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When the Earth was Flat
Contrary to recent debate on the internet, these days we are fairly confident that the earth is not flat and that we are in fact inhabitants of spherical planet,,, (from the Back Cover)
- GenresNonfictionScience
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 9, 2019
Entertaining and digestible.
Contained within is a collection of pseudo-scientific topics. While presented mostly in a humorous tone and context, many of these theories were responsible for the death of millions (or in the case of phrenology and eugenics, the genocide and near destruction of peoples).
The author is quick to dismiss and ridicule many of the theories, deservingly so. The anecdotes, explanations, and excerpts lend themselves well to this format; leading to a high level of digestibility and seemingly light read.
I did find that the author exercised quite a bit of pedantry to bend the narrative to his ideas. On page 20 he writes: "Heat does not rise but disperses itself equally and evenly throughout its environment." As a pedant he is not completely incorrect; while practically he may be quite.
My perception is one of a writer with interest in the sciences and a background in the humanities, writing about science while neglecting to expound. His assertions often needn't explanation as his ridicule and dismissal of pseudo-scientific theories are so obviously warranted. Yet he must be careful and tactful to maintain his repute, avoiding to use whites and blacks to describe greys.
In this short and light format it is difficult to assign so much blame, however. My main gripe being strongly with the placement and timing of the boxed excerpts. These additional pieces of information most often finding themselves in the most awkward and ill suiting of places. It seems as if his draft was written and sent to an editor, with these boxes being subsequently sprinkled throughout without much thought on their impact on the flow of reading.
A good book to read on a rainy day or upon a porcelain seat, but not something you would want to cite in a dissertation.
Contained within is a collection of pseudo-scientific topics. While presented mostly in a humorous tone and context, many of these theories were responsible for the death of millions (or in the case of phrenology and eugenics, the genocide and near destruction of peoples).
The author is quick to dismiss and ridicule many of the theories, deservingly so. The anecdotes, explanations, and excerpts lend themselves well to this format; leading to a high level of digestibility and seemingly light read.
I did find that the author exercised quite a bit of pedantry to bend the narrative to his ideas. On page 20 he writes: "Heat does not rise but disperses itself equally and evenly throughout its environment." As a pedant he is not completely incorrect; while practically he may be quite.
My perception is one of a writer with interest in the sciences and a background in the humanities, writing about science while neglecting to expound. His assertions often needn't explanation as his ridicule and dismissal of pseudo-scientific theories are so obviously warranted. Yet he must be careful and tactful to maintain his repute, avoiding to use whites and blacks to describe greys.
In this short and light format it is difficult to assign so much blame, however. My main gripe being strongly with the placement and timing of the boxed excerpts. These additional pieces of information most often finding themselves in the most awkward and ill suiting of places. It seems as if his draft was written and sent to an editor, with these boxes being subsequently sprinkled throughout without much thought on their impact on the flow of reading.
A good book to read on a rainy day or upon a porcelain seat, but not something you would want to cite in a dissertation.
May 28, 2021
The history of science is one of progress towards the truth that improves the human condition, but there have been times when the scientific consensus was way off. Unfortunately, the statement of the title is not one where science as we knew it got it wrong. The ancient Greeks knew the Earth was round, and that era can be considered the birth of the scientific method.
Some of what passed for scientific beliefs that is covered in this book would be hilarious if it was not so serious. It took decades before the medical community evolved to the point where they appreciated the value of hand washing. Many patients and some doctors died of infections as a consequence of the hostility of the medical profession to this simple change in behavior.
There was a time when tobacco smoke enemas were considered a health treatment, the bumps on one’s head were thought to reveal a great deal about you, cocaine and heroin were considered valid treatments for many ills of the human body and the cure for many ailments was to have blood taken from your body. These are some of the more well known absurd notions that were once considered facts that are developed in this book.
Other weird ideas described in this book are the hollow Earth claim and the premise that Neanderthals were simpletons. The most interesting point made was that the Black Death pandemic that wiped out so much of Europe was not the bubonic disease at all. There is solid scientific evidence for this position, which has significant relevance in the days of Covid.
This book is simultaneously amusing and sobering, for while it is easy to make fun of what used to be facts, the reality is that there remains a strong anti-science movement with unusual beliefs. This could lead to the re-emergence of incorrect science bits. Even when the science against is of the irrefutable kind.
Some of what passed for scientific beliefs that is covered in this book would be hilarious if it was not so serious. It took decades before the medical community evolved to the point where they appreciated the value of hand washing. Many patients and some doctors died of infections as a consequence of the hostility of the medical profession to this simple change in behavior.
There was a time when tobacco smoke enemas were considered a health treatment, the bumps on one’s head were thought to reveal a great deal about you, cocaine and heroin were considered valid treatments for many ills of the human body and the cure for many ailments was to have blood taken from your body. These are some of the more well known absurd notions that were once considered facts that are developed in this book.
Other weird ideas described in this book are the hollow Earth claim and the premise that Neanderthals were simpletons. The most interesting point made was that the Black Death pandemic that wiped out so much of Europe was not the bubonic disease at all. There is solid scientific evidence for this position, which has significant relevance in the days of Covid.
This book is simultaneously amusing and sobering, for while it is easy to make fun of what used to be facts, the reality is that there remains a strong anti-science movement with unusual beliefs. This could lead to the re-emergence of incorrect science bits. Even when the science against is of the irrefutable kind.
November 12, 2019
A friend gave this book to me saying it was a quick fun read which it is. I read it riding on a car trip and would read some of it to my husband as it was quite funny. I saw two other readers totally panned it but it have a point, that of not taking ourselves too seriously and also to use our brain about some things that society tells us to do (like blood letting! Egad!) and avoid it.
January 16, 2024
This is a lovely easy read. Started this book after I abandoned a quite depressing book. It reads really well and has some interesting insights into some quite bizarre sections of history. It’s informative but light hearted. I can’t say it blew my mind philosophically but I was drawn in and in shock to find how dumb us humans actually can be. I’d reccomend
June 28, 2021
cute little book to read when bored
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews