A Brief History of Science

By John Gribbin and John E. Gribbin

Book Overview

A Brief History of Science tells how since the dawn of history, people have tried to explain how the world works. Once the province of necromancers, alchemists and frauds, the true study of science began with Galileo, whose theories were proven with practical experiment. This is the story of the scientists throughout history: their leaps of imagination, their dazzling intellectual virtuosity, their dogged determination and unending work that has brought science to where it is today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1902328450
• ISBN13: 9781902328454
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: EAGLE EDITIONS
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Emphasis on the 20th century

This book is made up of 6 essays and an introduction. Mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, earth science and biology are each covered in separate chapters, which are each about 30 pages long. Each essay, written by a different expert, is extensively illustrated with paintings, photographs and drawings. The illustrations are interspersed throughout the book taking up about half of each page. It is not possible to give a detailed history of any if these subjects in only 30 pages (especially when half of each page is illustrations), so the authors had to make difficult choices about what to cover and what to leave out. I think that the physics section (written by John Gribbin) was the most complete. However, I felt that the other sections concentrated overly on the science of the 20th century. This is especially true of the biology section, which is only concerned with evolution and genetics. This chapter gives the impression that biology started in the mid 19th century, with the work of Darwin and Mendel. This book gives the authors idea of the highlights of the history of science, but unfortunately with many important omissions. I would recommend this book to those who want a general pictorial overview. Those interested in a more comprehensive treatment will be disappointed, but may still be entertained by the illustrations.