shaikhitup's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
i wish someone had taught me the wonders of chemistry the way oliver sacks describes them here in this book, i’d have never given up on science if i had been taught like this
smemmott's review against another edition
4.0
This is a beautiful memoir of Oliver Sacks' extraordinary childhood. I'll be honest, I skimmed some sections because I didn't understand the details about chemistry. But I could understand why he was so fascinated by chemistry and the process of scientific discovery.
bernfarr's review against another edition
4.0
While this book has a lot of information on the history of chemistry and the elements, it's full of details about Sacks' life as a young boy and how his strong interest in chemicals developed and was encouraged by his Uncle Dave (aka Uncle Tungsten) who owned a factory making lightbulbs with tungsten filaments. At times the chemistry was too much for me, but Sacks' writing is always entertaining and informative so I didn't stop reading. If you like a good memoir and you don't mind science then you'll enjoy the book.
chemistry_goodness's review
5.0
One of my favorite science biographies. Sacks weaves a tremendous amount of chemical history into his bio and takes some effort if you don't have a science background but I believe it's worth the effort. He grew up in a different time. Chemistry kits now are somewhat boring because many of the really interesting chemicals have been removed over the years due to well-founded worries about toxicities. Sacks grew up when you could still go and buy chemicals that had dual use as something useful and as a poison. OK, the poisons were/are useful but that's not the point!
I used to assign it over 10 years ago to my General Chemistry I students as required reading and while they appreciated the information, they found it a difficult read over 4-6 weeks of time. The footnotes sometimes span more than one page you can't simply ship through this book without taking time to look up some information. I don't mean to suggest that that detracts from the book but it does make it a potentially challenging read for many people.
It's worth it.
As an aside, it was students' reactions to this book that resulted in a still-running joke in our department. Part of the assignment was for students to write a few paragraphs about the book and a couple of students in each class would complain about the "plot" and that they didn't like my choice of "novels". Hmm.
I used to assign it over 10 years ago to my General Chemistry I students as required reading and while they appreciated the information, they found it a difficult read over 4-6 weeks of time. The footnotes sometimes span more than one page you can't simply ship through this book without taking time to look up some information. I don't mean to suggest that that detracts from the book but it does make it a potentially challenging read for many people.
It's worth it.
As an aside, it was students' reactions to this book that resulted in a still-running joke in our department. Part of the assignment was for students to write a few paragraphs about the book and a couple of students in each class would complain about the "plot" and that they didn't like my choice of "novels". Hmm.
dorhastings's review against another edition
4.0
i'm far enough into this book to start writing a review of it, I think. I was introduced to the work and research of Oliver Sacks in my abnormal psychology and neuropsychology/neuroscience classes in college. We read The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat and it's one of the books from college that I've kept. I distinctly remember selecting this book at the used bookstore and always wanted to get back to reading the works of Oliver Sacks.
I think the description on the cover of the book is almost completely accurate for what you can expect. As usual, I didn't read the description on the cover of the book until I was a few chapters in. I was a little thrown off by all of the elaboration on chemistry and physics, but quite frankly it's enough for a layperson to understand, and the more you get into the book, the more it makes sense. This is still a very autobiographical work: we are working our way through Oliver's life and experiences. That he identified so heavily with scientists that they seemed to feel like family, even alongside his very active and accomplished family. It later makes sense when you understand two major things: 1.) his family heavily influenced his love of science and discovery (which in good ways is absolutely endearing and delightful, except when dissecting human beings (thanks to his mother) freaked him out); and 2.) WWII, and more specifically being one of the many young children sent away from home by train because of the bombings, and his terrible time at Braefield. I've heard of women and children being sent away, but this is a central issue that Sacks return to frequently throughout the book.
My understanding of these important issues helped me to better appreciate the book as a whole. And this book also made me appreciate the work of so many chemists, physicists, and doctors. Scientists occasionally get a bad rap: there is the stereotype that they are not warm or humanistic. But Sacks discusses them as humans who were curious and wanted to educate humanity.
Overall, I'd recommend this book. It's not quite what I expected, which is good, and sometimes the chemistry and such bored me and went over my head. But it was well worth reading.
I think the description on the cover of the book is almost completely accurate for what you can expect. As usual, I didn't read the description on the cover of the book until I was a few chapters in. I was a little thrown off by all of the elaboration on chemistry and physics, but quite frankly it's enough for a layperson to understand, and the more you get into the book, the more it makes sense. This is still a very autobiographical work: we are working our way through Oliver's life and experiences. That he identified so heavily with scientists that they seemed to feel like family, even alongside his very active and accomplished family. It later makes sense when you understand two major things: 1.) his family heavily influenced his love of science and discovery (which in good ways is absolutely endearing and delightful, except when dissecting human beings (thanks to his mother) freaked him out); and 2.) WWII, and more specifically being one of the many young children sent away from home by train because of the bombings, and his terrible time at Braefield. I've heard of women and children being sent away, but this is a central issue that Sacks return to frequently throughout the book.
My understanding of these important issues helped me to better appreciate the book as a whole. And this book also made me appreciate the work of so many chemists, physicists, and doctors. Scientists occasionally get a bad rap: there is the stereotype that they are not warm or humanistic. But Sacks discusses them as humans who were curious and wanted to educate humanity.
Overall, I'd recommend this book. It's not quite what I expected, which is good, and sometimes the chemistry and such bored me and went over my head. But it was well worth reading.
annielucarv's review against another edition
4.0
como esse cara não morreu quando era criança eu n sei