- ISBN13: 9780316051644
- Condition: New
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Product Description
The Periodic Table is one of man’s crowning scientific achievements. But it’s also a treasure trove of stories of passion, adventure, betrayal, and obsession. The infectious tales and astounding details in THE DISAPPEARING SPOON follow carbon, neon, silicon, and gold as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, war, the arts, poison, and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them.
We learn that Marie Curie used to provoke jealousy in colleagues’ wives when she’d invite them into closets to see her glow-in-the-dark experiments. And that Lewis and Clark swallowed mercury capsules across the country and their campsites are still detectable by the poison in the gro… More >>
Comments
“The Disappearing Spoon” teaches the chemistry and physics of atoms and the periodic table. It’s taught primarily in the context of short biographies about the Noble prize winning scientists (plus some others) who discovered the various elements or who discovered important things about how the elements or atoms are put together.
Based on the book description I was given, I was expecting more trivia about the elements and how they are and have been used rather than a book teaching science with a main focus on scientists. However, the author’s casual, lively, and sometimes crude tone made the stories entertaining–probably even more so to young males than to me. I did get a little tired of the author’s judgmental attitude, though. It seemed like every human action had to be either brilliant or insanely stupid.
The author’s explanations of how things worked (atoms, periodic table, etc.) were easy for me to follow, but that might partly be because I took a lot of science courses in college. The initial science lessons were high school level, but the ending lessons were more college level (though high schoolers can probably follow them).
The book primarily focused on science and scientists, but there were a few stories of invention, greed, destruction or just plain weirdness based around non-scientists. Though I didn’t actually check to make sure, it seemed like every element on the periodic table was covered at least briefly. Some of the areas in which he discussed the use of the elements were warfare (chemical warfare, nuclear bombs, dirty bombs), medicine, politics, art, biology (especially DNA), as poison, as money (counterfeiting, a strange gold rush), length/time measurement, and under super-cool conditions. He also covered a Big Bang model of how the elements were formed (with a “see, no god needed!” emphasis), how radiometric dating methods were thought up and used to generate dates for the age of the Earth that were old enough to give biological evolution a chance of occurring (since previous dating methods gave too “young” of an age to allow for it), and how biases can prevent critical viewing of scientific data (though he didn’t seem to notice his own bias).
There were a few black and white photographs of scientists and a few charts. Overall, the book was entertaining and interesting, though not so much so that I’d want to read it again. The people who’d be most interested by it are probably teen or college age males who idolize science as pure and untarnished but who also like somewhat scandalous tales about scientists, their competitions to make Noble-winning discoveries, and their fights over who made a discovery first.
I received this Advanced Reader Copy for review purposes from the publisher.
Reviewed by Debbie from Different Time, Different Place book reviews
P.S. The author worked a lot of “there is no God, humans & Earth aren’t special, and evolution is true” apologetics into this book. I think some people have noticed I don’t agree with that stance. However, I wouldn’t have minded so much if, in the appendix, he hadn’t presented what “young-earth creationists believe” by mixing true statements with misrepresented and apparently ridiculous ones as well as completely inaccurate ones. So now, if readers of this book come across the true argument, they’ll dismiss it without really considering it–they’ll think they know all about it when they don’t. I find that sad.
Rating: 3 / 5
An well written history of the planning, politics of the time, design, and construction details understandable to the layman.
Rating: 5 / 5
Based on what I had read online, I ordered this book and it has proved to be a good find. And based on what I have read of it so far, strong evidence suggests that this guy has a sense of humor as I caught myself laughing a few times – a rare thing for a science book.
Rating: 4 / 5
Like many readers, I took chemistry in high school and didn’t think much about it. But my dim memories of atoms with electrons and protons was more than adequate to allow me to follow this author’s stories. Compared to other books I’ve read in the popular science genre, this book was by far the most enjoyable and most accessible. Even if you’re not deeply interested in science, but only have a mild curiosity, you can enjoy this book.
Disappearing Spoon is not an airport book. It’s not a book you’ll (most likely) want to devour at one sitting. I found myself taking in one chapter at a time, discovering how chemistry can explain news events, stories and large-scale phenomena. For instance, I hadn’t thought of “Silicon Valley” and “semi-conductors” from a scientific perspective. I hadn’t considered how poisons and x-rays work.
Because each chapter is so different, readers may find they resonate with certain sections more than others. My own favorite was the chapter on astronomy, where Kean writes about the way scientists estimate the age of an object and even a solar system. The “disappearing spoon” is actually one of the less interesting examples provided by the author.
Also, because the author focuses on human interest stories (such as the race to claim recognition for DNA), the chemistry lessons sneak in. I’m not sure the book offers a pathway to motivate readers to dig deeper and learn more chemistry, but who cares? It’s like spending some time with an expert – getting a backstage pass to understanding how and why many things really work.
Rating: 5 / 5
I did take chemistry as a college student. It was not half as interesting as this book. While you will not know how to become a mad scientist by reading this book, you can live vicariously, and follow some of the more bizarre and important chemical explorations by real scientists. I did have a little problem with some of the authors more emphatic beliefs. He seems to doubt possibilities, that future scientists may discover to be true. Particularly his statements about quantum physics. But generally, Mr. Kean has written a very entertaining and readable book about the discoveries surrounding the periodic table. It would have been great to read this when studying chemistry in depth. I never really appreciated the more oddly named elements until reading about the characters who discovered them.
Rating: 4 / 5