Science in 100 key breakthroughs

With a PhD in cosmology, Parsons, the former editor for the science and technology magazine BBC Focus and the author of four previous science books for general audiences (e.g., The Science of Doctor Who, CH, Dec'10, 48-2037), has a knack for breaking complex subjects down into digestible pieces that make them interesting for novices and experts alike. Here he chronicles the top 100 science discoveries from the beginning of time to the present in short, three-page essays. The book starts off 37,000 years ago with counting and ends with cutting-edge technologies like synthetic life. The topics include theories, discoveries, and inventions across mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, and cover subjects such as calculus, the double helix, parallel universes, and electricity. Parsons does not indicate how he created this list. The essays may go into detail on how the ideas were developed, explaining the science, current applications, and/or current controversies; ultimately a cohesive portrayal of the breakthrough emerges. A short bibliography at the end of each essay would have been beneficial to students. The entries can exist as single entities; however, reading the book in chronological order gives one a fascinating historical perspective of science. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and general audiences. B. M. Weston formerly, University of Idaho

A foundation to any science collection is the popular introduction. This colorful candidate for the role presents its list of the author's nominees with a page-size scientific image of the subject, several headline slugs explaining its importance or significance, followed by two or three pages summarizing a history of its discovery or formulation. The visual enticement to browsers, however, does not mean the text is lightweight, as author Parsons does not avoid equations in the mathematics advances, shows readers the physics principles underlying applied technologies, and explains the physiological action in major medical achievements that have improved human health. Beyond his examples of the personal and positive impact of modern science's math formulas, lasers, and penicillin, Parsons presents examples of pure science that, as yet, have no practical applications. Representing pure curiosity about nature, they include strings, black holes, dark energy, the Higgs boson, and Fermat's so-called last theorem. An experienced science explicator in Britain's mass media, Parsons will elicit that all-important initial interest in science.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist