Weighing the Soul: The Evolution of Scientific Beliefs [Paperback]

'This distinguished physicist describes here the evolution of scientific beliefs. Throughout history scientists have pursued ideas that seemed bizarre, peculiar or even downright daft, and in this sharp and witty overview of the great - and the not so great - moments of scientific experimentation, Fisher illuminates the true process of discovery.' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'This is a highly readable, funny and thought-provoking history.' (HERALD (GLASGOW) )

'Len Fisher...takes us on a very accessible and entertaining tour of various historical moments where contemporary commonsense ideas about how the world worked clashed with scientific findings...WEIGHING THE SOUL is a mine of delightful oddities.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'On the surface this book is about quirky ideas, such as how to cure a headache by zapping yourself with an electric eel...Under the surface, it's about the evolution of scientific beliefs...While the tone is quite jolly, there's serious science among the slapstick. A good read for the curious.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'...entertaining and astute...An engaging and relaxed, personal style to the text make this book easy to read. No matter what your academic background it is a genuine pleasure to read.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Good science and common sense often don't mix. In Weighing the Soul, Len Fisher shows the path to scientific discovery is frequently a bumpy one that follows Schopenhauer's famous maxim - 'All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.' Fisher tells the fascinating, human stories behind some of the great as well as some of the not-so-great scientific ideas of the past - those that were truly bizarre, peculiar or downright daft, and those that just seemed that way at the time. As he shows, it is often only with hindsight that the two can be told apart, and it is some of those who appeared most wrong - and who were variously ignored, persecuted and imprisoned as a result - that ultimately went on to be proved most right.

Recipient of an IgNobel Prize for his studies in the physics of biscuit dunking, and voted 'an enemy of the people' by The Times for work on the way roast dinners absorb gravy, Len Fisher is a tireless promoter and populariser of science. He moved to England in 1989 following a career that began in food research, but has included forays into biomedicine, mining engineering, surface science, fundamental physics and philosophy. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow in the Physics Department, University of Bristol.