Free Radicals
The Secret Anarchy of Science
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"An exuberant tour through the world of scientists behaving badly" (The New York Times).
They may have a public image as cool, logical, levelheaded types. But in reality, scientists will do pretty much anything—take drugs, follow mystical visions, lie, and even cheat—to make a discovery.
In Free Radicals, physicist and journalist Michael Brooks seamlessly weaves together true stories of the "mad, bad and dangerous" men and women who have revolutionized the scientific world, and offers a fast-paced and thrilling exploration of the real process behind discovery (The Times, London). Brooks also traces the cover-up back to its source: the scientific establishment's reaction to the public fear of science after World War II. He argues that it its high time for science to come clean about just how bold and daring scientists really are.
"Not all scientists are nerds. In Free Radicals, physicist Michael Brooks tries to dispel the notion that scientists are stuffy, pen-protector-polishing bookworms." —The Washington Post
"Insightful . . . A page-turning, unvarnished look at the all-too-human side of science." —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Brooks, a science columnist for Britain's New Statesman, says that at the end of WWII science was "branded" as logical, trustworthy, rational, predictable, and gentlemanly, among other traits. So successful was the attempt to dispel public qualms over science's potential dangers that even scientists bought into it. But Brooks (13 Things That Don't Make Sense) pulls back the curtain to show that scientists are fallible humans just like the rest of us. Isaac Newton was aggressively competitive, and routinely kept important discoveries to himself so he could taunt his colleagues with his "secret knowledge." Einstein fudged his math to support his "beautiful" ideas. Scientists attempted to torpedo the unorthodox ideas of geneticist Barbara McClintock (who eventually won a Nobel Prize for her work) and astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Some scientists have defied rigid ethical standards, tested theories on themselves, and taken their most powerful inspiration from dreams, visions, and illicit drugs. Brooks raises intriguing questions about the value of peer review panels and ethics boards, while illuminating much of the gritty real work performed in ivory towers around the world.
