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Creations of Fire: Chemistry's Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age
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| List Price: | £15.99 |
| Price: | £11.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details |
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Product Description
A provocative history of the people behind the greatest discoveries in chemistry. In this fascinating history, Cathy Cobb and Harold Goldwhite celebrate not only chemistry's theories and breakthroughs but also the provocative times and personalities that shaped this amazing science and brought it to life. Throughout the book, the reader will meet the hedonists and swindlers, monks and heretics, and men and women laboring in garages and over kitchen sinks who expanded our understanding of the elements and discovered such new substances as plastic, rubber, and aspirin. Creations of Fire expands our vision of the meaning of chemistry and reveals the oddballs and academics who have helped shape our world.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #498841 in Books
- Published on: 2001-11-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 496 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Cathy Cobb, Ph.D., is Assistant Prof essor of Chemistry at Augusta College. Haro ld Goldwhite. Ph.D., is Professor of Chemistry at California State University, Los Angeles.
Customer Reviews
Entertaining, informative, opinionated
Excellent choice for high school or college students trying to get an overview of the field. The author knows her stuff and can present it in fascinating detail. Very readable.
A must for any chemist
As an undergraduate chemist I find that often perspective is lost in the rush of equations and syntheses thrown about by lecturers. This book provides that perspective in an engaging and entertaining format. The authors imbue their text with a warm personality and humour, and dry passages are few and far between.
I found the history most gripping as it works through antiquity and the middle ages, each era throwing up colourful personalities along with new knowledge. Towards the modern era it seems the authors were running out of space; many developments I would consider of great importance, and with a fascinating story, seem to be glossed over. I am also not sure how much a lay reader would be able to follow the modern chapters; some of the explanations of advanced topics may be harder to follow without an education in the area, and the analogies are rather poor.
Nonetheless, hard to put down and a must-read for any chemistry student in need of perspective and inspiration.
