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Eureka!: 50 Scientists Who Shaped Human History
Galileo, Einstein, Curie, Darwin, Hawking — we know the names, but how much do we really know about these people? Galileo gained notoriety from his battle with the Vatican over the question of heliocentrism, but did you know that he was also an accomplished lute player? And Darwin of course discovered the principle by which new species are formed, but his bold curiosity extended to the dinner table as well. (And how many people can say they’ve eaten an owl!) In Eureka! John Grant offers fifty vivid portraits of groundbreaking scientists, focusing not just on the ideas and breakthroughs that made them so important but also on their lives and their various… quirks.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 2016
6 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
John Grant
537 books183 followersJohn Grant is author of over eighty books, of which about twenty-five are fiction, including novels like The World, The Hundredfold Problem, The Far-Enough Window and most recently The Dragons of Manhattan and Leaving Fortusa. His “book-length fiction” Dragonhenge, illustrated by Bob Eggleton, was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2003; its successor was The Stardragons. His first story collection, Take No Prisoners, appeared in 2004. He is editor of the anthology New Writings in the Fantastic, which was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. His novellas The City in These Pages and The Lonely Hunter have appeared from PS Publishing.
His latest fiction book is Tell No Lies , his second story collection; it's published by Alchemy Press. His most recent nonfiction is A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir . Earlier, he coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote in their entirety all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their field. Among other recent nonfictions have been Discarded Science, Corrupted Science (a USA Today Book of the Year), Bogus Science and Denying Science.
As John Grant he has to date received two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a number of other international literary awards. He has written books under other names, even including his real one: as Paul Barnett, he has written a few books (like the space operas Strider’s Galaxy and Strider’s Universe) and for a number of years ran the world-famous fantasy-artbook imprint Paper Tiger, for this work earning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award.
His latest fiction book is Tell No Lies , his second story collection; it's published by Alchemy Press. His most recent nonfiction is A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir . Earlier, he coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote in their entirety all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their field. Among other recent nonfictions have been Discarded Science, Corrupted Science (a USA Today Book of the Year), Bogus Science and Denying Science.
As John Grant he has to date received two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a number of other international literary awards. He has written books under other names, even including his real one: as Paul Barnett, he has written a few books (like the space operas Strider’s Galaxy and Strider’s Universe) and for a number of years ran the world-famous fantasy-artbook imprint Paper Tiger, for this work earning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 10, 2016
Giants' shoulders...
This is a collection of mini biographies of some of the great scientists who have contributed to our current understanding of ourselves, our world and the universe we live in. In his introduction, John Grant points out that any selection is going to be subjective to a degree, but all the major names are here – Galileo, Newton, Einstein, etc. - as well as several who are less well known, certainly to me. The book is aimed at teens and young adults, but frankly it works equally well for older adults like me, who have only a superficial knowledge of the history of science.
Each section follows roughly the same pattern. Grant quickly places the person in the overall timeline of scientific discovery, gives a short personal biography showing how they got involved in their particular area of science, and then explains their major achievements and, in some cases, their failures. The chapters vary in length, from a couple of pages for those people who made one specific contribution to science – like Edward Jenner, the man who discovered that cowpox could be used to create a vaccine for smallpox, leading eventually to its worldwide eradication (why didn't I know about him?!) – to perhaps ten or so pages for those, like Newton or Einstein, who fundamentally changed the perception of the fields in which they worked. The book is structured chronologically, which allows Grant to show very clearly how each generation of scientists built on the work of those before them – in Newton's words: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Grant's writing style is clear and very approachable, never talking down to his audience, and with a good deal of humour laced through the book to prevent the science becoming too dry. He makes the science side clear enough on the whole for even the more scientifically challenged amongst us to understand, at least until we get to relativity and quantum thingummyjigs, at which point my eyes began to roll in my head and my tongue lolled out. However, that's my normal reaction to these things, so I don't hold Grant to blame – he almost got me to sorta understand why the whole E = mc2 thing was important, which is more than many science writers have done. And I briefly felt I'd grasped the Schrödinger's cat thing too... but the moment passed. (I've always felt it would have been of more practical benefit if Schrödinger had explained how to get a cat in a box, myself...)
But the science is only part of it. The book is as much about the history of scientific research and gives an unvarnished glimpse at some of the jealousies and backstabbing that happen in that world as much as in any other. Grant shows how sometimes female scientists would be sidelined or have credit for their work taken by their male colleagues, often only being given recognition decades or even centuries after the event. To be fair, this happened to plenty of male scientists too, either because they were outside the snobby scientific community or simply from professional rivalries getting out of hand. Men heavily outnumber women in the book, but this is to be expected since, as Grant points out, until very recently (and still, in some parts of the world) science wasn't considered a suitable occupation for the “gentler sex”. Hah! Tell that to Marie Curie, or Émilie du Châtelet! Mostly, though, the story is one of co-operation and collaboration, especially when the book brings us towards the present day.
Each chapter ends with a little summary of factlets, such as whether the scientist has had any comets, craters, prizes etc named after her/him, plus suggestions for further reading, and information about films or music that may have been based on or inspired by her/him. These sections, I should warn you, can be fatal to your to-be-read and to-be-watched piles...
In summary, I think this is an excellent book, informative, well written and well presented, that gives an overview of the science and scientists which is easily digestible without feeling superficial. Science has changed since I was a girl (they've discovered the Earth isn't flat, for a start) and scientific writers have realised they have to make the subject interesting if they want young people to be attracted into it. This book does that – Grant writes with a warm enthusiasm and respect for the work these scientists do, without ever setting them up as unapproachable objects of reverence. He includes not just the great theoreticians whose ideas about the workings of the universe may be quite hard for the layperson to really grasp, but also more practical scientists, making a difference to our day-to-day lives, in medical research, climatology, computing, etc.
I read it straight through and enjoyed getting a feeling for the timeline of science, but this would also work very well as a reference book to look up or remind oneself of what a particular scientist is noted for. Highly recommended for any young person from about 13 up, I'd say, and for any adult who would just like to know a bit more about the subject.
NB This book was kindly provided for review by the author, whom I know via the blogging world. However, the review reflects my honest opinion.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress
This is a collection of mini biographies of some of the great scientists who have contributed to our current understanding of ourselves, our world and the universe we live in. In his introduction, John Grant points out that any selection is going to be subjective to a degree, but all the major names are here – Galileo, Newton, Einstein, etc. - as well as several who are less well known, certainly to me. The book is aimed at teens and young adults, but frankly it works equally well for older adults like me, who have only a superficial knowledge of the history of science.
Each section follows roughly the same pattern. Grant quickly places the person in the overall timeline of scientific discovery, gives a short personal biography showing how they got involved in their particular area of science, and then explains their major achievements and, in some cases, their failures. The chapters vary in length, from a couple of pages for those people who made one specific contribution to science – like Edward Jenner, the man who discovered that cowpox could be used to create a vaccine for smallpox, leading eventually to its worldwide eradication (why didn't I know about him?!) – to perhaps ten or so pages for those, like Newton or Einstein, who fundamentally changed the perception of the fields in which they worked. The book is structured chronologically, which allows Grant to show very clearly how each generation of scientists built on the work of those before them – in Newton's words: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Grant's writing style is clear and very approachable, never talking down to his audience, and with a good deal of humour laced through the book to prevent the science becoming too dry. He makes the science side clear enough on the whole for even the more scientifically challenged amongst us to understand, at least until we get to relativity and quantum thingummyjigs, at which point my eyes began to roll in my head and my tongue lolled out. However, that's my normal reaction to these things, so I don't hold Grant to blame – he almost got me to sorta understand why the whole E = mc2 thing was important, which is more than many science writers have done. And I briefly felt I'd grasped the Schrödinger's cat thing too... but the moment passed. (I've always felt it would have been of more practical benefit if Schrödinger had explained how to get a cat in a box, myself...)
But the science is only part of it. The book is as much about the history of scientific research and gives an unvarnished glimpse at some of the jealousies and backstabbing that happen in that world as much as in any other. Grant shows how sometimes female scientists would be sidelined or have credit for their work taken by their male colleagues, often only being given recognition decades or even centuries after the event. To be fair, this happened to plenty of male scientists too, either because they were outside the snobby scientific community or simply from professional rivalries getting out of hand. Men heavily outnumber women in the book, but this is to be expected since, as Grant points out, until very recently (and still, in some parts of the world) science wasn't considered a suitable occupation for the “gentler sex”. Hah! Tell that to Marie Curie, or Émilie du Châtelet! Mostly, though, the story is one of co-operation and collaboration, especially when the book brings us towards the present day.
Each chapter ends with a little summary of factlets, such as whether the scientist has had any comets, craters, prizes etc named after her/him, plus suggestions for further reading, and information about films or music that may have been based on or inspired by her/him. These sections, I should warn you, can be fatal to your to-be-read and to-be-watched piles...
In summary, I think this is an excellent book, informative, well written and well presented, that gives an overview of the science and scientists which is easily digestible without feeling superficial. Science has changed since I was a girl (they've discovered the Earth isn't flat, for a start) and scientific writers have realised they have to make the subject interesting if they want young people to be attracted into it. This book does that – Grant writes with a warm enthusiasm and respect for the work these scientists do, without ever setting them up as unapproachable objects of reverence. He includes not just the great theoreticians whose ideas about the workings of the universe may be quite hard for the layperson to really grasp, but also more practical scientists, making a difference to our day-to-day lives, in medical research, climatology, computing, etc.
I read it straight through and enjoyed getting a feeling for the timeline of science, but this would also work very well as a reference book to look up or remind oneself of what a particular scientist is noted for. Highly recommended for any young person from about 13 up, I'd say, and for any adult who would just like to know a bit more about the subject.
NB This book was kindly provided for review by the author, whom I know via the blogging world. However, the review reflects my honest opinion.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress
August 26, 2016
Get this essential book for your family discussions at the dinner table. Do you want your children to become interested in science and/or world history? Do you have an interest in the history of scientific thought and progress? The concise and well written material on 50 selected scientists covering the ages will enlighten, delight and possibly inspire further study. John Grant has written a beautifully seductive book that will encourage further study on any given topic that particularly interests students. I have the paperback book, and I think it is designed attractively with the perfect presentation for short discussions that could be followed up with further research. I am long past the age of teaching my children as they now teach me, but I know they would all have enjoyed the math and science and history contained in this very rich publication.
July 6, 2016
Though this is not a short story collection, like many nonfiction books I've read recently can absolutely be parsed out for either short reading passages for entertainment, short responses, or interesting opening or closing activities in school along with being something that can feed the mind when you're a bit bored.
Likewise, it's chock full of the coolest tidbits of information about his selected 50 scientists that shaped human history. He does mention this is his list of 50 and others may disagree but as a whole, he makes a pretty good argument for those that he picked. The format is easy with multiple pages about their life following their names, birth and death date (if possible), a short italicized summation of their contribution and then he follows the actual history in the making, leaves readers with several bullet points of factoids about their continual contribution (whether bands are naming themselves after them or there are constellations that exist with their names attached).
Absolutely will purchase several copies to pass out to students and staff alike, plus it's a snazzy title.
Likewise, it's chock full of the coolest tidbits of information about his selected 50 scientists that shaped human history. He does mention this is his list of 50 and others may disagree but as a whole, he makes a pretty good argument for those that he picked. The format is easy with multiple pages about their life following their names, birth and death date (if possible), a short italicized summation of their contribution and then he follows the actual history in the making, leaves readers with several bullet points of factoids about their continual contribution (whether bands are naming themselves after them or there are constellations that exist with their names attached).
Absolutely will purchase several copies to pass out to students and staff alike, plus it's a snazzy title.
October 31, 2016
Although I generally don't include the children's and ya titles I listen to here, this is one that works for adults too. Intriguing biographies of scientists from ancient to present. Obviously the emphasis is Western and male, but there are some interesting women profiled as well (including Ada Lovelace of early computers). More than straight facts about contribution to science, these also include some fascinating more personal details that make them very inviting. Each section ends with a bibliography of books, film, and more. Pleasant way to meet great minds.
September 12, 2016
So many people liked this, but I found it very dry. It was more like encyclopedia entries. I thought it would be more story-like. Probably my bad, but I could not finish it.
November 14, 2017
Did you know that the Pythagoreans were a religious group who were not allowed to eat beans, walk on highways, or pick up things that had been dropped or thrown on the ground? This is an appealing and informative history of science for young adults. The author made a special effort to include women scientists, which makes me happy.
My other favorite bit of trivia from this book: Not only did Marie Curie win two Nobel Prizes, but her husband won one, her daughter won one, and her son-in-law won the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNICEF. And Marie Curie would have been left off of the first Nobel Prize--the committee was going to award it just to her husband, Pierre--but Pierre insisted that she deserved credit.
My other favorite bit of trivia from this book: Not only did Marie Curie win two Nobel Prizes, but her husband won one, her daughter won one, and her son-in-law won the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNICEF. And Marie Curie would have been left off of the first Nobel Prize--the committee was going to award it just to her husband, Pierre--but Pierre insisted that she deserved credit.
November 27, 2018
Our library has this classed as a children's book, but it definitely didn't read that way. Most of the scientists I had already heard of and many of the stories were familiar to me, but some were totally new, which I very much appreciated. However, there were a number of things that I found a bit irritating. Firstly, I'm going to punch the next person that says to me, "But, there's more," which the author repeats at the end of each mini-bio. Secondly, I have little or no interest in the pop culture references to these people, and would have preferred that the author save his bibliography for the end of the book. Finally, I could have done without the author's virtue signalling about the dearth of women mentioned in the book. Less feminist theory, more quantum theory.
May 25, 2024
A thrilling introduction to the lives and work of the world’s most influential scientific thinkers. Combines historical and scientific accounts in a unique and exciting way.
November 10, 2016
Featured in "Historical Nonfiction Books for Young Readers" on Intellectual Recreation.
Something you may not know about me is that I actually loved science as a student (especially basic-level science classes before heavy math gets involved).
With his new book, John Grant basically provides an encyclopedia of great scientists beginning with the ancient Greeks and concluding with scientists like Stephen Hawking. Each short entry gives a basic outline of the scientist's life and work.
I would have loved this book as a kid. I think my 11-year-old self would have read and reread her favorite entries again and again. As a lover of history and admirer of science, I quite liked the book today.
Eureka!: 50 Scientists Who Shaped Human History was out August 2, 2016.
Review copy from NetGalley.
July 15, 2016
From Pythagoras to Galileo to Newton to Hawking, Eureka! dives into the stories of fifty scientists that shaped human history. While some names are to be expected (Darwin, Einstein, Hubble) but others you may have trouble naming their contributions to science off the top of your head. Regardless of if you're familiar with the scientist or not, Grant's interesting stories and facts will keep you reading. Since the book is divided into fifty sections-one for each scientist-it is easy to pick up and put down, though I found myself reading large chunks at a time.
Students, especially science lovers, will enjoy Eureka! and it will also make a great nonfiction tie-in for science or language arts teachers looking to build background information and give context for some of the greatest discoveries in human history.
*A copy of this book was provided free of charge for an honest review.
Students, especially science lovers, will enjoy Eureka! and it will also make a great nonfiction tie-in for science or language arts teachers looking to build background information and give context for some of the greatest discoveries in human history.
*A copy of this book was provided free of charge for an honest review.
July 22, 2016
These biographical sketches are really well done. They provide a bit of personal information, but focus on the development of science/math. Not only is this a history of scientists, but it is also fascinating to see how scientific thinking changes over time.
Unless you have a special interest in the history of science, I think this book is best used as a reference. 250 pages of somewhat dry biographies is really a lot to read cover to cover. I set out to read 2-3 per day. Although I'm a nerd and I love math and science, I still found out challenging to pick up this book some days, and ultimately abandoned the book after 75 pages (14 biographies).
I wish the author had modified it a bit - either 20 scientists or 50 scientists with much shorter sketches.
Unless you have a special interest in the history of science, I think this book is best used as a reference. 250 pages of somewhat dry biographies is really a lot to read cover to cover. I set out to read 2-3 per day. Although I'm a nerd and I love math and science, I still found out challenging to pick up this book some days, and ultimately abandoned the book after 75 pages (14 biographies).
I wish the author had modified it a bit - either 20 scientists or 50 scientists with much shorter sketches.
January 22, 2017
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read and review Eureka!: 50 Scientists Who Shaped Human History! This book is full of insights into scientific pioneers both professional and personal. From B.C. to modern times, details explaining theories and interesting tidbits of each scientist fill this easy to read informational book - 4 stars!
Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the opportunity to read and review Eureka!: 50 Scientists Who Shaped Human History! This book is full of insights into scientific pioneers both professional and personal. From B.C. to modern times, details explaining theories and interesting tidbits of each scientist fill this easy to read informational book - 4 stars!
November 20, 2016
A concise recap of famous Scientists their achievements and some personal background
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November 22, 2016I received a copy of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews