- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: The History Press Ltd; illustrated edition edition (1 Nov 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752442325
- ISBN-13: 978-0752442327
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 16.1 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 760,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Some of the most important innovations in history have a long gestation period, with the person most famous for their development often drawing greatly from the work of other unsung heroes and sometimes stealing it outright. Sadly, the poor souls who did the hard work aren't remembered and "The Nearly Men" is an attempt to address that imbalance. From Antonio Meucci, the real inventor of the telephone, through Alan Turing, responsible for making major developments in computing; Robert Hooke, who postulated the concept of planetary motion before Newton; Nikola Tesla, who died almost penniless while Marconi used his theories to develop wireless radio communication and Joseph Swan, who came up with the design of the light bulb, only to have it snatched by Thomas Edison, these and many others have their stories told here in "The Nearly Men".
About the Author
Mike Green, editor of Electronic Products news magazine, lives in Wales.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Did this book have an editor?,
By
This review is from: The Nearly Men: A Chronicle of Scientific Failure: The Real People Behind History's Greatest Innovations (Paperback)
While the subject matter could be interesting enough, I found very difficult to get through with my anticipatory cringes on every page turn at the terrible editing that this book received.
It's full of wobbly grammar, gratuitous spelling mistakes ("best advises") and bizarre malapropisms ("not the most respectful or tactile of nomenclatures..."). Not to mention interesting "facts" like the Neanderthals migrating from Africa to become ancestors of Northern Europeans (Neanderthals haven't been shown to have been in Africa at all, and while some Northern Europeans have some Neanderthal genes, homo sapiens did not descend from them). It doesn't add up to lending much confidence to the actual facts recounted in the book. Add to that the rather laboured "humorous/chatty" style (and it's a style I don't mind if it's done well), and the amount of content that could have been usefully trimmed - reproducing the ENTIRE text of a Congressional finding about the inventor of the telephone was pretty unnecessary - adds up to something I didn't really enjoy reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not nearly men any more,
By
This review is from: The Nearly Men: A Chronicle of Scientific Failure: The Real People Behind History's Greatest Innovations (Paperback)
An interesting slant on the subject to bring the achievements of important scientists and scienctific research itself into the sphere
of popular culture. It raises the question as to whether you can be successful just by being brilliant, without attaining deserved fame and wealth. Hopefully this book will prove that you can and help to redress the balence for those who have undeservedly missed out to others. I found it interesting that different people are credited with the same achievement in different countries.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The nearly men and the truth about poigniant scientific discoveries,
By
This review is from: The Nearly Men: A Chronicle of Scientific Failure: The Real People Behind History's Greatest Innovations (Paperback)
This book is extremely well written and interesting. It challenges or elaborates upon stories about the people behind many scientific discoveries. The author has undertaken a lot of research and is clearly very knowledgable and witty in his writings. The book is a great starting point for both 'GCSE' and 'A level science' students, particularly when composing a project on the 'History of Scientific discovery.' It is well worth a read, and may also help students 15 plus with science options under the National Curriculum.
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