Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #357440 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
"Anyone interested in the history, development, and the refinement of scientific ideas, methods, and thinking will be engrossed by this book." -- School Science Review, June, 2007

Customer Reviews

Take the good with the bad
"Discarded Science" is a nicely readable book describing what used to be "known" about the world, life and the universe. For example, when the Earth was flat, how did the best minds of the day explain the movement of the stars? This book tells us. The reader need not be well versed in science to enjoy the book - the writing is very accessible.

However, Grant spends a good amount of time lambasting crackpots who have cropped up from time to time, many of whom were never taken seriously in the first place. The book would have been much more interesting had he stuck to describing what was the orthodox thinking, even if it was wrong. A Rogue's Gallery of Nutcases would have made an entertaining (other) book.

The illustrations in the book are black line drawings with red backgrounds that are very tough on the eyes.

Informative, often hilarious
This book is an intriguing bestiary of peculiar scientific ideas that were eventually cast aside as hokum. Encompassing everything from Velikovsky's wacky cosmological theories to phrenology to the idea that we're all living inside the earth, Grant's work provides an excellent overview of the pseudoscience of yesteryear. Other reviewers have commented on how Grant goes out of his way to jab at religious folks, but really he's going out of his way to jab at young earth creationists and, let's face it, they probably deserve it. In any event, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book, but I can see how some people might find it distracting.

That being said, some of the actual presentation left a lot to be desired. The peculiar red line-art illustrations (to prevent photocopying..?) were kind of an eyesore, and the book itself has kind of peculiar dimensions (very compact yet extremely thick) that make it somewhat unwieldy and unappealing. If you can look past the unattractive presentation, this book is definitely worth a look. It's fascinating to see what bizarre ideas used to lurk in the shadowy periphery of science, even in the relatively recent past.

A Gem!
Reading the two reviews on this page I find it hard to recognize the excellent little book that's sitting on my shelf.

John Grant's Discarded Science covers a vast amount of ground, from ancient to modern, in a marvelously readable, entertaining style. There is coverage of "alchemy, Lamarck, and improperly balanced humors," despite one Amazon reviewer's claim that there is "none of it." Quite a lot of kindness seems to be displayed toward the misguided scientific practitioners of the past - for example, this is perhaps the first book I've read to have a kind word for gullible Berringer, who was victim of a fossils hoax. It is completely untrue that "He spends most of his verbiage bashing religion, especially Christianity." The mention of Saddam Hussein is given as an example in a brief discussion of belief perseverance - the clinging by some to false information long after it is known to be false.

I was utterly baffled by the hostility of the reviewers until I realized that both of them focused on the crossover between science and religion. Yes, folks, this book is being made an exemplary victim by the God Squad ... because it deftly punctures the twin balloons of Creationism and Intelligent Design. It's true: Discarded Science may not make comfortable reading for fundamentalists and anti-evolutionists, although perhaps it should be *required* reading for them!

Although the book has clearly been written for the entertainment of adults, it struck me while reading it that it is also a fine introduction to the history of science, and to the art of rational thought, for younger people, and certainly it's lightly enough written for them. Accordingly, I went back to the store and bought a couple of extra copies as stocking-stuffers for teens of my acquaintance.

I have no hesitation in thoroughly recommending this book.