Excellent- Combines history, science and human interest seamlessly
920723
This is truly a remarkable work. It is both literary and scientifically, clinically precise. For a lay person the clinical progress is explained so well that a lack of training in micro-biology or the many other disciplines that are necessarily referred to in relating the history of cancer treatment is no handicap to understanding the long slow march of unraveling both the causes of and the evolution of the treatments for cancer. The story is also a story of personalities. Many incredible individuals who contributed to the progression outlined in these pages, Scientists, Physicians, Fund Raisers, Politicians and of course- the patients.

I don't typically read science oriented books. My taste is more tilted toward literature and fiction. This was recommended to me by a physician colleague. With some trepidation I ordered it and I was immediately swept up in the scope and drama of what is truly one of the great scientific achievements of the century even with much left to be done. The writer deserves the accolades he has received for making this material come to life in a way that is accessible to a general readership. A really stunning and enlightening read.
4013442
I absolutely LOVED this book!  A wonderful combination of period/historical piece, scientific discovery, compelling characters and plots.
2036324
Don't imagine this is a watered down history book for children!  You could not be more wrong.  It is a comprehensive chronicle of life on earth from the beginning.  It covers the development of civilisation from the southern apes up to modern man.  It is arranged chronologically with plenty of time charts and wonderful illustrations.  Are you interested in ancient cities, the development of languages, the Russian Empire and the Industrial Revolution?  It's all covered in succinct (not baby) language and goes right through to the end of the 20th. century.  There is a glossary, map index and an extensive world time chart.

Over more than fifty years of study it has been my practice to scan any new subject with a children's book.  Be it Shakespeare, rap music, or the history of the Crusades, this approach has never failed me.  Get the bones and build onto them.  I found this atlas of world history so detailed I couoldn't put it down.

I rcommend it to all those who have an interest in history, in China, in World Wars One and Two, dinosaurs or the slave trade. Get yourself a copy for the whole family to enjoy.

Yvonne van Wensveen
3346278
A great combination of history/fiction/non-fiction.
1283468
I love how the story inspires curiosity and interweaves historical context and scientific facts. I began reading this book to my son, and we both enjoyed it. The artwork is very beautiful as well. I highly recommend to both children and adults alike.
3221538
The Next 500 Years is a fascinating and engrossing book. I consider the book as a sequel and partial update to another favorite, and best-selling The Next 10,000 Years, which was published almost a quarter of a century prior. The Next 500 Years is an interesting culmination of currently known scientific data, facts and theories applied to probable futuristic possibilities that can effect or predict future events. The book published circa 1996, still has relevant scientific data that does not seem out of date for the futuristic possibilities that are explored. Though only covering one chapter, some may find the topic of climate change controversial. I personally agree with the viewpoints expressed by the author. But there are many other chapters covering many other fascinating concepts such as the death of history, which discusses how digital communications will be unable to archive many historical records because they are unlikely to out survive hand written and printed documents. Wonderful to have this book now available as an e-book. I hope The Giant Leap by the same author will also become available as an e-book soon!
2145671
Neil Oliver's History of Ancient Britain is infused with his love and fascination for the subject - while gentle touches of philosophy and ample good humour abound.  For all that, it is a serious (but very readable) work - the best I have read in terms of bringing sense and meaning to British pre-history.  The book starts and concludes with concepts of time and the need to look back to understand where we have come from and why we are who/what we are.  And what a concept of time - back to the `commencement' of everything, a universe "at once incomprehensibly huge and yet - since it is expanding into and inside nothing at all - immeasurably small."  Oliver has the good grace and humour to acknowledge that no-one can really deliver this concept with a straight face or understand it!  He soon settles into the confines of what became Britain, taking us through the extraordinary time spans of the various stone ages, beyond the mega-tsunami that separated Britain from the continent, to the late Neolithic and Bronze Age.  Oliver's description of the magic of liquid bronze is pure poetry - "like a glimpse of what must happen inside the heart of a star ... the living metal draws your breath towards it and consumes that as well, so that you gasp."  Imagine the impact such an event, a first pouring of bronze, must have had on our Bronze Age ancestors.  This history is beautifully written and takes you up in the sweep of events (but always at a human level) across the length and breadth of Britain - perhaps with a stronger focus on Scotland, but you could hardly begrudge Neil Oliver his passion for his native land - through to the invasion and eventual retreat of the Romans.  A wonderful book.  Thoroughly recommended.
4480611
Brilliant combination of microbial elucidation, historical context, socioeconomic study and political influence. I have always been daunted by science, but Laurie Garrett writes to provide illumination to complex social, political, historical and microbial situations so that, rather than being bored, I was fully absorbed in the book. She approaches the subject of diseases as an author, creating a story and plot line, providing details and insight that allows the reader to understand the COMPLETE circumstance surrounding the disease.

This is a content-rich book, and her research is so extensive that I would recommend reading the book twice or more to fully understand.
It's a science book, a history book, a political study, a cultural index and economic analyzation that inspires, informs and engrosses the reader.

Highly recommend this book.
2716112
I'd first like to state that I am no history buff.  I studied American and European history in college, and studied music history for one and one-half years but I would be hard-pressed to accurately recall much any of it now.  I am basically a typically college-educated, non-history major person.  However, I have always been the type to suspect just about everything told to me by "authority figures" and I encourage everyone to question the sources of information they take for granted, or believe to be true simply because a teacher/preacher or someone who appeared powerful told them it was true.

The first thing I checked out in this book was it's bibliography page.  I need to have access to the same information the author used just in case I want to check for myself the authenticity of his claims.  I was satisfied concerning the list of sources used.  The book itself is a very interesting read, similar to a text book, but clearly not a text book.  Plenty of photographs and drawings/sketches were included so I was able to get a more accurate grasp of life in the time period (ranging from ancient Rome to today's Afghanistan) being discussed.  The section in Chapter 6 about Galileo was fascinating.  I won't go into details lest I spoil it for you, but I enjoy knowing a lot more background information that was previously untold or unknown.  I had always esteemed Galileo not only as an intellect, but also as an outstanding member of society.  I was surprised that he had such a checkered past!  And what the Romans did to the Christians after the great fire of Rome - Oh My God!

Though it is quite impossible to cover several hundred years of inaccurate history in 265 pages, this book covers many major recorded historical errors that have been spoon-fed to school children generation after generation for years.  I will insist my children read this book and others like it which debunk previously held historical truths because I strongly feel that the best way to understand our present, and to navigate our future is to thoroughly understand our past. And our past must be based on the truth no matter how ugly it may appear.
1727595
This book is timed nicely with the news of neutrinos travelling faster than light (though some doubts have arisen recently, fingers crossed!).

Resurrection is an intelligent sci-fi that manages to nicely thread humanity's distant past, present and the future into the plot.

The author herself went to great lengths to be inspired including climbing into the Great Pyramid at Giza with nothing but a flashlight while developing Resurrection.

Released in January and since them has spent weeks at #1 on Amazon's Sci-Fi lists in both the US and the UK and #2 on the entire Kindle store.

What I loved about this book is that it took missing links in humanity's study of ancient egypt and filled those holes with surreal imagination. It brings human nature into context through all the different time-lines.

While this book is going to be loved by science fiction lovers, it gives some great insights into our nature and dreams as a species.
4105613
This is a very well written history of the gradual exploration of the strangeness of quantum mechanics at the begining of last century.

This book combines the suspense of (i) a detective story with everyday's complex behaviors by humans (be they scientists) and of (ii) simple explanations of the physics and maths quandries which these scientists confronted and solved - with and without errors along the way.

An absolute must-read for those interested in the history of human thought and for those curious to understand how towering intellects came to decipher the strange nature of quantum phenomena and laws.  And how Albert Einstein grasped, affirmed before all others, and almost accepted the inherent strangeness of nature's laws.

One of the best history of science books I have ever read.  I am surprised that the author - a scientist - writes so well.

Pierre Larroque

.
3175510
Dr. David Bradstreet writes with detailed knowledge, personal warmth and engaging humor in this excellent book that combines his passionate study of the cosmos with his life-long commitment to his faith in Jesus Christ.  However, don't let the authors personal faith scare you off;  he is not pedantic or proselytizing in his approach.  This book isn't just for science-lovers; it is very accessible to those with little scientific knowledge, written in a style that reduces difficult concepts into understandable terms without dumbing them down.  The many references  to TV shows, movies, and books, etc. enhances the readers enjoyment for those familiar with such things.
I would recommend this book for any book clubs that are looking to expand their genres beyond memoirs, fiction or biographies.  There would be much meaty content to discuss.  Its a unique read among the many choices available, and I would highly recommend it for young and old alike.  Kay D.
4259206
This is the third installment of David Deming's excellent series on Science and Technology in World History. This book is as enlightening as the first two volumes providing a rich history not only of science and technology but, interestingly, of the impact and changes in religious thought as it was influenced by the development of science and technology. The sections on Martin Luther and Galileo were particularly interesting for me. I highly recommend this volume. Its enlightening, very readable, insightful and extremely well researched.  For a serious student of history or science and technology this is a must read.
Thomas A Elliott San Francisco, CA
4292188
This book is truly one of the most amazing and wonderful books I have come upon in quite a while.  I had listened to the original BBC podcast of the same title, so I was already familiar with the style and content of this book.  However, I was very happily surprised at how fresh the book felt even having already heard the podcast.

The scholarship and elegance found in this book are quite an accomplishment and an absolute delight to share in by reading.  Neal MacGregor's style is immediately engaging.  I am not generally a history buff, and yet I couldn't put down this 700 page non-fiction book on world history!  The book is crafted in a way to show how artifacts from our distant past still have impact on the world we live in today.  While the book is very erudite, it includes quirky anecdotes, light humor, and many surprises.  It feels smart, but never tedious, condescending, or preachy.  I have learned more from this one book about our history and our world today than I did from years of high school history classes.  Sad in a way, but true.

MacGregor has carefully selected historical objects from the entire world, not just Europe and the Middle East, as is so commonly the case.  MacGregor has also mindfully selected a diversity of objects from a diversity of cultures and socio-economic classes. Not only did I learn about the ancient history of China, India, and the Americas, but I saw an interconnectedness of history and the cultures that exist today.

The book itself is also very nicely done.  Each of the 100 chapters includes at least one full-page photograph of the object, and many chapters have multiple pictures from different views, or pictures of related objects.  Each chapter is about 5 pages of text, which is enough to be informative without feeling like a college textbook. There is also maps and lists of objects at the conclusion of the book.

I recommend this book without any reservations.  Regardless of your interest in world history today, this book will drawn you into history before you realize it has already happened.  The book is a little pricey at a glace, but you are really getting a book to cherish and thoroughly enjoy for a long time.  I have no regrets having purchased the book (and for considerably more than the Amazon price).
878409
I really enjoyed this book - the right mix of science, history and mystery. It was hard to put the book down once the story got going.
1487472
If you enjoy science and want to know about how scientists have been able to discover the history of (our visible) Universe from the first microseconds (but not before, yet, we need quantum gravity)mostly by observing the electromagnetic radiation coming from the heavens, this is a great book to read. It is not too difficult, although if this is your first book on the subject you may not understand some things, but keep reading because you will participate in the best detective story ever told.

The scientific method is the most succesful human endeavour. Unlike philosophy, which is almost entirely speculative, it combines a solid theoretical framework based in quantitative mathematical modelling (at least in physics) with experimental and observational evidence obtained with ever more precise (and costly) instruments. Since early cosmology and particle physics coincide in being high energy domains, each branch learns form each other and the future satellites scheduled to be launched in the next 10 to 20 years, together with the new ground based telescopes and the Large Hadron Collider augur a golden epoch for cosmology.

Gribbin is a great writer and, although I have read dozens of books on the subject, I did learn a quite a few new things. Highly recommended.
4716490
I learned two essential things reading The Butchering Art. Society is benefited by the good health of all the individuals within it, and that innovation has been fought by the general population throughout human history.  This book casts a light on people in the medical field in the past in a way that makes you understand that each milestone was pivotal. All points of discovery through the scientific method were crucial for new heights of understanding. So thankful for trailblazers like Joseph Lister, who had the courage to question the things accepted as facts in his time. Dr. Fitzharris takes you on a journey of the past that traces the steps through history and outlines why we know what we know about the human body and the world that surrounds us. She marries science with history in a captivating way and undeniably doesnt spare any of the brutal details. Beautifully written and dark by nature. Definitely a must read for lovers of science and for those who aren't faint of heart.