"Science a history" van John Gribbin is een goed leesbare en onderhoudende geschiedenis van de wetenschappen. Het verhaal begint bij het idee van Copernicus dat de aarde om de zon draait en loopt via wetenschappers als Kepler, Galileo, Newton en Darwin door tot het einde van de 20e eeuw met de quantummechanica, het onderzoek naar het DNA en de Big Bang. Iets minder boeiend dan "Ideeën" van Peter Watson, maar veel beter dan "Een kleine geschiedenis van bijna alles" van Bill Bryson. ( )

A great introduction to the topic which concentrates on the people and their lives and only gives a brief insight into the science itself.

Very easy to read and with many entertaining anecdotes and tales.

Gribbin is one of the easiest to read popular science writers, now he shows his hand as a great history writer as well.

I can see that I will be dipping in and out of this book for reference for many years to come.

A good read.

Four out of five stars. ( )

This is a very comprehensive text that brings to life some of the names behind the laws, theories and experiments from the high school science curriculum. Many of the stories are fascinating - we get a brief insight into some of the personal and political issues that these people had to cope with.
A particular strength of the book is the strong focus on pre-20th century scientific advancement. Many histories tend to over-emphasise recent events to the detriment of older stories.
My only reservation about the book was the uneveness of the biographies in the books. Some of the bios are fascinating, others appear irrelevant and rather pedestrian. I have a feeling that some more editing in this direction would have helped the readibility of the book greatly.
Nevertheless, a fascinating book for anyone who wants to understand something about where how these great ideas came about. ( )

Helps to make clear that the poet and scientist often drink from the same glass! Also forget the myth of the objective, white coated scientist. Social orgins of knowledge always more revealing- check out the discovery and publication of DNA ( )