Galileo's Commandment : Anthology of Great Science Writing

by Unknown

"Science only knows one commandment: contribute to science." This line, spoken by the title character in Bertolt Brecht's The Life of Galileo, inspired the title of this collection of science writing by 59 diverse authors. Most of the pieces collected by editor Edmund Blair Bolles are excerpted from texts by working scientists or natural philosophers, including George Smoot of NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer to Lucretius. Marie Curie's joy on seeing the lovely, glowing bottles of impure radium in her workroom at night is just one of the vivid images to be extracted from this volume, though with far less effort than the radium cost the Curies.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History

512 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 1999

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Unknown" when the author or editor (as applicable) is not known and cannot be discovered. If at all possible, list at least one actual author or editor for a book instead of using "Unknown".

Books whose authorship is purposefully withheld should be attributed instead to Anonymous.

Reviews

[Bekir Cem Ünalan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Her şeyi bilme şeklindeki bu kendini beğenmiş küstahlığın temeli hiçbir zaman hiçbir şeyi anlamamış olmaktan başka bir şey değildir. Bir kerecik olsun, tek bir şeyi tam olarak anlama deneyimi olan ve bilginin nasıl elde edildiğini gerçekten duyumsamış olan bir kimse, kendisinin hiç anlamadığı sonsuz sayıda başka hakikatlerin de var olduğunu farkeder."

[Nicholas Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply superb

[Erhan Kılıç · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çeşitli zamanlardan ve çeşitli alanlarda uzmanlaşmış farklı bilim insanlarının yazdıkları kitaplardan, günlüklerden kendilerine ait fikirleri okumak farklı bir yarar ve keyif sağlıyor. Herkese tavsiye ederim. Çok farklı bakış açıları kazanıyorsunuz.

[Bud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 476 page book of science readings was remarkable for it's brief bio of authors before each selection and different literary styles of the different scientific authors going back to the ancients (as in Aristotle). An easy book to take a little sample here and a little sample there.

[Mümin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tarihin farklı dönemlerinden bilimsel yazıları bir araya getiren güzel bir seçki.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring!

[Ron Dorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent selection of essays from leading scientists over the ages. Great overview of scientific progress from those who made it. "Contribute to science"

[Ben Sutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of scientific excerpts from across the ages.

The selections from the field of psychology I found poor and not up to the standard of the rest of the anthology.

[Vasha7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really excellent job of choosing the selections. I've been repeatedly dipping into this, and rereading it, ever since I got it.

[Patrick Camilleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book feels like seeing things from the eyes of the thinker him/herself. A good easy read that gives s ienxw that human touch.