The Cat in the Box: A History of Science in 100 Experiments

by John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin

In The Cat in the Box, prolific science writers John and Mary Gribbin distill the fascinating and oddball history of scientific innovation into a hundred world-changing experiments.

All science is based on curiosity, hypothesis, experimentation, and analysis. This basic formula has been in place for thousands of years, and has led to some of humankind's greatest achievements. From modern feats like cracking the human genome and using gravitational waves to detect a new kind of nova, to harnessing the power of rivers to power mills, it leads back to initial kernels of curiosity and testing.

Renowned science writing duo, John and Mary Gribbin, retell the enlightening, fascinating, and often oddball stories of scientific innovation through the ages in their new book, The Cat in the Box. The tradition of curiosity, experimentation, analysis is rarely a straight road, and you will not believe some of the incredible stories the Gribbins' pull from labs and workshops from around the world.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, History, History Of Science

288 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2017

About the author

John R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.

Reviews

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 STARS*
John Gribbin is an old acquaintance of mine - his book In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality along with Superforce by Paul Davies and The Ambidextrous Universe by Martin Gardner were my favorites while i was still a teenager student and the main reason why I chose a career in Physics after secondary school.
This book is a great compendium of the most important experiments in the history of science. Explained in a simple way with lots of great pictures, i think it is a great addition to any library, specially that of science teachers and science enthusiasts with a limited math background. No complicated formulas or weird concepts here, i think it can appeal to a general public.
I have only one complaint, and it´s about the Galileo text (page 27/28) where it says that the Discorsi was banned by the Church- not true, it was actually another book, the Dialogo, which was banned instead (i had my training on History and Epistemology of Science under a noted Galileo scholar so i can´t let this one go unnoticed! If someone wants to check, you can take a look at Noticias Del Planeta Tierra by Guillermo Boido for more info on his research on original Galileo manuscripts). Anything else written by Galileo was considered banned "by proxy" but no official statement was ever made.

DISCLAIMER: I have received a digital free copy (ARC) from the publisher in exchange of my review. Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this opportunity. #thecatinthebox #netgalley

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

What you might call list books - 100 best this, 50 ideas on that - are not my favourite reading (in my experience they tend to be things publishers like because they get lots of translations), but anything John and Mary Gribbin are involved in is bound to have good written content, and that is true here.

Unlike some such books, where the illustrations dominate, here there is a good mix between the text, which isn't constrained to be an exact two-page spread, and the images. Though the text is never overwhelmed, those images are often excellent and this is a classy enough production to have good quality colour photographs (though this is reflected in the price).

Along the way through our 100 experiments, we see some of the best of the best. (There are actually 101, explained as being like the US 'Physics 101' type courses, but more likely added afterwards to encompass the LIGO gravitational wave experiment.) It is remarkable to see both the crudeness of some early experiments that achieved so much, and the effort and thinking that has gone in to the ways that we have opened up knowledge on the universe, the Earth, biology, matter and more. The Gribbins aren't unnecessarily fussy about what counts as an experiment, which is excellent, so include, for example, the invention of the steam engine and the fascinating folly that was the almost unusable giant telescope, the Leviathan of Parsonstown.

We discover the way that very small ideas can spark a wider scientific endeavour - for instance Kekulé's self-eating snake dream, leading to an understanding of the benzene ring, so important to organic chemistry. And how sometimes it is the absence of something that makes the difference, such as when the ability to create a near-vacuum led to more understanding of subatomic particles and the development of electronics. Usually in the history of science we see a neat (if humanly flawed) chronological procession. By taking us from Archimedes in his bath to the satellites mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation we get a better understanding of the breadth of scientific endeavour.

Infrequently, the need to condense an experiment and its implications into a brief article can result in compaction that comes close to being misleading. For instance, in Newton's famous experiments on light we are told that in the second part of the experiment a second prism 'combined the seven colours back into a single spot of white light.' In reality, while Newton did use a second prism this way, he doesn't mention its effect on colour, only shape. His actual 'Experimentum Crucis' used two boards to separate off a small section of the spectrum and the second prism was used to show that different colours bent at different angles. Where Newton did actually make something of recombining the colours, he used a lens, rather than a prism. Similarly the entry on masers and lasers only details the maser work, not even naming the person who created the (far more useful) first laser or the person who had the patent on it.

Even so, the vast majority of the entries remain informative and concise. I'm only left with my usual bafflement with this kind of book as to what they are for. Only scientific stamp collectors are going to want to read through end to end (I admit to skimming through and dipping in to read the articles that caught my eye for various reasons). There's not the satisfaction of a narrative-based read that comes in a good popular science book. My suspicion is that apart from the translation opportunities, the main target may be libraries - the book is expensive for a personal buy, but I can imagine it being popular in both public and school libraries. So it remains part of a category I don't really understand as a reader... but it undoubtedly should win 'best in class'.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

[Patrick Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I was too naive to hope that the descriptions of the experiments would be detailed. I wanted to know more about how the scientists came to their conclusions, not just what those conclusions were. Still a good history that's easy to pick up and put down.

[Nick Quirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most wonderful book I have read in a long time. It succinctly surveys the history of science from its earliest days to the present (2017). I have a PhD in physics and have deeply studied many of the topics contained within this book. Yet, this book was still extremely informative to me; I learned many new things and new ways of explaining concepts to non-scientists. This book has made me excited about the future. I can’t wait for volume 2!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this progressive history of scientific discoveries and the people who were curious enough to ask why, how, and even why not to be fascinating. Not a scientist myself but having an inquisitive nature this book worked to satisfy my innate desire to know. Limited to only 100 experiments it is not an exhaustive list of ground breaking discoveries. I’m sure you could list the top 200 - 250 or more and still get those who would say, “What about this experiment or that scientist.” When we ask questions and then seek answers it opens up your mind to possibilities and thoughts of what if.

The Gribbins have done their research and written concise and understandable synopsis of each experiment, the scientist(s) involved, and the importance of each discovery. There is forward and reverse entries connecting past discoveries or scientist to new incites. The ebook version I read didn’t make this easy but a written book or an e-volume that allowed for clickable links would make this even more fascinating.

I would say that I wish it had more depth but then the book would have been unwieldy and defeated the purpose of an overview. It is one I will hold onto in order to do my own research on those experiments and scientist that intrigued me the most.

For anyone seeking knowledge, to those who want more in-depth understanding of the scientific method, this is a good starting point.

I wish to thank Race Point Publishing, The Gribbins, and NetGalley for my free, very enjoyed copy in exchange for this review.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, With Surprising Depth and Range

Here's the thing. There are lots of books that survey interesting experiments, great moments in science, and so on. They can be fun, but many of them are a little vague, or shallow, or careless about details. They may hit the highlights, but often feel like sciencey bathroom books. That's often just fine, but it's not what you get here.

In this book you get a basic intro and outline of a famous experiment, but then you take the next step and look at the science, the experimenter, the experimental method, and the context in more detail and often with a second deeper level of understanding. Here's an example. Everyone knows Archimedes' experiment. A pound of gold, being denser, will displace less water than a pound of some adulterated mixture of gold and a lighter metal. Eureka! Archimedes determined that the king's crown had been made not from a single bar of gold but from a cheaper mixture of gold and silver. The book explains this. But I've always wondered how Archimedes measured with necessary precision the water displacement. Well, the book goes on to explain this too. He didn't measure the water volumes. He put a bar of gold on one side of a balance beam and the crown on the other side of the balance. When immersed in water the adulterated crown was more buoyant, because it displaced more water, and the beam tipped the gold bar down. Eureka, indeed! And so the hydrostatic balance is born. That's what I mean by going the extra mile to illustrate and explain the scientific principle, (here, Archimedes' principle), and the experimental method, at issue.

The book is loaded with goodies like this. Apart from taking away a deep appreciation of what amateur Enlightenment era scientists accomplished, (and being rather astonished at how often Benjamin Franklin shows up in the middle of or at least at the edge of these stories), you'll learn a tremendous amount about a wide range of scientific breakthroughs you thought you already knew.

The organization of the 100 experiments is chronological, but of course science moved in fits and starts and developments and discoveries are often clustered together. In general, we address Newtonian physics, the early days of chemistry, phlogiston, electricity, heat, light, magnetism, natural science, gravity, solar system objects, steam power, medicine, radio, DNA and genetics, and, in later sections, so much that's going on in cosmology and particle and quantum physics. It's quite a ride.

Each chapter is devoted to a single experiment, although that is set in its larger context. Descriptions are crisp and clear. Illustrations are either helpful, (diagrams and cross-sections, photos and engravings of lab equipment, and the like), or at least set the right mood, (Archimedes in his bath). The narrative tone is welcoming and earnest, but is rather neutral, and not written to be funny or chummy or especially personable. In that regard this reads more like an accessible bite-size textbook than a celebrity-scientist lecture. That was fine by me because the appeal here is the science, not the musings of a science personality.

All in all, this was one of the most engaging and informative popular science books I've read in some time. It will lead to deeper understanding of principles with which you may be familiar, and will most likely introduce some new and intriguing bits to round out your science education. A very nice find.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

This book is divided into 100 short chapters, each illustrating and explaining an important scientific discovery and, to a lesser degree, the scientists associated with them. It's very well illustrated with many photographs and diagrams of the experiments (and much of the equipment used). Written in an open informal style, the language is accessible to the average interested reader. The experiments and discoveries are listed in roughly chronological order, starting with Archimedes in 200something B.C. and ending with a short study in cosmology which could (literally) be taken out of today's headlines.

I could definitely see this book being used as support material in a classroom setting for middle grades up to college age, or simply enjoyed as an information filled read. It would be a good resource book for libraries as well.

One of the things that especially appealed to me about this book is that it covers a lot of 'meaty' scientific history and manages to do so without requiring an unreasonable or intimidating amount of math/physics background from the reader. People who swear they don't enjoy mathematics will find plenty to enjoy in this book. Since it covers a broad range of subjects, from genetics to particle physics to biology and cosmology, there's a lot for other disciplines to read and learn about also.

In addition to the 100 experiments, there's an afterword (props for all the Feynman quotes), followed by a really useful index and bibliography/picture credit section. Plenty of scope for further reading.

Critical thinking and reasoning ability are more important now than ever. Every day we're inundated with media bombardment purporting to tell the truth. It's absolutely vital to know what to believe and to be reasonably adept at winnowing out the truth from fiction. Scientific reasoning is a method of training ourselves to be more adept at figuring out what to swallow.

Stats:
Author: John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin
288 pages, Hardback
Released Sept 1, 2017 from Quarto Publishing Group - Race Point

Four stars for content and accessibility. Great fun!


Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look at experimental science from its beginning

I had recently read “Out Of The Shadow Of A Giant” by John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin and loved it so I was optimistic that this book would be as good. I was not disappointed. I liked this book because the information was tangible; no theoretical physics here, just descriptions of important experiments and their implications. It is a fun read, with lots of beautiful photos and illustrations. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of science.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was awesome. I want to understand science but my brain doesn't seem to work that way, and I have to work really hard at making sense of things. The Cat in the Box made it so much easier! The Gribbins outline the history of scientific discoveries through well-written and interesting summaries of 100 important experiments, relaying not just "what" was discovered, but how (including explanations and artwork/photographs of the equipment used or designed) and by whom (sometimes including a little information about the culture of the time and how that impacted the life of the scientist). An easy-ish to read and really fascinating book.

*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review title: Science history atomized

The trope of defining the history of a topic in 100 objects is here applied to science. I generally avoid the 100-objects approach to a topic because it can shoehorn a subject into a too-tight framework and atomized it into discrete objects. In this case, the framework actually works, but it is the atomization that works against a clear presentation of the topic.

The identification of experiments as the objects which define science is sound, as the scientific method is best defined and tested in experiments which prove or as frequently disprove the validity of scientific hypotheses. The Gribbins are a husband and wife team who have written separately on science in several different books and journals, and together on this and other general science books, including for younger readers.

The 100 experiments are arranged chronologically, starting with Archimedes' third-century BC experiment in his bathtub that demonstrated the principles of buoyancy and displacement of objects in water. While the exact conditions of this first experiment are not known, the Gribbins defined the typical experimental approach in their introduction: state a hypothesis, set up an experiment to test it, and then assess the hypothesis: in the words of 20th century physicist Richard Feynman, "if it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong. " (p. 10-11) The Gribbins also include some observations amongst the 100 experiments since some of the biggest early scientific breakthroughs, particularly in astronomy, involved closely-documented observations of phenomenon that can't be easily tested with controlled experiments.

In chronological sequence it is interesting that there are often bursts of experimental findings that concentrate on specific fields, for example a cluster discovering and proving theories of electricity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, quantum physics experiments clustered around Einstein in the lath 19th and early 20th centuries, and DNA experiments in the second half of the 20th century. As the Gribbins note, the clustering isn't coincidental, as they often involve separate teams of scientists working and reporting their discoveries on the same basic problems at the same time, or teams basing their experiments and findings on those of recent previous findings.

This clustering reveals the weakness of the 100-objects approach that I mentioned in my opening. The atomization of the approach means that each experiment is written up in a separate section as a separate event when many, perhaps most, of these experiments are part of a historical and scientific context that would be best addressed in context. While the Gribbins do try to overcome the limitation by referencing between experiments, the result is not as effective as a standard narrative history approach. Another side effect of this approach, as the book is targeted for non-scientific general readers who might be students in a high school or undergraduate survey class, is that each experiment is written in language simple enough for those audiences to understand, which works against an understanding of the experiment in the broader context. This weakness doesn't reflect a limitation of the Gribbins' writing ability as much as the limitations of the intended audience.

Each experiment is illustrated with a picture of the principle experimenter or team, and illustrations or diagrams of the equipment, experiment, or findings. There are some references to sources but not enough to serve as the basis for further research on most of the experiments. The authors are careful to document the contributions of women whose contributions have often been overlooked or incorrectly attributed to male coworkers.

In sum, the 100-objects approach serves as an introduction to scientific research at a textbook level, but limits the ability of the authors to write a contextual narrative of the scientific method through history. As such, it is a more pedestrian book than I hoped when I picked it up, worth the three stars I rated it, but no more.

[Matt Hertel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cat in the Box is an excellent review of many of the most monumental scientific experiments, in a language that the average person can understand, but with a technical depth that still manages to bring insight to knowledgeable, science-minded readers. The book features excellent images and illustrations for each experiment, as well as a very nice cover. The materials and print quality of the hard-cover version makes it a really nice addition to the book shelf as well.

The selected experiments are taken from a wide range of scientific disciplines and are ordered by date, which naturally allows the principles explored to build on each other as you progress through the text. Each experiment is allotted two or three pages, keeping the description brief and not dragging through the more technical aspects. The importance of each experiment and it's impact are summarized as well, giving the reader a sense of the meaning behind great scientific breakthroughs, even if they don't completely understand the underlying technical details. I think the author does an excellent job in drawing the reader into the importance of experimental verification of scientific theories and manages to create an entertaining and upbeat tour of the history of mankind's greatest scientific achievements.

Due to the chronological organization of the experiments, the author also comments on the evolution of the practice of scientific research as well, which I found very interesting. The methods and motivations for scientific research provide great context for the technical discussion presented. It was neat to see the scale of human investment in scientific research reflect the sophistication of the experiments as time went on. I felt that the author also made a point to identify moments when science was hampered by cultural influences and I appreciated the care the author took to give credit to a number of female scientists that have been overlooked in the past. The author makes it clear that experimental scientific research is a human endeavor and ultimately is subject to exist in the context of human social history, which is almost as interesting to explore as the experiments themselves.

The book was a joy to read cover to cover and left me wanting to go out and find more information about the topics that I didn't completely understand. Fields that I typically have a difficult time finding interest in, such as chemistry and biology, are presented in a way that made them approachable and intriguing. I applaud the author's ability to take such a wide array of information and create a cohesive, entertaining, and elegantly brief summary. I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in science writing or experience with experimental methods.

[Behrooz Parhami · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many ways of telling the history of science and quite a few of these ways have been tried. For example, one can present a chronology of important contributors/scientists. Or, one can construct a timeline of major discoveries/ideas. Focusing on key experiments is an interesting approach. Science relies to a great extent on experimental verification of theories, but there also exist scientific contributions, notably in math and computer science, that do not rely on experiments.

This richly-illustrated book tells the story of scientific advances from the third century BCE to 2016, by selecting 100 (actually 101) key experiments and discussing each one in 2-4 pages. In the following, I name some of these experiments to give you a flavor of book's coverage.

01. The upward thrust of water (Archimedes)

11. All the colors of the rainbow (Isaac Newton)

21. Weighing the Earth (John Michell)

31. Thinking about the power of fire (Sadi Carnot)

41. The Levithan of Parsonstown (William Parsons)

51. Feeling the squeeze (Jacques & Pierre Curie)

61. Journey to the center of the Earth (Emil Wiechert)

71. Splitting the atom (Ernest Walton)

81. The alpha helix (Linus Pauling)

91. Clocking onto relativity (Joseph Hafele & Richard Keating)

"The Cat in the Box" of the title refers to #75, the famous thought experiment of Erwin Schrodinger, suggesting that a cat in an unobserved chamber can be both dead and alive. The book ends with the appended Experiment 101, the detection of gravitational waves in 2016. "Experiment 101" represents the ultimate scientific experiment, in the same way that the course "Physics 101" captures the essence of physics.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this book.

In places I was not prepared, the pictures in this book are a fantastic accompaniment and they really show you for example when discussing diseases what those diseases look like, so if you’re queasy, be mindful of that.

However this books is really good at concisely giving you an idea of what happened and the impact the experiments had on Science. Informative and smartly done, this book isn’t heavy so it’s a really good read for someone just peaking their interest - this is the perfect starter book for an (older) budding scientist.

The information is given in a really simple, understandable way and combined with the pictures, it really makes for an informative and interesting read from the beginning.

(I received an ARC from NetGalley, just so you know!)

[rdgit · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cat in the Box is a compilation of 100 important science experiments ranging from Archimedes in the 3rd century bc through an experiment conducted in 2015. It's a great history of science!

The nice thing about this book is the authors masterfully condense these experiments into brief explanations of not only why the experiment was done but also how, along with telling why the experiment is important. Most experiments are documented within three pages so it's easy to read and understand a few experiments in a short time.

As the book progressed, I have to admit that some of the experiments were a little over my head. This was not because of poor explanations. The writing was made as understandable as possible.

All in all, a fun read!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book gives me such mixed feelings! I think that the descriptions of the experiments were very easy to follow and it was interesting to see the set of experiments they chose. However, I disagreed with some of the choices and some of the descriptions, as someone pretty educated in the history of science. There were also several typos that were very distracting!

[Donald Mannikko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting relatively unknown (at least I wasn't aware of them) stories of scientific discoveries over the last couple of millennia. It's important to remember that science is a human endeavor, and learning about the people and how they discovered what they discovered is something I find fascinating.

[Richard Archambault · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but I wished for more details on many of them; many (if not most, or even all!) of the experiments could be full-length books, I'm sure! Because of that, I wish there was a bibliography at the end.

[Jun Hien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sets the context for science that came into being and brings one behind the scenes of the many important discoveries and inventions that change the world

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful introduction to 101 momentous experiments in the history of scientific discovery and the people who conducted them. Many women are represented.

[Sydney caulfeild · Rating 4 out of 5]

lol the world is upside down

[STEPHEN PLETKO!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

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“If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong”

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“All of this should be clear from the selection of experiments that we have chosen in order to mark the historical growth of science. The choice [of experiment selection] is necessarily a personal one, and limited by the constraint of choosing exactly 100 experiments. There is so much more that we could have included…

Some of the experiments reported here come in clusters, in a short span of time, with several in a similar area of science—for example, in the development of atomic/quantum physics…

When a breakthrough is made, it leads to new ideas…and new experiments, which tumble almost on top of each other until that seam [of new ideas] is exhausted.”

The above quote (the one in italics) comes from this extremely informative book by John & Mary Gribbin. John Gribbin received his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, U.K. before working as a science journalist. He has written many acclaimed science books. Mary Gribbin is a previous winner of the Times Educational Supplement or TES Junior Information Book Award. (TES is a weekly U.K. magazine aimed mainly at U.K. school teachers.) Both are Visiting Fellows at the University of Sussex (In the U.K.).

Featuring almost 200 illustrations and photographs, this excellent book tells the fascinating history of science as distilled into 100 notable experiments, experiments that collectively show how science works and how science is done.

I found that in order to get maximum benefit from this fascinating book, it would be helpful to be familiar with the following:

(1) Science: systematized knowledge derived from the scientific method
(2) Scientific Method: a self-correcting process of systematic investigation. It consists of the following steps--observation(s), hypothesis or hypotheses (predictions or informed guesses), experiments (or experimental testing), analysis, and verification
(3) Experiments: a step in the scientific method. The system under investigation is subject to a series of different controlled conditions (or tests) and the responses recorded
(4) Evidence: something that tends to prove

This book’s cover (shown above by Good Reads) is interesting. It is based on John Dalton’s (1766-1844) table of atomic symbols. For example, an empty circle is oxygen, a filled-in circle is carbon, a circle containing a dot is hydrogen, and a circle containing an addition sign is sulphur. Thus, the third column on this book’s cover shows the compound carbon monoxide, the element hydrogen, and the compound sulphur dioxide.

Finally, this book’s subtitle is “A History of Science in 100 Experiments.” Actually, this book contains 101 experiments with “Experiment 101”not included in the main narrative. We’re told that:

“This astonishing experimental result [of Experiment 101] was the culmination of more than two thousand years of experimental science. And it all began with another kind of wave—ripples in the bathtub of a Greek philosopher called Archimedes [287-212 BCE].”

In conclusion, this is a remarkable book detailing experimental science at its best!!

(2017; introduction; 100 experiments in 100 chapters; main narrative 275 pages; experiment 101; references; index; acknowledgements with picture credits)

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[Randal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really a fine popular science book. Excellent photography; good, clear descriptions; good anecdotes and particularly good cross-referencing, so when one experimental conclusion led to another crucial advance, the two are knitted together. That really helped put the various pieces into context whereas the same book without that effort would have felt much more like a disconnected list than a history.

As science advanced, many of the experiments grew far more elaborate (I would say all, but Schrodinger's cat was pretty basic equipment. One cat, one black box.) and the descriptions grew less specific. So-and-so noticed this, or the experiment involved shooting a particle stream at a sheet of gold foil. I would have appreciated a bit more detail. That's a quibble, though, as the book didn't seem short. It did feel like some of the descriptions were squeezed way down to maintain the format of 2-3 pages per experiment.

Still, an easy recommend for readers looking for a popular science title.

[Gulshan B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capturing 100 science experiments from recorded history of a couple of thousands of years is never going to be easy or universally agreed upon. However, the author does a remarkable job at not just identifying 100 instances of when human curiosity led to something novel (or didn't lead to anything more than the knowledge of what wouldn't work!), but also provides some context on what made that instant memorable and, sometimes, outright venerable.

Sure not all experiments are the same, but given the intent of showing 100 different ways of how a budding mind can ask questions and go about answering them, the book sure does a stellar job. The content and language is light enough, without being fluffy and shallow, that a high-schooler can follow nearly everything - maybe, with a little help. Sure there can be omissions, and I believe that's OK. The point is not to give a conclusive list - that's just impossible. This is a starter, a kindling to the start the fire. And a fantastic one, at that!

A book you can go back to, again and again, and be amazed each time!

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

From micro to macro universe, this book provide good explanation of the most popular scientific theories. This is a good book for high school libraries, public libraries and university’s libraries.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it strange that a book about experiments is titled after Schrödinger's Cat? I guess that's a thought experiment, but it was a thought experiment meant to illustrate the ridiculousness of a scientific theory, so in a book that's all about scientific thingies (and yes, that is the scientific term), is that an odd choice for a title? The Gribbins (I assume they are related somehow) even mention that Schrödinger's Cat was supposed to be somewhat in jest. So is it a paradox? Am I spending too much time wondering about the title of this book? Hmm...

So it's a list of experiments, with a little write-up about each one. All the big names are there: Newton, Curie, Einstein. As always, reading these books I get sad by how few women and POC were able to contribute to science because of sexism and racism and intersections of all that. As always, there's some Feynman, who creeps me out, and a lot of astrophysics since people like stars. I like math personally, but math books may be a harder sell. Also, experiments in math are a bit more sitting down with a pencil and proving things on paper, so definitely lacks some of the *glam*.

So it's a coffee table book of experiments. Lots of glossy pictures and I kept getting frustrated because I couldn't always understand exactly the science behind some of the thingies (see, I used it twice so it is totally a valid scientific word), but then there was a glossy picture and I moved on. I don't have to understand the nitty gritty of everything, right? Instead I'll stare at the Feynman diagrams and feel sort of slimy inside.

The Cat in the Box by John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin went on sale September 1, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Stephanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, easy-to-read book highlighting the experiments that made modern science. I liked that the authors tried to find the earliest examples of each experiment and how they added in some amazing trivia. The experiment which really got me on board this book was vitamin C and scurvy - in just a few short paragraphs, you get the experiment and its importance, an excellent example of leadership, and the history of the term "limey bastards".

I think the pictures and diagrams could have been much better - the experiments which rely on complicated apparatus are much harder to follow than the ones that don't, probably due to the stock visuals.

That being said, I work in a laboratory and ended up taking it to work after we were trying to remember the circumference of the earth. It's been a go-to lunch/coffee table book ever since.