“A Masterful Portrait” — New Scientist

A review in the February 12 issue of New Scientist calls The Philosophical Breakfast Club “a masterful portrait of nineteenth century science.”

The full-page review, written by Jonathon Keats, is titled “Ham, tongue and Bacon (!).” As the title suggests, the reviewer was struck by the fact that at their breakfast meetings the men discussed Francis Bacon’s work and then “spent their careers pursuing Bacon’s directive.”

I was so pleased that the author ended the review by agreeing with my claim in the epilogue of the book that “there would be justice in looking back at the members of the Philosophical Breakfast Club for guidance on how to knit the sciences and humanities back together again.”

Keats writes, “[Snyder] is right, and . . . the boundless curiosity the four shared throughout their lives—about absolutely everything—is surely a beginning.”

Read the complete review here.