Seeing Further

Science advances so quickly that many of its institutions flourish briefly then become obsolete. Not so Britain's Royal Society, soon to celebrate its 350th birthday. By its mission, "the promoting of experimental philosophy," the Society's members essentially invented the scientific method. Bryson, an American known for his generalist approach to science writing, is an unusual choice to edit this semischolarly and at times quaint anthology. The eclectic roster of contributors includes such renowned figures as science journalist James Gleick on the founding of the Society, novelist Margaret Atwood writing about Jonathan Swift, historian Richard Holmes on the late 18th-century ballooning craze, the evolutionary biologist and social critic Richard Dawkins discussing how Darwin arrived at his theories, engineer Henry Petroski looking at the great structures of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and others whose names fans of popular science will recognize. The collection climaxes in a speculative essay by Sir Martin Rees, the Society's president, on the next 50 years.