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153rd out of 179 books
—
25 voters
Mad Science: Einstein's Fridge, Dewar's Flask, Mach's Speed, and 362 Other Inventions and Discoveries that Made Our World
by
Randy Alfred
365 days of inventions, discoveries, science, and technology, from the editors of Wired Magazine.
On January 30, Rubik applied for a patent on his cube (1975). On the next day, 17 years earlier, the first U.S. Satellite passed through the Van Allen radiation belt. On March 17, the airplane "black box" made its maiden voyage (1953). And what about today? Every day of the yea...more
On January 30, Rubik applied for a patent on his cube (1975). On the next day, 17 years earlier, the first U.S. Satellite passed through the Van Allen radiation belt. On March 17, the airplane "black box" made its maiden voyage (1953). And what about today? Every day of the yea...more
Hardcover, 390 pages
Published
November 13th 2012
by Little, Brown and Company
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I confess: I haven't actually read every word of this book. But that's because I actually want to read it as it's laid out, as one entry per day, like a devotional for knowledge.
There's so much here, it's difficult to take in all at once. January 1: the Gregorian calendar aligns the calendar with the solar year. My birthday, March 21st: Twitter's first tweet. Christmas Day: The Huygens probe begins its decent to Saturn's largest moon. Not just inventions, but the scope of human ideas since the...more
There's so much here, it's difficult to take in all at once. January 1: the Gregorian calendar aligns the calendar with the solar year. My birthday, March 21st: Twitter's first tweet. Christmas Day: The Huygens probe begins its decent to Saturn's largest moon. Not just inventions, but the scope of human ideas since the...more
Designed as a breakthrough-a-day reader, this book certainly puts a
smile on my face. Written with levity yet detailed, Alfred spends a
page for each scientific breakthrough, ranging from the odd (first
account of a dog-to-dog blood transfusion, Niagra falls running dry)
to the society changing (invention of Teflon, the start of the
internet). The real joy, other than the easy to read writing, is
looking back on how little moments in history continue to change our
lives – from the first artificial sno...more
I really liked this book. I won this on goodreads giveaways and as soon as it came in the mail it became my go to book. It is full of interesting facts about ordinary things we use everyday. It was written in a way where you could read one entry a day or just sit down with it and gobble it all up in big chunks. It had other little factoids on each page that went with the date of the discoveries that were written about. It was cross referenced so I would find myself flipping back and forth throug...more
I have to pass on finishing this tech book put out by Wired magazine. It gives detailed happenings on everyday of the year, and you can see that they have to stretch to fill in everyday. It is informative, but as a book it is very magazine-like (of course, since these are excerpts from Wired Magazine!).
I gave this book 2 stars = it was okay, but it was disjointed and uneventful (i made a funny!) . . .
I gave this book 2 stars = it was okay, but it was disjointed and uneventful (i made a funny!) . . .
I found it to be a great book to pick up ever so often when you just want a daily piece of "This day in mad science history." Well formatted and a great way to pass the time when you are waiting for a date or meeting with friends.
*I won this book as a part of a good reads giveaway*
This book is set up like a "page a day" calendar, giving you a science tidbit for each day of the year. Even if you are not a "science" person the short tidbits of interesting facts are fun and entertaining.My husband is a science teacher and my copy of this book has already been confiscated by him to use in his classroom in the new year!
This book is set up like a "page a day" calendar, giving you a science tidbit for each day of the year. Even if you are not a "science" person the short tidbits of interesting facts are fun and entertaining.My husband is a science teacher and my copy of this book has already been confiscated by him to use in his classroom in the new year!
Received this book through goodreads first reads. what I love about this book is that you can either read just the page for the day your on and learn what great things happened on that same day but in earlier years or you can flip through it and read as many as you want. Found this to be full of very interesting facts.
This is in a calendar style, it tells a little story each day about discoveries or inventions that changed the world. This would make a good gift for someone who likes science and history but doesn't want to sit down for eons to read about it. The quips are short sweet & informative.
it was interesting to say the least.
A great trivia book consisting of one entry of scientific discovery or the birth/death of a famous scientific figure for each day of the year.
Excellent informative book. It's easy to pick up and read off and on whenever you are looking for a little bit of science history. It is well written and great for all ages.
Very interesting collection, assemblage, and compilation of human progress.
This is the ultimate bathroom reader for science geeks - which of course means that I loved it! In fact, I'm going to leave it in my bathroom so I can go through it again at a more leisurely pace. It provides a little anecdote, for almost every day of the year, about some scientific discovery or mathematical idea that profoundly affected how we live our lives.
A
SM
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This would be better as a page a day calendar than a book!
this was a goodreads give away I won.
Entertaining book. It is like a discovery a day calendar in convenient book form. It was short blurbs about significant scientific discoveries.
Entertaining book. It is like a discovery a day calendar in convenient book form. It was short blurbs about significant scientific discoveries.
This is a nightly read for us -- one invention/discovery on the date in happened.
May 23, 2013
Sara Cardy
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