Up, Up, and Away With Science - Issue 7: Waste
▻http://nautil.us/issue/7/waste/up-up-and-away-with-science
When Richard Holmes, author of brilliant biographies of Shelley and Coleridge, started writing about science, “a lot of my old literary friends said, ‘Richard, what the hell are you doing?’ ” Holmes said with a merry laugh. “But I’m interested in the factual form. That’s where I can tell human stories. So it absolutely led on naturally.” The gregarious Holmes, 68, could give Falstaff a run for his money holding pub-goers enraptured with bottomless stories. He stopped by Nautilus to talk about his latest book, Falling Upwards, a jubilant history of ballooning, and a natural sequel to his widely acclaimed 2008 book, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Like The Age of Wonder, Holmes said, Falling Upwards explores “the interface between science (...)