Review of ‘Erasmus Darwin: Sex, science, and serendipity’ by Patricia FaraCITATION: Fara, P. (2012). Erasmus Darwin: Sex, science, and serendipity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Reviewer: Dr William P. PalmerI have enjoyed reading this book ‘Erasmus Darwin: sex, science, and serendipity’ which I had started, wrongly expecting it to be a straightforward biography of Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin. The standard features of a biography are present, though only as a bare summary of his life (pp. 19 – 29). The book is however 258 pages long or 322 pages if notes, appendix and index are included.Patricia Fara explores the life of Erasmus Darwin through the three major poems that he wrote and through a poem called ‘The love of triangles’ that mocked Darwin, his poetry and his politics. Darwin was on the left of the politics of his time, having some sympathy with the ideals of the French revolution, with industrialization, with the independence of the American colonies and with the abolition of slavery. His views appear from time to time in his poetry though they are hidden within stories of classical mythology and also in the newly emerging system of botanical classification. His poetical style appears pompous but distinctive though it was easily mocked by the politically powerful authors of ‘The love of triangles’.He was a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham which included Josiah Wedgewood James Watt, Matthew Boulton, Joseph Priestley and unofficially Joseph Wright of Derby with the lives of some of these men and others within the Lunar Society becoming a part of the story. The three poems discussed within the biography are ‘The loves of plants’, ‘The economy of vegetation’ and ‘The temple of nature’. Gradually the life of Erasmus Darwin is revealed by examining his poetry and exposing his views in contrast to the views expressed within the poem called ‘The love of triangles’.I did not find the book easy reading even though Patricia Fara has solved many of the puzzles, but I did feel that she had opened a feeling for the spirit of the times in which Erasmus Darwin lived and provided a novel way of writing a historical biography.BILL PALMER