Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe Book

While this book is a tour de force of scholarship, it was too long by half for my purposes. Richards who has written about Darwin wants to make the point that Darwin was influenced by "romantic biology." This is clearly described in the final chapter of the book. Richards also wants to rehabilitate the science of Goethe and to show that his ideas had origin in turbulent intellectual environment of early eighteenth century Germany. To do this he relates a great deal about the lives and loves of many interesting characters. I enjoyed these stories, but keeping them connected with the central thread of the book was difficult for me. In the introduction Richards suggests that it is not necessary to read the book straight through, but to skip around. I found this approach ultimately very helpful in terms of getting a grasp on the vast narrative that he presents.