The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century
The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century
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Summary
An experimental account of Sir Thomas Browne, the 17th century physician, philosopher and writer, from the acclaimed author of Periodic Tales and Anatomies
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The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
A profound and delightful jeu d'esprit of a book, mixing biography, etymology, cultural history and quixotic scientific experiments. Aldersey-Williams pulls the unfairly neglected yet enormously influential writer Thomas Browne out of the obscure pages of Pseudodoxia Epidemica and into the 21st century, to apply his generous curiosity and rational intelligence to the vagaries and contradictions of life today. Browne has had some impressive fans (Sebald, Woolf, Borges, Poe, Marias) but this book will revive him, bringing his extraordinary genius to a whole new audience.
A wonderfully erratic, promenading book, in which we see how different, yet how similar we still are today to that most serene, most enigmatic science pioneer and literary master, Sir Thomas Browne, whose prose style is one of the highest peaks in English literature, according to Borges and to my humble self -- Javier Marias
[A] delightfully eccentric homage.. The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century is a triumph. With humour, humility (from the Latin humus, earth) and intelligent generosity, Aldersey-Williams brings Sir Thomas splendidly to life, urns and all -- Ian Thompson * Financial Times *
[A] richly detailed book... Written with passion and affection... Its greatest virtue is that you come away from it liking both Browne and Aldersey-Williams... A delightful read -- Colin Burrow * Guardian *
Aldersey-Williams has written the sort of book the good doctor might himself applaud. Not a conventional biography, this [is a] genial, generous but tough-minded excursion through its subject's life and afterlife -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
This is just the kind of celebration Thomas Browne needs and deserves: not a conventional biography but a meditation filled with intellectual curiosity, tolerance, humane observation and gentle wit. It shows Browne as a man caught in the currents of his times while musing on timeless questions - and, like Aldersey-Williams, determined to weigh up the evidence without dogmatism, and to enjoy the richness of the world -- Philip Ball
Superb... Aldersey-Williams has produced not a standard biography but a fascinating genre-bending melange of life story, medicine, science and human culture. The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century is a deft blend of erudition and trivia, formality and chattiness, high and low culture. With luck this fine tribute will bring Browne the wider readership he richly deserves. Illuminating and entertaining -- Malcolm Forbes * Sunday Herald *
I cannot conceive of a reader who will not find some nugget of delight in this, even if they do not go on to read Browne himself. Many of Browne's devotees have commented on his lightness of touch and it is a quality shared by this book -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *
A playful erudition permeates this biography of Thomas Browne... Aldersey-Williams zips between our time and Browne's to reveal the man and his work -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *
Engaging and thoughtful...Like some of the most compelling biographers, Aldersey-Williams partly inhabits his subject. [It is] less like a biography, more like a mental inhabitation -- Claire Preston * Literary Review *
An elegant, pleasantly obsessive study * Kirkus *
[This] is not a conventional biography. It is more a conversation with an old friend. Engaging and often funny * Economist *
An enjoyable recruitment drive for the [Thomas Browne] fan club -- Ruth Scurr * TLS *
[A] delightfully eccentric homage.. The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century is a triumph. With humour, humility (from the Latin humus, earth) and intelligent generosity, Aldersey-Williams brings Sir Thomas splendidly to life, urns and all -- Ian Thompson * Financial Times *
[A] richly detailed book... Written with passion and affection... Its greatest virtue is that you come away from it liking both Browne and Aldersey-Williams... A delightful read -- Colin Burrow * Guardian *
Aldersey-Williams has written the sort of book the good doctor might himself applaud. Not a conventional biography, this [is a] genial, generous but tough-minded excursion through its subject's life and afterlife -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
This is just the kind of celebration Thomas Browne needs and deserves: not a conventional biography but a meditation filled with intellectual curiosity, tolerance, humane observation and gentle wit. It shows Browne as a man caught in the currents of his times while musing on timeless questions - and, like Aldersey-Williams, determined to weigh up the evidence without dogmatism, and to enjoy the richness of the world -- Philip Ball
Superb... Aldersey-Williams has produced not a standard biography but a fascinating genre-bending melange of life story, medicine, science and human culture. The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century is a deft blend of erudition and trivia, formality and chattiness, high and low culture. With luck this fine tribute will bring Browne the wider readership he richly deserves. Illuminating and entertaining -- Malcolm Forbes * Sunday Herald *
I cannot conceive of a reader who will not find some nugget of delight in this, even if they do not go on to read Browne himself. Many of Browne's devotees have commented on his lightness of touch and it is a quality shared by this book -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *
A playful erudition permeates this biography of Thomas Browne... Aldersey-Williams zips between our time and Browne's to reveal the man and his work -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *
Engaging and thoughtful...Like some of the most compelling biographers, Aldersey-Williams partly inhabits his subject. [It is] less like a biography, more like a mental inhabitation -- Claire Preston * Literary Review *
An elegant, pleasantly obsessive study * Kirkus *
[This] is not a conventional biography. It is more a conversation with an old friend. Engaging and often funny * Economist *
An enjoyable recruitment drive for the [Thomas Browne] fan club -- Ruth Scurr * TLS *
HUGH ALDERSEY-WILLIAMS is a writer and curator with interests ranging from science to architecture and design. His prolific career as a freelance journalist included a five-year stint as the design critic of the New Statesman. He lives in Norwich and has for many years been an unreasoning Thomas Browne obsessive.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781847089021 |
| ISBN 10 | 184708902X |
| Title | The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century |
| Author | Hugh Aldersey Williams |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Granta Books |
| Year published | 2016-03-03 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |