The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments Summary and Reviews

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
by George Johnson

The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
List Price: $22.95
Our Price: $12.15
You Save: $10.80 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.85 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: George Johnson
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-08
ISBN: 1400041015
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Knopf

Book Reviews of The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments

Book Review: How to Produce Thought-Provoking Evidence of the Way Nature Works
Summary: 5 Stars

If you like those wonderful articles in the science section of The New York Times, you've undoubtedly read Mr. Johnson's writing before. Reading this book is like gaining access to a whole collection of the best of such articles.

I've always preferred experimental evidence to theorizing as a way to advance knowledge. Many things can be better understood, both in and out of scientific fields, if thoughtful experiments can be designed and properly measured.

Many science courses emphasize what the law of physics is or whatever is being studied and provide little perspective on the evidence for that law or natural function. That's too bad: In the process, those who are interested in the subject miss the chance to gain a deep appreciation for the subject.

George Johnson does an excellent job of providing pithy, clear, and interesting histories of the scientists, the problems they addressed, and the experiments they used to advance knowledge. Some of these stories were more compelling than any television drama I've ever seen.

Prior to the rebirth of inquiry in the Renaissance, Greek theories about how the world works often dominated. Those theories had to be overcome. In some cases, equally arbitrary theories were proposed by more modern scientists. The search for new knowledge almost always began with observing something in nature that didn't follow the "rule" that everyone else believed in.

The section on Galileo will quickly get your attention because Mr. Johnson dispels the notion of dropping weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa in favor of describing how an inclined plane was used by Galileo to measure acceleration of a rolling ball. The most fascinating part of the work is how Galileo used his experimental results to derive a theory of what was really going on. Very nice!

The chapter on William Harvey nicely explains the prior view that there were two types of fluids, one in veins and a different one in arteries, rather than one quantity of blood circulating throughout the body. The evidence that this idea was silly is pretty clear, but the challenges of figuring out how the blood circulated are nicely explained here.

The chapter on Isaac Newton requires a strong stomach as Mr. Johnson describes how Newton put a probe into his own eyes to see what the effects would be. The experiments that showed how colors are contained in light are quite interesting.

My favorite chapter, however, is the one on Luigi Galvani in which he sought to demonstrate that animals use electricity to move. Galvani faced a persistent critic in Volta who conducted experiments to disprove Galvani. In the best scientific tradition, both men were right in defining different qualities of how electricity works.

I was almost as intrigued by the chapter on Pavlov that explained a fuller range of his experiments with changing reflexes. It made me want to read more about Pavlov.

The chapter on Millikan was uniquely intriguing, as Mr. Johnson explains through his re-creation of the experiment that Millikan used to measure electron movement that experiments can be almost as much of an art as a science.

In some cases, the personal details of the scientists' lives were almost as fascinating as the science such as Lady Ada Lovelace's single-minded pursuit of the much older, married Michael Faraday who outlived her by many years.

Science Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Book List for Dennis Prager Show - no.3
Love Your Life and It Will Love You Back ImageLove Your Life and It Will Love You Back
by Sourena Vasseghi
Sourena Publishing; Published: 2007-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.98
Price in other shops: $19.95
Our Good Name: A Company's Fight to Defend Its Honor and Get the Truth Told About Abu Ghraib ImageOur Good Name: A Company's Fight to Defend Its Honor and Get the Truth Told About Abu Ghraib
by J. Phillip London
Regnery Publishing; Published: 2008-05-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.67
Price in other shops: $29.95
Can't Remember What I Forgot: The Good News from the Front Lines of Memory Research ImageCan't Remember What I Forgot: The Good News from the Front Lines of Memory Research
by Sue Halpern
Harmony; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.57
Price in other shops: $24.00
Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives ImageFinal Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives
by Jim Sheeler
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.25
Price in other shops: $25.95
The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) ImageThe Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)
by Mark Bauerlein
Tarcher; Published: 2008-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops: $24.95
Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It ImageFleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It
by Dick Morris, Eileen Mcgann
Harper; Published: 2008-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops: $26.95
Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11 ImageTouching History: The Untold Story of the Drama That Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/ 11
by Lynn Spencer
Free Press; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops: $26.00
A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East ImageA Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East
by Sir Lawrence Freedman
Doubleday Canada; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $37.95
Above Empyrean: A Novel of the Final Days of the War Against Islamist Terrorism ImageAbove Empyrean: A Novel of the Final Days of the War Against Islamist Terrorism
by Bruce Herschensohn
Beaufort Books; Published: 2008-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.20
Price in other shops: $24.95
Dark Horse: A Political Thriller ImageDark Horse: A Political Thriller
by Ralph Reed
Howard Books; Published: 2008-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.78
Price in other shops: $19.99
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time Image13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time
by Michael Brooks
Doubleday; Published: 2008-08-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.02
Price in other shops: $23.95
Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them ImageArchimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them
by Clifford Pickover
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-04-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.29
Price in other shops: $27.95
Outliers: The Story of Success ImageOutliers: The Story of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-11-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.88
Price in other shops: $27.99
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions ImagePredictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely
HarperCollins; Published: 2008-02-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.54
Price in other shops: $25.95
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) ImageTraffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
by Tom Vanderbilt
Knopf; Published: 2008-07-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.96
Price in other shops: $24.95
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex ImageBonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
by Mary Roach
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2009-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops: $14.95
Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel ImagePhysics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel
by Michio Kaku
Anchor; Published: 2009-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.37
Price in other shops: $15.95
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage) ImageYour Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage)
by Neil Shubin
Vintage; Published: 2009-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops: $13.95
Physics for Entertainment ImagePhysics for Entertainment
by Yakov Perelman
Hyperion; Published: 2008-02-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops: $18.95
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives ImageThe Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
by Leonard Mlodinow
Pantheon; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.19
Price in other shops: $24.95