. He was a minister within the Unitarian church and his theses about political and civil liberties caused strong opposition. His house and books were burnt by the mobs during the riots against intellectualism; his exile to America was the start of the end for the Lunar Society.
Perhaps the most interesting figure in the book is Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles, the founder of the theory of Evolution. He was a doctor by profession, but his interests were many and diverse. Gardening, agriculture, chemistry and engineering, poetry and philosophy, even cosmology, were some of his intellectual passions and pursuits. He also had a vague idea about evolution; he increasingly felt that every living organism had descended from one common microscopic organism, a single filament. Darwin would construct the first coherent theory of evolution, of competition and survival. He added to his family crest the motto E conchis omnia “everything from shells”, an action that outraged his clerical friends. Canon Seward sputtered that Darwin was a follower of Epicurus, who claimed that the world was created by accident and not God. Fearing for his practice, Darwin caved in and painted out his blasphemous Latin. (pages 152-153)
After her excellent biography of Hogarth, Jenny Uglow gives us a nice and detailed history of the Lunar men. Their personal adventures and family stories and tragedies are intertwined beautifully with their intellectual passions and scientific pursuits. She describes sufficiently the revolutions of this period that changed the political and social systems, such as the French and the American Revolutions as well as, the revolutionary advances in science, such as these of Linnaeus and Lavoisier.
She has researched her subject widely and indeed, the reference list is detailed and extensive. It is a useful tool for anyone who wants to examine and study more extensively the period and the lives of these extraordinary men. The book is supported by beautiful illustrations and portraits of these passionate men and their inventions. It is a very well written book that demonstrates that even in difficult periods there are determined and passionate people that can lead the way and really change the world.
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status quo and forged the British Empire, affecting the lives of millions and opening the way to the industrialised age.Within this political and social unrest, a diverse group of men, in Birmingham, are pursuing, as a hobby, scientific knowledge. Each of them has its own strong character and temperament. All are passionate, venturous, and progressive. They found a society, the Lunar Society of Birmingham. Their meetings are held every month, on a date near the full moon, starting with dinner at two and following with discussions and experiments until late evening. The discussed topics are many and diverse, from literature and philosophy to chemistry and engineering. These are the Lunar men, the men that by using science and technology, transform the way of doing things and lead the way towards the industrial revolution.
The ingenious engineer James Watt, who improved the Newcomen’s design and created with his partner Matthew Boulton, a market for a new, improved steam engine. The same Matthew Boulton, the “toymaker” who also established the Soho manufactory north of Birmingham and when asked by the George III what he was doing for living, he replied: “I am engaged, your majesty, in the production of a commodity which is the desire of Kings”. When the King what was that, Boulton said “Power, your Majesty”.
The potter Josiah Wedgwood, the fist to industrialise pottery manufacturing; he experimented with a wide variety of pottery techniques and used artists to garnish his vases. His interests were many and diverse, and it was in his house, the Etruria Hall, where photography was first invented.
Joseph Priestley, a theologian and natural philosopher, a teacher and political theorist. His work is vast, it is expanded to scientific inventions, most considerable his invention of soda water. He wrote about electricity and photosynthesis but become famous with the discovery of oxygen – the “dephlogisticated air” as he dubbed it. He was a minister within the Unitarian church and his theses about political and civil liberties caused strong opposition. His house and books were burnt by the mobs during the riots against intellectualism; his exile to America was the start of the end for the Lunar Society.
Perhaps the most interesting figure in the book is Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles, the founder of the theory of Evolution. He was a doctor by profession, but his interests were many and diverse. Gardening, agriculture, chemistry and engineering, poetry and philosophy, even cosmology, were some of his intellectual passions and pursuits. He also had a vague idea about evolution; he increasingly felt that every living organism had descended from one common microscopic organism, a single filament. Darwin would construct the first coherent theory of evolution, of competition and survival. He added to his family crest the motto E conchis omnia “everything from shells”, an action that outraged his clerical friends. Canon Seward sputtered that Darwin was a follower of Epicurus, who claimed that the world was created by accident and not God. Fearing for his practice, Darwin caved in and painted out his blasphemous Latin. (pages 152-153)
After her excellent biography of Hogarth, Jenny Uglow gives us a nice and detailed history of the Lunar men. Their personal adventures and family stories and tragedies are intertwined beautifully with their intellectual passions and scientific pursuits. She describes sufficiently the revolutions of this period that changed the political and social systems, such as the French and the American Revolutions as well as, the revolutionary advances in science, such as these of Linnaeus and Lavoisier.
She has researched her subject widely and indeed, the reference list is detailed and extensive. It is a useful tool for anyone who wants to examine and study more extensively the period and the lives of these extraordinary men. The book is supported by beautiful illustrations and portraits of these passionate men and their inventions. It is a very well written book that demonstrates that even in difficult periods there are determined and passionate people that can lead the way and really change the world.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SkjaldOfBorea
James Watt was not alone on his steam engine. Entertaining & inspiring account of his collaboration with Boulton, Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, & the rest of an exclusive group of Enlightenment scientists & philosophers in the Birmingham area, known as the Lunar Society.
LibraryThing member Roarer
I loved this book, a fascinating account of the community of non-conformists whose energy and imagination fueled the industrial revolution.
Subjects
Awards
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Winner — Biography — 2002)
The Economist Best Books (2002.10)
PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize (Shortlist — 2003)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2002
Physical description
608 p.; 9.49 inches
ISBN
0571196470 / 9780571196470