Customer Reviews

Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

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How often can you call a reference book delightful? This is a collection of biographies of scientists, starting with the first we know of by name. (Imhotep - also the first scientist to be declared a god.) Asimov's writing style makes them fun to read, full of fascinating facts, and nicely cross-referenced.

The men and women of science are an interesting and varied group of people. Bound strongly by ability and occasionally also luck, their collective efforts have in the past and continue to dramatically change the world. In this volume, Asimov writes short biographies of the leading figures and places them in chronological order of their birth. This provides a unique perspective to the development of science as you can follow the development of the major ideas, from the original germ to the nearly complete theory.
The biographies are largely short, being merely a synopsis of the achievement of these great people. However, Asimov does capture the essence of who they were and what they accomplished. In my capacity as an editor, I occasionally need some background information about a historical figure, and this is the first resource I turn to.

get it cuz when the apocalypse happens you are gonna need to start from 1st principals. i need more words words words