What do you think?
Rate this book
Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments
Have you ever wondered if a severed head retains consciousness long enough to see what happened to it? Or whether your dog would run to fetch help, if you fell down a disused mineshaft? And what would happen if you were to give an elephant the largest ever single dose of LSD? The chances are that someone, somewhere has conducted a scientific experiment to find out...
268 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2007
351 people are currently reading
5936 people want to read
About the author
Alex Boese
7 books51 followersAlex Boese holds a master's degree in the history of science from UC San Diego. He is the creator of museumofhoaxes.com. He lives near San Diego.
source: http://us.macmillan.com/author/alexboese
source: http://us.macmillan.com/author/alexboese
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 410 reviews
February 12, 2016
Boese presents a catalogue of truely bizarre experiments, giving a short essay on each and collecting them into themed chapters. The book is intended to be humourous and it is, in places, but the technique used for the jokes hardly varies throughout and if read in just a few sessions, becomes repetative and palls. Some of that humour is also, in my view, in poor taste; jokes about dogs that have been repeatedly shocked with electricity don't make me laugh.
This leads directly to the other problem with the book; most of the experiments described aren't merely weird, they are ethically questionable (or just plain inexcusably sick-minded) or display incompetance or stupidity on the part of the investigator(s). (As an aside it is amazing how many over extrapolate their conclusions.)
Boese sometimes acknowledges this and addresses the matter, but in many cases blithely describes the whole thing without commenting on the ethical issues - maybe he isn't as sensitive as I am to these matters. Ethics matter in most of these experiments because they are all either surgical or psychological in nature. I can see why investigators in these fields must now put proposals to an ethics comittee - a goodly number of these experiments would not take place if put forward today.
Writing a supposedly fluffy piece of "look at what they did and laugh" journalism about such unpleasant matters makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm also unlikely to ever volunteer to take part in any psychological experiment - but then, will I even be asked? I could have unwittingly taken part in several, already.
I remind myself that this book concentrates examples of bad practice and most researchers would not wish to be associated with the people discussed and I don't suggest you avoid this book. Read it, instead, to learn how far some will go in the pursuit of knowledge.
This leads directly to the other problem with the book; most of the experiments described aren't merely weird, they are ethically questionable (or just plain inexcusably sick-minded) or display incompetance or stupidity on the part of the investigator(s). (As an aside it is amazing how many over extrapolate their conclusions.)
Boese sometimes acknowledges this and addresses the matter, but in many cases blithely describes the whole thing without commenting on the ethical issues - maybe he isn't as sensitive as I am to these matters. Ethics matter in most of these experiments because they are all either surgical or psychological in nature. I can see why investigators in these fields must now put proposals to an ethics comittee - a goodly number of these experiments would not take place if put forward today.
Writing a supposedly fluffy piece of "look at what they did and laugh" journalism about such unpleasant matters makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm also unlikely to ever volunteer to take part in any psychological experiment - but then, will I even be asked? I could have unwittingly taken part in several, already.
I remind myself that this book concentrates examples of bad practice and most researchers would not wish to be associated with the people discussed and I don't suggest you avoid this book. Read it, instead, to learn how far some will go in the pursuit of knowledge.
August 23, 2019
Šo grāmatiņu pasūtīju mirkļa vājuma iespaidā. Nevarēju izvēlēties neko no standarta tēmām un nolēmu atrast kaut ko par blusu cirku. Meklēšanas rezultātā blusu cirks izpalika, bet manās rokās nonāca grāmata, kas apkopo dažādus dīvainus eksperimentus. Grāmatas autors ir pacenties, lai grāmatā tiešām nonāktu eksperimenti, kuru rezultāti publicēti nopietnā žurnālā.
Sākums ir klasisks, tajā tiek pieminēts galvaniskās strāvas ietekmi uz līķi. Savulaik šādi publiski demonstrējumi bija visnotaļ populāri šovi Londonā un citās lielpilsētās. Tad seko Padomju zinātnieku eksperiments, kura rezultātā pāris suņi tika pie divām galvām. Tas nedaudz satramdīja ASV ķirurgus un viņi pēc desmit gadu ilgas sagatavošanās pārstādīja pērtiķa galvu no viena ķermeņa uz otru.
Par pašu ziloni un LSD. Diemžēl eksperimentētāji kaut ko nojauca aprēķinos un tā vietā, lai nodrošinātu zilonim patīkamu ceļojumu, viņi injecēja pārlieku lielu dozu un zilonis mira no pārdozēšanas. Vēlāk gan tika atrasti vēl daži ziloņi, kur devas tika sabalansētas, tomēr nekā vairāk kā īslaicīgu agresiju un nelielu mīņāšanos uz vietas, eksperimenta autori nenovēroja. Tas tev nav zirneklis, kas LSD iespaidā vij supersimetriskus tīklus, vai kaķis, kas sāk uzvesties kā ķengurs.
Ir pat apskatīts eksperiments, kur tiek pētīts apgalvojums, ka bērns pats esot spējīgs izvēlēties veselīgu un nepieciešamo pārtiku. Tā nu eksperimentā katrs bērnelis no 9 mēnešu vecuma pats varēja izvēlēties sev ēdamo no 20 dažādiem traukiem. Un pēc pusgada viņi tiešām bija veselīgi bērneļi. Visam eksperimentam bija tikai viens mīnuss. Visi piedāvātie ēdieni bija veselīgi, bez saldumiem
Skaidrs, ka daudzi interesanti eksperimenti notikuši seksa jomā, kā sirds ritma mērījumi, uzbudinājuma pakāpe uz čīkstoša tilta, un cik daudz vajag tītaram, lai objekts viņam liktos pārošanās procesam piemērots. Uz slotas kāta uzsprausta tītara galva ir pietiekama. Izrādās, ka suņu sūda ēšanā cilvēks labāk izvēlas to, kas vismazāk pēc tāda izskatās. Un vecāki neadekvāti zemu vērtē sava mazuļa pampera smakas pakāpi.
Kopumā grāmata ir interesants lasāmais, lielākā daļa eksperimentu jau bija šur tur lasīti. Manā gadījumā tie, kas saistīti ar neiroloģiju un vispārīgo ķirurģiju. Interesanti bija izlasīt eksperimentus, kas vēlāk radījuši nopietnus stereotipus, kurus vēl šobaldien kāds dzeltenās preses izdevums laiku pa laikam tiražē. Grāmatai lieku 9 no 10 ballēm, saistošs notikumu apkopojums ar visām atsauksmēm uz avotiem.
Sākums ir klasisks, tajā tiek pieminēts galvaniskās strāvas ietekmi uz līķi. Savulaik šādi publiski demonstrējumi bija visnotaļ populāri šovi Londonā un citās lielpilsētās. Tad seko Padomju zinātnieku eksperiments, kura rezultātā pāris suņi tika pie divām galvām. Tas nedaudz satramdīja ASV ķirurgus un viņi pēc desmit gadu ilgas sagatavošanās pārstādīja pērtiķa galvu no viena ķermeņa uz otru.
Par pašu ziloni un LSD. Diemžēl eksperimentētāji kaut ko nojauca aprēķinos un tā vietā, lai nodrošinātu zilonim patīkamu ceļojumu, viņi injecēja pārlieku lielu dozu un zilonis mira no pārdozēšanas. Vēlāk gan tika atrasti vēl daži ziloņi, kur devas tika sabalansētas, tomēr nekā vairāk kā īslaicīgu agresiju un nelielu mīņāšanos uz vietas, eksperimenta autori nenovēroja. Tas tev nav zirneklis, kas LSD iespaidā vij supersimetriskus tīklus, vai kaķis, kas sāk uzvesties kā ķengurs.
Ir pat apskatīts eksperiments, kur tiek pētīts apgalvojums, ka bērns pats esot spējīgs izvēlēties veselīgu un nepieciešamo pārtiku. Tā nu eksperimentā katrs bērnelis no 9 mēnešu vecuma pats varēja izvēlēties sev ēdamo no 20 dažādiem traukiem. Un pēc pusgada viņi tiešām bija veselīgi bērneļi. Visam eksperimentam bija tikai viens mīnuss. Visi piedāvātie ēdieni bija veselīgi, bez saldumiem
Skaidrs, ka daudzi interesanti eksperimenti notikuši seksa jomā, kā sirds ritma mērījumi, uzbudinājuma pakāpe uz čīkstoša tilta, un cik daudz vajag tītaram, lai objekts viņam liktos pārošanās procesam piemērots. Uz slotas kāta uzsprausta tītara galva ir pietiekama. Izrādās, ka suņu sūda ēšanā cilvēks labāk izvēlas to, kas vismazāk pēc tāda izskatās. Un vecāki neadekvāti zemu vērtē sava mazuļa pampera smakas pakāpi.
Kopumā grāmata ir interesants lasāmais, lielākā daļa eksperimentu jau bija šur tur lasīti. Manā gadījumā tie, kas saistīti ar neiroloģiju un vispārīgo ķirurģiju. Interesanti bija izlasīt eksperimentus, kas vēlāk radījuši nopietnus stereotipus, kurus vēl šobaldien kāds dzeltenās preses izdevums laiku pa laikam tiražē. Grāmatai lieku 9 no 10 ballēm, saistošs notikumu apkopojums ar visām atsauksmēm uz avotiem.
August 13, 2013
This is really a 2.55 stars but since there are no halves, a 3 will have to suffice.
So. For what this book was, it served its purpose. It delivered what it promised: a book filled with an assortment of strange, and sometimes straight up scary experiments from a time obviously long before regulations existed to protect the "subject" in the experiment. There was a decapitated canine being pumped fresh oxygenated blood in order to examine the possibility of a head/brain being able to maintain function if it were still receiving fresh blood despite being detached from the heart (which normally carried out that job.) There were a series of scenarios carried out to distinguish whether or not human beings have a subconscious gay-dometer, the typical can a cockroach survive a nuclear explosion experiment, and of course the experiment which the book was named after...elephants taking acid. Each experiment was assigned to a specific section...there was a section devoted to strictly animals, another section for "mating rituals", one called "Frankensteins Lab" which consisted mostly of disgusting unnatural concoctions or attempts @ life. There were about 10 or so sections each with about 10 or so experiments a section, each about 1-3 pages long explaining the origins and details of the experiment. None were too thoroughly detailed and a lot left you googling for confirmation and accuracy.
Overall the book was pretty cool. I read it straight thru in no more than a couple sittings but this is for sure the kind of book you can put down and pick back up as many times as you want without losing anything in the exchanges. Each lil experiment is self contained and I found I was bored with them by half way thru the book, even if the experiments themselves were interesting, so really that means that I probably believe that the book would have read better in increments rather than all at once like I did it. Each experiment itself is at least mildly interesting to read about but when read one right after another it gets a lil tiresome. Some of the stuff was just downright creepy, or gut wrenching. Even heart breaking. For example, the before mentioned freshly oxygenated injections into a decapitated dog's head was accompanied by an actual picture. I'm serious. There was a picture of a dog's head totally severed from a body. All that was seen was a lil canine head, features drawn into a tight, heart breaking look of pleading and attached to multiples wires leading off the page. I stared at the picture, horrified, disgusted, SAD. And that wasn't the only picture like that! To me the pictures that accompanied the creepy experiments were a detriment, they made things that when read about seemed gross and sad but when actually seen...became ghastly. Revolting. Horrifying!! Definitely makes it a book you have to be sure to keep away from children!! The book found itself into the hands of a lil girl I babysit for and perhaps scarred her for life. I had to lock the book away in my car and promise over and over that it wasn't real (even tho it was! Shame on me I was lying but u can't explain that to a 3 year old baby girl!)
So while the subject matter was entertaining enough, my biggest problem lay with the presentation. Everyone knows the don't judge a book by its cover rule, and I've read enough books to know the truth behind the golden book rule but that doesn't mean that I totally exclude all the aesthetic value of a book! I'm a sucker for a pretty book cover...if it looks particularly pretty or colorful I'm drawn to it! Like a lil child, I'm still fascinated by colorful things!! And this book was just meh. The cover was cute because it had hippie like flowers on it, and I won't deny it was partially the cover that made it so appealing ( while also the title of course promised interesting subject matter...) but once you opened the book, points went down immediately. It was printed on very cheap, low quality paper...almost newspaper type paper which is basically the lowest grade paper that exists, and the printing was done in a dull grey and black palette which made one just feel less...enthralled. Like they couldn't even use white paper? It would have looked so much cleaner and more pleasing to the eye had the paper just been plain, tidy white rather than the annoyingly grey not quite white color that it was. Major disappointment in store upon openiqng the book! At least for me. And like I said I know the aesthetics of a book aren't nearly as important as the quality of the subject matter but to me, and to any true book lover out there...a book's value includes all aspects, including the physical and in that department this book gets a D+. Even the pictures--which were at times jaw dropping--weren't done justice in black and white. Or more like black and grey and dark grey.
All in all, the book was amusing. Amusing ENOUGH anyway. Like I said-it served its purpose. For people particularly interested in the subject matter it might be a lil more interesting, but for us average non scientific minds the book holds our attention. MOST of the time. It's worth having around, and great for picking up every now and again in between other more serious reads.
So. For what this book was, it served its purpose. It delivered what it promised: a book filled with an assortment of strange, and sometimes straight up scary experiments from a time obviously long before regulations existed to protect the "subject" in the experiment. There was a decapitated canine being pumped fresh oxygenated blood in order to examine the possibility of a head/brain being able to maintain function if it were still receiving fresh blood despite being detached from the heart (which normally carried out that job.) There were a series of scenarios carried out to distinguish whether or not human beings have a subconscious gay-dometer, the typical can a cockroach survive a nuclear explosion experiment, and of course the experiment which the book was named after...elephants taking acid. Each experiment was assigned to a specific section...there was a section devoted to strictly animals, another section for "mating rituals", one called "Frankensteins Lab" which consisted mostly of disgusting unnatural concoctions or attempts @ life. There were about 10 or so sections each with about 10 or so experiments a section, each about 1-3 pages long explaining the origins and details of the experiment. None were too thoroughly detailed and a lot left you googling for confirmation and accuracy.
Overall the book was pretty cool. I read it straight thru in no more than a couple sittings but this is for sure the kind of book you can put down and pick back up as many times as you want without losing anything in the exchanges. Each lil experiment is self contained and I found I was bored with them by half way thru the book, even if the experiments themselves were interesting, so really that means that I probably believe that the book would have read better in increments rather than all at once like I did it. Each experiment itself is at least mildly interesting to read about but when read one right after another it gets a lil tiresome. Some of the stuff was just downright creepy, or gut wrenching. Even heart breaking. For example, the before mentioned freshly oxygenated injections into a decapitated dog's head was accompanied by an actual picture. I'm serious. There was a picture of a dog's head totally severed from a body. All that was seen was a lil canine head, features drawn into a tight, heart breaking look of pleading and attached to multiples wires leading off the page. I stared at the picture, horrified, disgusted, SAD. And that wasn't the only picture like that! To me the pictures that accompanied the creepy experiments were a detriment, they made things that when read about seemed gross and sad but when actually seen...became ghastly. Revolting. Horrifying!! Definitely makes it a book you have to be sure to keep away from children!! The book found itself into the hands of a lil girl I babysit for and perhaps scarred her for life. I had to lock the book away in my car and promise over and over that it wasn't real (even tho it was! Shame on me I was lying but u can't explain that to a 3 year old baby girl!)
So while the subject matter was entertaining enough, my biggest problem lay with the presentation. Everyone knows the don't judge a book by its cover rule, and I've read enough books to know the truth behind the golden book rule but that doesn't mean that I totally exclude all the aesthetic value of a book! I'm a sucker for a pretty book cover...if it looks particularly pretty or colorful I'm drawn to it! Like a lil child, I'm still fascinated by colorful things!! And this book was just meh. The cover was cute because it had hippie like flowers on it, and I won't deny it was partially the cover that made it so appealing ( while also the title of course promised interesting subject matter...) but once you opened the book, points went down immediately. It was printed on very cheap, low quality paper...almost newspaper type paper which is basically the lowest grade paper that exists, and the printing was done in a dull grey and black palette which made one just feel less...enthralled. Like they couldn't even use white paper? It would have looked so much cleaner and more pleasing to the eye had the paper just been plain, tidy white rather than the annoyingly grey not quite white color that it was. Major disappointment in store upon openiqng the book! At least for me. And like I said I know the aesthetics of a book aren't nearly as important as the quality of the subject matter but to me, and to any true book lover out there...a book's value includes all aspects, including the physical and in that department this book gets a D+. Even the pictures--which were at times jaw dropping--weren't done justice in black and white. Or more like black and grey and dark grey.
All in all, the book was amusing. Amusing ENOUGH anyway. Like I said-it served its purpose. For people particularly interested in the subject matter it might be a lil more interesting, but for us average non scientific minds the book holds our attention. MOST of the time. It's worth having around, and great for picking up every now and again in between other more serious reads.
February 15, 2009
An interesting book, I heard about ELEPHANTS ON ACID from the Kevin Smith podcast (SMODCAST). This is a great, quick/bathroom read that will that astound and captivate even the least scientific-minded individual.
In fact, I will go so far as to say that book is less about the experiments AND more about the experimenters. Scientists are a strange group of people (drinking vomit to prove fellow fever isn't contagious? Yikes).
The book is a nice blend of the horrifying and the humorous. Having taken a basic psychology class I was familiar with quite a few of the experiments detailed in the later chapters--but nonetheless found the book entertaining.
Despite the books whimsical title, the book is at times, very disturbing (the fate of the elephants mentioned in the title is very sad), so don't pick this one up thinking it's a constant yuk-fest. This is the Twilight Zone of both science and the scientists.
Enjoy the weird.
In fact, I will go so far as to say that book is less about the experiments AND more about the experimenters. Scientists are a strange group of people (drinking vomit to prove fellow fever isn't contagious? Yikes).
The book is a nice blend of the horrifying and the humorous. Having taken a basic psychology class I was familiar with quite a few of the experiments detailed in the later chapters--but nonetheless found the book entertaining.
Despite the books whimsical title, the book is at times, very disturbing (the fate of the elephants mentioned in the title is very sad), so don't pick this one up thinking it's a constant yuk-fest. This is the Twilight Zone of both science and the scientists.
Enjoy the weird.
May 2, 2020
Compelling read so long as taken in small doses, repulsive at times, fascinating at others. I knew about one of the more famous or infamous experiments discussed and it was interesting to get the “back story” on this in particular. This was the one in which students were told to administer larger and larger electric shocks to a fellow student who gave incorrect answers. Yes ... very SHOCKING! Infamous Stamford Gaol experiment is also explored in some detail. I had not heard of this or seen the films it spawned, but terrifying stuff.
This wasn’t a book I set out to read or acquire but chanced across in a moment of idleness in a charity shop in Blackheath and then started reading immediately in a neighbouring coffee shop. One week later the lockdown for COVID began. The serendipity of bibliophilia ... I love it it can take you to such extra-ordinary places even in the midst of a pandemic.
This wasn’t a book I set out to read or acquire but chanced across in a moment of idleness in a charity shop in Blackheath and then started reading immediately in a neighbouring coffee shop. One week later the lockdown for COVID began. The serendipity of bibliophilia ... I love it it can take you to such extra-ordinary places even in the midst of a pandemic.
October 9, 2012
The author's sense of humor is extremely grating, and the experiments all seem to fall under either "somewhat eccentric but useful way of answering a valid question" or "stupid and cruel." Neither is enhanced by Boese's jeering or the weak one-liners with which he ends each anecdote.
Look, scientists can be huge weirdos. Charles Darwin once conducted an experiment to determine whether worms will get distracted from whatever it is worms do if you play the bassoon in their vicinity. THAT is the kind of wackiness I was looking for here, and that's the kind of wackiness Boese seems to think he's delivering. But no, it's all "sticking electrodes into gay people's heads to zap them straight" and "making people decapitate live rats just to study their facial expressions as they do it" and the Stanford Prison Experiment. HOW ZANY, AM I RIGHT? BY THE WAY, THE ELEPHANT DIES.
Look, scientists can be huge weirdos. Charles Darwin once conducted an experiment to determine whether worms will get distracted from whatever it is worms do if you play the bassoon in their vicinity. THAT is the kind of wackiness I was looking for here, and that's the kind of wackiness Boese seems to think he's delivering. But no, it's all "sticking electrodes into gay people's heads to zap them straight" and "making people decapitate live rats just to study their facial expressions as they do it" and the Stanford Prison Experiment. HOW ZANY, AM I RIGHT? BY THE WAY, THE ELEPHANT DIES.
August 3, 2022
Per daug popso, per mažai mokslo. Iš šitos knygelės sužinai tik visiškus trupinius, o po to vis tiek eini gūglintis ir wikipedijoj randi daugiau; jau taiiiip trumpai čia aprašomi tie eksperimentai, o dauguma jų jau ir taip yra girdėti, tai labai norėjosi giliau pakapstyt. Ir "bajeriukai" autoriaus tokie nuspėjami ir mediniai, nu tikrai akis varčiau - turbūt net mano dėdė juokingiau būtų parašęs.
February 16, 2014
TL:DR: This book is excellent popular science reading; I can’t recommend it enough.
If you have ever taken a basic course in psychology, then you have a good idea of the kind of material found in this book. Elephants is essentially a collection of the more bizarre anecdotes you will find in a basic psychology and/or sociology class, though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The author admits this groundwork in his introduction; he is very aware of the nature of his project, and he constantly lives up to those expectations throughout the book. In order to understand this project, and in order to evaluate whether or not you wish to spend time with this book, there are four main things that you should know:
1) The author has a terrific voice for material like this. Many of these experiments are truly unsettling, but the author presents them in a flippant, airy way that helps to put you at ease. This is absolutely crucial in some sections! (See below.) While I would not call the tone disrespectful (though I could see where other, more sensitive people might), he can get a little too silly from time to time. I’m a fan of this type of presentation for scientific material. If you are not, beware—you may not enjoy your time with this book.
The tone reminded me of other popular science books like Death from the Skies (ISBN: 978-0143116042), wherein the author presents serious information in a light-hearted, jovial way; here Boese does the same thing, offering each tale with just enough background material to lead the reader into the central scientific question that prompted the experiment. To put this another way, if more American textbooks for college courses were written in this tone, I believe we would have more scientists in this country; science is often presented as a sterile investigation into boring questions. Boese counteracts that notion.
2) You will have to decide by the end of the book whether or not people are basically cruel savages or just naturally inquisitive, yet naïve inquirers. You may abstain from this decision, but (as Sartre points out) that is still making a decision. The fact is that many of these experiments show just how terrible people can act. I’m not exactly a bleeding-heart kind of guy, but some of these ideas made my stomach churn. If you love animals, or if you want to think the best of people, you may wish to avoid this book.
This issue really has nothing to do with Boese, and I think in some ways he is ignorant of the effect that the book will have on a reader. Again, since this is a presentation of some of the sickest things that people have chosen to dream up and test, the effect can be unsettling. FYI: If you wish to avoid the worst of these experiments, skip the very first section on bringing things back to life. Also, there are no Nazis in this book; per the author’s own rules, he chose to omit them since he does not believe that what they were doing constituted science.
3) This is a science book. In spite of some of the breezy ways in which Boese presents his subject, you will learn things about human nature here. Again, if you have taken a basic course in psychology or sociology, you may recognize some of these experiments (or you should recognize them if your professor was worthy of his/her position). They range from the mundane (Do people project group-exclusion status onto others?) to the weird (What is the transfer rate of pubic hair during intercourse?) to the disturbing (What is the effect of a person in a white coat telling someone else to do something?). Again, reading many of these experiments will (should?) challenge your notion of the inherent goodness/wickedness of human beings.
I hope that when you finish this book you find yourself briefly summarizing some of the experiments for other people in order to argue about/discuss the subject matter. Again, the experiments involving reanimation are especially disgusting, though the knowledge that we gained from them may balance out the horrors. You should bring your moral judgments to this book; it encourages you to do so. Just keep in mind that looking back is easy; you too may have tried drinking vomit if you really put yourself in the experimenter’s shoes.
4) Last of all, you should know that this book does a great job of offering you, the reader, a chance to think about the social issues surrounding some of the experiments. For instance, when a female scientist was dissuaded from one of her ideas, this discouragement spoke more to the patriarchic environment surrounding the experiment than to the controversial nature of the question itself. In this way Elephants is also fascinating—it gives us that additional glimpse into the social surroundings that so many sterile textbooks leave out. Science does not happen in a vacuum (well, okay, some science happens in a vacuum); many of the results that we take for granted came as the result of life-threatening situations that others were thrust into. In this way, Elephants is a great commentary upon just how far science has come.
If you have ever taken a basic course in psychology, then you have a good idea of the kind of material found in this book. Elephants is essentially a collection of the more bizarre anecdotes you will find in a basic psychology and/or sociology class, though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The author admits this groundwork in his introduction; he is very aware of the nature of his project, and he constantly lives up to those expectations throughout the book. In order to understand this project, and in order to evaluate whether or not you wish to spend time with this book, there are four main things that you should know:
1) The author has a terrific voice for material like this. Many of these experiments are truly unsettling, but the author presents them in a flippant, airy way that helps to put you at ease. This is absolutely crucial in some sections! (See below.) While I would not call the tone disrespectful (though I could see where other, more sensitive people might), he can get a little too silly from time to time. I’m a fan of this type of presentation for scientific material. If you are not, beware—you may not enjoy your time with this book.
The tone reminded me of other popular science books like Death from the Skies (ISBN: 978-0143116042), wherein the author presents serious information in a light-hearted, jovial way; here Boese does the same thing, offering each tale with just enough background material to lead the reader into the central scientific question that prompted the experiment. To put this another way, if more American textbooks for college courses were written in this tone, I believe we would have more scientists in this country; science is often presented as a sterile investigation into boring questions. Boese counteracts that notion.
2) You will have to decide by the end of the book whether or not people are basically cruel savages or just naturally inquisitive, yet naïve inquirers. You may abstain from this decision, but (as Sartre points out) that is still making a decision. The fact is that many of these experiments show just how terrible people can act. I’m not exactly a bleeding-heart kind of guy, but some of these ideas made my stomach churn. If you love animals, or if you want to think the best of people, you may wish to avoid this book.
This issue really has nothing to do with Boese, and I think in some ways he is ignorant of the effect that the book will have on a reader. Again, since this is a presentation of some of the sickest things that people have chosen to dream up and test, the effect can be unsettling. FYI: If you wish to avoid the worst of these experiments, skip the very first section on bringing things back to life. Also, there are no Nazis in this book; per the author’s own rules, he chose to omit them since he does not believe that what they were doing constituted science.
3) This is a science book. In spite of some of the breezy ways in which Boese presents his subject, you will learn things about human nature here. Again, if you have taken a basic course in psychology or sociology, you may recognize some of these experiments (or you should recognize them if your professor was worthy of his/her position). They range from the mundane (Do people project group-exclusion status onto others?) to the weird (What is the transfer rate of pubic hair during intercourse?) to the disturbing (What is the effect of a person in a white coat telling someone else to do something?). Again, reading many of these experiments will (should?) challenge your notion of the inherent goodness/wickedness of human beings.
I hope that when you finish this book you find yourself briefly summarizing some of the experiments for other people in order to argue about/discuss the subject matter. Again, the experiments involving reanimation are especially disgusting, though the knowledge that we gained from them may balance out the horrors. You should bring your moral judgments to this book; it encourages you to do so. Just keep in mind that looking back is easy; you too may have tried drinking vomit if you really put yourself in the experimenter’s shoes.
4) Last of all, you should know that this book does a great job of offering you, the reader, a chance to think about the social issues surrounding some of the experiments. For instance, when a female scientist was dissuaded from one of her ideas, this discouragement spoke more to the patriarchic environment surrounding the experiment than to the controversial nature of the question itself. In this way Elephants is also fascinating—it gives us that additional glimpse into the social surroundings that so many sterile textbooks leave out. Science does not happen in a vacuum (well, okay, some science happens in a vacuum); many of the results that we take for granted came as the result of life-threatening situations that others were thrust into. In this way, Elephants is a great commentary upon just how far science has come.
October 29, 2019
So I'm going to write about a book I read two years ago. I didn't know how to write about it, to be honest. I'm still weighing the decision I made to review this.
The things we do in the name of science are debatable. And the people who does them are weird, really weird. This is not an easy read at all. There are lots of disturbing things in it. Not unbelievable but questionable. Lets take one scenario, the subject matter, the elephants. I mean how fucking weird it is even to try to send them on an acid trip? Animal is big,yeah, doesn't mean you pump him up with all you got. Absurd, and the fate of all those elephants made my heart heavy. Another part actually made me question the humanity among humans. It's sad that human still chose to hurt another human in order to gain personal favor knowing they have to do it by putting another person in agony while the apes chose the other end.
The book is filled with many such experiments and the weird scientists who ran those experiments. It is still a good book if one is interested in the dark side of so called humanity. But it's not easy to wrap your head around it. Personally, I was left with an aching heart and it still aches whenever I think of this book and the stuff in it.
The things we do in the name of science are debatable. And the people who does them are weird, really weird. This is not an easy read at all. There are lots of disturbing things in it. Not unbelievable but questionable. Lets take one scenario, the subject matter, the elephants. I mean how fucking weird it is even to try to send them on an acid trip? Animal is big,yeah, doesn't mean you pump him up with all you got. Absurd, and the fate of all those elephants made my heart heavy. Another part actually made me question the humanity among humans. It's sad that human still chose to hurt another human in order to gain personal favor knowing they have to do it by putting another person in agony while the apes chose the other end.
The book is filled with many such experiments and the weird scientists who ran those experiments. It is still a good book if one is interested in the dark side of so called humanity. But it's not easy to wrap your head around it. Personally, I was left with an aching heart and it still aches whenever I think of this book and the stuff in it.
Currently reading
July 18, 2015Impulse buy. Couldn't leave it alone after reading that crazy blurb on the back cover. Besides, I am so loving the cover and that odd title and thinks that it would look great in my living room library section.
Part of the blurb that caught my curiosity: Have you ever wondered if a severed head retains consciousness long enough to see what happened to it? -- Kinda morbid huh? But I can't help wondering about the answer to that question.
August 13, 2014
Couldn't even finish it. Author possibly sociopath/ high functioning psychopath? Animal despair and distress used as source of humour. Information spotty. Imagined wit interspaced with vague incomplete anecdotal accounts and abbreviated stories with varying degrees of inhumanity. Not good.
March 23, 2018
How to even come up with the ideas for such experimental arrangements. Moreover, who grants that...
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
The realm of science is cliché after a hoard sometimes foreign longliners, whimsical inventors and in the worst case of Franconian people with God complexes and narcissistic personality disorders.
A little bit of everything, the author combines in a colorful mix of different curiosities from the field of experiments and spices the whole with the not always entirely appropriate bit of humor. Thus, both frightening and abysmal tests are performed in a similar way as harmless and smiling anecdotes, which is slightly inappropriate from the entertainment point of view.
Experiments with animals are in themselves a double-edged case in which advocates always emphasize the well-being of humans in the form of otherwise not so good testable drugs and personal care products, while the opponents consider it morally generally unsustainable. If besides, the experiments lack any medical and scientific severe relevance, as apparently seems to be the case with some of the tests cited, there can be no question of tolerance or expediency. Then it is just more sick and pointless.
Experiments with humans, unless they cause irreversible mental or physical harm, are voluntary and provide meaningful and usable results, will remain indispensable for a long time to come. In contrast to the borderline drug, sleep deprivation, electroshock and brainwashing experiments of an Ewen Cameron. These were aimed at reprogramming harmless and uninformed people who suffered from depression and other mental health problems. By wiping out the sick personality and then rebuilding it utilizing motivating tape recordings or, more precisely, failing miserably and leaving psychic wrecks behind. Later, the findings of these, as in dictatorships usual human-seeming experiments, found their way into the instructions for embarrassing interrogation and torture of the CIA in Latin America and other parts of the world. Milton Friedman's economic logic was also inspired by the insane dogma of total destruction. Instead, Joseph Alois Schumpeter attempt of creative destruction could have been used, but sadly hasn't been.
Fortunately, with the progress of the time to the present, a normalization of the experimental arrangements is observed. This can be attributed either to the increasing need for research funding and the concomitant rigid rigor of predictability and political correctness or the growing ethical norms of those involved and responsible. Far from being too blatant and the reader in the face of the fact that they have been carried out, in reality, speechless attempts are leaving a beautiful collection of funny ideas of creative minds.
Wie man überhaupt auf die Ideen für derartige Versuchanordnungen kommt. Und wer das bewilligt….
Das Reich der Wissenschaft ist dem Klischee nach ein Hort mitunter absonderlicher Eigenbrötler, wunderlicher Tüftler und im schlimmsten Fall frankensteinscher Menschen mit Gottkomplexen und narzisstischen Persönlichkeitsstörungen.
Ein klein wenig von allem vereinigt der Autor in einem bunt gemischten Sammelsurium verschiedener Kuriositäten aus dem Feld der Versuche und würzt das ganze mit dem nicht immer ganz passenden Prischen Humor. So werden sowohl erschreckende bis abartige Experimente in ähnlicher Weise wie harmlose und zum Schmunzeln animierende Anekdoten dargebracht, was vom unterhaltungstechnischen Standpunkt her leicht unpassend wirkt.
Experimente mit Tieren sind für sich schon ein zweischneidiger Fall, bei dem Befürworter immer das Wohl des Menschen in Form von sonst nicht so gut testbaren Medikamenten und Körperpflegeprodukten betonen, während die Gegner es für moralisch generell untragbar halten. Wenn die Versuche noch dazu jeglicher medizinischer und seriöser wissenschaftlicher Sinnhaftigkeit entbehren, wie es bei manchen der angeführten Versuche eindeutig der Fall zu sein scheint, kann von Toleranz oder Zweckmäßigkeit keine Rede mehr sein. Dann ist es nur mehr krank und sinnlos.
Experimente mit Menschen, sofern sie keinen irreversibeln psychischen oder physischen Schaden hinterlassen, auf freiwilliger Basis beruhen und sinnvolle sowie nutzbare Ergebnisse liefern werden dagegen noch lange unverzichtbar bleiben. Ganz im Gegensatz zu den grenzdebilen Drogen-, Schlafentzugs-, Elektroschock- und Gehirnwäscheexperimenten eines Ewen Cameron. Diese hatten zum Ziel, harmlose und über die an ihnen vorgenommenen Tests uninformierte Menschen, die an Depressionen und anderen psychischen Problemen litten neu zu programmieren. Indem man die kranke Persönlichkeit auslöschte und anschließend mittels motivierenden Tonbandaufzeichnungen wieder aufbaute oder genauer gesagt kläglich daran scheiterte und psychische Wracks zurück ließ. Später fanden die Erkenntnisse dieser, wie in Diktaturen übliche Menschenversuche anmutenden, Experimente Eingang in die Anleitungen für peinliche Befragungen und Folterfibeln der CIA in Lateinamerika und anderen Erdteilen. Auch die Milton Friedmansche Wirtschaftslogik wurde von dem geisteskranken Dogma der totalen Zerstörung geleitet. Stattdessen hätte Joseph Alois Schumpeter Alternative der kreativen Zerstörung ein konstruktiverer Ansatz sein können.
Glücklicherweise ist mit dem Voranschreiten der Zeit zur Gegenwart hin eine Normalisierung der Versuchsanordnungen festzustellen. Das ist entweder auf die immer stärkere Förderbedürftigkeit der Forschung und damit einhergehende, rigide Trimmung auf Vorzeigbarkeit und politische Korrektheit oder auf wachsende ethische Normen der involvierten und verantwortlichen Personen zurückzuführen ist.
Abseits allzu krasser und den Leser angesichts der Tatsache, dass sie in der Realität wirklich durchgeführt worden sind, sprachlos lassen werdenden Versuche eine schöne Sammlung skurriler Ideen krasser kreativer Köpfe.
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
The realm of science is cliché after a hoard sometimes foreign longliners, whimsical inventors and in the worst case of Franconian people with God complexes and narcissistic personality disorders.
A little bit of everything, the author combines in a colorful mix of different curiosities from the field of experiments and spices the whole with the not always entirely appropriate bit of humor. Thus, both frightening and abysmal tests are performed in a similar way as harmless and smiling anecdotes, which is slightly inappropriate from the entertainment point of view.
Experiments with animals are in themselves a double-edged case in which advocates always emphasize the well-being of humans in the form of otherwise not so good testable drugs and personal care products, while the opponents consider it morally generally unsustainable. If besides, the experiments lack any medical and scientific severe relevance, as apparently seems to be the case with some of the tests cited, there can be no question of tolerance or expediency. Then it is just more sick and pointless.
Experiments with humans, unless they cause irreversible mental or physical harm, are voluntary and provide meaningful and usable results, will remain indispensable for a long time to come. In contrast to the borderline drug, sleep deprivation, electroshock and brainwashing experiments of an Ewen Cameron. These were aimed at reprogramming harmless and uninformed people who suffered from depression and other mental health problems. By wiping out the sick personality and then rebuilding it utilizing motivating tape recordings or, more precisely, failing miserably and leaving psychic wrecks behind. Later, the findings of these, as in dictatorships usual human-seeming experiments, found their way into the instructions for embarrassing interrogation and torture of the CIA in Latin America and other parts of the world. Milton Friedman's economic logic was also inspired by the insane dogma of total destruction. Instead, Joseph Alois Schumpeter attempt of creative destruction could have been used, but sadly hasn't been.
Fortunately, with the progress of the time to the present, a normalization of the experimental arrangements is observed. This can be attributed either to the increasing need for research funding and the concomitant rigid rigor of predictability and political correctness or the growing ethical norms of those involved and responsible. Far from being too blatant and the reader in the face of the fact that they have been carried out, in reality, speechless attempts are leaving a beautiful collection of funny ideas of creative minds.
Wie man überhaupt auf die Ideen für derartige Versuchanordnungen kommt. Und wer das bewilligt….
Das Reich der Wissenschaft ist dem Klischee nach ein Hort mitunter absonderlicher Eigenbrötler, wunderlicher Tüftler und im schlimmsten Fall frankensteinscher Menschen mit Gottkomplexen und narzisstischen Persönlichkeitsstörungen.
Ein klein wenig von allem vereinigt der Autor in einem bunt gemischten Sammelsurium verschiedener Kuriositäten aus dem Feld der Versuche und würzt das ganze mit dem nicht immer ganz passenden Prischen Humor. So werden sowohl erschreckende bis abartige Experimente in ähnlicher Weise wie harmlose und zum Schmunzeln animierende Anekdoten dargebracht, was vom unterhaltungstechnischen Standpunkt her leicht unpassend wirkt.
Experimente mit Tieren sind für sich schon ein zweischneidiger Fall, bei dem Befürworter immer das Wohl des Menschen in Form von sonst nicht so gut testbaren Medikamenten und Körperpflegeprodukten betonen, während die Gegner es für moralisch generell untragbar halten. Wenn die Versuche noch dazu jeglicher medizinischer und seriöser wissenschaftlicher Sinnhaftigkeit entbehren, wie es bei manchen der angeführten Versuche eindeutig der Fall zu sein scheint, kann von Toleranz oder Zweckmäßigkeit keine Rede mehr sein. Dann ist es nur mehr krank und sinnlos.
Experimente mit Menschen, sofern sie keinen irreversibeln psychischen oder physischen Schaden hinterlassen, auf freiwilliger Basis beruhen und sinnvolle sowie nutzbare Ergebnisse liefern werden dagegen noch lange unverzichtbar bleiben. Ganz im Gegensatz zu den grenzdebilen Drogen-, Schlafentzugs-, Elektroschock- und Gehirnwäscheexperimenten eines Ewen Cameron. Diese hatten zum Ziel, harmlose und über die an ihnen vorgenommenen Tests uninformierte Menschen, die an Depressionen und anderen psychischen Problemen litten neu zu programmieren. Indem man die kranke Persönlichkeit auslöschte und anschließend mittels motivierenden Tonbandaufzeichnungen wieder aufbaute oder genauer gesagt kläglich daran scheiterte und psychische Wracks zurück ließ. Später fanden die Erkenntnisse dieser, wie in Diktaturen übliche Menschenversuche anmutenden, Experimente Eingang in die Anleitungen für peinliche Befragungen und Folterfibeln der CIA in Lateinamerika und anderen Erdteilen. Auch die Milton Friedmansche Wirtschaftslogik wurde von dem geisteskranken Dogma der totalen Zerstörung geleitet. Stattdessen hätte Joseph Alois Schumpeter Alternative der kreativen Zerstörung ein konstruktiverer Ansatz sein können.
Glücklicherweise ist mit dem Voranschreiten der Zeit zur Gegenwart hin eine Normalisierung der Versuchsanordnungen festzustellen. Das ist entweder auf die immer stärkere Förderbedürftigkeit der Forschung und damit einhergehende, rigide Trimmung auf Vorzeigbarkeit und politische Korrektheit oder auf wachsende ethische Normen der involvierten und verantwortlichen Personen zurückzuführen ist.
Abseits allzu krasser und den Leser angesichts der Tatsache, dass sie in der Realität wirklich durchgeführt worden sind, sprachlos lassen werdenden Versuche eine schöne Sammlung skurriler Ideen krasser kreativer Köpfe.
September 17, 2010
This book is touted as a bathroom book and I think I may have enjoyed it more if I'd read it as such rather than reading it straight through. It consists of brief write ups of bizarre experiments conducted in 10 different categories. I don't know if it speaks to my tastes/interests or what, but I was familiar with many of the experiments that were addressed and I think that disappointed me - I wanted new stuff! Although I only gave it two stars - it was ok - I really would recommend it as fun light reading that is also informative - and could provide you with some fun facts to share around the water cooler or at your next cocktail party.
October 22, 2012
If you're a scientist, you'll love this book. If you're not a scientist, you might love it too, but i won't vouch for it.
I read this book a couple of years ago, probably in 2007 when it first came out, and i still remember some of the cases even though i haven't reread it. That in itself is quite miraculous. These books are typically fun to read but half a year later you don't remember it anymore.
This book learned me that 'the elephant memory' really exists. But it also learned me not to trick an elephant. Elephants don't like tricks. Never ever trick an elephant.
I read this book a couple of years ago, probably in 2007 when it first came out, and i still remember some of the cases even though i haven't reread it. That in itself is quite miraculous. These books are typically fun to read but half a year later you don't remember it anymore.
This book learned me that 'the elephant memory' really exists. But it also learned me not to trick an elephant. Elephants don't like tricks. Never ever trick an elephant.
June 8, 2022
This is a very enjoyable book about some of the most bizarre experiments ever performed. Each experiment is described over a page or two, so the book works better as a filler between other books or for quick reads between other tasks.
Though it is about science the book is humorous and makes for a pleasant reading experience.
Though it is about science the book is humorous and makes for a pleasant reading experience.
May 13, 2017
If you wanted to hear stories of elephants on acid, racing cockroaches or the psychology of humans then this the book for you. You will laugh and wonder how on earth some one got away with doing that. A great, quick read to give you plenty of anecdotes to tell to your friends.
February 8, 2022
We choose to read books for many reasons. Sometimes to be thrilled, sometimes to be educated, or maybe just to enjoy the ride. Every now and again I choose to read something away from my usual field of vision. To break the cycle, this usually comes in the form of something a little light hearted and fun. This time my fingers happened across a copy of Elephants on Acid: and Other Bizarre Experiments. I bought this quite some time ago for this very reason. Then as ever, it got chucked on the pile awaiting its time in the spotlight. And what better time than now to peek behind the curtains of medical science and ask the question? Just because you can does that always mean you should.
Boese has clearly spent a great deal of time combing the back annals of since weekly or research papers that didn't quite stand up to the test of time. To bring us a collection of some of the most bizarre experiments to have been conducted. It is worth pointing out at this point that he chose to omit any experiment conducted by the Nazi government. As he points out the people found within the pages of this book stayed within the confines of what we might deem acceptable medical practice. Which is not to say that some of the topics discussed here will still not shock you. I can't help but feel that animals have suffered greatly at the hand of the scientific community in an attempt to prove certain theories correct. Personally, there are still parts that are hard to read. but I don't feel this was the aim of him writing the book. What he hoped for was a book that was going to make you laugh and bring you a small bit of an education on just what those people in lab coats have been up to whilst the world has been looking the other way. Most of the time at least.
Each of the topics brought to light here is grouped within chapters on a certain theme. From bringing back the dead to the sex habits of you and me he has tried to cover a great deal of ground. And whilst no more than a few pages is devoted to any one experiment he doses at least give us further reading should you so wish to delve into any topic a bit deeper. I can see he has done his best to bring a lighter and more humorous approach to the subject and at times I did let out a laugh and more than once there might have been a bit of head-scratching. And whilst I do have to question the thinking behind a great many of these so-called scientific endeavors I can see how a few have led on to bigger answers. It also goes a long way to dispelling some of those urban legends that have been floating around. Let's just say Lassie doesn't always come across as the great hero of befallen owners the world over. But anyway the point is here that this is one of those books you can pick up and put down as you wish. You may even give it to a friend when you done and tell them it should give them a bit of a chuckle.
I think for me this book did what I need it to do. It filled my time with a mixture of humerus intervals and some straight-up terrifying experiments. And whilst I doubt it is going to earn a place on anyone's forever shelf it certainly goes to educate the reader on some of the more strange and terrible moments in science from the last couple of hundred years.
Boese has clearly spent a great deal of time combing the back annals of since weekly or research papers that didn't quite stand up to the test of time. To bring us a collection of some of the most bizarre experiments to have been conducted. It is worth pointing out at this point that he chose to omit any experiment conducted by the Nazi government. As he points out the people found within the pages of this book stayed within the confines of what we might deem acceptable medical practice. Which is not to say that some of the topics discussed here will still not shock you. I can't help but feel that animals have suffered greatly at the hand of the scientific community in an attempt to prove certain theories correct. Personally, there are still parts that are hard to read. but I don't feel this was the aim of him writing the book. What he hoped for was a book that was going to make you laugh and bring you a small bit of an education on just what those people in lab coats have been up to whilst the world has been looking the other way. Most of the time at least.
Each of the topics brought to light here is grouped within chapters on a certain theme. From bringing back the dead to the sex habits of you and me he has tried to cover a great deal of ground. And whilst no more than a few pages is devoted to any one experiment he doses at least give us further reading should you so wish to delve into any topic a bit deeper. I can see he has done his best to bring a lighter and more humorous approach to the subject and at times I did let out a laugh and more than once there might have been a bit of head-scratching. And whilst I do have to question the thinking behind a great many of these so-called scientific endeavors I can see how a few have led on to bigger answers. It also goes a long way to dispelling some of those urban legends that have been floating around. Let's just say Lassie doesn't always come across as the great hero of befallen owners the world over. But anyway the point is here that this is one of those books you can pick up and put down as you wish. You may even give it to a friend when you done and tell them it should give them a bit of a chuckle.
I think for me this book did what I need it to do. It filled my time with a mixture of humerus intervals and some straight-up terrifying experiments. And whilst I doubt it is going to earn a place on anyone's forever shelf it certainly goes to educate the reader on some of the more strange and terrible moments in science from the last couple of hundred years.
February 24, 2020
I learnt the following things from ELEPHANTS ON ACID:
1. How to stimulate a gay man enough to fuck a female prostitute.
2. How to make a zombie cat (which admittedly shares the same method as above but fuck you, it’s my list)
3. The exact chemical composition of a fart. Plus, the difference between men and women’s efforts.
4. The best ingredients to make fake semen for a porno.
All life lessons that should be taught, I am sure you will agree.
Now, some years ago, I thought it would be an excellent idea to date a woman with three kids. It was great, I got the full Eastenders ‘You are not my father’/storming out of the room and slamming doors treatment, immediately upon being introduced to them. The kids kinda sorta warmed to me and for the most part I tried to keep out of the whole parenting thing. Because, let’s face it, what the fuck did I know?
Buuuut…. There was one thing that was going on that really bugged me that they did and I was determined to beat out… errr… I mean, change within the household. And it involved ketchup. Well actually, it was a little more than that.
“You will never get them to change...” my new girlfriend at the time said. “It’s their dad’s fault.”
“Just imagine how much money you will save if I can just start with this one thing...”
“Ok...” she sighed. “Have at it.” The problem was their reliance on branding and in particular the ketchup and that they would only have Heinz and other premium brands of things in general. One time, I came back with red sauce from Aldi (like a pound cheaper, at least) and they flat out refused it, pretending to be sick. I was like, what the fuck and she was like, it has to be Heinz.
Now most parents in this situation capitulate and that’s why the world is going to be run by little, ungrateful snowflake monsters in the future, but that’s not Farley. Oh no. I went and got the “good” ketchup and challenged the three of them to a taste test. I was like, if you know the Heinz so well, there’s a bag of chips from the chippy, here are two bowls of the sauce. Tell me which one is which.
I PROMISE THERE IS A BOOK REVIEW COMING
My girlfriend looked at me concerned. They duly dove in to the chips and tried the two ketchups. And even though I asked them not to confer and make up their own minds, they didn't and came to a joint decision. They were adamant that the one on the left was Heinz and not Aldi.
Let’s just say, they weren’t happy when I told them that they were wrong. Their mother howled with laughter. I turned to her and said, “This is partly on you...”
The kids were even less impressed when I broke it to them that both pots of ketchup were actually the same, from Aldi. Mad at being tricked, the older boy stormed past me into the kitchen, snatched the Heinz bottle, stormed back into the living room and all the kids were like,
“Yay! The good ketchup!”
They drowned those chips in the sauce, looked at me and did that thing that the under 10s do when they think they have got one over you, the little jig and the ‘ner ner ner’ and the girlfriend stood in the doorway next to me and whispered,
“When are you going to tell them that you have been filling that bottle up with cheap ketchup for weeks now?”
Anyway, the long and short of it is, one of the experiments in the book is exactly what I did with the kids and the ketchup. But I didn’t learn it from here or some psychology journal, I got it from Gregg Wallace and that Eat Well for Less show he does, where he takes all the labels away from some families cupboards and boards up their freezer and cupboards and they eat every meal sadly, like Oliver had his gruel.
BOOK REVIEW
Straight up, I should give you a warning. There is an unsettling amount of animal experimentation in this book (puppy+electricity, for example), so it’s not for the feint-hearted or the majority of residents here in Brighton. But don’t worry, because Farley here has got ya on this one.
There is a great fun experiment: how and whether mothers can recognize the smell of their babies dirty nappies against others, like some sort of horrific Daz door step challenge. Spoiler: In a blind test, every mother identified their child correctly. Mind blown. In fact, there are a lot of fascinating child development studies within. And none of them get electrocuted. Honest… Or do they?
Generally, there is the ever present search for understanding when it comes to the process and meaning of our death and not forgetting that age old question: Do cockroaches race faster with an audience of other cockroaches cheering them on? Or why dogs actually don’t run off to get help when you are stuck down a well.
And there is Mark’s favourite subject too. The end of the world idiots (sorry, believers) who are proved wrong when, upon prediction, their delusional “messages delivered from God” are not fulfilled on a hilltop in Buttfuck, Utah. Hundreds of heart sick hillbillies waiting for redemption,expecting Armageddon, arms aloft and speaking tongues. A Garth Brooks ballad playing in the background on a dying pick up truck’s two way radio and….. nothing fucking happens. Well yeah, the science trying to explain that hot mess too.
The main emphasis of this book though, is on psychology but there is plenty of the biological too, which tend to be reserved to one’s daily ablutions and coitus interruptus. It’s not just administering drugs to large mammals, as the title suggests. It’s really quite the pondering of the limits of the human body and the brain, a constant strive for most scientists to want to get to the bottom of. There is a heavy dose of exploration of the senses and generally human behaviour, which is always something I like to engross myself in.
When you think about the periods and the dates that these “bizarre” experiments were conducted though, with the circumstances of the period, taking into account available technology and knowledge that we have today and not then at our fingertips, these stories really don’t sound that strange. They were people desperate to know about the way the world worked (often to cure life threatening diseases) and tried their best with what they had at hand. Except them that drugged that elephant. Fuck those guys. Apart from them, a lot of these experiments hold an essence of logic, stemmed from nothing but curiosity and to help, by any means necessary. Which is rather noble. The main takeaway is, of course, that you should never forget that it doesn’t matter how much you think your shit stinks, your mother will always love you.
That, and Mark… Stop dating single mothers!
1. How to stimulate a gay man enough to fuck a female prostitute.
2. How to make a zombie cat (which admittedly shares the same method as above but fuck you, it’s my list)
3. The exact chemical composition of a fart. Plus, the difference between men and women’s efforts.
4. The best ingredients to make fake semen for a porno.
All life lessons that should be taught, I am sure you will agree.
Now, some years ago, I thought it would be an excellent idea to date a woman with three kids. It was great, I got the full Eastenders ‘You are not my father’/storming out of the room and slamming doors treatment, immediately upon being introduced to them. The kids kinda sorta warmed to me and for the most part I tried to keep out of the whole parenting thing. Because, let’s face it, what the fuck did I know?
Buuuut…. There was one thing that was going on that really bugged me that they did and I was determined to beat out… errr… I mean, change within the household. And it involved ketchup. Well actually, it was a little more than that.
“You will never get them to change...” my new girlfriend at the time said. “It’s their dad’s fault.”
“Just imagine how much money you will save if I can just start with this one thing...”
“Ok...” she sighed. “Have at it.” The problem was their reliance on branding and in particular the ketchup and that they would only have Heinz and other premium brands of things in general. One time, I came back with red sauce from Aldi (like a pound cheaper, at least) and they flat out refused it, pretending to be sick. I was like, what the fuck and she was like, it has to be Heinz.
Now most parents in this situation capitulate and that’s why the world is going to be run by little, ungrateful snowflake monsters in the future, but that’s not Farley. Oh no. I went and got the “good” ketchup and challenged the three of them to a taste test. I was like, if you know the Heinz so well, there’s a bag of chips from the chippy, here are two bowls of the sauce. Tell me which one is which.
I PROMISE THERE IS A BOOK REVIEW COMING
My girlfriend looked at me concerned. They duly dove in to the chips and tried the two ketchups. And even though I asked them not to confer and make up their own minds, they didn't and came to a joint decision. They were adamant that the one on the left was Heinz and not Aldi.
Let’s just say, they weren’t happy when I told them that they were wrong. Their mother howled with laughter. I turned to her and said, “This is partly on you...”
The kids were even less impressed when I broke it to them that both pots of ketchup were actually the same, from Aldi. Mad at being tricked, the older boy stormed past me into the kitchen, snatched the Heinz bottle, stormed back into the living room and all the kids were like,
“Yay! The good ketchup!”
They drowned those chips in the sauce, looked at me and did that thing that the under 10s do when they think they have got one over you, the little jig and the ‘ner ner ner’ and the girlfriend stood in the doorway next to me and whispered,
“When are you going to tell them that you have been filling that bottle up with cheap ketchup for weeks now?”
Anyway, the long and short of it is, one of the experiments in the book is exactly what I did with the kids and the ketchup. But I didn’t learn it from here or some psychology journal, I got it from Gregg Wallace and that Eat Well for Less show he does, where he takes all the labels away from some families cupboards and boards up their freezer and cupboards and they eat every meal sadly, like Oliver had his gruel.
BOOK REVIEW
Straight up, I should give you a warning. There is an unsettling amount of animal experimentation in this book (puppy+electricity, for example), so it’s not for the feint-hearted or the majority of residents here in Brighton. But don’t worry, because Farley here has got ya on this one.
There is a great fun experiment: how and whether mothers can recognize the smell of their babies dirty nappies against others, like some sort of horrific Daz door step challenge. Spoiler: In a blind test, every mother identified their child correctly. Mind blown. In fact, there are a lot of fascinating child development studies within. And none of them get electrocuted. Honest… Or do they?
Generally, there is the ever present search for understanding when it comes to the process and meaning of our death and not forgetting that age old question: Do cockroaches race faster with an audience of other cockroaches cheering them on? Or why dogs actually don’t run off to get help when you are stuck down a well.
And there is Mark’s favourite subject too. The end of the world idiots (sorry, believers) who are proved wrong when, upon prediction, their delusional “messages delivered from God” are not fulfilled on a hilltop in Buttfuck, Utah. Hundreds of heart sick hillbillies waiting for redemption,expecting Armageddon, arms aloft and speaking tongues. A Garth Brooks ballad playing in the background on a dying pick up truck’s two way radio and….. nothing fucking happens. Well yeah, the science trying to explain that hot mess too.
The main emphasis of this book though, is on psychology but there is plenty of the biological too, which tend to be reserved to one’s daily ablutions and coitus interruptus. It’s not just administering drugs to large mammals, as the title suggests. It’s really quite the pondering of the limits of the human body and the brain, a constant strive for most scientists to want to get to the bottom of. There is a heavy dose of exploration of the senses and generally human behaviour, which is always something I like to engross myself in.
When you think about the periods and the dates that these “bizarre” experiments were conducted though, with the circumstances of the period, taking into account available technology and knowledge that we have today and not then at our fingertips, these stories really don’t sound that strange. They were people desperate to know about the way the world worked (often to cure life threatening diseases) and tried their best with what they had at hand. Except them that drugged that elephant. Fuck those guys. Apart from them, a lot of these experiments hold an essence of logic, stemmed from nothing but curiosity and to help, by any means necessary. Which is rather noble. The main takeaway is, of course, that you should never forget that it doesn’t matter how much you think your shit stinks, your mother will always love you.
That, and Mark… Stop dating single mothers!
March 28, 2020
Autor zdecydował się pójść raczej w ilość niż jakość. Ogromna liczba historii, jednak potencjał dużej części z nich nie został wykorzystany. Książka pisana, w sposób mało zachęcający, trochę jak praca licealisty. Kilka literówek i sama szata graficzna niezbyt estetyczna.
October 2, 2022
Very weird, yet interesting!
December 18, 2019
fabulously strange
September 17, 2011
An absolutely fantastic book that gives great insight into the odd ends of humanity's pursuit of knowledge as well as some excellent scientific trivia. I highly recommend this book to any who have even a slight interest in general science, especially sociology and psychology. Heck, I really want everyone to give this book at least a try.
Although there are many well known studies in this book, that might not be new or surprising to the scientifically aware, the author does an excellent job giving a complete picture surrounding a given experiment. Not only the facts, significance, and controversies surrounding a particular experiment, but more importantly he also goes into great depth, the life and mind of the individual(s) behind them and the fabulous amount of history involved. On top of this I can assure anyone who reads this book cover to cover, will find at least one story that is both new and will inspire great interest.
The only downside to this book is that the author is a much better historian than he is a writer. He wrote the book so that it would be easy to pick up and put down at any moment without investing large amounts of time, and it accomplishes this very well. Unfortunately, it also makes the structure and formula for each subject piece very regular to a tee. So while the humor is sometimes cute and worth a chuckle, it reaches a point where it just makes you roll your eyes and have the mood disrupted. You begin to prepare yourself for silly statements and punchlines thrown in at regular intervals.
Another fair warning to the squeamish and the sensitive, for some reason the author and editor thought it would be a good idea to put the most gruesome and horrible chapter at the very start. It was very hard for me to read this chapter and look at its pictures, even though I was already familiar with most of the experiments. I think it would be better for most to read this chapter later or even at all if you are especially sensitive, as it sets an extremely dark tone for a mostly light hearted book.
Be careful not to judge these people devoted to science too harshly. You must realize that the vast majority of human beings are almost entirely similar to one another in fundamental respects, despite shallow appearances they are very much like anyone else. Our civilization has reaped great benefits from these strange pursuits along with others like it. It has thrived by leaving limited barriers preventing these inquiring minds. (Not that strong ethical standards are not needed! They just are not properly defined at certain historical points, but we cannot and should not simply forget what has already been done in vain.) Even if we can not easily see direct relation to important practical application, scientific knowledge is a complicated web where it is difficult to see the progressing path from past to future. Cutting even single threads can disrupt and distort the entire scope of our scientific understandings.
Once again, keep in mind. These scientists were only following natural human forces, from outside and within, of curiosity and ambition, not unlike your own and found in each and every one of us. You might try to cast them off as twisted when you learn of their strange experiments. In the end it will be the very same element of curiosity that will keep you listening and reading to satisfy your own thirst for knowledge.
Although there are many well known studies in this book, that might not be new or surprising to the scientifically aware, the author does an excellent job giving a complete picture surrounding a given experiment. Not only the facts, significance, and controversies surrounding a particular experiment, but more importantly he also goes into great depth, the life and mind of the individual(s) behind them and the fabulous amount of history involved. On top of this I can assure anyone who reads this book cover to cover, will find at least one story that is both new and will inspire great interest.
The only downside to this book is that the author is a much better historian than he is a writer. He wrote the book so that it would be easy to pick up and put down at any moment without investing large amounts of time, and it accomplishes this very well. Unfortunately, it also makes the structure and formula for each subject piece very regular to a tee. So while the humor is sometimes cute and worth a chuckle, it reaches a point where it just makes you roll your eyes and have the mood disrupted. You begin to prepare yourself for silly statements and punchlines thrown in at regular intervals.
Another fair warning to the squeamish and the sensitive, for some reason the author and editor thought it would be a good idea to put the most gruesome and horrible chapter at the very start. It was very hard for me to read this chapter and look at its pictures, even though I was already familiar with most of the experiments. I think it would be better for most to read this chapter later or even at all if you are especially sensitive, as it sets an extremely dark tone for a mostly light hearted book.
Be careful not to judge these people devoted to science too harshly. You must realize that the vast majority of human beings are almost entirely similar to one another in fundamental respects, despite shallow appearances they are very much like anyone else. Our civilization has reaped great benefits from these strange pursuits along with others like it. It has thrived by leaving limited barriers preventing these inquiring minds. (Not that strong ethical standards are not needed! They just are not properly defined at certain historical points, but we cannot and should not simply forget what has already been done in vain.) Even if we can not easily see direct relation to important practical application, scientific knowledge is a complicated web where it is difficult to see the progressing path from past to future. Cutting even single threads can disrupt and distort the entire scope of our scientific understandings.
Once again, keep in mind. These scientists were only following natural human forces, from outside and within, of curiosity and ambition, not unlike your own and found in each and every one of us. You might try to cast them off as twisted when you learn of their strange experiments. In the end it will be the very same element of curiosity that will keep you listening and reading to satisfy your own thirst for knowledge.
May 13, 2016
There’s an interesting story behind this one – I rescued it from almost certain death, after a clear out at work. We had so many books that we had to get rid of a load of them, and so I pinched this one before it went to the charity shops. I’m glad I did.
As you can imagine, it’s basically a collection of some of the strangest scientific experiments that have ever been performed, and they’re grouped into different sections so that although Boese draws from all sorts of different sources, there’s still somehow a narrative, despite it being a work of non-fiction. And boy, are the experiments bizarre – there were a few that I’d already heard of, but then I did spend about two months studying psychology at sixth form, before dropping out and going to college.
It’s not for the squeamish, because some of the details are kind of gross, but it is a great read if you’re the sort of person who likes to broaden their mind by finding out the crazy stuff that some people do for a living, like feeding LSD to elephants. But that’s what’s so fascinating – people will go to extreme lengths to test things, just to find out the answer, and that gives me faith in humanity. Although it does get grim when scientists do stuff that I don’t necessarily ethically believe in.
Overall, I’m glad I rescued this and it’s a pretty decent book – recommended from me, if you like this sort of thing. Better still, go delve into the source material afterwards.
As you can imagine, it’s basically a collection of some of the strangest scientific experiments that have ever been performed, and they’re grouped into different sections so that although Boese draws from all sorts of different sources, there’s still somehow a narrative, despite it being a work of non-fiction. And boy, are the experiments bizarre – there were a few that I’d already heard of, but then I did spend about two months studying psychology at sixth form, before dropping out and going to college.
It’s not for the squeamish, because some of the details are kind of gross, but it is a great read if you’re the sort of person who likes to broaden their mind by finding out the crazy stuff that some people do for a living, like feeding LSD to elephants. But that’s what’s so fascinating – people will go to extreme lengths to test things, just to find out the answer, and that gives me faith in humanity. Although it does get grim when scientists do stuff that I don’t necessarily ethically believe in.
Overall, I’m glad I rescued this and it’s a pretty decent book – recommended from me, if you like this sort of thing. Better still, go delve into the source material afterwards.
July 26, 2010
Another chance pick up from Fopp: this one more of a miss than a hit, but if I'm paying peanuts then I'll get the odd duffer, and I can live with that.
I'm not sure what my real beef with the book is though, to be honest. It's laid out in a sensible fashion: experiments grouped together by "genre" and they're all written up pretty succinctly.
Perhaps it's the lame attempt at humour from the author that grated, or the slightly laborious writing style.
However, being impartial, there are some interesting experiments in here, although the author offers little in terms of persepective, and I personally would have laid them out chronologically, to emphasise the progress (or lack of) made, and how views and approaches have changed.
I'm not sure what my real beef with the book is though, to be honest. It's laid out in a sensible fashion: experiments grouped together by "genre" and they're all written up pretty succinctly.
Perhaps it's the lame attempt at humour from the author that grated, or the slightly laborious writing style.
However, being impartial, there are some interesting experiments in here, although the author offers little in terms of persepective, and I personally would have laid them out chronologically, to emphasise the progress (or lack of) made, and how views and approaches have changed.
February 18, 2016
An entertaining and informative book on bizzare scientific experiments that have been done so far. Some experiments were so disturbing, I had to stop reading for a while or jump to the next chapter. I knew there were inhumane endeavours out there in the name of science but reading them like this definitely made me squirm and quite angry. The author could address its ethical concerns a little bit more. But I guess that was not the purpose Mr. Boese wrote this. He wanted this book to be light and not to be taken too seriously. Hence those horrible jokes and puns.
October 7, 2016
Right up my alley, this book filled with weird (and sometimes highly unethical) experiments in the science world shows readers how, without the weirdos and the trouble makers, science wouldn't be anywhere near as far as it is. It's a funny book, though the information regarding the experiments is accurate and clear. There's a lot of material here for a psychology student such as me, but just as well for a person interested in the history of science and how the rebels helped it in being born!
May 22, 2025
I picked up this book at a library sale for $1.00 and read it in just a few days.
The author provides short discussions (3 pages on the average) of a vast number of weird scientific experiments. The title refers to the experiment in the mid-1960s to see how an elephant would respond to a massive dose of LSD; it didn't end well for poor Tusko, who died after a series of bad moves by the experimenters.
Among well-known experiments that Boese discusses are the Stanford prison experiment, Stanley Milgram's experiment regarding obedience to authority, Soviet surgeon Demichev's experiments in the late 1950s with creating two-headed dogs, and Festinger's observation of a group of people predicting the destruction of life on Earth who expected space aliens to rescue them (see Festinger's When Prophecy Fails),
The experiments are from the hard sciences and from the social sciences (especially psychology), some serious and some foolish. Boese does an adequate job describing each experiment, in a rather light-hearted manner. He left this reader wanting more information about many of the experiments; there are endnotes with bibliographical information, but many are old and available only in the largest of libraries.
I mentioned that the author writes in a light-hearted manner; the reader should be warned that Boese felt the need to provide at list one joke or clever quip in each chapter. Very few are all that funny.
I'd recommend this book to people educated in the hard or social sciences, to people in general who enjoy freaky weird -- but true -- stories, or to anyone who would like an entertaining short read.
The author provides short discussions (3 pages on the average) of a vast number of weird scientific experiments. The title refers to the experiment in the mid-1960s to see how an elephant would respond to a massive dose of LSD; it didn't end well for poor Tusko, who died after a series of bad moves by the experimenters.
Among well-known experiments that Boese discusses are the Stanford prison experiment, Stanley Milgram's experiment regarding obedience to authority, Soviet surgeon Demichev's experiments in the late 1950s with creating two-headed dogs, and Festinger's observation of a group of people predicting the destruction of life on Earth who expected space aliens to rescue them (see Festinger's When Prophecy Fails),
The experiments are from the hard sciences and from the social sciences (especially psychology), some serious and some foolish. Boese does an adequate job describing each experiment, in a rather light-hearted manner. He left this reader wanting more information about many of the experiments; there are endnotes with bibliographical information, but many are old and available only in the largest of libraries.
I mentioned that the author writes in a light-hearted manner; the reader should be warned that Boese felt the need to provide at list one joke or clever quip in each chapter. Very few are all that funny.
I'd recommend this book to people educated in the hard or social sciences, to people in general who enjoy freaky weird -- but true -- stories, or to anyone who would like an entertaining short read.
April 1, 2020
3.5 stars.
I am not a fan of the author's comments and the format. At best, they were amusing. At worst, they were annoying. However, what I truly enjoyed about this book was the curated list of experiments about various topics. They ranged from bizarre to extraordinary. There was some research which was very interesting and useful to Psychology students, so the book served its purpose for me. The experiments were described briefly, but in sufficient detail. There were references in case someone wanted to examine a particular point in further detail. Having said all that, this is not the kind of book you read in one or two sittings. I enjoyed this book because I read different sections one at a time, and thought about them later.
I am not a fan of the author's comments and the format. At best, they were amusing. At worst, they were annoying. However, what I truly enjoyed about this book was the curated list of experiments about various topics. They ranged from bizarre to extraordinary. There was some research which was very interesting and useful to Psychology students, so the book served its purpose for me. The experiments were described briefly, but in sufficient detail. There were references in case someone wanted to examine a particular point in further detail. Having said all that, this is not the kind of book you read in one or two sittings. I enjoyed this book because I read different sections one at a time, and thought about them later.
April 9, 2024
This will be an author roast. Sorry in advance.
I kind of appreciate the compilation of “bizarre” experiments, but someone else should have written this. Either someone witty and funny, or someone with a more scientific background. Sadly, Alex Boese is neither. I feel kind of bad for the guy, because he tries SO HARD to be both. It’s almost painful to read, not because of the many horrendous experiments featured in the book, but because of the way Boese tells them. He consistently writes about animal abuse as something inherently funny, sexism as something to strive for (you guys know what I mean, *hint hint nudge nudge*) and human suffering as something alien.
I can’t get my head around it, he just seems so DETACHED from the world it’s almost fascinating.
I kind of appreciate the compilation of “bizarre” experiments, but someone else should have written this. Either someone witty and funny, or someone with a more scientific background. Sadly, Alex Boese is neither. I feel kind of bad for the guy, because he tries SO HARD to be both. It’s almost painful to read, not because of the many horrendous experiments featured in the book, but because of the way Boese tells them. He consistently writes about animal abuse as something inherently funny, sexism as something to strive for (you guys know what I mean, *hint hint nudge nudge*) and human suffering as something alien.
I can’t get my head around it, he just seems so DETACHED from the world it’s almost fascinating.
January 5, 2023
There are nuggets of interesting information here. When taken as anecdotes some of these experiments are fun and interesting.
However much of the book is filled with experiments that can only be described as cruel. More than half of the experiments involve abominable treatment of non-human animals, and some are seriously ethically questionable towards humans too.
One example was an experiment where people were asked to decapitate live rats to test the obedience of ordinary citizens. 75% of people decapitated the rats and the other 25% had their rats decapitated by the researcher. This was all told in a light hearted and jokey tone which really didn’t match the horror of the events.
However much of the book is filled with experiments that can only be described as cruel. More than half of the experiments involve abominable treatment of non-human animals, and some are seriously ethically questionable towards humans too.
One example was an experiment where people were asked to decapitate live rats to test the obedience of ordinary citizens. 75% of people decapitated the rats and the other 25% had their rats decapitated by the researcher. This was all told in a light hearted and jokey tone which really didn’t match the horror of the events.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 410 reviews