- Paperback: 386 pages
- Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; New Ed edition (21 Mar 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0471396842
- ISBN-13: 978-0471396840
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 20.3 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,035,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
So many of us are blessed--or at least affected--by the fruits of science, yet how many of us really understand how we got them? Scientific creativity, like all other kinds, is a product of its times, but we can learn much from looking at the lives of its greatest practitioners; as a sizable side benefit, these lives are often tremendously entertaining. Author and BBC radio host Melvyn Bragg understands this well, and invited many of the great modern interpreters of science to discuss the lives and work of 12 greats from Archimedes to Watson and Crick, and published the cream in On Giants' Shoulders. These are no dry transcripts, though; Bragg has a genius for selecting the most intriguing quotes and selections from both his guests and his subjects and weaving them into his own engrossing narrative. His many novels have tightened up his prose so well that he can make even a discussion of the genesis of relativity a page-turner. He couldn't have invented better material, either: Newton's notorious snobbery, Darwin's almost-naïve sincerity and Lavoisier's turbulent life and untimely death make for compelling stories indeed (one almost wonders how they had time to change the world). His guests, including luminaries such as Lewis Wolpert, Richard Dawkins, Oliver Sacks and Roger Penrose, consistently cut to the heart of their subjects' importance and tie it all up neatly in the last chapter: "Where Are We Now?" An important question, of course, and one that can be better answered from On Giants' Shoulders. --Rob Lightner
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
"Well–known English journalist Melvyn Bragg presents stimulating portraits . . . [and] well–rounded evaluations of each pioneer′s life and influence."—Publishers Weekly
Explore the greatest minds in the history of science with some of today′s top scientific thinkers
On Giants′ Shoulders elucidates the milestones in the history of science, focusing on twelve of the greatest minds and their extraordinary breakthroughs. From Galileo and Newton to Darwin, Freud, and Einstein, author Melvyn Bragg explores the life, work, and legacy of these remarkable people in conversations with today′s leading scientists and historians, including Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Roger Penrose, Martin Rees, Oliver Sacks, John Gribbon, and Paul Davies. Ranging from the foundation of hydrostatics in the third century B.C. to the discovery of DNA′s structure in our own time, this is an accessible and thought–provoking roundtable on the seminal scientific discoveries of the past 2,500 years.
Melvyn Bragg is an acclaimed journalist in England, host of the popular television interview show the South Bank Show (broadcast in the U.S. on Bravo), and the author of seventeen novels and five works of nonfiction.
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Archimedes is so clever that sometimes I think that if you want an example of somebody brought from outer space it would be Archimedes. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Archimedes is so clever that sometimes I think that if you want an example of somebody brought from outer space it would be Archimedes. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bragg demonstrates how a "dabbler" in science can lead one more deeply into the research realm. Using his generalist background, he shows how anyone can appreciate what science can achieve and what it means to us all. A feeling of "being left out piqued his interest and he decided to seek out what he had missed. His technique is one any of us can follow - his interest was piqued by the growing number of works for the general reader. He didn't expect to become an "expert player", but through these works could at least be "at the game".
His study of fifteen key figures in science becomes a summation of what he garnered through reading and interviews. Bragg's long journalism career gave him an entry key and many insights in dealing with the "giants" and their interpreters. Having discovered several in this role, he has formulated a survey that will be valuable to many. Using a technique combining the interview with the works of good writers, he's created a readable, cogent overview of what science is and what it means. From Archimedes through Newton, Darwin and Curie to Watson and Crick you are given a variety of views of the key figures. The importance of each is stated clearly, mixed with what is known of their characters and background.
In his conclusion, titled "Where Are We Now?", Bragg makes an excellent summary of the impact of these seminal thinkers. As an observer, he claims to have produced a "map" of scientific thinking. The map is incomplete, but evokes an image of science as a "human exercise intent on examining the meaning and purpose as much as the structure of life today". It's a fine summary conclusion to his outstanding effort to help bring science to anyone wishing to learn its values. The future, his interviewees stress, will be one of further, deeper discoveries. His "giants" are in reality the ideas they developed, not in any way the scientists themselves. From Newton's irascibility to Darwin's diffidence, all these figures retain a strongly variant human identity. If nothing else, this book imparts the idea that science belongs to us all and can be furthered by anyone interested enough to undertake investigating unanswered questions. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
3 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bragg have written on great scientists' works and lives in a novel fashion. This book is very readable, and easy to get some rough ideas. But do not expect any serious matters in this books.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
An Inspiration to Scientists & Science Students Alike
21 Oct 1999
Format:Hardcover
On Giants' Shoulders is a tribute to twelve scientists who, in the last two thousand five hundred years, changed the world both as we perceive it and as we live in it. Their minds, their lives, their struggles, their colleagues and rivals are explored and unravelled by some of today's leading scientists. Taken together, their stories and discoveries constitute a guide to the history of science.
A bestseller in England, this book combines engaging portraits of these figures with accessible discussions of their most important discoveries. Those profiled are Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Lavoisier, Faraday, Darwin, Poincaré, Freud, Curie, Einstein, Francis Crick and James Watson. Their stories are enhanced by insights provided by interviews with some of today's leading scientists, including Paul Davies, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, John Gribbin, Sir Roger Penrose, Sir Martin Rees and Oliver Sacks.
Based on interviews broadcast over British radio, this book differs from the radio series in the ampler amount of material contained, as it was possible to include more material from the original transcripts, which had been mercilessly pruned for the thirty-minute radio programmes.
Melvyn Bragg is an acclaimed journalist and the host of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week. He is also the author of seventeen novels and five works of non-fiction, including biographies of Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier.
Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. Formerly Business Development Manager with KPMG, Azlan is currently Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. He holds a Master's degree in International Business and Management.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
British scientists talk about their heroes
20 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
This book is a collection of write-ups of BBC radio show programs about the heroes of British scientists. Each chapter considers a prominent scientist of the past, such as Archimedes, and then presents a synopsis of interviews and discussions with modern-day British academic scientists about the featured scientist of the past. Through the interviews, we gain an understanding of the opinions of the modern-day scientists concerning their academic heroes, mixed in with some of the facts concerning their lives and discoveries. The book is thick with opinions and philosophy compared to the amount of factual information it contains about the featured scientists. If you are interested in what modern British scientists have to say about some famous scientists of the past, then this book is for you. But if you're looking for a book where you can learn something about the famous scientists themselves or a summary of their discoveries, you should look elsewhere.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
On Giants Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries
15 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover
In a search for science biographies to add to our college's science library collection, I first purchased On Giants' Shoulders based upon a favorable review from Choice (Jan. 2000) that characterized the book as ". . . a well-written volume that can be understood by anyone." Science biographies can be very technical or very dry and, consequently, not for the non-specialist. Also, scholarly biographies that cover a collection of scientists usually follow a theme (such as women in science or great minds in biology), so I was taken with the idea of a chronology of scientific discoveries through a biographical approach. Since its arrival in the library, I have read the book twice. Its appeal lies in its conversational style (the text is partly based on radio interviews with famous scientists) and recurrent themes addressed from many different points of view - a technique reminiscent of the book The Ghost in the Atom (Cambridge University Press, 1986). One reviewer refers to the book's style as "gossip" and likens the presentation of events to a soap opera. Why not? Science is a world full of intrigue and scientists should be portrayed as having a human side as well as an intellectual side. The book is a wonderful way to introduce young people to the realm of science, and I have ordered personal copies for children of my friends and relatives.
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