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Rating: 
Summary: Descends into the pseudoscientific style
Review: Dr. Louis A. Frank has emphatically championed a very controversial theory. He believes that approximately 40,000 small comets are bombarding the Earth every day. In his theory, those comets are largely made up of water, and they are the origin of the majority of the water currently on the Earth. At the time this book was written, his theory was largely dismissed, but in the last five years, there has been some movement in his direction. Additional evidence has been discovered that indicates that something is going on, the unresolved question is whether it is due to the actions of water comets.
The problem with this book is that it occasionally reads like one of those nonsensical pseudoscience diatribes. It starts with the subtitle, which is the longest I have ever seen and continues into the dust jacket, where a paragraph is written entirely in uppercase. Inside, there are sentences that go beyond scientific arguments. For example, on page 123 there is the statement, "...there were objects out there that had never been detected before. It did not matter whether they were small comets, cometesimals, automobiles or sick cows." Well, yes it does, for his theory to be true those objects must be comets and one does not win scientific arguments by stating absurdities.
The descent into pseudoscientific jargon reaches a peak in chapter 24, "Where Are You Now, Galileo?" Every pseudoscientist quack uses the "they laughed at Galileo" argument. They try to convince people that their arguments are right by citing examples from history where the experts were wrong. However, this does nothing to strengthen their arguments and Frank is much too good a scientist to descend to this level. In fact, I will always remain convinced that this type of argument is an admission of how weak their positions are. Scientific theories will always live or die on the evidence and ad hominem attacks in defense of your scientific propositions only proves the weakness of your case.
There has been a slight movement in thought towards Frank's controversial theory in the past decade. However, while this book may convince some that he is right, the tone and form of the arguments do nothing to convince those who reach their conclusions based on the evidence. His cause would have been better served had he either not written it or maintained a scientific mindset when he did so.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly involving, well written book.
Review: Dr Frank develops a hypothesis that is very plausible, well supported and a suprisingly engrossing read. By the time I finished, my beliefs in the objectivity of the scientific community had been severly shaken.He makes a rather complex subject easy to understand and enjoyable. If only I had been fortunate enough to have more teachers in college that could make a subject come alive.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly involving, well written book.
Review: Dr Frank develops a hypothesis that is very plausible, well supported and a suprisingly engrossing read. By the time I finished, my beliefs in the objectivity of the scientific community had been severly shaken. He makes a rather complex subject easy to understand and enjoyable. If only I had been fortunate enough to have more teachers in college that could make a subject come alive.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing and recently proved true!
Review: Every so often you read a book that changes the way you look at everything because it shows that something we took for granted is wrong. This is one of those books. Frank is not a terrific writer. There are slow passages and sections that are overly detailed and filled with arcane information. However, he is a scientist that stumbled on the origin of water on Earth . . . small comets that are constantly hitting Earth's atmosphere. This is astounding and went against all of the accepted geologic theories of the origin of water on the planet.
This book is also about the tunnel vision of scientists and the vicious in-fighting that goes on in academia when the status quo is challenged. There is a truism that scientists don't change their minds; they just die off and are replaced by scientists who believe the new theories.
I read this book when it first came out and was mightily impressed. Just recently a newly lofted satellite has proven Frank correct and a Scientific American article detailed the proof and the fact that his nay-sayers are now either eating crow or are marginalized in their continued denial. Highly recommended, especially for those interested in Earth sciences.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing and recently proved true!
Review: Every so often you read a book that changes the way you look at everything because it shows that something we took for granted is wrong. This is one of those books. Frank is not a terrific writer. There are slow passages and sections that are overly detailed and filled with arcane information. However, he is a scientist that stumbled on the origin of water on Earth . . . small comets that are constantly hitting Earth's atmosphere. This is astounding and went against all of the accepted geologic theories of the origin of water on the planet.
This book is also about the tunnel vision of scientists and the vicious in-fighting that goes on in academia when the status quo is challenged. There is a truism that scientists don't change their minds; they just die off and are replaced by scientists who believe the new theories.
I read this book when it first came out and was mightily impressed. Just recently a newly lofted satellite has proven Frank correct and a Scientific American article detailed the proof and the fact that his nay-sayers are now either eating crow or are marginalized in their continued denial. Highly recommended, especially for those interested in Earth sciences.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book about modern science and new discoveries
Review: Frank explains in wonderful detail the problems that a scientist has when he makes an important discovery outside of his accepted expertise. He is not the first to suffer from this prejudice, nor will he be the last. But, it is important for us to be reminded that science too, often wears blinders and because of this, important discoveries are ignored and it takes decades before we are able to move forward in our knowledge of how things work.
Rating:
Summary: The Big Letdown.
Review: The subtitle overstates the significance of this book (A Scientific Discovery That Revolutionizes the Way We View the Origin of Life, the Water We Drink, etc). The Big Splash is very technical and , for those of us without a Doctorate in Geophysics it is quite a dry read. The references to the Space Program and the human elements that show the competition and back-stabbing that goes on in the scientific community are more interesting and help to move you to the end of the story, but, this is little solice for the feeling of being let down at the conclusion (or lack thereof) at the end of the book. Unfortunately, this book is probably the best you can find on the topic, though. I guess you cannot expect every scientific story to be a great read. If you need the data and answers to questions you can find in this book (like I did), you probably won't find it anywhere else. Grab a cup of strong coffee.
Rating:
Summary: The Big Letdown.
Review: The subtitle overstates the significance of this book (A Scientific Discovery That Revolutionizes the Way We View the Origin of Life, the Water We Drink, etc). The Big Splash is very technical and , for those of us without a Doctorate in Geophysics it is quite a dry read. The references to the Space Program and the human elements that show the competition and back-stabbing that goes on in the scientific community are more interesting and help to move you to the end of the story, but, this is little solice for the feeling of being let down at the conclusion (or lack thereof) at the end of the book. Unfortunately, this book is probably the best you can find on the topic, though. I guess you cannot expect every scientific story to be a great read. If you need the data and answers to questions you can find in this book (like I did), you probably won't find it anywhere else. Grab a cup of strong coffee.
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