Hey, Gang!
If you or someone you know may be looking for a "Science for Dummies" book, then let me highly recommend Bill Bryson's latest book, _A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything_. I picked up this book while visiting Barnes & Noble last Friday, browsing the science-related sections.
For anyone who was bored with, or slept through, their science classes - or just wants a refresher/update on science in general - this is a great book. I'll admit that I was just about to set it back down on the shelf when my eyes settled on a passage about 18th century botanist Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern plant and animal classification, who ended up naming weeds after those scientists who ... er, crossed him. <grin> This little tidbit definitely caught my attention. Browsing through the book a bit more, I discovered the book had quite a bit of interesting info about many in the Who's Who in Science, those who were instrumental in the advancement of scientific progress, whether by design or accident, to include one person quite dear to many of us, Isaac Newton, whom Bryson describes as a "decidedly odd figure -- brilliant beyond measure, but solitary, joyless, prickly to the point of paranoia." (Hmmmm... Sounds like a few others I know ... especially when nasty winter weather affects their obser
ving plans. <bigger grin>)
Even though the book, by necessity, oversimplifies many scientific concepts, I thought Bryson did a wonderful job in bringing science to the masses. Concepts involving time, dimensions, the worlds of the very small and very large, etc., are made comprehensible by Bryson's use of analogies to which everybody can relate. The book was a very fun read, and I definitely learned quite a bit along the way. The book also made me realize just how much I'd forgotten over the years! Again, highly recommended!
...Bob...
Bob Czerwinski