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On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA
 
 
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On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA (Paperback)

by Lord Melvyn Bragg (Author) "Archimedes is so clever that sometimes I think that if you want an example of somebody brought from outer space it would be Archimedes ..." (more)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Sceptre; New Ed edition (18 Feb 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340712600
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340712603
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 377,023 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #23 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > B > Bragg, Melvyn

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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


Review

'Enchanting ... if anything will unlock the Aladdin’s cave of science to a general readership it is Melvyn Bragg’s approach’

(Lisa Jardine in The Times )
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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
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4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique study of giants, 8 Aug 2004
By Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA (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]

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3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A very good book for who hate sciences, 18 April 1999
By A Customer
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.
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