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Text of the page (random words):
reading chemistry reading chemistry wednesday october 10 2012 petition to remove broun from house science committee please check out the change website and consider adding your voice to the petition we need rational thinkers change org the proven petition site posted by melissa ward at 10 45 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels random thursday december 8 2011 periodic tales so yeah chemist and iyc meaning i had to read hugh aldersey williams s periodic tales a cultural history of the elements from arsenic to zinc almost as soon as it appeared on bookshelves it was a bit of a follow up to my reading of sam kean s the disappearing spoon but less humorous this is a very well researched look into how the discovery of the elements impacted the lives of everyday people hunger for gold as a valuable commodity pliny disapproves the yellow lamplight of dystopian fiction derives from sodium mercury was praised as a cure all then turned into a poison the development of the haber bosch process by fritz haber the process of nitrogen fixation to produce fertilizer was a side project in his development of chlorine and other gases which changed the face of warfare in world war i and led to wilfrid owen s poem the old lie it s best to treat this book as a series of essays linked into chapters by similar themes rather than a cohesive book of history drawback what pictures included are in the book are small and black and white bo posted by melissa ward at 12 34 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels chemistry iyc friday march 11 2011 the clockwork universe iyc is in full swing and i had yet to officially start reading chemistry so along came the clockwork universe by edward dolnick according to the subtitle the book is about isaac newton the royal society and the birth of the modern world isaac newton means alchemy so of course i had to read it unfortunately i m terribly disappointed in truth this book is about how europe london england in particular transitioned from the middle ages to the enlightenment through mathematics calculus and physics newton is a central player but kepler and galileo must put in an appearance beforehand and leibnitz the co discoverer of calculus is also of importance the royal society is in the background but no significant part of the book details the founding of the royal society the subtitle needs some work additionally there are pages of notes at the back of the book but no symbols in the text to indicate that there is a note even oxford classics throw the reader a little superscript o to indicate a reference the book opens by looking at the living conditions at the time of the restoration in the united kingdom disease superstition and natural disasters sent by god are common the twin disasters of plague and the great fire of london in 1666 are prominent newton s insterest in alchemy and the philosopher s stone are mentioned and then quickly abandoned as the focus settles on the development of mathematics and geometry to explain the wonder of god s creation there are odd disgressions like one detailing how the best work of geniuses in mathematics and physics is done before the age of 30 this observation coming between kepler s discoveries and newton s there are also strange bon mots like kepler would have loved the da vinci code which makes no sense because a i m thinking kepler didn t read many novels and b kepler wouldn t have taken highly to an offshoot of early christianity that promoted the union and offspring of jesus christ and mary magadalene it s uncalled for pandering to the lowest common denominator to make up for the lack of science the chapters in the clockwork universe are short something that bothers me in a work of non fiction because it creates the illusion of cliff hangers when in reality there is nary a cliff hanger in sight the clockwork universe is a pretty history book with lovely cover art and a nice section of plates i am partial to pictures and photographs in history books this is an important period in scientific thought reason went from take the witch out and burn her during plague years to a well ordered universe ticking like a clock the way god intended in less than 100 years and it should be understood by more people current basic science education as it is the general population is more likely to learn on their own than in school however parts of the book feel like scientific cop outs when newton and liebnitz work out the calculus dolnick actually skips from a graph showing how calculus helps figure out instantaneous speed to oh hey galileo was right but we re going to skip all the calculations since that s confusing this might be popsci but the sci people will read this book too and we might like at least some of the calculations since it is also hinted that only the truly dedicated will muddle through newton s principia i would be less disappointed in the clockwork universe had the book been marketed as a history book and had a different subtitle for my science history i d rather go back and re read age of wonder a slightly later time period but with better science posted by melissa ward at 10 19 am 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels popsci thursday september 16 2010 the poisoner s handbook no not that type of poisoner s handbook think true crime the mystery book club that meets at my store picked the poisoner s handbook by deborah blum as one of their next reads i think april maybe may so i was like hmmmm a history of forensic medicine specific to poisons and chemistry in jazz age prohibition new york i ll read that from a true crime history of forensic medicine standpoint the poisoner s handbook is interesting and fun to read blum focuses on a major poisoning case in each chapter be the agent methanol arsenic thallium carbon monoxide cyanide or radium medical examiner practices we take for granted today timely autopsies accurate death certificates etc were implemented to lend the profession credibility corrupt and ill trained coroner systems as well as the political machine that was new york city politics had to be dealt with it s all very fascinating and readable but then there are some things that bug me about this book there are no graphs or pictures in this book not even a periodic table a picture is worth a thousand words when you re explaining why radium is taken up by the body in the same manner as calcium they re in the same group so they have the same basic chemistry but radium causes major problems because of its reactivity and radiation it s easier to explain radioactive decay of alpha beta and gamma particles if you ve got a picture similarly i can line up the molecular models of methanol and ethanol in my head along with their acid and aldehyde by products and understand how those chemicals act in the liver but i m thinking the average joe with a high school chemistry background at most won t be able to do that i ve had six semesters of chemistry up to advanced organic and i have a degree in biology so i understand all the physiologic processes described in the book but a non science background reader might need a boost so diagrams would be nice and maybe also the photographs of the scientists and other historical players described in the text also some of the text descriptions of what happens chemically are kind of vague titration is not really described as titration but as a progression of colors when you add acid to a solution vagueness makes my little chemist s heart sink i am a member of alpha chi sigma professional chemistry fraternity so is bassam shakhashiri who is thanked in the acknowledgements i also found the chapter layouts a little weird each chapter revolves around a specific poison which is nice but the middle of each chapter gets into the general history of the crime lab for that time period before returning to the case involving the specific poison it gets a little confusing to read about cyanide poisoning then about all the methanol deaths during prohibition and the enforcement laws about denaturing industrial ethanol before returning to a case of death by cyanide it would have been a little more clear to have separate chapters for the poisoning cases poisons between chapters about the general history of the department if you love true crime or history of criminology definitely read the poisoner s handbook if you see this on the shelf with the rest of the chemistry books in the science section of the bookstore be forewarned that it might not have as much chemistry as you would like but it s still fun to read if you re looking for something light cross posted from scuffed slippers and wormy books posted by melissa ward at 10 48 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels chemistry true crime friday september 3 2010 the disappearing spoon i m a big nerd i think chemistry is pretty fun where else do you get to set stuff on fire distill alcohol make drugs and play with expensive machinery like rotovaps and even more expensive machinery like nmrs i heard sam kean speaking on npr about his new book the disappearing spoon a book that is all about the elements on the periodic table it sounded so wonderful i just had to have it i opened up my nook called up the shop and had it downloaded in about a minute ahhhh book love instant gratification at my fingertips anyway back to the disappearing spoon kean doesn t start with hydrogen helium and beryllium discussing each element in turn as the periodic table ascends in number good for a textbook not so fun for a popular science book kean instead groups the elements by type noble gases function poisoner s corner or interesting stories gallium tea spoons and radioactive lead he opens the book with his own fascination with mercury an element strongly linked with his childhood and then on into the depths of the periodic table this allows him to talk about elements that are chemically similar or elements with similar stories of discovery the periodicity of the elements the first functional arrangement is credited to mendeleev helped a number of chemists some of them quite eccentric determine where and how to look for new elements kean does a great job of both telling stories and explaining the chemistry having a chemistry background i wasn t bored when kean gave an elementary explanation that being said a casual reader without a scientific background won t be overwhelmed by technical explanations and equations the disappearing spoon is really a fun book to get people interested in the stories behind the science scientists are just as nutty and gossipy as the average human from there people might stay interested in the science who knows what somone might discover cross posted from scuffed slippers and wormy books posted by melissa ward at 1 50 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels chemistry popsci wednesday september 1 2010 welcome to reading chemistry reading chemistry is the brainchild resulting from the metaphorical intersection of conclave a book and the un while i was at alpha chi sigma s biennial conclave i attended a forum to brainstorm ideas for the international year of chemistry iyc i was also reading sam kean s the disappearing spoon when i got home from conclave i finished the disappearing spoon and then ordered three more chemistry related books then it hit me i could start a blog so people could post about chemistry books of all types scientific popular science history biography fiction all different types and i could get it up and running by 2011 genius posted by melissa ward at 2 32 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels iyc home subscribe to posts atom about reading chemistry what do you get when you cross an alpha chi sigma nerd with a bookworm reading chemistry of course books of all chemical stripes will be reviewed here please contact melissa admin at balletbooksknitting at gmail dot com followers labels chemistry 3 iyc 2 popsci 2 random 1 true crime 1 blog archive 2012 1 october 1 petition to remove broun from house science committee 2011 2 december 1 march 1 2010 3 september 3 awesome inc theme powered by blogger