The Poetry of Science; or, Studies of the Physical Phenomena of Nature

Hunt, Robert, 1807-1887Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1
Word count
892K words
Chapters
90

Tags

English Originals Modern PoetryPopular Science Natural HistoryScience EnlightenmentScientific PoetryNatural PhenomenaNature ObservationCuriosityIllustrated GuideKnowledge PopularizationTraditional AestheticsVictorian Era

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Poetry of Science; or, Studies of the Physical Phenomena of Nature by HuntAuthor: Hunt, Robert, 1807-1887,Language: English, Class: Q: Science, Release Date: Apr 30, 2016

Editor's review

This book treats natural science as a long poem to be read closely. Writing from the perspective of nineteenth-century natural history and physics, Hunt discusses, chapter by chapter, the order and beauty behind natural phenomena. Its value lies not in frontier knowledge but in a writing tradition that combines observation, reasoning, and imagination: mountains and rivers, light, sound, and force are all given a tangible texture, and science is no longer merely formulas and conclusions. For today's readers it is more a window onto the early forms of popular science writing, and a way to feel the Victorian awe and curiosity about nature. The prose is unhurried, the examples concrete, and it suits slow reading; if you are willing to set aside modern terminology for a while and follow the author's metaphors and questions, you will find that science writing can be both explanatory and lyrical. Best read at night or dipped into while traveling, one chapter and one topic at a time, in no particular order.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read by chapter topic: start with phenomena you know, then move to unfamiliar areas.
  2. Keep paper and pen handy to note the author's metaphors, then revisit their explanatory power after finishing.
  3. Don't pause at nineteenth-century terminology; grasp the overall argument first and look things up later.
  4. Read alongside other works on the history of science to appreciate how popular science writing has changed.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90

FAQ

Is this book suitable as a modern science textbook? No. It was written in the nineteenth century, and its knowledge framework and terminology are distant from contemporary science. Its value lies mainly in the tradition of science writing and the perspective of natural observation, not in systematic teaching. If used as a textbook, it would need to be cross-checked and corrected against modern materials.
Is the original English edition difficult to read? The author's prose is unhurried, with long sentences but clear logic, in the style of nineteenth-century popular science essays. Readers with university-level English can finish it with a dictionary; it is best to read one short section at a time rather than rushing, focusing on how explanation and lyricism are combined.
Do I need to read it in order from beginning to end? No. The chapters address different natural phenomena and are relatively independent, so you can skip around by interest. To grasp the author's overall approach, read the table of contents and the first and last chapters first, then choose middle topics that interest you for closer reading.

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About the author

Hunt, Robert, 1807-1887 Author

Robert Hunt (1807–1887) was an English writer and popularizer of science. Public information about him is limited, and the details of his life are now difficult to trace with certainty, yet the two works held in the collection give a fair sense of his interests as a writer. One is Popular Romances of the West of England, Second Series, a gathering and retelling of folk tales, rich in local colour and the marvellous, showing his attention to regional legend and oral tradition. The other is The Poetry of Science, or, Studies of the Physical Phenomena of Nature, which discusses natural phenomena in a literary style and seeks to bridge scientific knowledge and poetic imagination. Though different in subject, the two books together reveal a writing style that combines scientific literacy with literary interest.