The Italian electrical scientist who may have inspired Frankenstein

I wasn't (and am not) especially interested in the book, but I did enjoy that episode -- and in general really love In Our Times. It is truly free education for the "educated layman".

It is a great story and even more when you learn that it was written by a teenager, Mary Shelley. This episode In Our Time is very interesting as are all the others on the Romantic era [1].

I just finished reading Frankenstein with my 12 years-old daughter. We read the original 1818 version "annotated for scientists, engineers, and creators of all kinds." [2] If you want to get more of the flavor of the time in which Frankenstein was written, there is The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. He discusses many of the interesting figures of the period including Joseph Banks and William Herschell (talk about makers, telescopes in his case). [3] There is a book which I can't wait to get now that I've gone down this rabbit hole, The Science of Life and Death in 'Frankenstein'. [4]

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01hjm2s

[2] https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3542/FrankensteinAnnotated...

[3] https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/82017/the-age-of-wo...

[4] https://bodleianshop.co.uk/products/science-of-life-and-deat...

Galvatron!