The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors Paperback – August 10, 2004

John Gribbin has written a marvelous book that describes how men and women discovered the mechanics of the world they live in. This is the story of science and scientists, beginning in the Renaissance up to the present day. He tells us about men like Galileo and Newton and Darwin—what drew them to the study of science, how they learned, explored, argued with each other, and built upon each other's discoveries. He covers all the branches of science, including astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and geology, and how these sciences built upon each other to come to a rounded sense of the physical world and how it works.Just two caveats. Like many scientists, Gribbin can be obsessive about data. He tells us not just the year but the month and day when his subjects were born—as if that made a difference. One wonders: Will he mention the hour of birth too? Then one reads, "Robert Hooke was born on the stroke of noon on 18 July 1635 . . ." Who cares? Obsessions with minutiae such as this can obscure the larger narrative. Second, Gribbin is so invested in empirical science that he regards all that came before as mysticism and superstition. However there are other ways of knowing. Art, poetry, philosophy--and yes, religion--are not false for being non-empirical. They can be legitimate ways of coming to the truth, and valuable correctives in an age when science is king.

I very much enjoy reading about the history of science. The short biographies given about each of the scientists in this history make this book even more of an interesting read. As someone trained in science however, I would have occasionally enjoyed a few more scientific details, for example the control experiments performed to rule out alternative explanations. I also strongly disagree with the authors perspective at the end of the book regarding our current understanding of the natural world. The author implies that essentially all of the major discoveries in science have been made, i.e. our theoretical understanding is complete and it is now just a matter of filling in the details. If I am not mistaken, physicists prior to Einstein had a similar belief. In my opinion, we have yet to make similar conceptual breakthroughs that will be necessary to explain both the origin of life and the origin of the universe itself. However, regardless of these criticisms I still highly recommend this book.

If you expect this book to illuminate the lives of natural philosophers and scientists; to detail their idiosyncracies, oddities, obsessions, and personalities; to explore the politics and prevailing social and religious winds of their day -- then this book will be a joy for you to read, and you will delight in its pages.If you expect this book to describe the thinking of these intellectual forefathers and -mothers of ours; to sort through their theories and how they arrived at them; to paint a big picture of the history of science that enables you to see the overarching themes and trends -- then this book, sadly, will be a disappointment.There is no doubt that Gribbin has written a tale that is grand in scope, expansive in nature, and overall exciting, enthralling and even downright juicy (who would have thought that the lives of natural philosophers and scientists were filled with such scandal and self-indulgence?). However, one should approach this book with the knowledge that it is more about quirks than quarks, more about natural passions than natural laws, and more about the history of scientific personalities than the history of scientific thought.

Simple easy to understand history of science. Would recommend to anyone who is curious about the order of discovery over time

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It is an incredibly comprehensive overview of the progress of scientific thought from the ancient Greeks to present day (approximately 2000). Gribbin has organized the book basically chronologically, but he also organizes his chapters along themes such as astronomy or life sciences. Generally, he treats mathematical advancements as outside the scope of the book unless they have a bearing on the ability to analyze and lead to scientific understandings. He makes a strong case for how science has been built incrementally, from step to step (although some steps are larger). This book is enthralling and interesting because Gribbin does such a nice job in describing the scientists as people with all of their foibles and eccentricities, and he is good to point out funny coincidences and ironies. This book was so good and has so much interesting detail that I plan to read it again.

I actually read a copy of this book borrowed from town library. It was so fascinating, that I bought it to have a copy in my Kindle. It's a history of physics discovering, and at the end of the book, it explains with clarity how the universe came into being.

Gribbin explains in his book that scientific progress is not because of the revolutionary insights of a few geniuses necessarily, but rather that these scientist "stood on the shoulders of giants". If they did not make the scientific breakthroughs at the time they did, someone else might have sooner rather than later. As I understand it, this is the theme of the book. Also, the author explains that all scientific investigations essentially serves to have us understand nature, and our place in it.I was familiar with many of the stories of the life's of the scientist in the book, which did not diminish the enjoyment of reading it. Thoroughly enjoyable, well worth reading.

My course required this text. I love Gribbins style and context. He includes all aspects of life to explain science discoveries. The impact politics on science is remarkable.

The product arrived intact and it is a very interesting read!

Simply fantastic. Utterly readable. Buy it.

This is an easy history raad on the evolution of science and the growth of knowledge out of the Middle Ages. The story telling is light without getting bogged down is sceintific jargon, and gives context to the discoveries of the day. It covers most of the well known scientists as well as quite few that I hadn't heard of (which is a pleasure). A good read all round.

Quite good & readable; I haven't finished reading it though...., 600+ pages,mind it. Gribbin's a excellent writer. He knows how to keep U hooked to his books.He not only covered the history & the science, the personal & related aspects in each chapter makes the book quite absorbing.Hence 5 star rating.

Very good book. Relax reading. Nice overview for anybody interested in science and the persons behind it, known, less known and unknown scientist in the context of their era and living conditions