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Rating: 
Summary: Science Friction
Review: Cathy Cobb has obviously made a choice. Physical chemistry and chemists are percieved by most people as being dull and mostly boring, Cathy Cobb has appointed herself to vivify not only the subject matter, but to create a lively account that would be entertaining to the advanced highschool student. She has embellished and rationalized the lives and times of many of the great figures while assuming an almost flippant familiarity with the subject matter and her subjects. Some of her explanations of complex issues border on brilliance while others are much less well founded. There are in addition, errors of both substance and proof reading that speak for a casual attitude toward the reader. Many people in chemistry will welcome her lively imagination and attempts to make some chemists more human. On the other hand this is not a history, but rather a fanciful essay by someone with a sense of humor.
Rating: 
Summary: A Truly Awful Book!
Review: Cathy Cobb's Magick, Mayhem And Mavericks provides a lively history of physical chemistry, starting with the ancient Greeks' discoveries of basic chemical properties and following physical chemistry's evolution and discoveries to modern times. Images, history, and analogies to daily life keep this a lively read most accessible to non-scientists.
Rating: 
Summary: Inelegant writing, misinformation, poor editing
Review: For a science geek like me, this book - an attempt to make physical chemistry understandable and even appealing for the intelligent layperson - misses its mark by a wide margin. Her exposition is, at times, poorly organized; Ms Cobb too frequently draws conclusions not made clear by her narrative. There are errors of language: for instance, she repeatedly refers to the logical process of 'reducio ad absurdam' (it should be 'reductio ad absurdam'). And, finally, there are careless errors of fact, perhaps aided at times by her wish to simplify the material and use a light-hearted approach. Granted she is attempting to make a difficult subject come alive for non-professional readers, but one doesn't do that by fudging the material. She does impart some interesting historical information along the way, especially about the pioneers who forged the field of physical chemistry.
But the book is a slog to read. At times one's heart leaps up at certain felicities, only to be slammed down again by the too-often illogical and inelegant writing.
Rating:
Summary: A huge disappointment
Review: Having recently finished the excellent "Lunar Men", Jenny Uglow's masterpiece about Erasmus Darwin and his friends, I was looking forward to read MMM. I was hoping it would increase my understanding of physical chemistry history. I found it wanting and peppered with mistakes. See below for a few examples but I suspect there are more in the chapters dealing with material less familiar to me. The root of the problem can be found in the "notes" section: there isn't a single reference to an original work from the people described in the main text. The whole book is constructed using material from other 20st century authors. That's OK if you're writing a high school paper, it is not if you're writing a scholarly book.
Some mistakes are likely due to lack of proofreading: "egg yoke" or Lavoisier "isolating air's two elements oxygen and hydrogen".
Others are more troubling and indicate a lack of understanding of history: Watt did not simply improve the steam engine Newcomen (and others) designed. Newcomen's engine relied on the atmospheric pressure to generate work in addition to steam pressure. Hot steam in the cylinder was cooled by water to create a vacuum. Watt's engine eliminated the atmospheric pressure as a work generating force. Galvani believed in animal electricity, he did not "use electricity to make frog legs twitch". The atomists did not use the term "equivalent" to hide their belief in the atom, if fact the "equivalent" proponents were pitted against the "atomists" in a bitter battle. Early balloonists did not understand the role of the temperature in hot air ballooning. The Mongolfier brothers were looking for an "electrical emanation" that would allow a balloon to rise the same way small pieces of cloth can be lifted towards an electrified rod. They settled on a burning mixture of damp wool and straw as fuel. It took the systematic work of the Swiss de Saussure (not Gay-Lussac) to show that it was the "rarefaction of the air" which lifted the balloon.And the list goes on. I stop here and point at a final annoyance: pictures without caption or references. Fortunately, in MMM most of them had no relation to the text anyway and seem to be included just because Cobb liked the way they looked. the same can be said for the weird symbols that are repeated throughout the book. At first I thought they were a clever reference to symbols used in Croll's 1609 "Basilica chymica", in Geoffoy's 1718 "table des affinites" or in Dalton's 1810 "New system of chemical philosophy". They weren't and if anyone can tell me what they mean, I'd be grateful. To finish on a semi-positive note: Cobb pointed at contributions from women scientists, marking a welcome departure from earlier publications by other authors. Of course, she succeeded in misrepresenting Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier and in ignoring Lucia Galeazzi who played a massive role in the discovery of animal electricity.
Rating: 
Summary: University Student Review
Review: I have never written a book review before, but in light of a recent less-than-generous review of Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks, I feel compelled to offer my own response to this unconventional history of an unconventional science. A history of physical chemistry must draw from the history of physics and mathematics as well as chemistry, and Magick accomplishes this task while managing to keep the story entertaining and lay-reader friendly. Dr. Cobb did not write an erudite, exhaustive treatise on the subject, nor did she claim to. Dr. Cobb's aim-to introduce the readers to interesting personalities and explore the human side of science-was accomplished as promised, and her goal of explaining difficult concepts with analogy and in everyday language was achieved in an enjoyable and readable style.
Rating:
Summary: Two whacks of your Latin teacher's ruler
Review: It's actually "reductio ad absurdum," as any devoted high school Latin student should know. Too bad this isn't the only mistake in the book, since Cobb tries very hard to present stimulating anecdotes. Unfortunately, she neglects the legions of dedicated physical chemists in academia and industry who have contributed the vast majority of advancements in the field by thoughtful, systematic experimentation.
Rating:
Summary: University Student Review
Review: It's actually "reductio ad absurdum," as any devoted high school Latin student should know. Too bad this isn't the only mistake in the book, since Cobb tries very hard to present stimulating anecdotes. Unfortunately, she neglects the legions of dedicated physical chemists in academia and industry who have contributed the vast majority of advancements in the field by thoughtful, systematic experimentation.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, informative and fun
Review: Like Dr. Cobb's last book, Magick, Mayhem and Mavericks takes a potentially dry subject and presents it with wit and wisdom. Great first book in the subject for a lay reader or for a student (high school or college) facing a chemistry class next quarter. Dr. Cobb's years of teaching shine through. Highly recommended.
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