Thomas Wright (8) (1973–)

I read this book after visiting a couple plays and short stories of Wilde in March for the Irish in me. I tried the new Sturgis biography Oscar for about 120 pages, but the dry history just didn't capture me. I tried just a couple chapters of Ellmann's biography, and I may return to it at a later date. Instead I decided on this book because I was more interested in the artist and those books that were an influence on his life.
I found the focus on the literature with a little history/biography to spice the insights quite interesting. Is this a quality biography to truly know all of the events and relationships of Wilde's life? No. Is it filled with lots of suppositions that are stretches in regards to the information at hand? Yes. Still, it is far more interesting than most biographies that leave you without any feeling that the subject is a real person in all of their beauty and faults. Read Wilde and visit this book as a companion on the short literary career of an extraordinary bibliophile.
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Thomas Wright's book about the natural philosopher William Harvey is an excellent example of an intelligent and well-researched history of science book aimed at the general reader. It offers some biographical glimpses of the man himself, but is especially noteworthy for the fascinating insights it provides not only into Harvey's methods and thought processes, but also how it places his achievements into the wider context of period, culture and natural philosphy. His theory of the circulation of the blood had unintended and far-reaching consequences that became apparent even during Harvey's lifetime, and on which he must have looked with horror. The text is supported by a large number of contemporary or near-contemporary drawings, engravings and other artwork.… (meer)