good for those with science background
928988
Tough read; good for those with science background. Amazon delivered the package  very well . . .
3995706
I actually picked up this book at the start of my PhD process as kind of refresher on the stuff I'd learned in school years before but had forgotten due to lack of use. Obviously, a Dummies book isn't going to be an in depth coverage of the material for a complex subject. For that you'd want to go to more advanced material. For what I was after, though, it served its purpose.
632185
This is a great book for those who want to know some of the science behind low carbohydrate/high fat diets. As a researcher myself, I checked into some of their sources, and they seem to be (from what I found) based on solid research, not some of the messy, "setting out to prove a point" stuff that often gets batted around. You won't find a lot of hype here, and if you don't have a background in science, you may get lost. That is the only reason I rated this 4 stars instead of 5. However, if you want some solid information, this is a good resource for your library.
4919044
Definitely NOT a book for science readers.
This book has been written for the spiritual, for faithful believers in healing, clairvoyance, psychokinesis and other spiritual gifts; the reason is because the book says what these people would like to read: scientific evidence of what they believe in.

Many times throughout the book, the author claims experiments' results as scientific proof for a given fact, when the truth is that the author doesn't have a clue on the meaning of scientific proof. She mentions tons of experiments supporting certain theories but there are no specific details to really grasp the reliability of those experiments, and they essentially reflect the experimenters tendency to interpret the results in a way that support their theories.
Just to give you an exaggerated example of her style, she writes things like, "I won five times in a row in a dice game, much more that I could have by chance, so that's scientific evidence of the power of my conciousness and my special future-guessing talents".

On the other hand the author talks about quantum physics throughout the book, as if she had a PhD on the subject, but no one that has spent less that 5 years studying physics full time can claim to really understand what all those quantum and relativistic theories really mean. This is very misleading because people usually think there's a link between quantum physics and conciousness, when all these links are just theories and, so far in history, none of them has proven a solid argument.

A good thing about the book is the fact that it summarizes pretty well many areas of research of paranormal activities, and it provides accurate historical data about personalities that have been involved in such studies, furthermore it's an great start off for those who would like to find out more about specific topics.
787965
I really liked this book.  The layout works,  the images are terrific,  the writing is clear.  My science head son found the information to be too superficial, saying it's science lite.  I didn't find it too light...  So if you have some knowledge on how a cell phone works,  this book won't give you anything new,  but if you know little to nothing about these things (like me!) then this book is a user-friendly introduction.  I like National Geographic,  we subscribe to their magazines and I trust their brand. This book is of the quality that I expected. You don't have to read it in one sitting or even chronologically. Rather,  you find a topic that interests you,  read a short informative article with some great pictures,  and walk away a bit more informed than when you started.  Lovely book to dip and out of.
749880
Haven't finished it yet, but it's not really a story. Well-written is you are looking for scientific explanations which require some scientific knowledge, or the willingness to try to remember from anatomy class. Though I am not a scientist, I would think this book is detailed enough to use to satisfy any scientist who isn't in medicine but wants to know more about this subject. You could read two or more textbooks and journals if you want the next level of knowledge but this seems quite detailed enough for me, a layman science reader.
3679669
I was especially interested in the latter part about stars and the solar system. The book does require some knowledge of physics and math if you want to explore or understand the equations. I had two years of each including an introduction to quantum mechanics and nuclear physics about forty years ago, so I wasn't troubled by the equations, but I had no need of really getting into them.
The discussions are worth the money alone and that was what I found most relevant to satisfying my curiosity.
3187789
Great book for beginners who don't want to deal with a lot of equations when they're just starting out.  The book is a bit heavy on metaphor but that's probably necessary in a primer volume that's trying to give you an overview of unproven scientific theory.  Fun to expand the intellect.  Expand your thought and get your 'learn' on.
4372322
Bowler and Morus (B&M henceforth) set themselves two projects in this book.  First, to create a general introductory overview of the history of science.  Second, to introduce their reader (presumably an undergraduate history major) to arguments currently playing out amongst academics who study the history of science.

They are pretty successful at both, although a reader who buys this book without already being aware of the academic controversies may occasionally be puzzled by some of the positions that B&M take.

The tone is a bit dry and the number of facts per page can be overwhelming to someone who is learning this material for the first time.  It's more of a textbook than a pleasure read.  However, to my knowledge they have done an excellent job of covering relevant and significant people, events, connections to past knowledge, and social influences.

On several occasions, their "conclusions" at the end of each chapter are unsupported (at least in this book) assertions rather than actual consequences of the evidence and arguments they cover.  No doubt this is largely due to the difficulty of compressing 550 years of scientific discovery into a single volume. I consider this the chief weakness of the book.  Otherwise, it accomplishes its intended purpose well.

A professional historian will not need this book.  A scientist or well educated layperson interested in history might find it overwhelming or simply too dense. But if you are looking for a middle ground between a completely academic volume and a pleasure read, or if you need a great bibliography or condensed summary volume, this is almost your only choice.  Lucky for you it's well done.
2046745
A reasonably good introduction to the subject for someone who has not done it, or is re-learning it after a long lay-off.
Tends to be more biased towards the molecular level of genetics, which is probably due to the advances in this area in the 20 years since I did it.
Does not tackle Classical or Population genetics in any depth.
Nevertheless, a good book to get you re-interested in learning the subject of genetics again, and learning newer technologies.
However, you will need to move onto bigger and better books very soon.
3798701
First of all, I did a postdoc in neuroscience, and I'm the mom of a boy, so I came at this book from a couple different angles.

While some reviewers have disliked the debunking of some of the neuro-pseudoscience, I loved it. I hate it when bad science hits the mainstream media, and then they run with it. Seeing some of their favorite falsified theories thoroughly debunked were some of my favorite parts.

I think this book helped me understand my son a bit better and given me some direction for how to help him develop his less-innate abilities. It's a good book for people who like to learn a lot about science, especially the way that science works (falsifying hypotheses,) but not a great book for people who are looking for, say parenting advice.

TK Kenyon
4130318
I've been doing my own research on quantum physics for a while now. So when I saw this book in was intrigued almost instantly.
The first half of the book was very easy for me to get through. It dealt more with the science point-of-view and the boundary that most scientist will admit we have come to.
The second half of the book was a bit harder for me to read. It talked more of why we are unable to cross that boundary with the current tools we have. But it spoke to me very personally, so I was only able to digest a little of it at a time.
It is definitely worth the read but I wouldn't recommend this to a beginner, unless you are a open-minded scientist. You might be able to find some wonderful morsels in this book.
1033231
I got this in the hopes of learning some of the wonky ins and outs of orthomolecular science and it doesnt disappoint. But if you're looking for unbiased science based nutritional advice this isn't it. The USDAs worst recommendations are preached, and the dangers of meat-free diets are grossly overstated and over simplified. But as long as you understand that going in, you can learn a lot about basic nutrition from this book. Dont expect it to be all that entertaining - its still a textbook - but it will serve as a useful reference for me for at least some things
3935229
This is a good description of the simulation hypothesis of understanding. The author provides descriptions of over 200 different experiments that support this hypothesis. The book is very scientific even though it is accessible to a lay audience. This was achieved by using simple language but describing many experiments. I suspect that a lay person will get lost in some of the details, while a scientist will be bored by some redundancy in the text.

If you want to learn about the simulation hypothesis of understanding this book will provide as an excellent introduction.

Overall I only give it 3 stars because I struggled to get through it, even though I enjoyed learning about the science of understanding.
2517028
This book, Famous Scientists and What They Did: Pre-K Science Series, was written by Baby Professor in a manner that is informative and simplistic. The book begins with the general copyright information before providing the definition of a scientist. From this point on, the book dives right into the famous scientists and their claim to fame. Each page dedicated to a scientist is setup in the following format: a picture of the scientist in question with their name beneath the picture on the left side of the page, with a short blurb about their contributions on the right side of the page. The overall background of the pages is green, there are yellow accent boxes around the pertinent information, the text is in white (on a black background within the yellow boxes), and the pictures are in black and white. There are only 14 scientists discussed in this book, ranging from Aristotle to Curie to Pascal.

I enjoyed the lack of filler information in this book, the lack of grammatical or spelling errors, and the simplistic setup of the book and short sentences about each scientist. I will admit to generally removing a star from my ratings due to the terrible formatting of some books. Thankfully, though, I had no issues with the format beyond the fact that the scientists were not organized in terms of, say, the dates of their contributions, birth/death dates, or simply alphabetically. I gave this book a 3-star rating due to the lack of frills to keep a childs attention, the advanced language use within the book, and lack of further information about each scientist. First off, it was great that the author provided actual pictures of each of the scientists. However, there was limited color and no pictures attempting to explain the scientific contributions of the scientists. Put simply, the visuals used to keep the attention of most children when learning were severely lacking. Perhaps the most bothersome part of the book was the advanced use of language. It was stated on the book cover that this book was sufficient for pre-K students; however, I find use of words such as radioactive isotopes and electromagnetic fields way too advanced for this age level. Generally information such as that isn't introduced until a middle school or high school level. In addition, the author only chose to define certain advanced terms, but not all. Similar to what other reviewers have mentioned, there are no dates provided. Generally, when speaking of past pertinent scientific discoveries, there is a date listed in order to glean the significance of the prior discoveries that aided in the specific advancement or future discoveries that were brought about in part due to a previous discovery. Dates of advancements play a huge role in scientific evolution and thus, should be readily available. A side note is that I wish there was more than just 14 scientists detailed in this book. There are many more important scientists of past and present that just 14. Overall, for a pre-K student, I think this book is too advanced and would not hold their attention. I think this book would hold more questions than answers for young ones. That being said, this would be a good, simplistic resource for an older individual who is just delving into the world of science.
3813540
It's a good science book in its own with comments on current developments and states of many fields of science.  The essays are very informational and quite easy to read.  I'd say the prerequisite will be that you like reading about science.  A science AP course might be helpful to a high schooler.

It is fun to learn what some of the leading scientists believe will happen during our lifetime.  Of course, many of the predictions might turn out dead wrong, but even so, it is a good read for people interested in science.
3630833
Very light on introduction and very little science backed discussion of the ketogenic diet.  Also some questionable statements made, such as "before humans began ingesting refined sugar and carbohydrates, we were always in ketosis".  No evidence provided to support this statement and it's probably only true for select population (e.g. arctic).  I would have also liked to see more info on transitioning to a ketogenic diet and preparing ketogenic meals (e.g. give me some background on spiralizing).  All that said, a lot of the recipes look pretty good.

"I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review."