by Michael Brooks
As anyone who has spent exactly 3 second on my page knows, I looovvee a good mystery. What may not be as screamingly obvious is my love of almost all things science (I admit, space bores me - I know it's important; but I also think it's boring.) I'm a big fan of NewScientist magazine, and was a f...
An interesting look at some topics that still need more investigation before answers can be found, if answers can ever be found. Things like Placebos, sex, death, and other things that still need a lot of poking before answers will be able to be glimpsed. Most chapters follow on from the previous ...
Generally I enjoy this sort of book, and this was no exception, but I didn't find myself quite as engaged as I hoped to be. I think it was at its best when it didn't try to draw tenuous connections to popular culture and just told us what we needed to know. Some of the segments, particularly the one...
For each chapter the author tells you what he's going to tell you about an anomaly, then tells you about it, and then explains to you what he just told you, and all the while explaining to you the science that surrounds it.The book is so good at putting the context around the mystery that after list...
A great introduction to the problems facing modern science, but I felt like it could have been so much more. The great thing about 13 Things is that the chapters can stand alone, and a reader can delve into the mysteries that interest them while avoiding some of the others that may be boring. Some...
Clean, engaging prose--no small feat with some of the ideas raised. And I love the conceit: examining a few conundrums which expose the way we're still trying to frame certain problems (in cosmology, biology, etc.). But I'm with Buck in finding the first half more engaging than the second. I came...
Point 12 was about placebo and sugar pill efficacy and this last chapter concerns homeopathic practices. I have fully enjoyed this book as much as The Barmaids Brain by Jay Ingram and I will not be deleting this file - it will be popped into a re-read folder. Happiness indeed.---Alien hand syndrome ...
I really enjoyed this book. In a world where most geographical frontiers have already been explored it's inspiring to read about the wild west of science where our knowledge is small and great discoveries are still to be made.The author did a good job of interweaving the 13 things so the book felt l...
This is an interesting book, but at a fairly basic level. The science of what we don't know is far more productive and fascinating than that of what we do. There was a book I read a long time ago called the encyclopedia of ignorance that was outstanding, wonderful, fascinating, delightful. I thin...
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