“Dolnick’s book is lively and the characters are vivid.” — New York Times Book Review

“A character-rich, historical narrative.” — Wall Street Journal

“Edward Dolnick’s smoothly written history of the scientific revolution tells the stories of the key players and events that transformed society.” — Charlotte Observer

“An engrossing read.” — Library Journal

“Dolnick . . . writes clearly and unpretentiously about science, and writes equally well about the tumultuous historical context . . . [He] also offers penetrating portraits of the geniuses of the day, many of them idiosyncratic in the extreme, who offer fertile ground for entertaining writing. [Dolnick] has an eye for vivid details in aid of historical recreation, and an affection for his subjects . . . [An] informative read.” — Publishers Weekly

“A lively account of early science. . . . Colorful, entertainingly written and nicely paced.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Dolnick furnishes a fine survey introduction to a fertile field of scientific biography and history.” — Booklist

“[Dolnick] offers penetrating portraits of the geniuses of the day . . . who offer fertile ground for entertaining writing. [He] has an eye for vivid details in aid of historical recreation, and an affection for his subjects . . . [An] informative read.” — Publishers Weekly

In a world of chaos and disease, one group of driven, idiosyncratic geniuses envisioned a universe that ran like clockwork. They were the Royal Society, the men who made the modern world.

At the end of the seventeenth century, sickness was divine punishment, astronomy and astrology were indistinguishable, and the world’s most brilliant, ambitious, and curious scientists were tormented by contradiction. They believed in angels, devils, and alchemy yet also believed that the universe followed precise mathematical laws that were as intricate and perfectly regulated as the mechanisms of a great clock.

The Clockwork Universe captures these monolithic thinkers as they wrestled with nature’s most sweeping mysteries. Award-winning writer Edward Dolnick illuminates the fascinating personalities of Newton, Leibniz, Kepler, and others, and vividly animates their momentous struggle during an era when little was known and everything was new—battles of will, faith, and intellect that would change the course of history itself.