I started reading this book months ago. Then life turned into a blender and I couldn’t get myself to pick it up again. I was about a quarter of the way through it when I dropped it. I brought it home for winter break and my mom saw it. She said she used to give kids extra credit in chemistry for reading it. But according to the Wiki site it wasn’t published until 2002. I don’t think she was still teaching then. Nevertheless she said there were chemistry experiments in it, but I haven’t gotten there. Unfortunately I am supposed to be writting up my dissertation right now so I can’t pick it up again. Yet my curiosity is very peaked. Does anybody have any good spoilers for me?
Well it’s been a while since I read it but I adore Oliver Sacks and everything he writes. As I recall it is mostly about his unique childhood where he was surrounded by offbeat relatives who were accomplished in the sciences, arts and politics. I did learn many interesting things about chemistry from the book and came away with a better appreciation of the periodic table. I don’t recall any specific chemistry experiments but he does mention some interesting results (i.e. explosions) when various substances are exposed to each other.
So you must have read it a long time ago. Why does Wiki say it was published in 2002?
It was first published in 2001.
Yeah - read it last year or the year before. As with Enc, I’ve read just about everything OS has written.
IIRC, the second half gave me some new insight (for me - a science challenged lawyer) some insight into the periodic table and Mendeleev’s (sp?) accomplishment. Neat insight into the history of chemistry. Led me to pick up a couple of other bios soon thereafter.
Apparently OS did a bunch of experiments himself when quite young, essentially repeating some of the early attempts to isolate elements, and trying to prove similarities/differences between different “families” of elements. While not getting TOO close to blowing up his house in the process.
Man, he had a wierd childhood, what with his crew of uncles and his mom bringing home pathological tissue for him to dissect. Plus the time in WWII England, and his ability to get chemicals from the corner store and his uncle.
OS is pretty near the tops of the invite list as far as my imaginary dinner party would be concerned.