BOOK
The Invention Of Air, by Steven Johnson
Penguin, £9.99
3/5
IN A NUTSHELL
Steven Johnson examines the life of Enlightenment genius Joseph Priestley, an unassuming man with a vast impact.
REVIEW
Joseph Priestley was a towering figure of Enlightenment England. Briefly a resident of Hackney, this free-thinking natural philosopher made significant contributions in the fields of science, politics and religion that, individually, would have secured his place in the pantheon of revolutionaries.
The fact that he is perhaps not so well known as this country's almost mythical thinkers - a Darwin or a Newton - is maybe a result of his self-effacing way. He was a great believer in open networks of information and his method of working was haphazard and driven by amateur curiosity rather than the obsessional measurement of incremental change.
His most notable discovery - that of oxygen - was perhaps not even his own, as author Steven Johnson suggests. And, as it was accompanied by a wholly discredited fellow travelling theory of phlogiston, it makes his claim more murky, even though he could now be considered the father of the terribly trendy science of eco-systems.
Author Steven Johnson paints a picture of the controversialist as a naïf, skipping lightly through arenas of received wisdom, upsetting apple carts and then looking on aghast at what he had done. He appeared not to recognise the incendiary products of his radical opinions.
But eventually his views, particularly on religion and his founding of the Unitarian church, became unpalatable and he was forced to flee the country, pursued by the rabble - only to stir up more trouble in his new home across the Atlantic.
New Yorker Johnson has written a book for a US audience. Alongside the usual semantic differences, Johnson has need to explain something of Britain and, wherever possible, pulls in some US figure of renown as a measuring stick against which to mark Priestley's worth. Johnson rushes to Benjamin Franklin whenever he is able and they share the book's early chapters like a double act.
However, this can be forgiven if only because Priestley was one of Britain's finest exports to the colonies.
The polymath spent his last years in the US, a confidante - and critic - of presidents and their policies, and even after his death his previous correspondence ignited an exchange of letters between his friends Thomas Jefferson and John Adams that to this day stand as an vital insight into the trials of building a country on a foundation of liberty.
Johnson's book is a compelling read and his Priestley is a revelation. One note of detraction though - while Johnson attempts to embrace the whole gamut of human inquiry provide great insight, they leave his attempts to stitch together the contradiction of the great man undeveloped.
Whereas great men write of Priestley's impact and can recall decades later their briefest exchanges, Johnson struggles to encapsulate the aspects of his character that made him so memorable.
Priestley's thoughts may have made a profound impact on the 18th century but, frustratingly, Priestley the man treads lightly through these pages.
