author
William Denton
1823–1883
A self-taught geologist, lecturer, and reformer, this nineteenth-century writer moved easily between science, social causes, and the stranger edges of belief. His work offers a vivid glimpse of a restless mind drawn to both the natural world and the mysteries he thought it might conceal.
1 Audiobook
The Deluge in the Light of Modern Science: A Discourse
by William Denton
About the author
Born in Darlington, England, in 1823, William Denton became known as a self-taught geologist, author, and public lecturer. He emigrated to the United States in 1848 and built a career through teaching, writing, and speaking rather than through a conventional academic path.
Denton wrote on science and reform, and he was also active as a preacher and lecturer on controversial subjects. He is especially remembered for promoting psychometry, the idea that objects could retain impressions that sensitive people might read, which placed him at an unusual meeting point between popular science, radical thought, and the occult.
He died in 1883 while returning from a lecture tour in Australia. Today, he remains an intriguing figure for readers interested in the energetic, wide-ranging intellectual culture of the nineteenth century.