The Disappearing Spoon
Ratings33
Average rating4.2
15
Reviewed
- Good. This is another book that I finished before discovering there is a new version (2018), but it's a “young reader's edition” so it doesn't count. It really does need a new version because it has several chapters that are out of date.
This book is a collection of short stories related to the discovery/creation of various elements on the periodic table. Most of these stories consist of “scientist screws around, discovers something weird, inadvertently poisons self or loved one, dies.”
Really disappointed this book COMPLETELY ignore the Radium Girls. How is that possible? Not even a single solitary sentence. I was shocked. Google them if you wanna know how cool and good unregulated capitalism is.
The author also had a really weird sentence when trying to describe pathological science: “It's not pseudoscience, like Freudianism and Marxism, fields that poach on the imprimatur of science yet shun the rigors of the scientific method.” Seems like a really bold assertion to casually throw out there without any follow-up in this fun little book about chemistry. But alright.
Great dad book. Your dad would love this book.