socraticgadfly's review against another edition
3.0
It's decent as far as it goes, but it goes either too far or too little.
Since we just don't know that much about Smithson, you can't do a book-length bio about him. But, if you're going to try, you
If you're going to talk about the political backdrop to receiving his money, you should expand that.
If you're going to talk about "the making of America's greatest museum," you should expand that, ie, the work of Joseph Henry.
Add in some stilted language in early pages, and some overblown claims for / about Lavosier; namely, the untrue claim that he created a chemical table of the elements that is the basis for the one used today. Even John Dalton didn't do that; it's Mendeleev that created the first version of a periodic table.
Three stars or a "gentleman's C" for the book.
Since we just don't know that much about Smithson, you can't do a book-length bio about him. But, if you're going to try, you
If you're going to talk about the political backdrop to receiving his money, you should expand that.
If you're going to talk about "the making of America's greatest museum," you should expand that, ie, the work of Joseph Henry.
Add in some stilted language in early pages, and some overblown claims for / about Lavosier; namely, the untrue claim that he created a chemical table of the elements that is the basis for the one used today. Even John Dalton didn't do that; it's Mendeleev that created the first version of a periodic table.
Three stars or a "gentleman's C" for the book.
More...