A dazzling, irresistible collection of the ten most ground-breaking and beautiful experiments in scientific history.
With the attention to ... read full description
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reviews
Jan 26, 2009
Nik
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Probably wasted on this unscientific mind of mine, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who's interested in things. Well written, easy to understand, and interesting.
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Aug 16, 2011
Jason
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The table of contents was not promising. The book promises the ten "most" beautiful experiments but doesn't have Rutherford discovering the nucleus? But it does have Galvani chopping up frogs to find out if they transmit electricity.
But as I read, I came to appreciate Johnson's idiosyncratic selections. Rather than reading the Nth treatment of classic experiments, he presents some very interesting and well-told vignettes. Especially of Galvani and the frogs. And Pavlov, who turns out t More...
But as I read, I came to appreciate Johnson's idiosyncratic selections. Rather than reading the Nth treatment of classic experiments, he presents some very interesting and well-told vignettes. Especially of Galvani and the frogs. And Pavlov, who turns out t More...
Mar 13, 2009
Clara
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I'm very occasionally tempted to idealize the key scientific insights of past centuries relative to the present, a la 'science used to be simple and elegant, with key insights defined by definitive straightforward experiments.' The reality, of course, is both reassuring and awe-inspiring: the ten most beautiful experiments are elegant and certainly definitive in retrospect, but they were far from straightforward or facile when they were being conducted (or even to duplicate). Only when diligen
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Nov 30, 2009
Manda
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This book is a slender little volume, and was the only one of the books I won from Sky that arrived as a hardback. I found it fascinating, gruesome, and incomprehensible.
Sadly, my knowledge of science has probably not increased one bit, as I lack the knowledge to access the information in this book. Magnets are moved about and a motor is created. What? A motor like the one in my car? Other descriptions of experiments lost me after the first few sentences. I cannot recall one from the More...
Sadly, my knowledge of science has probably not increased one bit, as I lack the knowledge to access the information in this book. Magnets are moved about and a motor is created. What? A motor like the one in my car? Other descriptions of experiments lost me after the first few sentences. I cannot recall one from the More...
Jun 23, 2009
George Johnson used eloquent writing and interesting stories; both historical and personal anecdotes, to tell the story of some of the most important scientific experiments ever conducted. He calls them the most “beautiful” experiments because they were the product of one man’s intuition, curiosity, and artistic expression. Johnson helped me appreciate these ten historic experiments which were all conducted with great simplicity. Each experiment helped to reveal some key feature about us or t
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Jun 26, 2008
Sarah
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The writing was fairly technical, so I'm not sure if this book will work for the popular audience Johnson seems to want. Johnson didn't give much context or analysis about the implications of these experiments, which I would have found more enlightening than precise descriptions of exactly how the experiments were carried out. His choices are also very heavy on physics and experimentation on animals, neither of which are particular favorites of mine.
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Jun 07, 2011
Alexandra
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Enjoyable book, which taught me about experiments I was unfamiliar with. Synopses include Galileo (motion of uniformly accelerated objects), William Harvey (how blood is pumped to the body from the heart), Isaac Newton (developed a theory of color based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into the many colors that form the visible spectrum), Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (found and termed both oxygen and hydrogen), Luigi Galvani (discovered that the muscles of dead frogs legs twit
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Apr 20, 2009
Matthew
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My wife pointed out this book and Barnes and Noble and I knew instanty I had to have it.
I'm an enormous fan of James Burke's original 1978 Connections Series - I'll go so far as this: it may be the greatest documentary in the history of the genre. So it seemed natural that George Johnson's book, that highlights some of the same experiments Burke chronicled 30+ years ago, would be a good fit for me.
Johnson's book is thorough, but lacks Connections' compelling, if quirky n More...
I'm an enormous fan of James Burke's original 1978 Connections Series - I'll go so far as this: it may be the greatest documentary in the history of the genre. So it seemed natural that George Johnson's book, that highlights some of the same experiments Burke chronicled 30+ years ago, would be a good fit for me.
Johnson's book is thorough, but lacks Connections' compelling, if quirky n More...
Jan 11, 2011
Upom
rated it:
I have no idea why I'm so seduced by slender little books, but I am. Perusing through my father's latest Scientific American book grabs, I found this tiny volume. It is a series of vignettes describing some of the best and most elegant experiments performed, including Galileo's ramp, Pavlov's dogs, and Millikan's oil drop experiments. The book was really well written, being both concise and interesting. The book also revealed some surprising facts, such as Pavlov's immense love for his dogs (int
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Dec 17, 2009
Steven
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In the prologue the author describes a beautiful experiment as - "The great experiments that mark the edges of our understanding were most often performed by one or two scientists and usually on a tabletop.....these experiments were designed and conducted with such elegance that they deserved to be called beautiful"
Given it's a science book it did start off a tad slow for me, but it picked up mid way through. It's an interesting read with science school textbook content b More...
Given it's a science book it did start off a tad slow for me, but it picked up mid way through. It's an interesting read with science school textbook content b More...
Oct 12, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
This was a great book to read on the train or plane - it really holds your attention, and if you are at all interested in science, it will fascinate.
The thing that I really learned from this book is that so much of science is just looking, measuring, and asking why? The thing that was so cool about the experiments in the book is that you can really follow the thinking of the scientist -- but the book is not some sort of fan-boy literature of the scientist, they sort of take a back se More...
The thing that I really learned from this book is that so much of science is just looking, measuring, and asking why? The thing that was so cool about the experiments in the book is that you can really follow the thinking of the scientist -- but the book is not some sort of fan-boy literature of the scientist, they sort of take a back se More...
Jan 18, 2009
Mike
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I liked this book-- it had a good balance of interesting experiments and odd stories about the scientists and the beliefs of the time. It is also weird to realize how a total non-scientist like me knows a whole lot about physics, for instance, compared to a scientist in the 1700s-- that the ideas that sprang from the experiments has made it to popular knowledge and has been absorbed into the general pool of human knowledge. No doubt we've got some ideas that are going to look pretty dumb 200 y
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May 18, 2011
Gabriel
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Fun for anyone who likes science, but sometimes I wish the author would get more into the details of each experiment. He tries to make the descriptions a little too approachable sometimes. And some of the later experiments deal with complex enough scientific principles – relativity, for example – that a “layman’s overview” starts feeling a little insubstantial. But I loved the historical and personal contexts provided for each experiment; learning about the people who pioneered concepts we now t
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Mar 26, 2009
Shannon
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The book was interesting, but I do agree that it was more technical and less descriptive than I would have liked. It was also heavy on physics, which limited my interest. People I know who are scientists, though, really enjoyed it.
The one thing I found really fascinating about the book is how many times these people who came up with these brilliant insights actually got it wrong about other stuff. It seems like even people this interested in how the world worked still only got it More...
The one thing I found really fascinating about the book is how many times these people who came up with these brilliant insights actually got it wrong about other stuff. It seems like even people this interested in how the world worked still only got it More...
Dec 25, 2011
John
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This is a strange book. I want very much to like it, but the writing and subject matter is so uneven in some places that I can't quite bring myself to rate it higher than 'It was ok'. Allow me to explain why.
Let me start with the last chapter for if the entire book had been like this, it would have been far better. Here Johnson repeats Millikan's experiment, giving firsthand information on what the experiment was like. He mixes his own narration with the story of Millikan, making sur More...
Let me start with the last chapter for if the entire book had been like this, it would have been far better. Here Johnson repeats Millikan's experiment, giving firsthand information on what the experiment was like. He mixes his own narration with the story of Millikan, making sur More...
Feb 19, 2010
Vanessa
rated it:
This is exactly what the title says--the ten most beautiful experiments as reckoned by the author, a science reporter for the New York Times among other publications. To clarify beautiful, his meaning is experiments that were performed by small groups or individuals rather that committees (the author points out the paper announcing the discovery of top quarks had over 400 contributors) and motivated by insatiable curiosity rather than economics.
With that in mind the author's list is More...
With that in mind the author's list is More...
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Jun 24, 2009
Samantha
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One might refer to a person like myself as being "scientifically challenged", but even I was able to enjoy this book.
I found it to be well written and easily accessible to anyone. I fully understood and enjoyed where three of the experiments/experimenters were coming from and was able to appreciate the rest of them even without a full grasp on what was happening. I think that they were explained well.....I just have trouble wrapping my particular mind around certain concepts.
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I found it to be well written and easily accessible to anyone. I fully understood and enjoyed where three of the experiments/experimenters were coming from and was able to appreciate the rest of them even without a full grasp on what was happening. I think that they were explained well.....I just have trouble wrapping my particular mind around certain concepts.
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Oct 28, 2008
Erin
rated it:
Loves me some science, and it was entertaining to read about the actual experiments (and experimenters) behind all those laws and formulas and givens that formed the foundation of my college education. And, I say this with some reserve, knowing my geekiness will be displayed in all its glory, but I really liked seeing the copies of real scientists' journal entries; seeing the sketches and real hand-writing that captured what they were exploring and finding was a wee bit thrilling. But it was s
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Aug 28, 2008
Stuart
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This book describes ten scientific experiments that the author feels best exemplify clear thinking and elegant experimental design. What I enjoyed while reading this book was not primarily the description of the actual experiments, which added little to what I already knew about them, but rather the description of the earlier theories that the experiments refuted. Popular science education, when it does present these earlier theories (humors, aether, Aristotelian motion, alchemy, etc), present
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Jul 27, 2008
Rebecca
rated it:
Galileo's gravity, William Harvey's circulation, Isaac Newton's Prisms, Pavlovs dogs, Millikan's dancing electrons, also the explorations of Lavoisier, Faraday, Joule, Michelson...
I am not a scientist. But I enjoyed this book-- I enjoyed understanding some of the meticulous grace of "tabletop" experiments revealing great truths about the way the universe works.
I wish that I had a better technical understanding of the machinery of the experiments and the range of the implic More...
I am not a scientist. But I enjoyed this book-- I enjoyed understanding some of the meticulous grace of "tabletop" experiments revealing great truths about the way the universe works.
I wish that I had a better technical understanding of the machinery of the experiments and the range of the implic More...
Jan 26, 2012
Lori
rated it:
In the prologue to this book, George Johnson writes:
"Science in the twenty-first century has become industrialized.... But until very recently the most earthshaking science came from individual pairs of hands.... The great experiments that mark the edges of our understanding were most often performed by one or two scientists and usually on a tabletop. Computation, if there was any, was carried out on paper or later with a slide rule."
The experiments described i More...
"Science in the twenty-first century has become industrialized.... But until very recently the most earthshaking science came from individual pairs of hands.... The great experiments that mark the edges of our understanding were most often performed by one or two scientists and usually on a tabletop. Computation, if there was any, was carried out on paper or later with a slide rule."
The experiments described i More...
Apr 05, 2009
ten vignettes about experiments meeting the author's criteria of beautiful. well done with simplicity and genuine 'method' behind them. not to ruin it or anything: the first is about Galileo who worked with force and motion. It comes out that he used his own heartbeat to monitor 'force over time' and later revealed that he probably sang or hummed in order to mark time.
some bearded loony singing in his laboratory while dropping marbles down a smooth chute? yeah. beauti
some bearded loony singing in his laboratory while dropping marbles down a smooth chute? yeah. beauti
Jan 28, 2011
Doug
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I think I'd give this 2.8 stars if I could...being a science nerd, I need more technical information and background than this slim little book provides, but it was still an interesting and entertaining read, with (again, all-too-brief) profiles of some well-known scientists and their breakthrough work: Millikan, Gallileo, Michelson, Pavlov, and others. I especially liked the inclusion of many of original sketches of apparatus used by the experimenters. The days of small, unfunded, bench-top s
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Apr 25, 2010
Sam
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This book describes ten elegant science experiments that allowed their designers to answer specific questions they had of the universe, such as Galileo's measurements of our planet's gravity or William Harvey demonstrating that blood circulates throughout our bodies. Johnson puts equal emphasis on the experiments and the people conducting them, and does a good job placing the work in the context of its historical moment and the life of its designer.
Mar 07, 2010
Raj
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This book takes as its starting point the idea that an experiment can be elegant and simple and devised and carried out by a single individual. He choose his ten favourite and gives each one a short, descriptive chapter. Including Galileo's work with gravity, Harvey's discovery of the heart as a pump, Newton's optical work and more, it's a whistle-stop tour through some of the most interesting science since the Enlightenment.
Clearly written and easy to read, while remaining descripti More...
Clearly written and easy to read, while remaining descripti More...
Jan 17, 2012
Jose
rated it:
I love the idea of this book. The anecdotes alone are pretty interesting and each chapter is self contained, so it can be read over lunch breaks. The reason it gets 2 stars is that the author doesn't really describe the experiments! Instead he gives some short summary of the experimenter's life, lumps in a few interesting tidbits about his field and then goes into a family of experiments. More importantly, he does a pretty horrible job of describing each experiment (when he does actually bot
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Apr 03, 2009
Mia
rated it:
A fun little book of essays covering 10 simple and elegant ("beautiful") experiments that deeply influenced scientific thought. I really enjoyed both the details of the experiments and those of the scientific beliefs of the times during which they were performed. The chapters on William Harvey and Luigi Galvani might squick those uncomfortable with details of animal experimentation.
Sep 09, 2011
Jennifer
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Biologists will feel fairly left out reading this - I really felt Mendel's work with peas should have been included - but professional interests aside, this was a really good book. A great one for those who want a look at how science used to be done. I think I agree with Johnson; part of me wishes experiments didn't depend on lots of money and high-tech equipment now, too.
Dec 25, 2011
George Johnson wrote one of my favourite science books: A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to the Quantum Computer, so I wanted to give some of his other works a try.
I find myself amazed at where the experimenters' knowledge began. It's hard to keep in mind what the beliefs of a given time were, and how what we now consider to be standard information was completely antithetical at times in the past. When I read--during the second described experiment (Harvey)--what people believed to More...
I find myself amazed at where the experimenters' knowledge began. It's hard to keep in mind what the beliefs of a given time were, and how what we now consider to be standard information was completely antithetical at times in the past. When I read--during the second described experiment (Harvey)--what people believed to More...
Aug 03, 2011
Dan
rated it:
An enjoyable enough read, but I felt it was a bit light. The author successfully gets across the beauty of some of the experiments and made me feel that I'd like to have a go at re-enacting them myself. However, I felt that the book did not generate enough enthusiasm for me - it just wasn't a book I couldn't put down.
