Have you ever wondered if a severed head retains consciousness long enough to see what happened to it? Or whether your dog would run to fetch help, if you fell down a disused mineshaft? And what would happen if you were to give an elephant the largest ever single dose of LSD? The chances are that someone, somewhere has conducted a scientific experiment to find out...'Excellent accounts of some of the most important and interesting experiments in biology and psychology' - Simon Singh. If left to their own devices, would babies instinctively choose a well-balanced diet? Discover the secret of how to sleep on planes. Which really tastes better in a blind tasting - Coke or Pepsi?
Elephants on Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments
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'Excellent accounts of some of the most important and interesting experiments in biology and psychology' -- Simon Singh, author of Fermat's Last Theorem
`Boese's kooky look at history's most outlandish, provocative and downright ridiculous scientific endeavours (zombie kittens anyone?) will keep you smiling.' -- Sunday Herald
`Boese's kooky look at history's most outlandish, provocative and downright ridiculous scientific endeavours (zombie kittens anyone?) will keep you smiling.' -- Sunday Herald
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`Boese's kooky look at history's most outlandish, provocative and downright ridiculous scientific endeavours (zombie kittens anyone?) will keep you smiling.'
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By J. Turnock
Format:Paperback
Elephants On Acid is made up of surprisingly entertaining, interesting content in a witty, humorous tone. I say surprisingly because I was not expecting a book that has apparently sold very well to have experiments that are well-picked and really well researched, in my opinion, as two of them were ones I studied in my AS-level psychology class, and the book went into more detail than my teachers did. Which might be a sign of bad teaching rather than a very well researched book but let's assume that's not the case.
There are ten chapters with each chapter's experiments being grouped together under a theme - For instance death, the senses, sleep, sex. Some experiments last only a page or two but others go on for a few more than that, and there are clever headings separating them from one another. There are the more well-known experiments (Such as Zimbardo's prison experiment), the experiments whose after-effects seem pretty well-known (Does Mozart make babies smarter?), the totally obscure (cockroach racing, anyone?) and the things everyone wonders about (Coke or pepsi?).
Personally, I feel that the first chapter is ill-placed as it's heavy on the animal decapitation and I think that might put some people off, for all the content is very interesting in its own disturbing way. So I say, preserve! I won't lie, there is some more decapitating etc to come post the first chapter. However, it's much more spread out and easier to take post chapter one as it's liberally overweighed by experiments ripe with whimsy, oddness and genuinely interesting (non-violent!) insights into human and animal behaviour.
It sounds corny, but I don't want this book to end, as while I know I can look more experiments up online or at the library they won't be grouped together so cleverly, infused with Boese's easy, clever sense of humour nor preceded by a short, fictional account based on the next experiment to be looked over. If you're interested in psychology, want a bit of a quirky read or something that you can pick up and put down without losing track of what's going on I say, buy it! If nothing else you'll pick up a few amusing tales to tell in awkward silence and the sense that, really, are psychologists really anything more than a bunch of smart children with access to some handy equipment and a scientific journal?
There are ten chapters with each chapter's experiments being grouped together under a theme - For instance death, the senses, sleep, sex. Some experiments last only a page or two but others go on for a few more than that, and there are clever headings separating them from one another. There are the more well-known experiments (Such as Zimbardo's prison experiment), the experiments whose after-effects seem pretty well-known (Does Mozart make babies smarter?), the totally obscure (cockroach racing, anyone?) and the things everyone wonders about (Coke or pepsi?).
Personally, I feel that the first chapter is ill-placed as it's heavy on the animal decapitation and I think that might put some people off, for all the content is very interesting in its own disturbing way. So I say, preserve! I won't lie, there is some more decapitating etc to come post the first chapter. However, it's much more spread out and easier to take post chapter one as it's liberally overweighed by experiments ripe with whimsy, oddness and genuinely interesting (non-violent!) insights into human and animal behaviour.
It sounds corny, but I don't want this book to end, as while I know I can look more experiments up online or at the library they won't be grouped together so cleverly, infused with Boese's easy, clever sense of humour nor preceded by a short, fictional account based on the next experiment to be looked over. If you're interested in psychology, want a bit of a quirky read or something that you can pick up and put down without losing track of what's going on I say, buy it! If nothing else you'll pick up a few amusing tales to tell in awkward silence and the sense that, really, are psychologists really anything more than a bunch of smart children with access to some handy equipment and a scientific journal?
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Bob Ventos
Format:Paperback
Grouped in sections dealing with the Big Subjects (life, sensation, memory, sex, sleep, evil, children) this book contains many of the more famous psychological experiments (Zimbardo's prison, Milgram's obedience experiment, John Watson and Little Albert's rat, and Wegner's White Bear) as well as others less well-known but chosen for their outrageousness or smirk-factor (electrocuting corpses, counting pubic hairs after sex, giving LSD to the terminally ill). It debunks a few myths (babies don't instinctively choose a balanced diet, cockroaches wouldn't survive a nuclear holocaust) - and also contains some real eye-openers (the branding of Coke actually affects it's taste!). And although it's written in a jolly-humorous way, with a little joke at the end of each section (some as cringeworthy as the experiment they conclude), the book's a forceful reminder of the need for today's Ethics Committees in Science. What's frequently been done to animals is horrific, and what was sometimes done to humans is nearly as bad.
This is the sort of book that, if you're reading it in someone else's presence, is likely to make you want to read bits out loud to them. There are references too - unusual in a popular book like this - perhaps because the author thought that no-one would believe some of these stories otherwise!
This is the sort of book that, if you're reading it in someone else's presence, is likely to make you want to read bits out loud to them. There are references too - unusual in a popular book like this - perhaps because the author thought that no-one would believe some of these stories otherwise!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Dan
Format:Paperback
Science can be fun. I've seen this book everywhere--it's number 2 in the book chart at a certain large book, magazine and stationery selling chain at the moment so I picked it up in 2-book offer. I'm glad I did. I whizzed through it and thoroughly enjoyed the way the neat little scientific stories are explained. Perfect if you want to learn a little but have some fun alon the way.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book of scientific randomness
If your in the mood for a quick read that will make you laugh, this is the book. Full of completely ludicrous yet intriguing experiments which will definitely surprise modern... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Deano
3.0 out of 5 stars
For a friend
I bought this for a friend for their birthday and they liked it so I bought them Electrified Sheep by Alex Boese too!
Published 1 month ago by Rhianne
4.0 out of 5 stars
Science to the extremes
An interesting, bizzare and indepth insight into science over a vast period of time. Written in such a way each experiment can be read in a quick, fact filled way it is a perfect... Read more
Published 2 months ago by john mackey
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty interesting
I found this book a fairly easy read, good for dipping into and interesting. Clearly, today's ethics committees would have prevented many of these experiments from happening; I... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Martensgirl
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educationally Beneficial
This book was recommended to me by a psychology teacher, it is very insightful on interesting but often ethically dubious experiments. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mark
5.0 out of 5 stars
book review
amazing book! was so good finding out about all these experiments, and a good read for any science student who doesnt get hooked by science, cause this will make you WANT to learn... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Nicola
5.0 out of 5 stars
Makes you laugh, and then makes you think
The "Ig Nobel" awards are given out annually to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think". This book is full of such research. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2010 by J. James
4.0 out of 5 stars
bzzare!!!
very interesting for those people like me, that loves knows all these quirky miscellaneous details about how things came about!!!
Published on 6 Nov 2010 by vickarsh
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful, awful book
This book attempts to make light of a series of sick and disturbing experiments carried out on both animals and people. Read more
Published on 4 July 2010 by Bn3bloke
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Fun
A wonderful collection of entertaining experiments, some that I knew about but mostly unknown to me. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2010 by Mr. A. J. Clark
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