We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
Stephen Hawking
Physicist
Tag Archives: science
Bad Ideas?: An Arresting History of Our Inventions – Robert Winston
Bad Ideas asks the question “Does Science always benefit mankind?” and gives a number of examples where it probably hasn’t really. Amongst other things he discusses agriculture, writing and fire; and argues that although they bring us great benefits, there are always hidden consequences.
For the most part I thought the book was well argued. There are a number of points that I disagree with, especially Lord Winston’s views on renewable energy. But for the most part I found it an engaging and interesting read. There is a lot of background information in the book, and I learnt a few new things. Overall a pretty good read…
Rating: 
Quote of the Day – Albert Einstein
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.
Albert Einstein
All round clever chap
Physics of the Impossible – Michio Kaku
Physics of the Impossible explores whether aspects of science fiction are possible. Various things are discussed such as time travel, teleportation and force fields are discussed.
I like science as you can probably tell from the books I review on this blog, but I didn’t really like this book. My main problem was that there was some interesting science in there, but the author abruptly moved on the the next topic. It kind of felt like he got bored in the middle of a paragraph, or that he had a fixed number of words for each topic. It got a little vexing after a while. I would have preferred that he went in to fewer topics, but covered them in more depth.
Overall Rating: 2.5/5
You can buy Physics of the Impossible here.
Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
Bad Science is a book by Ben Goldacre, a practising doctor and medical researcher, in which he explains the (bad) science behind some of the fads and health scares around today and describes some of the tricks used to dupe the public.
He lays into complementary medicine, especially homoeopathy and nutrition-ism explaining how truly ridiculous they are. He exposes the total lack of scientific evidence and the backgrounds of the self-professed experts in these fields. Mainstream medicine is also taken to task as he shows how big pharmaceutical companies manipulate trial data to sell their products.
I found the chapter on the MMR scare story particularly interesting as a parent of 2 children. He demonstrate admirably how the media turned seriously flawed medical research into the biggest health scare of recent times.
All in all an excellent book and well worth the read.
Rating: 5/5
You can buy the book here