2.5 stars. This book is a little heavy-handed and preachy at times. The book wanted to be both historical fiction and a biography. Some scenes were overdone with little vignettes that were most likely made up (people just don’t leave historical documents that have that stuff in them). Other sections had a lot of explaining and narrating — these were often out of chronological sequence, making the timeline confusing. The author heavily emphasized religious dissenters as scientists. This is fine, but it seemed forced. I appreciated that the author frequently spoke about Faraday’s faith, as this was an important part of his life. Another oddity was that the author frequently referenced American people and events. I guess this book was written for an American audience or something, but it was jarring. I don’t think Benjamin Franklin really played a huge role in Faraday’s life since he died before Faraday was born. Yes, he worked with electricity, but, again it seemed forced. Conversations also sounded really odd. So much scientific explaining going on in general conversation. It didn’t sound very natural, and several times much too Modern American. Also, the speech impediment went away quite quickly.
It probably sounds like I didn’t like this book very much. I actually thought it was okay. I’d like to read a better biography of Faraday to compare facts and get a better idea of what parts were his actual personality and what were Ludwig’s embellishments. I also plan to read his Chemical History of a Candle, and maybe some of his other writings.