The Disappearing Spoon - Sam Kean

[highmystica]

The full title is: "The Disappearing Spoon - and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements"

Technically I am on my third read of this book. Despite the title it is a very easy read, and a lot of fun besides. My first read through took two nights. It is my current bathroom book. It's the kind of book you can read a couple of paragraphs and then when you're done in the bathroom you'll have some new random topic to spend hours looking up on the internet. The book is just plain simple fun. I highly recommend it, and trust me you don't have to be a science geek to love it.

 

[findit]

Yes, I really enjoyed this book and learned quite a number of things regarding elements on the periodic table. Even the naming of the elements and squabbling over their names was fascinating. A fun book to read!

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

It is my current bathroom book. It's the kind of book you can read a couple of paragraphs and then when you're done in the bathroom you'll have some new random topic to spend hours looking up on the internet.

TMI!!

But since you just had to go there, you should consider this: Does reading on the crapper contribute to hemorrhoid growth?

Don't say you weren't warned ;)

 

[Talas]

SAO before i read your link..Thank you ;) i never even contiplated how much time is `waisted`,i need to get my bowels in training it seems not my sit down postion times ;D

 

[Dorothy Minder]

I listened to an audio recording of this book recently. I also enjoyed it -- kind of a romp across the landscape of modern science, looking out the windows of chemistry's four-wheeler. I have to say, though, sometimes it seemed to me that the author was a bit quick to dismiss interesting features of the landscape simply because a muddy window obscured the view.

I'm afraid I must confine my criticism to what I can recall because I don't have the book or my own copy of the audio.

Broadly speaking, Kean seems to dismiss anything remotely mystical, intuitive or dependent on the effects of the observer as unimportant, unscientific and inconsequential. Or he just called such considerations madness. Given his topic, chemistry, and given a lay audience probably more interested in the answers modern science has to offer than in questions at the fringe of understanding, I understand the context for his rigorously materialist explanations and don't really blame him, though at times I thought him a bit dismissive of possibilities. See, for example, the sections on extra-terrestrial biology, spiritualism, energy, and his discussion of the applicability of quantum mechanics to "real life."

The section I found most frustrating, however, was his discussion of "pathological science." As I recall his presentation, he focused almost entirely on "cranks" with pet theories determined to undermine scientific consensus. No argument from me that magical thinking precludes objectivity and taints many an experiment. [I've discovered in my own life how "wanting to believe" is indeed dangerous.] That said, I don't think that amateurs and obsessives are the biggest threat to science. Frankly, I'm much more concerned about how money and power influence scientific understanding than I am about a rogue theorist working in his garage, and unfortunately Kean doesn't say much about how power and profit often wear very "scientific" disguises.

On the whole, I'm glad I listened to the book. As Highmystica said, it suggests many interesting avenues for internet research, and like Findit said, it's a "fun book to read!" :)