Justin's review
Uncle Tungsten
by Oliver W. Sacks
Obviously we have to protect children (& ourselves) when it comes to chemistry kits such as Sacks had as a child but the inert substances and dull experiments that are on offer today would kill the interest of most children. Can't we have a slightly more exciting level of experimentation than is currently available? We made & used gunpowder when I was a kid, some of us learned how to use chemical fertilizer to create explosives (granted Tim McVeigh went too far but I don't believe we should blame chemistry for his political behaviour) and none of us was maimed, blinded or killed in the pursuit of scientific learning & the bragging rights for making the loudest bang!, the most smoke or the rankest stink-bomb. It was the ingesting of chemicals that caused the trouble especially when mixed with cars & guns - a practice I now condemn.
Justin's review
Uncle Tungsten by Oliver W. Sacks
Justin's review
rating:
This is a memoir of a brilliant man's curious evolution as an inquiring mind. His family is super-brainy and it's no wonder that he is too, since they gave him his own chemistry-lab at age 10 to start blowing shit up. This book is also a superb primer for anyone interested in the history of chemistry, from alchemy to the most recent discoveries.
Obviously we have to protect children (& ourselves) when it comes to chemistry kits such as Sacks had as a child but the inert substances and dull experiments that are on offer today would kill the interest of most children. Can't we have a slightly more exciting level of experimentation than is currently available? We made & used gunpowder when I was a kid, some of us learned how to use chemical fertilizer to create explosives (granted Tim McVeigh went too far but I don't believe we should blame chemistry for his political behaviour) and none of us was maimed, blinded or killed in the pursuit of scientific learning & the bragging rights for making the loudest bang!, the most smoke or the rankest stink-bomb. It was the ingesting of chemicals that caused the trouble especially when mixed with cars & guns - a practice I now condemn.