07/11/2016
Scientists whose contributions have shaped modern life are introduced in 50 brief biographies. They include individuals from the ancient world, including Hippocrates, Pythagoras, and Hypatia of Alexandria; well-known figures like Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Marie Curie; and other individuals who might have escaped readers’ notice, such as mathematician Ada Lovelace, German physicist Lisa Meitner, and Australia’s Howard Florey, a somewhat unheralded bacteriologist who played a key role in the advent of penicillin. Grant (Debunk It!) humorously describes the scientists’ missteps (Ptolemy’s “ideas of how the universe worked dominated scientific thought... for something like 1,300 years. Which was a pity, because he got just about everything wrong”), just one aspect of the informal, accessible tone he uses to create a rich and lively history of scientific innovation. Ages 12–up. (Aug.)

[A] rich and lively history of scientific innovation. “–Publishers Weekly

“The author realizes [his subjects] with vivacity, lucidly describing their significant achievements and also drawing connections.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This is a comprehensive collective biography of the most formative people in human intellectual history, each selected because without their personal contributions the modern world would not exists as readers know it. . . bring[s] a relatability to these highly intelligent people that will keep readers engaged.”–Booklist

08/01/2016
Gr 7 Up—A collected biography of 50 influential scientists, organized chronologically by year of birth, from Pythagoras of Samos to James Hanson. About four to six pages are dedicated to each figure's body of work and influence. A "But There's More" section lists trivia-style facts and suggestions for further research after each subject. A running theme of the work is the importance of collaboration and reworking old ideas. Grant highlights how scientists are often in dialogue with one another—this conversation is essential to scientific advancement. In his introduction, Grant acknowledges the lack of diversity (in regard to gender) in most representations of scientists and admits that his selection process reflects his personal judgment. There are a fair amount of women scientists covered. However, the focus is squarely on Western achievement (scientists from Asia, Africa, or South America are largely omitted). Attention is brought to those who were dismissed because of prejudice, for example, Lise Meitner, Ignaz Semmelweis, and Émilie du Châtelet. The writing is very approachable, although at times a bit too colloquial (Semmelweis's coworkers are referred to as a "stupid bunch"). VERDICT More for pleasure reading than reports. Put this in the hands of students with an interest in STEM and history.—Sharon M. Lawler, formerly at Randolph Elementary, TX

Collective biographies, while fine in print, can present problems for audiobook narrators, which is the case in this production. The author’s writing on 50 great scientists is fluent. And narrator Mark Meadows injects energy and just the right authoritative tone into his reading of the short biographies. He pronounces the names of Arabic, French, German, Dutch, and Russian scientists smoothly and with appropriate accents. However, the conclusion of each mini-biography is followed by a section of trivia and recommended reading that is introduced with the words “But there’s more . . .” It would be easy to overlook those three words while reading a print version, but they’re repeated 50 times throughout the audiobook. To his credit, Meadows varies his delivery slightly, but the repetition still detracts from the production. This is one audiobook that works better in print. C.M.A. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

2016-06-22
A lively parade of cranks, mystics, rebels, obsessives, and geniuses, humble or otherwise, whose discoveries and insights shaped today's science and technology.Grant's choices for inclusion are, unsurprisingly, nearly all male, dead, and white. Moving chronologically, he begins with "semi-legendary Mediterranean mystic" Pythagoras and ends with climate-change activist James Hansen. In between he trots out luminaries from Hypatia (murdered by a Christian patriarch's "Rent-a-Mob") to the "totally unscrupulous toad" Francis Bacon, from James Clerk Maxwell, the "Scottish Einstein," to Einstein himself. Nine women make the cut, but only Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar represent the world beyond Europe and North America. Still, Howard Florey, who actually found ways to produce the antibiotic that Alexander Fleming only happened to notice, isn't the only figure here who's not one of the usual suspects. Moreover, conventional as his selections are, the author realizes them with vivacity, lucidly describing their significant achievements and also drawing connections—between the ideas of Leibnitz in the 17th century and of visionary mathematician Riemann in the 19th to Einstein's in the 20th, for instance. Each entry includes an old or photographic portrait and an afterword with leads to more information, plus references to novels, films, lunar craters, rock bands, and other pop-culture links. Culturally blinkered but refreshingly opinionated and not without a few pleasant surprises. (index) (Collective biography. 12-16)