If you wanted to be technical here you might argue that Golinski is straying rather far from the weather – but it is all good fun anyway... as is the excursion into the discovery of nitrous oxide in 1797 by the young chemist Humphry Davy. He had speculated about a "sublime chemistry" that could leave the entire world intoxicated, without suffering a hangover – a very early Brave New World.
But Golinski does get back to the weather, at least climate, as he looks at how the 18th-century tried to understand the link between climate and society. The great proponent of this view was Jean-Baptiste Du Bos, who argued that this explained why classical Athens or Renaissance Italy produced such outbursts of creativity – they sprang from the ground like well-nurtured crops (although he was vague on the specifics. As the century went on, however, Golinski reports, while the Baron of Montesquieu was keen on this, developing a more nuanced view, other writers came to view the approach as over-simplistic. Hume demolished it in an essay "Of National Characters" in 1748.)
There's much more here too about how colonial climates – particularly the West Indies – were regarded as aberrations compared to the British "norm", and how Americans thought that by clearing and "civilising" the land the climate could be made just like England's. Were I critiquing this book as an academic, I would feel that it was a bit unfocused – a collection of yarns rather than a monograph with a real thesis – but as a general thesis it is a fascinating introduction to how we've arrived at our beliefs about the weather today.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Great job. I enjoy reading work that inspires me to work harder on my own writing.
2 - tink
Interesting subject...your review was an 'enlightening' read.