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erickibler4's review against another edition
3.0
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 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.
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.
slhandler's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
jenniferdeguzman's review against another edition
3.0
Voltaire, a literary genius, and Emilie du Chatelet, a scientific genius, had a fascinating and complex relationship. David Bodanis depicts that interweaving of love, admiration, respect, insecurity, secrecy, betrayal and reconciliation. It is to his credit that he has written about an important relationship that has for some time not been given the attention it deserves. Bodanis's thesis is that Voltaire and Emilie provided models of thinking people in an unconventional relationship (she was a married aristocratic woman, he an unmarried writer known for making caustic remarks) for thinkers throughout France, greatly influencing the movement of the Enlightenment.
Most poignant to me was Voltaire's feelings of inferiority to Emilie's brilliance with mathematics and science. As a man who wanted to be a modern thinker, he wanted to prove his ability in scientific fields but always fell far short of her. But he soon learned to apply scientific methods to the field in which his genius lay -- literature. Emilie, for her part, did not want to feed his insecurity and did much of her experimentation in secret.
However -- and I don't want to sound to snooty about it -- the book was not as intellectually vigorous as I would like. Bodanis does not attempt any meaningful analysis or criticism of either Voltaire's or du Chatelet's work, especially in how they influenced each other. He makes reference to a play Voltaire wrote to impress Emilie without even properly summarizing its plot; Emilie's revelation having to do with Newton's work about conservation of energy is never properly explained.
This is a fine book as an introduction to both Voltaire and du Chatelet. But I longed to delve deeper into the psychology and work of both people -- I'll be looking at other sources for that.
Most poignant to me was Voltaire's feelings of inferiority to Emilie's brilliance with mathematics and science. As a man who wanted to be a modern thinker, he wanted to prove his ability in scientific fields but always fell far short of her. But he soon learned to apply scientific methods to the field in which his genius lay -- literature. Emilie, for her part, did not want to feed his insecurity and did much of her experimentation in secret.
However -- and I don't want to sound to snooty about it -- the book was not as intellectually vigorous as I would like. Bodanis does not attempt any meaningful analysis or criticism of either Voltaire's or du Chatelet's work, especially in how they influenced each other. He makes reference to a play Voltaire wrote to impress Emilie without even properly summarizing its plot; Emilie's revelation having to do with Newton's work about conservation of energy is never properly explained.
This is a fine book as an introduction to both Voltaire and du Chatelet. But I longed to delve deeper into the psychology and work of both people -- I'll be looking at other sources for that.
mysizereads's review against another edition
3.0
The love story of Voltaire and Emilie du Châtelet, both of whom were brilliant contributors to the age of Enlightenment. I especially loved getting to learn more about Emilie du Châtelet and her scientific discoveries in an era that did not promote women's education.
gregoreads's review against another edition
5.0
This was so good!! I was not expecting to love it so much. The mix of Emilie and Voltaire's crazy lives with David Bodanis' writing was perfect. It never felt like a chore to read and the characters were all so vivid. I can't believe this isn't a tv series, it would be perfect.
hinchemail's review against another edition
5.0
This book was fascinating from start to finish. Nonstop corruption, everyone has a mistress, write a bad word about somebody and go to jail, brand new ideas, parties with interesting people and more. If you are a fan of Voltaire, read this book but know it will mention the good, bad and the ugly about him such as his ego, hypocrisy, hypochondria, desire for fame, not being as smart as Emilie, etc. To top it off, Emilie shines as the ultimate feminist who many men run from because of their shame at not being anywhere near her equal. A real page turner and glimpse into this era.
mx_remy's review against another edition
3.0
Not a bad read, depending on what you're looking for. Given the very disparate natures of the two great personages this book chronicles, one might approach it from two main angles. Things look very different from Voltaire's eyes than from Émilie du Châtelet's, after all. By and large, the author does a very good job focusing on where the two converge. There are plenty of other interesting facets of 18th century France presented as well, of course.
As a Mathematics major, I was a little disappointed. I don't recall seeing any of Émilie's actual work in the book. In fact, just about the only numbers are dates. This is in stark contrast to Voltaire's work, whose excerpts are scattered all throughout. We're given to understand that Newton was a very brilliant and important person, and that Émilie, by understanding & improving upon his work so easily, was also such a person. Indubitably she was, but it would be nice to see for oneself.
As someone who very much enjoyed [b:Candide and Other Stories|19382|Candide and Other Stories (World's Classics)|Voltaire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388239620s/19382.jpg|15207983], I was anything but disappointed with Voltaire's treatment. Rather, I felt enlightened. There were many such instances of sudden clarity, where I would have to stop and reflect back on one of his stories. The author makes it very clear just how close Voltaire's writing corresponded to the events of his life. I feel in retrospect that I should have known all this before reading his collected works in the first place; I may now have to read them again, for greater insight.
As a Mathematics major, I was a little disappointed. I don't recall seeing any of Émilie's actual work in the book. In fact, just about the only numbers are dates. This is in stark contrast to Voltaire's work, whose excerpts are scattered all throughout. We're given to understand that Newton was a very brilliant and important person, and that Émilie, by understanding & improving upon his work so easily, was also such a person. Indubitably she was, but it would be nice to see for oneself.
As someone who very much enjoyed [b:Candide and Other Stories|19382|Candide and Other Stories (World's Classics)|Voltaire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388239620s/19382.jpg|15207983], I was anything but disappointed with Voltaire's treatment. Rather, I felt enlightened. There were many such instances of sudden clarity, where I would have to stop and reflect back on one of his stories. The author makes it very clear just how close Voltaire's writing corresponded to the events of his life. I feel in retrospect that I should have known all this before reading his collected works in the first place; I may now have to read them again, for greater insight.