Vance Christiaanse’s Reviews > The Five Biggest Ideas in Science > Status Update

Well, somehow this was a relaxing, encouraging, clarifying book. It's as though the authors wanted to help me learn things instead of just show off how smart they already were.

I just learned more about biology than I ever learned in all my years in school. This is great!

It was refreshing to get back to this delightful little book. I reviewed the parts I'd already read, read a lot of the material at the end, and read the next chapter. Learned some important things I should have already known!

Big Idea #2: Chemistry's Periodic Law
Yes I knew most of this when I was in fifth grade but I didn't know all of it--especially some of the history. In the early nineteenth century the idea of "triads" made sense. I knew about Mendeleev's willingness to ignore the atomic mass in some cases but now that I am older and know more about the history of science I can appreciate the significance better.

BIG IDEA #1: Physics' Model of the Atom. I've recently read much more advanced books on this topic. Maybe that's the reason this very elementary survey makes sense to me. I finally have some idea of the difference between the Bohr model and quantum mechanical model. And some idea of quarks and leptons. Finally.

This is an introductory book but having read much more advanced treatments helps me understand the significance of points made here that I might have otherwise failed to notice. Anyway... I'm looking forward to the chapter on plate tectonics since I just finished _The Rocks Don't Lie_.