Passionate Minds

by David Bodanis

It was 1733 when the poet and philosopher Voltaire met Emilie du Châtelet, a beguiling—and married—aristocrat who would one day popularize Newton’s arcane ideas and pave the way for Einstein’s theories. In an era when women were rarely permitted any serious schooling, this twenty-seven-year-old’s nimble conversation and unusual brilliance led Voltaire, then in his late thirties, to wonder, “Why did you only reach me so late?” They fell immediately and passionately in love.

Through the prism of their tumultuous fifteen-year relationship we see the crumbling of an ancient social order and the birth of the Enlightenment. Together the two lovers rebuilt a dilapidated and isolated rural chateau at Cirey where they conducted scientific experiments, entertained many of the leading thinkers of the burgeoning scientific revolution, and developed radical ideas about the monarchy, the nature of free will, the subordination of women, and the separation of church and state.

But their time together was filled with far more than reading and intellectual conversation. There were frantic gallopings across France, sword fights in front of besieged German fortresses, and a deadly burning of Voltaire’s books by the public executioner at the base of the grand stairwell of the Palais de Justice in Paris. The pair survived court intrigues at Versailles, narrow escapes from agents of the king, a covert mission to the idyllic lakeside retreat of Frederick the Great of Prussia, forays to the royal gambling tables (where Emilie put her mathematical acumen to lucrative use), and intense affairs that bent but did not break their bond.

Along with its riveting portrait of Voltaire as a vulnerable romantic, Passionate Minds at last does justice to the supremely unconventional life and remarkable achievements of Emilie du Châtelet—including her work on the science of fire and the nature of light. Long overlooked, her story tells us much about women’s lives at the time of the Enlightenment. Equally important, it demonstrates how this graceful, quick-witted, and attractive woman worked out the concepts that would lead directly to the “squared” part of Einstein’s revolutionary equation: E=mc2.

Based on a rich array of personal letters, as well as writings from houseguests, neighbors, scientists, and even police reports, Passionate Minds is both panoramic and intimate in feeling. It is an unforgettable love story and a vivid rendering of the birth of modern ideas.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Science, Philosophy, France, 18th Century

373 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

David Bodanis' latest book THE ART OF FAIRNESS: THE POWER OF DECENCY IN A WORLD TURNED MEAN was published November 2020 and asks the question that has long fascinated David: Can you succeed without being a terrible person? The answer is 'Yes, but you need skill', and the book shows how. I demonstrate those insights through a series of biographies…

David Bodanis is the bestselling author of THE SECRET HOUSE and E=MC2, which was turned into a PBS documentary and a Southbank Award-winning ballet at Sadler's Wells. David also wrote ELECTRIC UNIVERSE, which won the Royal Society Science Book of the Year Prize, and PASSIONATE MINDS, a BBC Book of the Week. Then a return to Einstein and the struggles he went through with EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE which was named ‘Science Book of the Year’ by the Sunday Times, and also widely translated.

David has worked for the Royal Dutch Shell Scenario Prediction unit and the World Economic Forum. He has been a popular speaker at TED conferences and at Davos. His work has been published in the Financial Times, the Guardian, and the New York Times, and has appeared on Newsnight, Start the Week, and other programs. When not slumped in front of a laptop, he has been known to attempt kickboxing, with highly variable results.

Reviews

[Alice Poon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an educational read about Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet, two French intellectuals who had a great impact on the French Enlightenment. Specifically, through their combined efforts, they enhanced understanding of Issac Newton’s optical and gravitational theories, as well as inspired critical thinking about philosophy and religion. I had previously read Candide by Voltaire and had always wanted to read more about his life. This book satisfied a great part of that curiosity. I had not previously heard of Emilie du Chatelet, and was glad to have learned such a lot about her contribution to the sciences and philosophy.

Apart from giving information about their intellectual influence on French society, the book also offered an intimate glimpse into the personal lives and love affair of these two distinguished individuals, and how they inspired each other to live up to their respective ideals.

The background is packed with historical details relating to social mores, French court politics, class distinction, religious dogma, discrimination against women and press censorship in pre-Revolution France.

This was a solid 4-star read for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, with that title it had better be good, I say! An engaging read about a woman born in the wrong century: her brilliance is matched only by a handful of mathematicians and scientists in her day, yet at times she worked in secret so as not to feed the insecurities of her lover Voltaire. Their long and complex relationship reads at times like a romance novel, at times like high adventure. In turn they lust after each other, inspire each other, compete against each other, cheat on each other, revile each other, yet ultimately Voltaire stands by her when she suffers her cruelest disappointment.

While Voltaire is better known, du Châtelet is the heart of this story. Here's a woman who is Newton's translator, and dare I say his better because she goes beyond and clarifies his computations and adds her interpretations. Yet she succumbs to the woeful bumbling of medical care in the 18th century. Swordfights, book burnings, and high stakes gambling, yes, but these are not central to the story. What is central is the star that is du Châtelet's intellect and passion for life, and its all too brief nova in the sky of the early Enlightenment.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a frothy historical biography best described by its title. Unfortunately it does not live up to either the dramatic promise of its subtitle, or to the serious intentions stated in its preface. In that preface, the author bemoans the lack of recognition of early 18th century aristocratic French scientist Emilie du Chatelet, stating that she was written out of the canon by men who didn’t believe a woman could make serious contributions, and that the society hostesses and later feminist writers who might have championed her lacked the technical knowledge to understand her work, with the result that female biographers just focused on her wild sex life. Bodanis then proceeds to tell a story of du Chatelet’s life focused on her wild sex life, with only brief segments about science that provided little enlightenment to this reader.

In particular, Bodanis is enamored of du Chatelet’s tumultuous 15-year affair with Voltaire, and structures the book around that. It’s almost a dual biography (to the point that my library shelves it as a biography of Voltaire), except that Voltaire outlived du Chatelet by decades and those years aren’t covered in this book. Bodanis seems attached to the notion that this relationship provided du Chatelet with the confidence and support she needed to engage in scientific work, but it seemed to me that much of the evidence he provides argues against this conclusion. For instance, in one episode, Voltaire decides to enter a scientific competition, and du Chatelet spends her days assisting him with his experiments, but for some reason feels she can’t tell him where he’s going wrong, and meanwhile secretly stays up late every night working on her own submission, which she hides from him and ultimately mails off with the assistance of her extremely laid-back husband, who appears genuinely indifferent throughout to the fact that she’s living openly with another man. Which of these people is actually providing useful support, and which one has become an obstacle? I came away from the book with the impression that du Chatelet’s penchant for falling wildly in love with various men was a tragic distraction from her work, perhaps in part due to the author’s focus.

It’s a focus, in the end, that involves compressing complicated events into such short segments that I found them a bit difficult to keep track of, while lovingly expanding on descriptions of emotions and relationship dilemmas. These people wrote constantly, so I don’t think Bodanis is speculating, but it does come across as frothy. Interestingly, in the acknowledgements he says that while writing the book, he sent it out in installments to friends, and they and their friends and coworkers all eagerly signed up for more. But then, he says, that draft, nearly twice the length of the book he ultimately published, “wasn’t quite right. . . . There was to much to-ing and fro-ing, too much textual analysis and historical background, and too much elaboration of science and the biographer’s evidence.” I for one suspect I would have thought more of this book if it had included all that stuff, and the contrast between the word-of-mouth excitement Bodanis describes around his draft and the small number of readers who have rated the completed version on Goodreads makes me suspect it’s not just me, and what he cut was more essential than he realized.

Ultimately, this was an interesting book that I don’t regret reading, and it had a great start, but after 60 pages or so I began to fall out of love with it and never regained that level of enjoyment. Great material, but perhaps not the best possible treatment of it.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I sit watching religious fanatics bring the enlightenment to an end I can't help reading things about the enlightenment and regretting witnessing the end of that great project. I've a friend who is much more obsessed with this than I am, but obsessed I am and will probably remain.

This is a book born from another book - E=mc2. This is a much better book than that, but the part about Emilie du Chatelet in E=mc2 was probably the best bit in that book too. This book would have been improved by incorporating more of that chapter into this. I think the author was afraid of repeating himself - but not everyone would read both books and this book lost out by not explaining her contribution to proving Newton wrong.

What a woman - how could Voltaire not have fall in love with her? He was a fool to ever lose her. Simple as that. Voltaire comes out of this book rather badly, to be honest.

She comes out perhaps a little too well, can she really have been so saintly? To be a woman who proved Newton wrong - remembering that the French Revolutionaries wanted to start the new calendar from his birthday - ought to have made her a god. That she seems little remembered is a crime.

This is a truly fascinating story of a woman, an intellectual, a revolutionary thinker and a scientist, at a time when women had no right to be any of these things. Most men had no right to be any of these things either.

The story of her all too early death is tragic and a reminder of how fortunate we are to live at a time of modern science when the words child birth and 40 don't strike fear into the hearts of women.

A fascinating account of a pair of fascinating people.

[Ross Blocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Passionate Minds is the story of two brilliant indivdiuals, Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire: their off-and-on partnership (both romantic and intellectual), and their role in the world's transition to modernity. Both protagonists have longer-form names: "Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise Du Châtelet" and "François-Marie Arouet", reflecting their relative stations within the ruling French aristocracy. It is a place and time period for which I have little inherent interest, and it is to David Bodanis's credit that I was so engaged in the tale.

Voltaire (François-Marie's pen name) is already well known as a poet, satirist, playwright and author. It was fascinating to learn about his constant evasion of prosecution by the upper crust he'd insulted with verse, his keen ability to make the best of a bad situation (once by manipulating a lottery into vast wealth and other times by writing new works), his constant hypochondria, and his largely unsuccessful forays into science.

Emilie du Chatelet is the real breakout star here - at least, this was the first time I had encountered her. Emilie's life is especially interesting when contrasted with that of her contemporaries. She was not formally trained in the sciences, but one of her father's friends shared astronomy with her. Emilie collected books on her own, even using her natural skill at calculation to game the gambling tables, earning proceeds to purchase more books. She could hold her own in a sword fight against even a trained military man. She was an adept mathematician and theoretician, and extrapolated from her readings to calculate the force of gravity on Jupiter and the speed light traveled across the solar system.

I was fascinated to learn of the sexual freedom Emilie enjoyed. Though married to a military officer, it was understood that he would have mistresses and she would carry on her own affairs. When her romance with Voltaire began, they were thrilled to have found intellectual equals. While she excelled in mathematics and scientific inquiry, Voltaire was a master of writing. Together they created a volume explaining the works of Newton - Voltaire got credit as the author, but he dedicated the work to her, and an illustrated frontispiece depicted Emily as the true reflector of Newton's genius, and Voltaire as the humble scribe. In a later contest, both carried on independent inquiries into the nature of fire; Voltaire attempted to measure weight loss-and-gain as metals were heated (there is weight fluctuation, but his scales were orders of magnitude too coarse to measure it) and Emilie in secret devised an experiment that would test the energies of the component wavelengths of light. It is a shame that she had the resources at hand to carry out these experiments, but hesitated in order to not usurp Voltaire. Decades later the experiment would produce important results. Emilie and Voltaire took turns collaborating and competing, but each spurred the other to greater achievement. Even Candide, though produced after Emilie's death, can be read as Voltaire's last word on their debates over the merits of Liebniz's "optimism" - a new concept of "the best possible world" that Emilie championed and Voltaire despised.

As both Voltaire and Emilie operated in the highest circles, we learn much of the nobility and aristocracy that surrounded them - the various places they were invited to stay, the people who stayed with them, and the affairs they and others engaged in. There is an interesting undercurrent of stories about the poor sanitation of the time, methods of communication, military meaneuvers, competing plays, and other concerns of the day. Sadly, Emilie died in her early forties giving birth to a child (fathered by one of her other love interests, Saint-Lambert) who only surived for about a year. Thankfully, Emilie was able to complete her magnum opus, a detailed examination of some difficult Newtonian mathematics, before her death. It is fascinating to ponder how much more minds like Emilie's and Voltaire's could have accomplished if not hampered by custom and constantly fleeing capture, paying off debts, fighting illness, and the coping with the various vagaries of 18th century Europe.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are beautiful ~ so half the human race will be your enemy.
You are brilliant ~ and you will be feared.
You are trusting ~ and you will be betrayed.

Voltaire wrote this in the 1730s, shortly after meeting a brilliant woman of science (Emilie du Chatelet), who also became the great love of his life. Everything he wrote above came true for Emilie.

Voltaire became a different person after meeting her and she him. Voltaire is a household name partly because of her influence. Unfortunately, Emilie is not and she should be. She is mostly forgotten because it was too hard for men to reconcile her brilliance with her sex. You know that famous little equation of Einstein's? Well, she had a huge hand in that last little bit. She should be a name we all know as well as Voltaire or Einstein, yet we don't because she had a vagina. I could candy-coat it for you, but that's the real reason why she was dismissed from her rightful place in history. Though, to Voltaire's credit, he would be the first to tell you she was more brilliant than he was.

Emilie and Voltaire were both part of the French Enlightenment out of a dark age where the rich were considered superior over the poor and thus were above paying taxes - literally for centuries some families paid nadda in taxes in France. The dark ages were a time when prejudice was sanctioned and sexism was the norm. It was a time when women were more likely to be raped or beaten than allowed to get an education. It was a time when rich men were held above all others. They held all the cards and the laws worked only in their favor ~ everyone else be damned. The dark ages were a time when freedom of religion could get you killed and ones very sex or sexual orientation could be ones ultimate downfall or ruin.

Voltaire and Emilie were at the heart of ideas that later spurred on the French and American Revolutions. Hatred of these same ideas is at the heart of what groups like al-Queda and Isis are really waging war on. Ideas that say that diversity of religion should be respected, women should be treated equally, church and state should be separate, and that beliefs of the dark ages are not the sole path to the truth.

They both had the intellect and guts to stand in defiance of a "let them eat cake" monarchy and it almost cost them their very lives. They believed in the radical idea that free will and freedom were things to hold dear. They believed in crashing through the wall of their day's social order that favored the well-to-do above the masses. If they were in America today, they would be fighting mad as they would see quite clearly that too many in American politics are coveting dark age concepts. They would also see the irony of the masses buying what those dark age bastards are selling us today. They would be appalled in a way that not enough Americans seem to be.

[El Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliantly written, more engaging than 99% of popular history, narrated with a humaneness & eye for narrative that's perfectly suited to the subject. this is such an extraordinarily warm book, with such a sense of brightness and wonder about it, this genuine awe for the enlightenment project that i can't imagine its subjects being anything but proud of. i was crying at the end. what a valuable and moving thing to have read.

[Noah Goats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it was my fault, but despite being intensely interested in Voltaire I just couldn’t get into this. Every time I picked it up there was a vague sense of “ugh, more of this,” and yet I can’t quite pinpoint why I didn’t care for it.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Το Βολταίρο τον γνωρίζετε όλοι. Την ατάκα ότι πίσω από κάθε πετυχημένο άντρα κρύβεται μια πετυχημένη γυναίκα επίσης την ξέρετε. Ποια γυναίκα βρισκόταν όμως πίσω από το Βολταίρο, πόσο τον επηρέασε και σε ποιους τομείς;

Ας τα πάρουμε όμως τα πράγματα από την αρχή:

Είσαι γυναίκα, έχεις έφεση στην επιστήμη και τη λογιοσύνη, αλλά ζεις στη Γαλλία του 18ου αιώνα… Τα πανεπιστήμια εννοείται ότι δεν δέχονται γυναίκες, ευτυχώς τουλάχιστον ανήκεις στον αριστοκρατικό κύκλο (αν δεν ανήκες εξάλλου δεν θα είχες μάθει ότι έχεις έφεση στην επιστήμη). Τι κάνεις τότε; Κατ’ αρχήν κάνεις έναν καλό γάμο για να παραμείνεις στον ίδιο κύκλο (ο μπαμπάς κανονίζει γι’ αυτό, όπως και ο μπαμπάς κανόνιζε να επισκέπτονται την έπαυλη διάφοροι λόγιοι για να έρχεται το κοριτσάκι του σε επαφή με αυτό τον κόσμο). Ο ιδανικός γαμπρός είναι (ας με συγχωρήσετε) ο λιγότερο διαθέσιμος μ@λ@κ@ς, και πράγματι, ο δικός μας βγήκε καλή πάστα ανθρώπου. Όμως, οι Γάλλοι αριστοκράτες, πρώτα έκαναν γάμους για να διατηρήσουν τα συμφέροντά τους και μετά έβρισκαν ερωμένες/εραστές προκειμένου να περνάνε καλά, ή ακόμα και να ερωτευτούν. Σε αυτό τουλάχιστον άντρες και γυναίκες είχαν τα ίδια δικαιώματα και ανάγκες.

Η ηρωίδα της ιστορίας μας λέγεται Έμιλυ ντε Σατελιέ και είναι η γυναίκα που μετέφρασε το Νεύτωνα στα γαλλικά, με δικά της επεξηγηματικά σχόλια, κάνοντας γνωστό το έργο του Άγγλου επιστήμονα στη Γαλλία ειδικά και την κεντρική Ευρώπη γενικότερα. Η μετάφραση του Principia (του σημαντικότερου έργου του Νεύτωνα, αυτό που περιγράφει αναλυτικά τους περιβόητους 3 νόμους, το Διαφορικό Λογισμό και την πρώτη σύνδεση του ουράνιου και του γήινου κόσμου, αποδίδοντας στο Θεό περισσότερο αποστασιοποιημένο ρόλο στην καθημερινότητα του Σύμπαντος) μάλιστα είναι αυτή που χρησιμοποιείται ακόμα στη γαλλική γλώσσα.

Ας επιστρέψουμε όμως στην αρχή της ιστορίας.

Η Έμιλυ, επομένως, κατάλαβε ότι για να εισαχθεί στο χώρο της επιστήμης θα πρέπει να βρει για εραστή κάποιον λόγιο. Ο κύριος ντε Σατελιέ έλειπε συχνά, καθώς ήταν υψηλός αξιωματούχος του γαλλικού στρατού (και είχαν πολλούς πολέμους τότε, δουλειά δεν είχαν οι διάφορες βασιλικές αυλές) και η Έμιλυ μετακόμισε στο Παρίσι, όπου εντάχθηκε στον εκεί κύκλο των ευγενών. Ένας από τους πρώτους εραστές και σπουδαίος φίλος της ζωής της ήταν ο Mapertois, πολύ γνωστός μαθηματικός και πρόεδρος της Ακαδημίας Επιστημών στα επόμενα χρόνια. Εραστής της ήταν επίσης ο Δούκας του Ρισελιέ – ο οποίος δεν ήταν επιστήμονας αλλά πολύ μεγάλος γόης και γυναικοκατακτητής της εποχής, οι της ιστορίας θα ξέρετε περισσότερα γι’ αυτόν.

Και κάποια στιγμή μπήκε στη ζωή της ο Βολταίρος…

Μεγάλη μούρη ο τύπος. Καταρχήν κάτι που μου έκανε εντύπωση, είναι ότι ήθελε τόσο πολύ να προκαλέσει, που αν είχε γραφτεί ένα κείμενο προβοκατόρικο και οι αντίπαλοί του τον κατηγορούσαν ότι το έγραψε αυτός, ο Βολταίρος υιοθετούσε τη συγγραφή του. Μπορεί να του στοίχισε μία επίσκεψη (σικ) στη Βαστίλη και μια εξορία στην Αγγλία (εκεί έμαθε το έργο του Νεύτωνα), καθώς και πολλά αυθόρμητα ταξίδια σε διάφορες επαρχίες, απομονωμένες επαύλεις ή και γειτονικές χώρες (δεν έφευγε με τη θέλησή του, τον κυνηγούσαν), αλλά τουλάχιστον κατάφερε να γίνει γνωστός ως πνεύμα αντιλογίας. Από την άλλη έγινε γνωστός και ως πετυχημένος θεατρικός συγγραφέας, με πολλά έργα του να ανεβαίνουν σε μεγάλα θέατρα του Παρισιού (και όχι μόνο) και τα βιβλία του να ξεπουλάνε σαν τρελά. Το ξέρατε ότι οι τυπογράφοι έβγαζαν κάτι εκατοντάδες περισσότερα βιβλία από αυτά που τους παράγγελνε για τα διοχετεύουν οι ίδιοι στην αγορά;

Την Έμιλυ πάντως την ερωτεύτηκε τρελά. Καλά, εννοείται ότι κατά καιρούς ήταν ένα μισητό φαλλοκρατικό γουρούνι, αλλά πάντα νοιαζόταν γι’ αυτή. Έζησαν ως εραστές μαζί δέκα χρόνια (το μαζί βέβαια είναι σχετικό με τα μπλεξίματα που είχε με το νόμο και τη γενικότερη μαλακία που τον έδερνε κατά καιρούς στη συμπεριφορά του), αλλά συχνά η ίδια τον ακολουθούσε στα ταξίδια του (είναι και ρομαντικό αν το σκεφτείτε!) και από τη στιγμή που χωρίσανε συνέχισαν να βρίσκονται ως το τέλος της ζωής της.

Το σημαντικότερο κεφάλαιο της κοινή τους ζωής είναι το Cirey: μια έπαυλη της Έμιλυ, που την ανακαίνισαν μαζί και στέγασε την ερωτική τους φωλιά – επιστημονικό εργαστήριο –κέντρο ιδεών. Το Cirey μπορείτε να το επισκεφτείτε ακόμα http://www.visitvoltaire.com/ (ρίξτε μια ματιά, αξίζει τον κόπο) και κατά καιρούς φιλοξενούσε όλους τους μεγάλους σύγχρονους επιστήμονες. Για τους γνωρίζοντες, ο Euler (ένας της οικογένειας) ήταν δάσκαλος του Βολταίρου και της Έμιλυ στα μαθηματικά, ενώ η αλληλογραφία έδινε και έπαιρνε. Ο σύζυγος της Έμιλυ επίσης ήταν συχνός επισκέπτης – και φυσικά ήξερε ο άνθρωπος τι γινόταν, για τους Γάλλους τότε αρκούσε η γυναίκα του Καίσαρα να φαίνεται τίμια, χωρίς απαραίτητα να είναι.

Αλήθεια, το ξέρατε πως ο Βολταίρος ήθελε πάρα πολύ να διακριθεί και στις επιστήμες, αλλά δεν ήταν τόσο καλός σε αυτόν τον τομέα; Η επιστήμη, πάντως, έχει και μια περισσότερο φιλοσοφική σκοπιά, όπου, στην προσπάθεια να βρεθούν επιχειρήματα για το διαχωρισμό κράτους και εκκλησίας, η ορθολογική ερμηνεία του κόσμου που μας περιβάλλει έρχεται να δέσει με τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα και να περιορίσει τη σωτηρία που υπόσχεται η εκκλησία κατ’ αποκλειστικότητα. Όλο αυτό διαχέεται έντονα μέσα στο έργο του Βολταίρου και κυρίως στο Candide, όπου περιγράφεται η διαφωνία του με την Έμιλυ, η οποία ήταν υπέρ του Λάιμπνιτς, ενώ ο ίδιος Νευτωνικός για τη «ζώσα δύναμη» (Αυτά θα σας τα παρουσιάσω στο Candide). Η Έμιλυ πάντως διαχώρισε έννοιες μπερδεμένες στη φυσική (κινητική ενέργεια/ορμή), εξήγαγε ξεκάθαρους τύπους και προσπάθησε να επιβεβαιώσει πειραματικά πολλά πράγματα. Είχε καλή κατανόηση των μαθηματικών αλλά και των γλωσσών, όπου μιλούσε τουλάχιστον πέντε.

Η Έμιλυ ντε Σατελιέ πέθανε στη γέννα στην ηλικία των 42 ετών. Πατέρας του παιδιού της ήταν ένας απίστευτος μαλάκας που δεν του αξίζει καν να αναφέρω το όνομά του. Ο Βολταίρος ήταν δίπλα της μέχρι την τελευταία στιγμή και δεν την ξέχασε ποτέ «I shall await you quietly, In my meridian in the fields of Cirey, Watching one star only, Watching my Emilie». Είχε σίγουρα πολλά ακόμα να προσφέρει… Αν ζούσε 200 χρόνια μετά νομίζω ότι θα είχαμε μια δεύτερη Μαντάμ Κιουρί.

Το βιβλίο δεν έχει μεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά και το διάβασα στα αγγλικά (δεν νομίζω όμως ότι θα μπορούσα να εκφραστώ όπως θα ήθελα στα αγγλικά για να γράψω κριτική). Ο συγγραφέας είναι επιστήμονας που εξειδικεύεται σε βιβλία εκλαϊκευμένης επιστήμης, με πιο γνωστό του έργο το E=mc2, το οποίο κυκλοφορεί στα ελληνικά. Οι επιστημονικές σελίδες είναι λίγες και μπορεί εύκολα να το διαβάσει ο καθένας. Ενδιαφέρον είναι και το ιστορικό πλαίσιό του, καθώς αναφέρεται σε όσα γίνονταν λίγα χρόνια πριν τη γαλλική επανάσταση. Την ιστορία της Έμιλυ την ήξερα από παλιότερα και χάρηκα που βρήκα αυτό το βιβλίο. Πολύ περισσότερο χάρηκα που είδα πως υπάρχουν και άλλα βιβλία και το έργο της δεν έχει ξεχαστεί.

[Tweedledum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and riveting account of the intertwined lives of Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire. Two brilliant minds who have been hugely influential on the development of the enlightenment and scientific thought, though in the case of Emilie her staggering contribution to science was largely forgotten or attributed to others until recently. Emilie seems to have lived her life with an extra-ordinary intensity especially in the last few months as she anticipated that she would not survive the birth of her third child and fought against time to complete her reworking of Newton's principia.

Their intertwined lives are brimming with incidents that one would struggle to credit if written in a novel. David Bodanis has brought them both back to vivid life and also in the process brought to life the world of C18 France and the reign of Louis XV.

[Shayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful read. It’s the story of Émilie du Châtelet, a mathematician, theoretical physicist, and philosopher. She and Voltaire were lovers for several years, and they remained devoted friends for the remainder of Émilie’s short life.

This is a story a writer of fiction would hardly dare invent. Romance, political intrigue, duels, financial scams, complex machinations with royalty and their hangers-on; Émilie’s life would seem extraordinary even without her significant contributions in mathematics and physics. This is a woman who translated Newton’s Principia, not just from Latin into French, but also casting the equations into a far more comprehensible calculus. And she did that in the last months of her life, during the pregnancy that she sensed would kill her.

Bodanis has an easy, highly readable style. The book has fairly copious end notes, and while I found myself wishing for more details of Émilie’s work, they would have made the book much longer, and perhaps diluted its effect. He includes a long list of further reading that I will certainly investigate. The one thing I felt the book lacked was an index; there are so many people named, and sometimes I wished I could quickly find where they’d appeared earlier in the book.

After her death, Voltaire wrote of her,

“I have lost the half of myself—a soul for which mine was made”.

I highly recommend the story of this astonishing woman. It moved me more than many a novel.

[Fiona Hurley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew I would like Emilie du Chatelet when I found out that she used her superior counting skills to win money at gambling and then spent her winnings on books! This is the fascinating real-life story about a famous writer and a not-as-famous-as-she-should-be scientist. Recommended to anyone interested in pre-Revolutionary France, nerds in history, or the Enlightenment in general.

[Fergie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of work by David Bodanis, Passionate Minds is the real-life retelling of the life of the astounding eighteenth century woman, Emilie du Chatelet, and the love affair she shared with perhaps the greatest known man from the Enlightenment -- Voltaire. This book was recommended to me by my sister. As I began to read, it became quickly evident that Du Chatelet was unfairly overshadowed by Voltaire in regard to the impact she had on the Enlightenment. Here is a woman who defied the customs of her day to seek mathematical and scientific discoveries of the world and universe, all with the handicap of not being afforded the great education that was provided to men during her lifetime. She not only survived in a man's world, she out-did the quickest minds of the men who ruled it. Hers was a mind of passionate wonder. Indeed, Bodanis seems to paint his subjects with a flair for understanding that both Du Chatelet and Voltaire were passionate human beings, driven towards each other and towards greater scientific discovery by an inner voice that guided them to become more than what their original stations in life seemed to offer them.

Voltaire, a commoner, defied the bounds of his class to become the greatest playwright and wordsmith the French had ever seen, later to find himself among the elites of the French & Prussian courts. And, despite Emilie du Chatelet's birth into an influential, aristocratic family, the time in which she was born indicated that limits would be placed upon her solely because of her gender. Both would reach beyond the bounds of these circumstances to unite in their mutual search for scientific discovery. Emilie's husband, understanding of her need to use her mind for greater gifts, not only seemed to encourage her need for intellectual pursuits, but seemed more than willing to accept and support her relationship with Voltaire.

In Passionate Minds, one cannot help but note that there always seemed a sense of insecurity with Voltaire. History paints Voltaire as a man of words, science, and moral acumen. Bodanis provides enough evidence to suggest Voltaire is indeed secure in his greatness, but goes further to describe Voltaire as a boastful man, sometimes stymied by vanity and insecurity, willing to take credit when credit is not solely due to him. Emilie, on the other hand, is painted as a passionate intellectual, brilliant in languages, astronomy & physics, and mathematics. If given proper due from history, history would see that she was perhaps the intellectual equal of the men whom she studied, notably John Locke, Sir Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Wilheim von Leibniz; certainly she was intellectually more superior to Voltaire (Bodanis suggests this truth was known by Voltaire himself and perhaps one of the major factors that eventually led the insecure Voltaire to break things off with Emilie).

Emilie du Chatelet's story is one filled with passionate love affairs and intellectual endeavors & discovery. Her teaming with Voltaire was most fruitful, providing for each a safe haven in which they could engage in their scientific labors of love. Their story is not free of disappointments, however, and most certainly, it was Du Chatelet who was at the receiving end of the more heart-breaking let downs that would ultimately lead to her death. Even her once beloved Voltaire was not exempt from hurting her, but through it all, what remained was a friendship, devotion, and bond that stood against all disappointments and betrayals. It is sad that Emilie du Chatelet is most noted in history as the lover of Voltaire. Bodanis attempts to change Du Chatelet as a footnote in history to a more relevant character by introducing us to the true genius that she was. Her translation of Newton's work stands the test of time and is proof of her greatness. The work she did and the discoveries she made would set the foundation for other great minds, most notably, Albert Einstein (in fact, Bodanis discovered Du Chatelet while researching his book, E=mc2). Emilie was superior to Voltaire and any of the mathematical and scientific men of her day in the breadth and depth of her intellectual prowess and understanding.

Bodanis should be commended for shedding more light on the amazingly astounding Emilie du Chatelet. Through Bodanis's Passionate Minds, I hope the world finally pays due respect to the wonderful, richly fascinating historical figure that was Emilie du Chatelet.

[Jennifer de Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voltaire, a literary genius, and Emilie du Chatelet, a scientific genius, had a fascinating and complex relationship. David Bodanis depicts that interweaving of love, admiration, respect, insecurity, secrecy, betrayal and reconciliation. It is to his credit that he has written about an important relationship that has for some time not been given the attention it deserves. Bodanis's thesis is that Voltaire and Emilie provided models of thinking people in an unconventional relationship (she was a married aristocratic woman, he an unmarried writer known for making caustic remarks) for thinkers throughout France, greatly influencing the movement of the Enlightenment.

Most poignant to me was Voltaire's feelings of inferiority to Emilie's brilliance with mathematics and science. As a man who wanted to be a modern thinker, he wanted to prove his ability in scientific fields but always fell far short of her. But he soon learned to apply scientific methods to the field in which his genius lay -- literature. Emilie, for her part, did not want to feed his insecurity and did much of her experimentation in secret.

However -- and I don't want to sound to snooty about it -- the book was not as intellectually vigorous as I would like. Bodanis does not attempt any meaningful analysis or criticism of either Voltaire's or du Chatelet's work, especially in how they influenced each other. He makes reference to a play Voltaire wrote to impress Emilie without even properly summarizing its plot; Emilie's revelation having to do with Newton's work about conservation of energy is never properly explained.

This is a fine book as an introduction to both Voltaire and du Chatelet. But I longed to delve deeper into the psychology and work of both people -- I'll be looking at other sources for that.

[Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, depending on what you're looking for. Given the very disparate natures of the two great personages this book chronicles, one might approach it from two main angles. Things look very different from Voltaire's eyes than from Émilie du Châtelet's, after all. By and large, the author does a very good job focusing on where the two converge. There are plenty of other interesting facets of 18th century France presented as well, of course.

As a Mathematics major, I was a little disappointed. I don't recall seeing any of Émilie's actual work in the book. In fact, just about the only numbers are dates. This is in stark contrast to Voltaire's work, whose excerpts are scattered all throughout. We're given to understand that Newton was a very brilliant and important person, and that Émilie, by understanding & improving upon his work so easily, was also such a person. Indubitably she was, but it would be nice to see for oneself.

As someone who very much enjoyed Candide and Other Stories, I was anything but disappointed with Voltaire's treatment. Rather, I felt enlightened. There were many such instances of sudden clarity, where I would have to stop and reflect back on one of his stories. The author makes it very clear just how close Voltaire's writing corresponded to the events of his life. I feel in retrospect that I should have known all this before reading his collected works in the first place; I may now have to read them again, for greater insight.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars * I absolutely loved this book. As well, I found the title spot on! Although nonfiction, at times the events within it read more like a novel. Bodanis actually discovered Emilie du Chatelet while researching another book he was writing about Einstein. What he discovered was a thunderbolt of a woman, whose scientific studies were a prelude to some of the greatest discoveries in physics, including Einstein's theory of relativity.

Amazingly, the book does not get bogged down with mathematical and scientific theories. While Emilie's findings in these areas are profound, the events in her life went beyond the exploration of intellectual discoveries. Here is where Bodanis shines. He focuses on the intrigues and love affairs that surrounded Emilie's life, most notably those surrounding her fifteen-year relationship with poet and philosopher Voltaire. Through this relationship we get a glimpse of the crumbling social order preceding the French Revolution, as well as the birth of the Enlightenment. The two lovers engage in a robust life vacillating between scientific exploration and intrigue at Versailles. Although Passionate Minds succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of Voltaire as a vulnerable lover, it's greatest achievement is opening us to the world of Emilie du Chatelet. While her life and death intricately revolved around her womanhood, this book succeeds in highlighting her life's achievements despite the limitations of the age in which she lived.

[Jenette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emilie du Chatelet is one of my favorite women in math and science. Known as Issac Newton's collaborator, this is an excellent well researched biography about this brilliant mathmetician and physicist, her groundbreaking translation and commentary of Sir Issac Newton's Principia Mathematica, her study of Isaac Newton, Isaac Newton's arch rival and enemy Gottfried Leibniz, Willem 's Gravesande, her indepth study of the bible trying to understand God better, and her career changing inspiration of her lover Voltaire. All during the age of Enlightenment when it was still considered wasteful to educate women. She laid important foundations that influenced science into the 20th century. Du Chetelet's advocacy of kinetic energy principle E ∝ mv², is a correct assessment of the kinetic energy found in classical mechanics and an influence on Einstein's E = mc². She was a huge advocate and force in the push for the higher education of women and fought for the best and highest education of her own children. David Bodanis did a wonderful job outlining Emilie du Chatelet's life, her years with Voltaire, her experiments, her curiosities, her insights into the bible and God, and her unsurpassed understanding of the work of Issac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The is an excellent glimpse into the life of a little known, but remarkable French woman. Emilie du Chatelet had a mind that not even the master of intellect, Voltaire, could hold a candle to her scientific and mathematical prowess.

The style is unique, as it reads more like a novel than an historical recount of 18th c. France. It is superbly researched and threaded together through the many extant letters of Voltaire. His early life is given rich historical context and the author does well to humanize him during his long affair with Emilie. We get to know Voltaire as a man, rather than a symbol of intellectual superiority.

On a whole I thought Bodanis really personalized these two fascinating individuals as well as their friends. He captured the spirit of Paris and the royal court of Louis that you can't help but feel connected to a place in time in history other than the present. If you desire to read about a woman who has a strenth of character that is truly extraordinary for the period than I highly recommend this book.

[Caryn Sobel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The personal story of Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire got old pretty quickly for me. Although I am sure the author drew his conclusions about their motivations from extensive reading of their letters and other writings, these were glossed over superficially, and it gave the book a pop-psychology feel. The dynamics of the working relationship between the two was more interesting than their romance, especially for any of us who work closely with partners in our fields.

I was interested in the history of intellectual thought during the Enlightenment, and I think the book did a better job here. By using two individuals of opposite sex and differing socioeconomic backgrounds, he had a neat presentation format for how intellectual thought and natural philosophy began to change during this period, from the perspective of two minds actively involved in the change itself.

I found the references and reading suggestions at the end to be the most valuable; they are substantial, and well-defined by the author. I have a new reading list to go on from here.

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

TMI! DISSAPOINTING.

“ ‘If I were king,’ she mulled in a later writing, ‘ women would be able to take part in all human rights, especially ones involving our reason.’ “—location 672/5457

What a terrific title: Passionate Minds. Hard to resist. What a disappointment that passions of the flesh seemed to hold such a gossipy, fascination for the author, David Bodanis.

A glimpse at the workings and the output of two brilliant minds of The Enlightment… priceless.

A feel for the ambiance, the attitudes, the people, and the culture of 18th century France—even the droll excesses, corruption, and self-indulgence… perhaps worth the effort.

The dalliances—sleazy, illicit, and salacious, or not—of somebody-or-other’s, third cousin’s casual friend, now centuries dead… boring.

Recommendation: Too many words for too little reward.

“He then visualized men as they really are, insects devouring one another on a little atom of mud.”—location 3250/5457

Kindle edition, 5457 locations

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book arrived at my office for preview and I picked it up. I wasn't expecting much, but instead thoroughly enjoyed reading about the history of pre-revolutionary France and a women who was incredibly modern for her time. She elaborated on Newton's theories and Voltaire had a hell of a time trying to keep up.

Voltaire was also pretty amazing, not only was he a renegage poet and playwright but he was also a savvy business men who bought and sold in order to fund his writing habit.

I also really liked Galileo's Daughter, which was similar thematically.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

A recounting of the events surrounding the romantic relationship of Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire, with a particular emphasis on emphasizing du Chatelet's contributions to science through her modernizing reinterpretation of Newton's Principia. As advertised in the covers, the events in these lives are almost absurdly thrilling, to the point where it may sometimes make the most brazen paperback adventure story feel down-to-earth. Simply living such an eventful life is probably enough justification for writing a biography, but on top of that Emilie (despite her fundamental scientific and philosophical contributions to Enlightenment thinking) is nowadays little-known and underappreciated. So it's natural that someone coming across Emlie's life might feel compelled to write a biography.

I just can't help feeling that the author was maybe not the best person for the job. It feels mean to say, but reading this book felt like a strange duality of being engaged by the highly interesting subject matter while being put-off and bored by the lackluster presentation of the content. Furthermore I can't really put my finger on any tangible stylistic points that lead to this impression, besides the author's tendency to sometimes chime in with a tongue-in-cheek comment on some person's personality flaws. Which are a bit off-putting but aren't enough to weigh down the book on their own.

Overall, a great story that is worth learning about, and this book is probably the best way to go about doing so right now.

[Shaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly engaging and informative combination of history and biography. It was great reading about both Emelie and Voltaire and their lives and works. I could have used more focus on the science, but the glimpses into the 18th century life and culture of France were vivid and fascinating.

[Forest Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

An impressively researched, vividly told story of two amazing intellects and their wild and boundary-smashing lives.

[Stephen Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well crafted biography of two lovers -- and two great minds -- that paved the way for the Enlightenment. We know the poet, Voltaire, he of the great Candide, among his many other works. Much less is known about his lifelong companion and on-again, off-again lover, Emilie du Chatelet, an educated and brilliant scientist whose work on Newton help paved the way for an entire century of scientists.

Set in the early 18th Century, the biography reads like a romance, a history text, and a volume of hard science rolled together in a pleasing and thoughtful narrative that never slows or loses its momentum. Voltaire is a captivating character, and a thoroughly modern one as well. (One would only wonder what he would have done with a twitter account) His achievements follow the many valleys in his life, and its good to see that Bodanis does not skim over the great writer's many faults.

As for his partner, there's sadness here, unavoidable as we look at what du Chatelet went through during a time when most women were only marginally educated and pushed to the edges of society. And yet, throughout the book we sense her commitment, both to her work and her desire for freedom, and it lingers well after the book is over.

More than anything, it is the sense of human possibility that drives the book forward. Much like the Enlightenment that will follow them in the years to come. Bodanis is on firm ground here, with protagonists who left behind numerous letters and written accounts of their work and actions, and he does the story right by focusing on the lesser known du Chatelet. She is something of a tragic figure, but her fierceness and vulnerability leap off the pages, and when the book ends, we can't help but wonder about our own commitment. Our own goals.

Throughout their lives, Voltaire and Emilie served as a shining example to their culture that life need not be lived a certain way. That the church and the king and the aristocracy could not and would not dictate what they did and how they did it. That doesn't seem like much now, but in a time when poets like Voltaire could (and were) thrown in prison for writing uncomplimentary rhymes about the monarchy, their stubborn resistance left a legacy to the generations that followed. A legacy that even now, is one we should never forget.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discussions of Newtown, Locke, Leibniz were lacking in context/depth, but a great job narrativizing Voltaire and Du Chatelet's romance with only first person letters in a light way. Pretty good job illustrating the nature of enlightenment transgression against prevailing social norms- i.e., any transgression fundamentally relies on what it trangresses, the invention of some new content can only occur in the illusory form of returning to the past original truth. It was also a very funny observation that Voltaire's satire of Leibnizian optimism is effected by his spats with Du Chatelet and Du Chatelet no longer being convinced by Newton's brilliance.

- Voltaire's Love Poems:
- “…Why did you only reach me so late? What happened to my life before? I hunted for love, but found only mirages. I found only the shadow of our pleasure. You are a delight. You are tender. What pleasure I find in your arms.”

“she came up with insights on the nature of light that set the stage for the future discovery of photography, as well as of infrared radiation. Her later work was even more fundamental, for she played a key role in transforming Newton's thought for the modern era.”

“Emilie raced in conversation, eyes sparkling, faster than anyone Voltaire had ever met. He adored her youth and intelligence (she was twenty-seven when they met), and she teased him for that; but she was thankful, deeply, that she'd finally found someone with whom she could let her intelligence pour forth. ”

“They galvanized such then unknown young men as Helvétius, d'Alembert, and Diderot, whose writings and edited volumes spread Enlightenment ideas even more widely.”

“A gentler critique came from the American academic Carl Becker, who concentrated on the way many Enlightenment thinkers seemed just to be transposing the religious ideals they'd been brought up with, even in their recommendations about ostensibly secular policies. As Simone Weil put it in a different context, it was as if they believed one could get to heaven simply by marching straight ahead.”

“Gabrielle-Anne was one of those once-beautiful women who forever remain unhappy in life, however wealthy they are. “I don't think that anyone ever saw her smile,” a regular visitor remarked, “except in a weary, condescending way.”

“The purpose, as every woman understood, was to get a man who, in the later immortal words of Dorothy Parker, should be wealthy, loyal, and dumb.”

"All Voltaire was really doing was giving his audience an outlet for their general discontents. Nobody, of course, took it as undercutting the whole system of kings and regents and court appointees, for no one in the audience felt they were living seventy years before the French Revolution. On the contrary, they were part of a world that had existed stably for untold centuries, where there was a royal elite on top of society, peasants at the bottom, and a strict class system safely holding all the parts in between together. To move to better positions within that system might be desirable, and to be reminded of how so many individuals blocked you was satisfying as well. But there was no thought of putting the system as a whole in question.”

“ In the late 1600s France had dominated the Western world: it had the greatest army, the greatest economy, the greatest architects and engineers and thinkers. But from the latter years of the 1600s, in a decay accelerated by the old Louis's vicious attack on all French Protestants, forcing his country's greatest entrepreneurs to leave, the country's apparent success masked a steady decline.”

“The trick was to be able to hold two views at once. The married Louis XIV, for example, would always stop his carriage when he passed a priest, and bow with full sincerity—even if he was in the carriage because he was heading off for an afternoon with one of his innumerable mistresses. All of France worked that way. Censorship, for example, was not a matter of either/or. There was an intermediate category of “tacit” censorship, where a work was somewhat illegal, but not strongly so: the author could publish a few copies so long as he was discreet. (Even the king's chief censor, in a later generation, temporarily used his own home to hide copies of a work he didn't want to be generally circulated, yet which he didn't want to be entirely destroyed either.) Marriage was a matter of financial and social alliance between families, and so long as that was respected, the natural passions that humans felt could be fulfilled without destabilizing the system.”

“The duel had to begin quickly, since the siege commander had at least ostensible orders to avert fighting among his own staff. Duelling had increased in recent years. Cavalry officers lusted for it, not least because they hardly ever got to use their swords in the charges they'd been trained for. (Those charges were becoming too dangerous when thousands of enemy infantry faced them with loaded muskets.) Also, more and more nobles felt they needed to defend their status, since ever more newcomers, such as Richelieu, were being brought into traditional, old-establishment ranks.”

“It was one of the fundamental acts of the Enlightenment, this questioning the bases of beliefs that had been held for centuries. There was a great bravery here, for almost every law and procedure in society ultimately depended on traditional religious beliefs. ”

“If country life could be made genuinely attractive—if the top nobles ever decided to leave this easily supervised clustering at Versailles— then who could say whether the centralized royal state would be able to survive?”

“The trick, Voltaire knew, was never to pretend an affection you didn't feel. Any intelligent person would see through that. Rather, you need to find what you genuinely do like about a person and then go ahead and share that.”
“1733 Pope had begun publishing his long verse essay titled Essay on Man”
- “Pope's content was clearly inadequate, and when the poem first came out, Voltaire and Emilie had laughed at how the poor Englishman had lived up to national stereotypes by forgetting to list passion as one of the motivating forces in life. But as a professional writer, Voltaire found it intriguing to see a tightly structured, very long poem that at least tried to carry through a systematic account of human nature in the world. It could be a great way to let out one's inner feelings.”

“This is because he'd accepted, as did everyone else in France, that there was a hierarchy in writing styles, and near the top was the form known as the alexandrine, where each line has twelve syllables and a pause is mandatory after the sixth syllable. Sometimes the repetitive singsong that results works well, as anyone who's taken trains in France will remember. The standard boarding announcement—“Messieurs, dames les voyageurs, en voiture s'il vous plaît ”—is close to an alexandrine. But used for hours on end it gets hard to take.

One sentence must rise and, from that peak it must fall This may happen quickly, or it may then be slow But it must keep on thus, however dull the rush”

“When a couple first meets, their relation can just be of two bodies, entranced in a timeless space, and there the younger one naturally has the advantage. As time goes on, though, wider life enters in.”

[Spencer Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Narrative re-telling of Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet’s famed love affair set against the backdrop of the inchoate Age of Enlightenment.

Lots of fun 16th century asides about love and sex and marriage and class. Less attention is paid to Voltaire’s life and works after Chatelet’s death (Candide, specifically).

It’s clear that Chatelet’s advancement of Newton had a more profound affect on life as we know it today than any poesy or prose Voltaire produced. And it’s clear that when Voltaire had a hard time dealing with Emilie’s genius for experimentation, despite her lack of inclusion in the greater scientific community, he responded as most men do. It’s sad he didn’t champion her like she him.

The real travesty for Chatelet was to be impregnated by a priggish poet of little talent after the age of 40. Ultimately, it’s what forced her to rush her work on Newton because she knew childbirth would kill her.

There are broader societal takeaways, but I’m too angry thinking about what more she could have done if she had not taken up with Saint-Lambert, but he did seem to make her happy.

Regardless of her early end, Chatelet’s work and her relationship with Voltaire was a crucial development in philosophy, literature, social sciences, and mathematics. They were the Jay and Bey of their world, and I’d encourage any history or science buff check it out.

[Benjamin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is, first and foremost, as story of the decades long love affair between Emilie du Chatelet and Voltaire. The title surely doesn't lie. Unfortunately, I didn't find the love story particularly interesting. Voltaire and du Chatelet did all those standard (and quite boring, when you're on the outside looking in) things that lovers do -- talked late into the night, cooed in silly love notes to each other, and had lots and lots of sex.

What I found much more interesting was the societal context within which the love affair occurred. Voltaire was from the working class, du Chatelet was an aristocrat, and they shared intense philosophical and scientific interests. Their relationship, Voltaire's political writings, and du Chatelet's scientific work challenged the religious and political moors which existed to ensure the dominance of the wealthy ruling class. Unfortunately, while these structures were raised for context, they were not really given as much attention as I would have liked.

[Katelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

For as much as the introduction made big claims about how dismissive history has been of Du Chatelet's accomplishments, Bodanis sure went out of his way to focus on her sex life and center her story around Voltaire - up to and including unsubstantiated claims of an affair with her math tutor and others. I found this annoying at best and gross most often. Having read extensively about the language that letters of this time were composed in, I find his interpretation that she was having sex with everyone she spoke flowery to is just typically inappropriate and fits with every other view of her that came before him. To say that I was disappointed in this book would be a major understatement, as many times I was audibly arguing with it after writing one of my Grad school papers on her. Two stars awarded for what information he included about her that was factual, because it's not that he fictionalized the whole thing. He did not. Her relation to Voltaire is indisputable, but it was not the central focus of her life. This book does her a terrible disservice in painting it as such.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I heard that this book was about some of the greatest minds of the enlightenment and their struggle to bring about a new world based on rationality, but what I saw was a book that couldn't go two pages without some sort of erotic reference or asinine pillow-talk. If these two were the height of enlightenment thinking, then we need to seriously reconsider putting the enlightenment on a pedestal. And if this book is merely an erotic fan-fiction of the lives of perfectly rational revolutionaries, then it should be shamed from existence. I found myself simply incapable of finishing this book. It might get "better at the end," but nothing could make up for depicting two of the greatest minds of the enlightenment as angst-driven horny toads who only want to rebel so that they can have more raucous sex.
Also, if I had the same edition of the book that is featured on Goodreads ("featuring seditious verse!"), I wouldn't have even opened it.