Science's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Outrageous Innovators, Deadly Disasters, and Shocking Discoveries

by Susan Conner

Science and technology have had more than their share of the good, the bad, and the bogus. Alfred William Lawson, the designer of the first airliner, believed that two types of creatures lived within the brain- "Menorgs," which were the mental organizers responsible for all good things, and "Disorgs," which infect all cells with disorganization. Chonosuke Okamura collected and catalogued what he thought were tiny men and animals, all 1/100-inch long, which most geologists think are actually mineral grains. Peter Fong found that the expression "happy as a clam" had a scientific basis when he tested the effects of Prozac on fingernail clams. The dashing figure of dinosaur hunter Roy Chapman Andrews was the model upon which Indiana Jones was based. Physician John Brinkley believed that consuming goat glands would restore youth and virility. In keeping with the format of the popular "Most Wanted(TM)" Series, this new volume comprises sixty top-ten lists. These include worst ideas by great scientists, most unlikely inventors, greatest unsolved mysteries, most ridiculous attempts at flight, biggest hoaxes, most suppressed inventions, and top UFO sightings. "Science's Most Wanted(TM)"shows how throughout history, mankind has tried, often wildly unsuccessfully, to come to grips with life's biggest questions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

316 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2002

Reviews

[Roshan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science's Most Wanted, this one's got to be a doppelganger. With every turn of a page in this read, the readers could be in for a deadly shock after a disastrous discovery. If we are readers belonging to the country which has a strict and a crystal clear manifestation on use of profanity in modes of expression, then reading this science bible could land us in the Most Wanted by Uniformed Personnel list vis-à-vis a prisoner of science. Reading this bundle of profaned, yet humorous science facts can fine tune us to be outright outrageous regarding the timely shocks stimulated in our veins, time and again through the thick and thin during the reading experience. The title of the book is cleverly chosen by the authors, Susan Conner and Linda Kitchen. In short, the title in itself gives the shortest account on the content in store for its readers in the read. This read keeps our response to stimuli under constant check, for the science manuscript captures the reader's wildest imagination rolling out humorous description of unconventional scientific terms. On a serious note, the authors are appreciated for their good job in keeping the humor factor up and ticking for most part of the compilation. Some terms mentioned in the glossary such as mineral catalyst, rock and roll, bush tucker, and dung beetles impart a sense of derived hierarchy to the human senses. The book is divided into various sections namely - general science, astronomy, physics, geology, biology, paleobiology, chemistry, medicine, and very vaguely technology. On the organization front, this compilation scores a 9.5/10 for its systematic dealing with the topics in hand and the numbered approach put into effect while listing the scientific names and terms in the glossary. A few geeky terms make their way into the print and receive apt definition and description based on the cluster, group, species, breed, and community they belong to. Numerous science jargon are also dealt with in a very open minded manner by Susan Conner and Linda Kitchen.

The book keeps its readers engrossed with genuine general facts of those kind which slowly unfold with time, eventually taking the form of hilarious oddments. The authors' efforts are laudable given that they have taken time to gather the facts and add a new dimension to a science read making it sound like an artwork. The final product is a paperback with limitless metaphors and euphemism in the offing, which figuratively have an hair erecting impact on the readers' mind. Be it the interpretation of complex scientific terminologies in chemistry, physics, and paleobiology or the elucidation on technically evolved names of machine learning and artificial intelligence, the book has the readers hooked up to the era of modern technology for a major part of the read. The careful readers will realize that Science's Most Wanted is paradoxical in nature at times in its presentation of facts. For instance, the bit on Australian mallee fowl and the Great Barrier Reef narrate conflicting behaviors. The former places the bait, while the latter provides cushioning on it. One opens the Pandora's box and the other revels in the idea of it. Another example of this phenomenon is evident in the section describing the neutrinos, tau particles, and gravitons. The 3 sub-atomic particles hypothetically exhibit a common behaviour, yet are found bound differently in the various varying physics theories on sub atomic particles briefly elaborated in this science and technology manuscript. The readers have more than a mere vocabulary or knowledge to gain out of this read. It encourages the chums who pick this book to explore new ideas and facts, to dig deeper into the content and gain a complete academic perspective on the same. The various science jargon explained herein are very faintly present in the regular academic science text books, which in my opinion broadens the scope for the present day students to lay their hands on it and widen their knowledge base. The humor element present in the compilation does no harm to the cause either. I would like to draw an analogy of this book with another incredibly written book that I have had the privilege of reading. This one's titled, A Short History of Nearly Everything authored by Bill Bryson. The doppelganger. There are so many elements in common between the two science bibles - the geeky approach adopted in elaborating various concepts, the exquisite style of paying attention to detail, the common layout (a history on the subjects dealt with, luminaries who've made a mark on their own in those fields, the latest establishment and development in those areas of academics therein, in the same order of their mention here) in both the books. Taking a leap ahead, I would categorize Science's Most Wanted and A Short History of Nearly Everything as two books of significant prominence and relevance in the modern world. A lot of fizzy fuzzy content to dwell on.

The out of sync eccentric bits - the likes of William Harvey, Richard Feynman, Nikola Tesla, Alan Turing and many others find writing spaces dedicated to themselves in the publication. This book also explores the contributions of these unconventional characters who coincidentally also happen to be scientists and their theories on,

➝Various nuclear phenomena of physics.

➝Atomic and molecular reactions in chemistry.

➝Bigotry in biology.

➝Invention of wonder drugs in medicine.

➝The formulation of thesaurus on dinosaurs in paleobiology.

➝The couples in general science.

➝The astronomical surprises and models of the universe of astronomy.

➝Ice age theories of geology, and

➝dotcom dot.bombs (also artificial intelligence) in technology.

Finally, all the snippets on the above mentioned dawns on the readers' mind only to mellow down their nerves for good. These short essays on topics of science and technology in the book gather a rating of 3/5 solely, based on my reading experience. The geeks of science and technology could consider going on a hunt to discover the bottom-line,

'Sanity prevails, and then presides over humanity'

A good read. Pick this one, only if you enjoy reading science fiction. Grab it, if you don't. Cheers!

[Erikka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible to read and very well-documented research, but it was repetitive (seriously, do I need to read about Paracelsus 6 different times?) , extremely outdated, and a bit dry for my tastes. Also, I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, but that physics section was pretty heavy stuff. Maybe if I'd read it when i was more awake?

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12909184