The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest
"Principe is to be congratulated on bringing [Boyle] into a new focus."--D. M. Knight,Nature"The Aspiring Adeptis an audacious, enchanting, and deeply rewarding book, one that will be of equal interest to historians, chemists, and interested laypersons. It is a real treat."--A. J. Rocke,Chemistry in Britain"Lawrence Principe's book goes a long way toward recovering the complexity of Boyle's mind and work. . . . [His] ability to reconstruct Boyle's laboratory practices, ascertain the relations between Boyle and a large community of like-minded practitioners, and retrieve, fully or partially, some of Boyle's alchemical writings is . . . remarkable."--Mordechai Feingold,American Scientist"Principe has performed a great service by printing some of the choicer parts [of Boyle's unpublished works]. . . . [He] avoids the easy temptation to interpret Boyle's alchemical operations in terms of modern chemistry."--Peter Dear,Physics World