"If I appear to have stumbled in darkness, it is only because I have been standing in the shadows of giants." This is the quip I sometimes suggest I will have etched onto my headstone, but it might equally apply to any of the many scientists and charlatans described in Patricia Fara's An Entertainment for Angels, subtitled Electricity in the Enlightenment. Its a little volume, clocking in at only 170 or so small pages, but every one contains at least one fascinating tidbit about the way that scientists and showmen sold the equally fascinating phenomenon of electricity to the public, and simultaneously pushed forward the boundaries of human understanding. The book is divided into five chapters, each covering a different aspect of the discovery of electricity.
One of my favorite historical characters is Giordano Bruno. Not the least of his distinctions is that he was the last man executed for heresey by the R.C.C., but that distinction is a petty one compared to Bruno's florid cosmology, which was surprisingly modern, despite certain animistic and aetheric conceptions of the universe. Bruno is fascinating because, quite unscientifically, he follows his own madness and idiocy to a complete picture of the universe. Of course every scientist is out to do this, its just that sometimes someone manages to get a particular idea right, as Bruno did when he imagined the cosmos to be centerless and homogeneous. He also imagined that the universe was filled with life, and it is possible that he will be proven right one day. None of these successes are indicative of Bruno's genius, since they were motivated by only the most tenuous scientific knowledge.
An Entertainment for Angels is filled with such characters, and I think its high time these obscure harlequin scientists got some attention.
Grade: 8/10
Shall I Keep It: Yes. I can imagine one day giving it to a special woman with a little dedication inside that reads "An Entertainment for An Angel" the right woman and/or situation hasn't come along just yet.
Jon_, JonBook_
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