Practical Purposes: Readers in Experimental Philosophy at the Boston Athenaeum (1827-1850)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Practical Purposes explores connections between what antebellum practitioners in Boston were reading and what they were building between 1827 and 1850. Along the way the book examines why some books on technical topics were preferred to others. Based on the books borrowed registers of the Boston Athenaeum, the book details reading in ten scientific and engineering fields including hydraulics, chemistry, mathematics, and geology.