Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society

By David Crane

Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Martin Rees, Richard Fortey, Steve Jones, James Gleick and Neal Stephenson amongst others, this beautiful, lavishly illustrated book tells the story of science and the Royal Society, from 1660 to the present.

On a damp weeknight in November, 350 years ago, a dozen or so men gathered at Gresham College in London. A twenty-eight year old – and not widely famous – Christopher Wren was giving a lecture on astronomy. As his audience listened to him speak, they decided that it would be a good idea to create a Society to promote the accumulation of useful knowledge. With that, the Royal Society was born.

Since its birth, the Royal Society has pioneered scientific exploration and discovery. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, John Locke, Alexander Fleming – all were fellows. Bill Bryson’s favourite fellow was Reverend Thomas Bayes, a brilliant mathematician who devised Bayes’ theorem. Its complexity meant that it had little practical use in Bayes’ own lifetime, but today his theorem is used for weather forecasting, astrophysics and stock market analysis. A milestone in mathematical history, it only exists because the Royal Society decided to preserve it – just in case.

The Royal Society continues to do today what it set out to do all those years ago. Its members have split the atom, discovered the double helix, the electron, the computer and the World Wide Web. Truly international in its outlook, it has created modern science. ‘Seeing Further’ celebrates its momentous history and achievements, bringing together the very best of science writing. Filled with illustrations of treasures from the Society’s archives, this is a unique, ground-breaking and beautiful volume, and a suitable reflection of the immense achievements of science.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Apr 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9780007358007

Reviews for Seeing Further

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A mostly-very-good collection of essays to mark the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. The contributions by James Gleick, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Richard Fortey, and Neal Stephenson were those I liked best.

[dlmorrese · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

From Bill Bryson's introduction:

The Royal Society...invented scientific publishing and peer review. It made English the primary language of scientific discourse, in place of Latin. It systematised experimentation. It promoted - indeed insisted upon - clarity of expression in place of high-flown rhetoric. It brought together the best thinking from all over the world. It created modern science.

This is not a straightforward history of the Royal Society, as I expected when I picked it up. It's a collection of articles by various notables on sundry subjects of scientific and philosophical interest. As with any collection of writing by different people, I found some of the subjects more interesting and some of the writing more to my taste than others.

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sadly, "Seeing further" just wasn't as interesting as I expected it to be. There are certainly some engaging entries (Bill Bryson's inroduction and Margaret Atwood's article referencing "Gulliver's Travels to name just two) but there are also too many entries ranging from the dull to the outright incomprehensible (Margaret Wertheim's article, for example, had me regularly squinting to determine what on earth she was driving at - in my library book copy someone has underlined "futile" in Wertheim's piece, which sums up my attempts to make heads and tails of her article).Obviously, there are many people out there more intelligent than me (no doubt including you) and will understand more of the denser science ideas at play here and will get a lot more out of it than me.And in closing, a shout out to Margaret Attwood for including the sentence (about "Gulliver's Travels"):"The edition I read was not a child's version, of the kind that dwells on the cute little people and the funny giant people and the talking horses, but dodges any mention of nipples and urination, and downplays the excrement."

[schmerguls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

5706. Seeing Further The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society, edited by Bill Bryson (read 14 Sep 2020) This 490 page book contains 22 essays by mostly British scholars, on various aspects of science, past and present. I nearly always finish a book I start but almost quit when early on I read an essay which was hard to understand. But the next essay was comprehensible and interesting so I kept reading and finished the book. I will not claim I comprehended all the concepts discussed but there was enough fascinating that I think I got something from the book. Lots of things to think about.

[stuartechambers · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I have to say that whilst I love Bill Bryson, I really didn't like this book at all & that's sad as i was so looking forward to read it. I would like to put two thousand scientists in a room and ask those who believe in God to put their hands up and then ask those who do why they relentlessly pursue this seemingly personal mission of theirs to disprove Gods existence. Not a book for me !!

[switchknitter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Seeing Further wanders all over science as we know it, with everything eventually tying back into the Royal Society. Margaret Atwood wrote a piece on the view of scientists in pop culture, tracing back to the satirizing of the Royal Society in Gulliver's Travels. There are essays on Darwin, crystallography, space-time, and climate change, among others. It was an enjoyable read, and it really gave me a broad appreciation for what the Royal Society does and influences.

[paulmorriss · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although edited by Bill Bryson there are a number of authors contributing chapters. The style and quality of the articles varies greatly, but there were a few I enjoyed.

[reannon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Collection of essays about science celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. Authors include scientists, science and science fiction authors. Topics span all sciences and technology, and from the easily accessible to the difficult.