Michael D. Gordin

I really liked this book.

When I read the dust cover the name Velikovsky rang some dim bell, and the description of Venus almost hitting Earth sounded only just a bit more familiar. Perhaps not surprising: I was born in 1978 and so missed almost all of this whole multi-decade saga, but I did catch paperbacks and articles, probably in the late 80's, still responding to this.

I found this retelling, including the 'strictly historical' aspects and the more generalizable aspects, quite a good read. I think the author chose well in using a recent (and still somewhat ongoing) episode like Velikovsky, but one that does not have much potential turn people off immediately -as a critical examination of creationism, ghost hunters, vaccination, astrology, etc. might very well do. That said, reading this really made me start to think about some of those current issues and events, including popular attempts to promote science, to fight pseudoscience, and to fight straight up superstition. It made me consider, not entirely for the first time, the role of scientists as 'elites' and how that is viewed by a culture that distrusts authority (from teenagers to tea-partiers.) And it made me consider, again not entirely for the first time, the tactics and attitude of atheists who debate religious believers.

As the book wraps up with, there is no one answer to dealing with all these issues and questions. I certainly don't have any answers :) But it has got me re-thinking the value of non-engagement as a tactic (i.e. on the web, often known as "Don't feed the trolls") as well as just how (non?) dangerous -at least in the long term- the seemingly normal, periodic "BS of the decade" might actually be. Accusations of devil worship/sexual abuse surely ruined a lot of lives in the 90's (or wsa that 80's?), but it hasn't had much lasting, large scale impact (again, acknowledging that it destroyed individual lives.) Perhaps the antivax 'movement' will run it's course too (with the "requisite" number of harmed children, of course... these things do, again, affect individual lives.) And surely a few more years of "Ghost Hunters" is all that can left... surely... hopefully... Right?

No answers, but a very good read. :)… (mehr)

If you want one book that covers the history of the periodic system of elements then this is probably not a good choice. I see why this would appear to be an obvious choice because it's about Mendeleev, but the periodic system covers many more people than just Mendeleev.

While people know him as the father of the periodic system, his life covered far more than that. If you like reading biographies of scientists or if you want to learn about the periodic system and its history (not just Mendeleev's contribution), then this is a good choice.… (mehr)