Books by John Holmes

Built between 1855 and 1860, Oxford University Museum of Natural History is the extraordinary result of close collaboration between Pre-Raphaelite artists and scientists. 'Temple of Science' sets out the history of the campaign to build the museum before taking the reader on a tour of art in the museum itself.

Darwin's Bards is the first comprehensive study of how poets have responded to the ideas of Charles Darwin in over fifty years. John Holmes argues that poetry can have a profound impact on how we think and feel about the Darwinian condition. Is a Darwinian universe necessarily a godless one? If not, what might Darwinism tell us about the nature of God? Is Darwinism compatible with immortality, and if not, how can we face our own deaths or the loss of those we love? What is our own place in the Darwinian universe, and our ecological role here on earth? How does our kinship with other animals affect how we see them? How does the fact that we are animals ourselves alter how we think about our own desires, love and sexual morality? All told, is life in a Darwinian universe grounds for celebration or despair? Holmes explores the ways in which some of the most perceptive and powerful British and American poets of the last hundred-and-fifty years have grappled with these questions, from Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning and Thomas Hardy, through Robert Frost and Edna St Vincent Millay, to Ted Hughes, Thom Gunn, Amy Clampitt and Edwin Morgan. Reading their poetry, we too can experience what it can mean to live in a Darwinian world. Written in an accessible and engaging style, and aimed at scientists, theologians, philosophers and ecologists as well as poets, critics and students of literature, Darwin's Bards is a timely intervention into the heated debates over Darwin's legacy for religion, ecology and the arts.

In 1870, Dante Gabriel Rossetti published his sonnet sequence "The House of Life". Many poets wrote thousands of sonnets resulting in the flourishing of the sonnet sequence since the 1590s. This study explores the causes behind this outpouring, providing the contributions of the late Victorian sonneteers to the poetry and culture of their age.

'It can be said at once that this book should be on the shelf of every farmer and shepherd who owns a dog or who is contemplating the purchase of one. Mr Holmes really gets behind the mind of the dog and "what makes it tick". That is why his advice is so sound.' - Farmer and Stockbreeder'John Holmes has picked out the essentials and backed them up with clear reasons with an enviable skill... No better book could be recommended to a farmer, old or young, who wishes to train working dogs for use with stock.' - Journal of Farmers' Club'Though The Farmer's Dog is essentially intended for the bookshelves of the farmer, or working-dog owner, there is much to interest all lovers of dogs in its pages ... extremely well illustrated.' - Dog World 'He has an understanding of dogs which has hardly been surpassed in the written word and if you are at heart a dog-lover you will enjoy and profit from every chapter.' - Farming News