Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$22.51 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $16.67 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics [Paperback]

Kevin M. Dunn (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

List Price: $29.95
Price: $26.48 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: $3.47 (12%)
  Special Offers Available
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Textbook Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for Students. Learn more


Book Description

1581125666 978-1581125665 August 1, 2003
Half a million years ago our ancestors learned to make fire from scratch. They crafted intricate tools from stone and brewed mind-altering elixirs from honey. Their descendants transformed clay into pottery, wool into clothing, and ashes into cleansers. In ceramic crucibles they won metal from rock, the metals lead to colored glazes and glass. Buildings of brick and mortar enshrined books of parchment and paper. Kings and queens demanded ever more colorful clothing and accessories in order to out-class clod-hoppers and call-girls. Kingdoms rose and fell by the power of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. And the demands of everyday folk for glass and paper and soap stimulated the first round of chemical industrialization. From sulfuric acid to sodium carbonate. From aniline dyes to analgesic drugs. From blasting powder to fertilizers and plastics. In a phrase, From Caveman to Chemist. Your guides on this journey are the four alchemical elements; Fire, Earth, Air and Water. These archetypical characters deliver first-hand accounts of the births of their respective technologies. The spirit of Fire, for example, was born in the first creature to cultivate the flame. This spirit passed from one person to another, from one generation to another, from one millennium to another, arriving at last in the pages of this book. The spirit of Earth taught folks to make tools of stone, the spirit of Air imparted knowledge of units and the spirit of Water began with the invention of spirits. Having traveled the world from age to age, who can say where they will find their next home? Perhaps they will find one in you.

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Buy $50 in qualifying physical textbooks, get $5 in Amazon MP3 Credit. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics + Makeshift Workshop Skills + Long-Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age: Preparing to Live after Society Crumbles
Price For All Three: $60.29

Some of these items ship sooner than the others. Show details

Buy the selected items together
  • Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

  • Makeshift Workshop Skills $18.85

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Long-Term Survival In The Coming Dark Age: Preparing to Live after Society Crumbles $14.96

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details



Editorial Reviews

Review

In Caveman Chemistry, Kevin Dunn presents a historically oriented hands-on introduction to chemistry and chemical technology that is tremendously entertaining. -- http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/Journal/Issues/2004/Apr/abs490.html The Journal of Chemical Education

About the Author

Kevin Dunn is the Elliott Professor of Chemistry at Hampden-Sydney College, where he teaches the course which inspired this book. He holds a BS degree from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. He appears on The Learning Channel's "Mysteries of Magic" and is co-author of a dozen journal articles in theoretical chemistry. He lives in central Virginia with his wife and several cats.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 428 pages
  • Publisher: Universal Publishers (August 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1581125666
  • ISBN-13: 978-1581125665
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (14)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific., March 14, 2005
By 
L. Hoyt (Pocatello, ID) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics (Paperback)
I'm using this book in a college chemistry class for nonscience majors. Dunn's writing is a bit eccentric, no doubt, but the projects are great and my students are engaged as never before, so--I win!

Science books that are intended to be marketed both as trade books and as textbooks generally fail at both. Often the two goals are just incompatible. Dunn has achieved something special here: he has done a nice job of resolving the conflicts between these two goals. The text is rigorous enough to be used in a general-college class, yet accessible to any interested person looking for a nifty science project (or a handbook for surviving the collapse of civilization!)...and as a bonus, it's a great read. In addition he maintains an extremely helpful website for the book; I have learned almost as much about the projects from reading the comments of his students as from reading the book, and having a central place for errata to be posted online is very convenient for my students.

I'd love to see a character in the next Mad-Max-style post-apocalypse movie pull out a copy of Caveman Chemistry and start a fire with two sticks, or make soap starting with ashes. But even if civilization survives, I will take consolation in this: with the projects in this book, we can participate in a tradition of human technology going back 500,000 years.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Eccentricity aside..., June 29, 2005
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics (Paperback)
As a current chemistry major with a long and sordid history of odd compounds, this book is a JOY to read even for me. It is this type of writing that truly brings "normal" non-scientific readers into the realm of the laboratory.
It is fact and procedure written in a style that is instantly comfortable and reasonably non-technical. As one reviewer stated, THIS is what required reading should be.
Everyone is worried about the "brain drain" in the US right now. If books like this were present in the arena of primary education for the last ten years, we wouldn't have anything to worry about. For people that can't immediately "dream this stuff in color" it is books like this that create a first breach in the dam that is our current bureaucratic education system.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing I-dea, July 3, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics (Paperback)
I just finished reading the book, and even though I admit I haven't gotten my hands "black with charcoal" on even a single project, this was probably the best science book I have ever read.

The author's style was weird and entertaining, the concepts were well explained (though I had to go over chapter 7 a few times).

I even learned an answer to a question I had as a child that no one knew how to answer (why did it hurt when I bit down on aluminum?).

I was truly amazed at the evolution of history of chemicals and how industries came to be built from virtually nothing - and not only that, but how you can make the same chemicals and projects at home.

I plan to read the book again and try some of the experiments.

I wish I had had a course based on this book in college, in high school, in elementary school - at any point.

In short, if you are interested in understanding the basic chemical processes in the world around you and their history, where common products you buy from the store come from and how to make them on your own, and of course, how to make fire, paper, pharmaceuticals, and explosives - then this is the book for you.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
It all began with a spark. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Material Safety Locate, United States, Bayer Aspirin, Farbenfabriken Bayer, Mappae Clavicula, Quality Assurance Record, Silicates Figure, Unit Factor Analysis, Alcohol Figure, Charcoal Figure, Code of Hammurabi, Iron Age, Michael Faraday, American Revolution, Bronze Age, Electrochemicals Figure, First World War, Gunpowder Figure, Photography Figure, Rhode Island, Rudolf Glauber, Textiles Figure
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:








i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...