Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science

by Ronald L. Numbers (Editor), Kostas Kampourakis (Editor)

A Guardian "Favourite Reads--as Chosen by Scientists" Selection

"Tackles some of science's most enduring misconceptions."
--Discover

A falling apple inspired Isaac Newton's insight into the law of gravity--or did it really?

Among the many myths debunked in this refreshingly irreverent book are the idea that alchemy was a superstitious pursuit, that Darwin put off publishing his theory of evolution for fear of public reprisal, and that Gregor Mendel was ahead of his time as a pioneer of genetics. More recent myths about particle physics and Einstein's theory of relativity are discredited too, and a number of dubious generalizations, like the notion that science and religion are antithetical, or that science can neatly be distinguished from pseudoscience, go under the microscope of history.

Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science brushes away popular fictions and refutes the widespread belief that science advances when individual geniuses experience "Eureka!" moments and suddenly grasp what those around them could never imagine.

"Delightful...thought-provoking...Every reader should find something to surprise them."
--Jim Endersby, Science

"Better than just countering the myths, the book explains when they arose and why they stuck."
--The Guardian

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, History Of Science, Adult

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2015

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

The low grade I give this book is my own perception, of course. Someone with a more scientific background will probably appreciate it much more. Still, I do read a fair number of science books, but this one was just too dense for this layman. Also, I think the synopsis on the inside cover over promised. While I enjoyed most of the essays mentioned there, the vast majority in the book concerned myths that were totally obscure to me. Of the 27 myths debunked, there were probably seven or eight that I could truly relate to and understand.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short essays covering a variety of popular myths about science. They range widely in quality ... some clear and revelatory, others vague and muddled. There is a lot to learn from this book, although a more compelling writing style would bring me back to reread it more often.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. There is a reason it took me over three weeks to finish….

[Sylvia Snowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a series of short essays written by academics, with the goal to correct and refute common misconceptions about scientific discoveries. It's a boring book, even though the essays are short. Had the book been written, or re-written, by talented science writers, it might actually be interesting and even intriguing. But no. I read about three essays, and had enough. I read many articles and books by talented science writers--such as the entire "Emperor of All Maladies" in six weeks, but I read it, a great book. Even a short essay in "Newton's Apple" isn't short enough.

That said, it is a great reference book FOR science writers, scientists, and educators. While the book often states that "scientists believe..." a specific science "myth", this is more a problem with how science and history is taught to children and teens. The history of science is taught like a series of sound bites, neatly measurable chunks of information, with good guys and bad guys, good or bad ideas, true or false, multiple choice, or short answers. In truth, the history of science is complex and not easily explained, as it is in so many textbooks. Grade school teachers often have little interest or understanding of science, and prefer it to be neatly packaged, like the multiplication tables.

What this book really shows us is what we are lacking in our education system. Lionizing some scientists, demonizing their opponents, and oversimplifying their achievements doesn't help us understand science better. Our inability to grasp some of the simplest concepts--such as the differences between bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites--leads us to doubt the best medical advice and public health policy--such as in COVID, HIV, vaccines--and follow pseudoscience idiocy. We need to teach science and history better. Every student of education needs to read at least three articles in this book, and write a paper of their own, discussing at least one of the falsehoods exposed and examined here.

[One · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book and informed me quite a lot on a number of topics. Good resource for the future. Some may not like the book because they are unable to handle some of the myths exposed, but others will be just fine. Many complain about the dry writing of the book but I was used to this repeated short-essay style so I found it fine. I think if you liked its precursor (Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion), you will enjoy this one, although one weakness is the obscurity of some of the myths exposed. It could have been made better by exorcising some of the more obscure ones, nevertheless, perhaps someone else will find that useful.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short authoritative essays on myths of science. Really excellent read. I learned quite bit, and the short nature of the essays was perfect to "snack" on over my summer break.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this book. It was too disjointed for me to enjoy.

[Herb Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that caught my eye as I wandered through the shelves, this little book addressed some myths that I didn't know existed. The authors approach science as a process, and as one that evolves. In general, they give short shrift to the notion of solitary great thinkers who arrive at their great ideas without the background of all the work done begore them. For instance, chemistry and astronomy grew out of the many experiments and vast data collection provided by alchemists and astrologers before them. Indeed, it is unclear if a line can be drawn between alchemy and chemistry, or between astrology and astronomy. The best part of this book is the final section, Generalizations. My only criticism is the heavy-handed treatment of those who don't meet the authors' high standards. This is typically applied to those who could be seen as popularizers of science, such as Neil Degrasse Tyson, and one of my favorite writers, Stephen Jay Gould. To borrow a phrase, don't let perfection stand in the way of progress.

[Divine L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newton's Apple and Other Myths about Science was honestly boring but I learned a thing or two. The title is what drew me in; made me think there was going to be common science myths talked about. This book covers Myths from Natural Selection, Isolation, insight into the law of gravity, Genetics, Conflict between Religion and Science, and about 22 other Myths many people actually don't know about. And those 22 other myths people don't know about, I would say was the books downfall along with how dry some of the individual essays were. Then again it is a science book and not a science fiction book. Among these myths the book provides a better picture of scientific discoveries and they really happened. But what I did like bout the book was a lot of the conclusions about the Myths came to the realizations that Science can't be performed alone, it's most efficient when done within a community. And that a lot of these false ideas came from human discrepancy and disregard for the real facts.

[Rupinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars.
I really had high hopes from this book, and really wanted to enjoy it. But as is evident from my low rating, there were a few strong reasons that I ended up almost disliking it.
1. The writing is soporific and dry. Man, it's been a while since I had to struggle with my inner demons just to keep my eyes on the page.
2. Lots of logical fallacies (most common being the straw man) combined with misrepresentations of arguments in order to make them seem like scientific myths in need of debunking.
3. Some myths were actually not myths at all, to me at least. And I consider myself only reasonably well-informed on science, far from being an expert.

There are a few strong essays which would interest someone, but I am pretty wary of recommending this book to readers.

[Zaid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing this short review, because some dumb people in the review section decided to give this a very low rating that it absolutely doesnt deserve.

They are actually blaming the book and author because of their lack of knowledge. Please dont read this book if you dont have experience in understanding scientific knowledge beforehand. This book offers great insights thats why it may look like its going very deep into issues one such example is his work on lamarckian evolution and wallace vs darwin. This book is no less than 4 stars. Some dumb even gave it a 1 star rating. Freakin karens. This book is a myth buster so expect deepness.

[Anna Hawes · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most collections of essays, some are stronger than others. These are academic essays so be prepared for more academic writing styles. There were some strong themes about the flawed ways we typically teach history and science as well as purported conflicts between science and religion that carried through multiple essays. I have a strong science background but I still learned some surprising new information as well as some new perspectives to consider about science history. This has inspired me to dig deeper into some of the topics and read some books by the individual contributors.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I must not be the target audience. I think this is intended for academics; what the authors seem to do is find some statement in academic books or writings that make some observation that they determine is a myth and then try to show that it is such. A lot of these "myths" are things I never heard of and do not think are a big deal (to me). The authors go through a lot of history and make various statements about the "myth" then claim that it is disproved. I am not sure how they got there.

Not very interesting to me.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly interesting book on science myths commonly held (like people believed the earth was flat at time of Columbus or that Newton was hit in the head with an apple and came up with gravity).
I got lost in the details a bit and some parts were slow for me, but still worthwhile. Skimmed the last third of it. I'm not really into science that much, but I have responsibility in that area at my library work.

[cooldash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fair warning: this is a collection of essays written by experts in their fields. It's certainly not pop-science, or pop-history, which may be why the reviews are so negative. Myths #7-22 (16 out of 27!), require a familiarity with niche scientific topics, mostly Darwinian evolutionary theory, to appreciate fully. For those readers who study science or its history and philosophy, however, this book is quite accessible, and even a fun read.

[Laura Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a resource book than a casual reading book, but it is very useful to "debunk" the various science myths presented. A strong demonstration of why trying to distill any scientific position into a "sound bite" is significantly flawed.

[Elizabeth Gabhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a few things from this book, and I appreciate that. It's not written in an appealing way, which is why I gave it three stars.

[Alexia M.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ✰

[Mairead · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nah

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got about halfway through this book when I began to completely lose interest. It happened abruptly, when I got to the section of the book where I had some background knowledge. Afterwards I couldn't read the rest of the myths in the same light. Most of the myths in this book were either too obscure to be relatable or relevant to me in any way, or were myths I knew about but already knew them to be false so in that case are they really even myths anymore? Others it seemed the authors were being overly fastidious. I felt like the grounds for some of the myths were weak or that they were disputing an interpretation of an overall unimportant detail and would be thinking honestly who cares? Definitely not as revelatory as the book's description would lead you to believe. On another note I think the title of this book could have also been "Why Religion Hasn't Obstructed The Progress of Science".

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good nuances here to some myths, and their refutation. I would quibble about just how scientific pre-modern alchemy and astrology actually were. That essay seemed to be straining at gnats. The several essays tackling various myths related to the neo-Darwinian synthesis were the best for me. While I do claim that I didn't really learn anything new on myths of physics, or medieval science, there were a few points of interest here in the biology ones.

Others, like the essay near the end on the "demarcation problem," weren't necessarily new or old, or known/unknown. It in particular went more into philosophy of science issues rather than straight "debunking."

It's also an easy read.

[Keli · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a science fangirl, I found this book to be right up my alley. For the most part, the myths were well chosen. And, thanks to the structure of the book, I was able to skip the parts that didn't interest me. I was especially interested in the early part of the book that addressed the Middle Ages. The more modern myths sometimes got a bit too obscure to interest someone who's not really in that field. For the most part, the writing was solid. However, I did find one chapter to be downright cringe-worthy. Otherwise, a good read for anyone with more than a passing interest in science. Just give yourself permission to skip the parts you don't like.

[Jason Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very entertaining and enlightening book. I will say that I knew that many of the debunked myths were indeed false and used for incredibly propagandistic purposes. What was interesting and much appreciated were how those myths actually became enduring false histories. Of course it also doesn't hurt that this is some of the most accessible science writing and the source list is quite decent. I'd definitely recommend it.

[Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays, and some of them are more difficult to read or boring than others. I feel like some of these essays kept their intended audience in mind while some did not. I understood a majority of the essays, but while reading a couple of them, I felt like they were intended for more educated people who understand more jargon.

This was an interesting read, and once I learned to skip an essay when bored or tired, it became a more fun read.

[Cleokatra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of nonfiction. This is the most tedious books I've read in a long time. The chapters were all written by different authors and some chapters are better than others. I found that the boring, repetitive chapters outweighed the interesting, enlightening chapters. For that reason, I really can't recommend the book.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like my science fact with a little humor. This was pretty dry which is why it took a month to finish it. Still, learned a bit, although some of these myths would seem unlikely to anyone with a reasoning mind any way.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit dense for me, and most of these myths I already knew were false. The history of how the myths came about seemed long and overly explained. I gave up on this one after a few chapters and skimmed.

[David Kessler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is unfulling and weak. Obviously when you are talking about a questionable myth or sentence you might be able to argue both sides of the coin. This book created some flimsy myths and then found authors to write about each one. I learned very little from reading this book.

[Jim Corson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, but dry writting