On Giants' Shoulders : Great Scientists and Their Discoveries From Archimedes to DNA

Rating:
Summary: Broad Shoulders Indeed
Review: As a non-scientist, I especially appreciate this book which "focuses on twelve scientists who, in the last two thousand five hundred years, changed the world as we perceive it and as we live in it. From Archimedes in Ancient Greece to Francis Crick and James Watson in mid-twentieth century England, these landmark minds, their lives, their struggles, their colleagues and rivals are explored and unravelled by some of today's leading scientists. In combination, their stories and discoveries constitute a single guide to the history of science." We are indeed provided with a wealth of information about both their "stories" and their "discoveries." I especially enjoyed the chapters on Newton, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein but found all of the other commentaries well worth reading, also. The history of science is, in essence, a history of discovery, and the most important discoveries are of ideas. In this invaluable volume, Bragg makes understandable what has been until now (for this non-scientist, at least) a "marvellous enterprise" of human experience and intellectual achievement otherwise inaccessible.

Rating:
Summary: Unique study of giants
Review: Bragg demonstrates how a "dabbler" in science can lead one more deeply into the research realm. Using his generalist background, he shows how anyone can appreciate what science can achieve and what it means to us all. A feeling of "being left out piqued his interest and he decided to seek out what he had missed. His technique is one any of us can follow - his interest was piqued by the growing number of works for the general reader. He didn't expect to become an "expert player", but through these works could at least be "at the game".

His study of fifteen key figures in science becomes a summation of what he garnered through reading and interviews. Bragg's long journalism career gave him an entry key and many insights in dealing with the "giants" and their interpreters. Having discovered several in this role, he has formulated a survey that will be valuable to many. Using a technique combining the interview with the works of good writers, he's created a readable, cogent overview of what science is and what it means. From Archimedes through Newton, Darwin and Curie to Watson and Crick you are given a variety of views of the key figures. The importance of each is stated clearly, mixed with what is known of their characters and background.

In his conclusion, titled "Where Are We Now?", Bragg makes an excellent summary of the impact of these seminal thinkers. As an observer, he claims to have produced a "map" of scientific thinking. The map is incomplete, but evokes an image of science as a "human exercise intent on examining the meaning and purpose as much as the structure of life today". It's a fine summary conclusion to his outstanding effort to help bring science to anyone wishing to learn its values. The future, his interviewees stress, will be one of further, deeper discoveries. His "giants" are in reality the ideas they developed, not in any way the scientists themselves. From Newton's irascibility to Darwin's diffidence, all these figures retain a strongly variant human identity. If nothing else, this book imparts the idea that science belongs to us all and can be furthered by anyone interested enough to undertake investigating unanswered questions. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Rating:
Summary: Unique study of giants
Review: Bragg demonstrates how a "dabbler" in science can lead one more deeply into the research realm. Using his generalist background, he shows how anyone can appreciate what science can achieve and what it means to us all. A feeling of "being left out piqued his interest and he decided to seek out what he had missed. His technique is one any of us can follow - his interest was piqued by the growing number of works for the general reader. He didn't expect to become an "expert player", but through these works could at least be "at the game".

His study of fifteen key figures in science becomes a summation of what he garnered through reading and interviews. Bragg's long journalism career gave him an entry key and many insights in dealing with the "giants" and their interpreters. Having discovered several in this role, he has formulated a survey that will be valuable to many. Using a technique combining the interview with the works of good writers, he's created a readable, cogent overview of what science is and what it means. From Archimedes through Newton, Darwin and Curie to Watson and Crick you are given a variety of views of the key figures. The importance of each is stated clearly, mixed with what is known of their characters and background.

In his conclusion, titled "Where Are We Now?", Bragg makes an excellent summary of the impact of these seminal thinkers. As an observer, he claims to have produced a "map" of scientific thinking. The map is incomplete, but evokes an image of science as a "human exercise intent on examining the meaning and purpose as much as the structure of life today". It's a fine summary conclusion to his outstanding effort to help bring science to anyone wishing to learn its values. The future, his interviewees stress, will be one of further, deeper discoveries. His "giants" are in reality the ideas they developed, not in any way the scientists themselves. From Newton's irascibility to Darwin's diffidence, all these figures retain a strongly variant human identity. If nothing else, this book imparts the idea that science belongs to us all and can be furthered by anyone interested enough to undertake investigating unanswered questions. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Rating:
Summary: On Giants Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries
Review: In a search for science biographies to add to our college's science library collection, I first purchased On Giants' Shoulders based upon a favorable review from Choice (Jan. 2000) that characterized the book as ". . . a well-written volume that can be understood by anyone." Science biographies can be very technical or very dry and, consequently, not for the non-specialist. Also, scholarly biographies that cover a collection of scientists usually follow a theme (such as women in science or great minds in biology), so I was taken with the idea of a chronology of scientific discoveries through a biographical approach. Since its arrival in the library, I have read the book twice. Its appeal lies in its conversational style (the text is partly based on radio interviews with famous scientists) and recurrent themes addressed from many different points of view - a technique reminiscent of the book The Ghost in the Atom (Cambridge University Press, 1986). One reviewer refers to the book's style as "gossip" and likens the presentation of events to a soap opera. Why not? Science is a world full of intrigue and scientists should be portrayed as having a human side as well as an intellectual side. The book is a wonderful way to introduce young people to the realm of science, and I have ordered personal copies for children of my friends and relatives.

Rating:
Summary: This outstanding science history is superbly written
Review: Melvyn Bragg's On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists And Their Discovers From Archimedes To DNA explores the twelve greatest minds in the history of science and ranges from the foundation of hydrostatics in the third Century B.C. to the discovery of the human DNA structure and gene mapping of our present day. This outstanding science history is superbly written, splendidly presented, totally reader friendly, and ideal for both the science history student and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in knowing more about the science and scientists who have made modern life possible.

Rating:
Summary: PERSONALITY OF SCIENTISTS COME TO LIFE!
Review: On Giants' Shoulders is a tribute to twelve scientists who, in the last two thousand five hundred years, changed the world both as we perceive it and as we live in it. Their minds, their lives, their struggles, their colleagues and rivals are explored and unravelled by some of today's leading scientists. Taken together, their stories and discoveries constitute a guide to the history of science.

A bestseller in England, this book combines engaging portraits of these figures with accessible discussions of their most important discoveries. Those profiled are Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Lavoisier, Faraday, Darwin, Poincaré, Freud, Curie, Einstein, Francis Crick and James Watson. Their stories are enhanced by insights provided by interviews with some of today's leading scientists, including Paul Davies, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, John Gribbin, Sir Roger Penrose, Sir Martin Rees and Oliver Sacks.

Based on interviews broadcast over British radio, this book differs from the radio series in the ampler amount of material contained, as it was possible to include more material from the original transcripts, which had been mercilessly pruned for the thirty-minute radio programmes.

Melvyn Bragg is an acclaimed journalist and the host of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week. He is also the author of seventeen novels and five works of non-fiction, including biographies of Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier.

Rating:
Summary: SCIENCE COMES ALIVE
Review: Science is a subject filled with theories, facts, mathematical abstractions and other obtuse ideas that bore adults and puts average students to sleep in their science class. One encounter with Bragg's exploration of the greatest minds in the history of science totally changes that viewpoint. Science and those who contributed to it are not boring. Under Bragg's meticulous care, science comes ALIVE.

Bragg profiles twelve scientific figures whose genius have altered and impacted on the way we view our world. Archimedes, Newton, Farraday and Freud are just a few of the characters whose lives and works are described for us in the text. On reading about them we come across people who are fallable, arrogant, eccentric, charitable and somewhat dull. In other words they share all the foibles of humanity. Yet these individuals built for us a foundation in which we have become the inheritors of the marvels of science.

Bragg's doesn't bogg you down in the myraid details and theories of each person's contribution. He puts them in the context of their times, shows why their discovery was so significant and engages them as human beings. He further invites contemporary scientists to debate the merits of each historical character. From their debate we are forced to rethink about whether the person's idea/thought was original or merely the result of the collaboration of others. Such a discussion alone is ripe for new ideas on how we view science.

Bragg does have some faults. Except for Marie Curie there is an absence of women in his treatsie. Science is also deemed an exclusive enclave of the western world. In his chapter concerning where we are know scientists from the non-western world are not included in the discussion. Hopefully these faults will be corrected in his future text on this subject. Other than that this book is a good stimulator for both young and old people who have been turned off by science. It gives science a human face and makes those scientifical foundations (which we take for granted)understandable.

Rating:
Summary: British scientists talk about their heroes
Review: This book is a collection of write-ups of BBC radio show programs about the heroes of British scientists. Each chapter considers a prominent scientist of the past, such as Archimedes, and then presents a synopsis of interviews and discussions with modern-day British academic scientists about the featured scientist of the past. Through the interviews, we gain an understanding of the opinions of the modern-day scientists concerning their academic heroes, mixed in with some of the facts concerning their lives and discoveries. The book is thick with opinions and philosophy compared to the amount of factual information it contains about the featured scientists. If you are interested in what modern British scientists have to say about some famous scientists of the past, then this book is for you. But if you're looking for a book where you can learn something about the famous scientists themselves or a summary of their discoveries, you should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: British scientists talk about their heroes
Review: This book is a collection of write-ups of BBC radio show programs about the heroes of British scientists. Each chapter considers a prominent scientist of the past, such as Archimedes, and then presents a synopsis of interviews and discussions with modern-day British academic scientists about the featured scientist of the past. Through the interviews, we gain an understanding of the opinions of the modern-day scientists concerning their academic heroes, mixed in with some of the facts concerning their lives and discoveries. The book is thick with opinions and philosophy compared to the amount of factual information it contains about the featured scientists. If you are interested in what modern British scientists have to say about some famous scientists of the past, then this book is for you. But if you're looking for a book where you can learn something about the famous scientists themselves or a summary of their discoveries, you should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Shallow, no discussion of what each scientist accomlished
Review: This book makes only brief, passing references about what each scientist accomplished. It instead is a collection personal opinions about the general merit of each scientist - sort of a printed gossip column.