Home :: Books :: Science  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science

Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Galileo's Commandment: 2500 Years of Great Science Writing

Galileo's Commandment: 2500 Years of Great Science Writing

List Price: $16.95
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Casebook for Science
Review: Bolles has collected an assortment of what he describes as "great" scientific writings. Great in this context refers to writings that, in Bolles' subjective analysis, are among the best scientific literature has to offer. As a result, what appear in this anthology are not always landmark papers that advanced a particular branch of science or introduced a new theory. They are, however, a fascinating collection, dating back to the dawn of science and provide a wonderful sense of perspective on the slow and steady progress of natural philosophy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Casebook for Science
Review: Bolles has collected an assortment of what he describes as "great" scientific writings. Great in this context refers to writings that, in Bolles' subjective analysis, are among the best scientific literature has to offer. As a result, what appear in this anthology are not always landmark papers that advanced a particular branch of science or introduced a new theory. They are, however, a fascinating collection, dating back to the dawn of science and provide a wonderful sense of perspective on the slow and steady progress of natural philosophy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I use to hate science... but now...
Review: I now have a new appreciation for Science all because of this book! Reading this was very touching and helped me understand why science is so important to our lives. They even got essay's done by some scientist you have never heard about that are totally irrelevant to what you hear everyday at school, at work, or just walking around. My favorite writings were of Course Galileo's beatiful description of the stars and Jupiter. GREAT BOOK! BUY IT NOW!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I use to hate science... but now...
Review: I now have a new appreciation for Science all because of this book! Reading this was very touching and helped me understand why science is so important to our lives. They even got essay's done by some scientist you have never heard about that are totally irrelevant to what you hear everyday at school, at work, or just walking around. My favorite writings were of Course Galileo's beatiful description of the stars and Jupiter. GREAT BOOK! BUY IT NOW!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great anthology of science writing
Review: In his play about Galileo, Bertolt Brecht has him say: "Science knows only one commandment: contribute to science." And those who write about science contribute as much as those who do it-and perhaps more, since a discovery not written up is a discovery that might as well not have occurred.

This is a collection of articles and excerpts representing an overview of science writing, from Herodotus speculating on Egyptian geology to George Smoot analyzing the results from COBE. Some of the writers are primarily popularizers (Isaac Asimov, Rachel Carson, Walter Sullivan) and some are scientists who made an especial effort to write for the public (Arthur S. Eddington, Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Sagan), but some of the pieces are by and for scientists, just sufficiently accessible to be included here (as with the articles by Darwin, Wallace, Kepler, and Helmholtz). The pieces run the gamut of the sciences-astronomy, biology, geology, physics-and a gamut of issues relating to the sciences, from the process of discovery (Mach talking about the human sense of position) to philosophy (Bacon and Popper) to observational notes (Darwin on Galapagos finches and Galileo on his first look through a telescope). There are breathtaking excerpts from the moment when a new science is born: Alfred Russel Wallace realizing the concept of natural selection, Lavoisier explaining the new organization of substances he has discovered (and thereby setting the foundations of modern chemistry).

While reading, I somehow found less interesting than I thought I would, but my problem may be that I have a strong background in the history of science and have been exposed to much of this before. That being said, I am finding that this book is sticking with me in ways that few books do. I continue to think about the articles and recall them.

So for anyone who is interested in science or the history of science, who wants to experience science being made, or who just appreciates good, strong writing, this book is highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great anthology of science writing
Review: In his play about Galileo, Bertolt Brecht has him say: "Science knows only one commandment: contribute to science." And those who write about science contribute as much as those who do it-and perhaps more, since a discovery not written up is a discovery that might as well not have occurred.

This is a collection of articles and excerpts representing an overview of science writing, from Herodotus speculating on Egyptian geology to George Smoot analyzing the results from COBE. Some of the writers are primarily popularizers (Isaac Asimov, Rachel Carson, Walter Sullivan) and some are scientists who made an especial effort to write for the public (Arthur S. Eddington, Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Sagan), but some of the pieces are by and for scientists, just sufficiently accessible to be included here (as with the articles by Darwin, Wallace, Kepler, and Helmholtz). The pieces run the gamut of the sciences-astronomy, biology, geology, physics-and a gamut of issues relating to the sciences, from the process of discovery (Mach talking about the human sense of position) to philosophy (Bacon and Popper) to observational notes (Darwin on Galapagos finches and Galileo on his first look through a telescope). There are breathtaking excerpts from the moment when a new science is born: Alfred Russel Wallace realizing the concept of natural selection, Lavoisier explaining the new organization of substances he has discovered (and thereby setting the foundations of modern chemistry).

While reading, I somehow found less interesting than I thought I would, but my problem may be that I have a strong background in the history of science and have been exposed to much of this before. That being said, I am finding that this book is sticking with me in ways that few books do. I continue to think about the articles and recall them.

So for anyone who is interested in science or the history of science, who wants to experience science being made, or who just appreciates good, strong writing, this book is highly recommended.


<< 1 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates