Story profile
G-NRIS™ identifies Strange Science primarily as Non-fiction, History, and Science Studies. Its strongest themes include Victorian Science, Pseudoscience and Fringe Science, and Cultural Representations of Science.
Strange Science
Adult • British & Irish
Investigating the Limits of Knowledge in the Victorian Age
The essays in Strange Science examine marginal, fringe, and unconventional forms of scientific inquiry and their cultural representations in the Victorian period. The volume treats fields now often labeled pseudoscientific, such as mesmerism and psychical research, alongside branches like physics and botany that were once associated with unorthodox methods of inquiry.
Whether later incorporated into mainstream scientific thought or categorized by twenty-first century historians as pseudo- or anti-scientific, these sciences generated conversation, enthusiasm, and controversy within Victorian society. The collection places a range of sciences in conversation and shows how scientific discourse of the period was frequently radically speculative.
Essays examine how Victorian mesmerism, psychical research, and even physics and botany used unconventional methods that blurred boundaries between mainstream and marginal science.
Buy the Book
bks.social Reader Actions
Choose a book format
Pick a format, then compare retailer prices. The main button points to the preferred option for the selected format.
Edition information
Book details
- Publisher
- University of Michigan Press
- Publication date
- May 9, 2017
- Print length
- 306 pages
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9780472900770
British & Irish
Reader guide
What to Know Before Reading Strange Science
The description focuses on historical and cultural examination of scientific practices in the Victorian period. Much of the setup centers on contrasts between marginalized investigations like mesmerism and psychical research and more established fields such as physics and botany. The supernatural or speculative elements appear tied to methods of inquiry rather than presented as straightforward fiction. This may appeal more to someone interested in interdisciplinary scholarship on Victorian science, cultural representation, and the history of the body.
Join the Reader List
Join bks.social’s reader list for book recommendations, reader updates, featured titles, and occasional community news. No noise. Just the important things.
G-NRIS™ story intelligence
Why readers connect with Strange Science
A concise view of the book’s strongest literary signals and the reading interests shared by people connected to it on bks.social.
About the author
Lara Pauline Karpenko, Shalyn Rae Claggett
Lara Pauline Karpenko is an Associate Professor of English at Carroll University and a Victorian literature scholar best known as co‑editor of the University of Michigan Press volume Strange Science: Investigating the Limits of Knowledge in the Victorian Age.
Join the book lovers community
Continue the conversation in the Book Hub for Strange Science
Visit bks.social’s Book Hub for reader discussions, reviews, posts, quotes, questions, reading activity, related books, and G-NRIS story intelligence.