Customer Reviews

Creations of Fire

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have always liked the science of chemistry. It was, in fact, a hobby of mine when I was in my teens, but I eventually chose to go into biology. I still had to minor in chemistry and physics, and while I struggled in physics, chemistry was my cup of tea!

One of the reasons for this was my fascination with the history of the science and I was much influenced by "Crucibles" by Bernard Jaffe. This was (and still is) a very interesting and informative book, but I think now much improved upon by "Creations of Fire: Chemistry's Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age" by Cathy Cobb and Harold Goldwhite. In this current volume the authors include a number of researchers only mentioned in passing or not at all by Jaffe. In addition they have placed chemical advances in the perspective of the time in which they occurred. This is science history as it should be written! I always think that the history of any subject, be it science, literature, art or religion, better informs the student than presenting only the current thinking in the given field. I know that I understand the structure of modern chemistry better when I also understand the steps that led to it.

I highly recommend this excellent history of chemical thought to student and professional alike, as well as anyone who wants to understand how scientists got Avogadro's law, atomic theory, or discovered the elements and the periodic table. Hint: they all took a lot of work and determination and were understood only after a lot of blind alleys and conflict. Nothing was self evident or handed down on a platter!

Unputdownable. The story of hundreds of scientists and enthusiasts who wanted to understand matter and gradually decoded its secrets. Generally accessible to the lay-reader (I got a little lost when we reached proteins, enzymes and so forth), its full of little quirky details from the lives of the protagonists, making them human and interesting.

If you have to own one chemistry book, this should be the one. It explains the concepts, frames the drama, and avoids the nomenclature and exasperating detail. Chemistry forms the basis of the material world, and the future of many technologies, ranging from medicine and electronics to materials and environmental science. The approach to chemistry, over the millennia, has defined scientific method and ultimately, philosophy of science. From this book, one can grasp the dramatic outline, with all explanations easily digested, and the dramatic highpoints presented with just the right flourish. These two writers do not come from Oxford but rather a state school in California, and they tell the tale with a simplicity and directness that most anybody can appreciate.

The book does a pretty good job of covering the broad history of alchemy and chemistry. I only have a few complaints. The first is the high number of print errors. There are numerous typos and in my book two pages are missing entirely! 109 goes straight to 112. Luckily, I came on here and amazon provided the missing pages for me. The second is the "feminism" inserted into the book that I really am not interested in. The authors incessently add little worthless and eventually irritatingly ridiculous little histories of females' success. Most of them are really silly like, "some women were known to practice chemistry" "aristotle was known to hire women" "women are equal to men, in fact they are far superior." Its not a huge deal, but it gets a little old after a while. Finally the book is harshly anti-religion and especially anti-christian. I'll admit that the history of the christian (Catholic) church is anything but noble, at the same time, in the modern mind I think its possible to imagine a world where religion and science are not opposite views. I am both religious AND a chemist. Its true! My mind has yet to spontaneously combust. Anyway, this is obviously a hyperbolic review, you have to accept that an author is going to put their touch on history, I just think this author's touch is a bit ridiculous at times. I would probably choose a different book were I to go back.

I checked this out from my local library a couple of years ago, as the subject matter was faintly related to a project I was researching at the time. I was much surprised at this gay jaunt through history and the down to earth manner in which it layed out the evolution of science and learning.
I find, 2 years later, that a few too many of these fascinating historical antecdotes have slipped from my memory, so now I must aquire my very own copy of this fine work. Creations of Fire is one reference book that should serve me well the rest of my life.

This book certainly covered the gamut of chemical history starting with ancient Greece and beyond. The early history of alchemy/chemistry was very interesting; as time progressed the discussions in this book became somewhat less so. In addition, the authors chose to divide the discussion by topic as opposed to chronology. Since one of the things I like about science history is how one development builds on another, I found this a weakness. Despite this shortcoming, the book was a more than adequate overview of the history of chemistry and was written in an easy-to-read manner. One objection I had was that the authors were uneven in their discussion of the effect the Nazi regime had on scientists. For example Max Born lost his professorship due to his Jewish ancestry but this was not mentioned even though in other places in the book, the authors went out of their way to establish the ethnicity/religion of their subjects. More glaringly, the authors discussed the use of poison gas in World War I combat but not in World war II against civilian populations i.e., there was no mention of Zyklon B, the gas used by the Nazis in the death camps. Overall I recommend this book, mostly because of it's broad scope and lighter style.

I got this book a few years ago and dipped into it occasionally. I wasn't too impressed. It struck me as a collection of mini-biographies of chemists rather than a history of chemistry.

Then I read the entry on Priestly. I have a high regard for Priestly, as a pioneering chemist, as an intellectual, and as a human being. But the article on Priestly was short, factually incorrect, obtuse (that is, the opposite of insightful), and insulting to the man. I could not believe that a book that contained that passage could be trusted on any other subject. I got rid of it.

As they say, your mileage may vary. Other folks seem to like the book. Maybe the authors were having a bad day when they wrote the section on Priestly, and other sections are better... So I'll offer these remarks simply as a report of one person's experience with the book.

I suspect Cathy Cobb must be a very amusing person. Her historical gleanings about the history of chemistry merit consideration on the basis of what Cathy Cobb has to say about what is an unusually dry subject. As long as rigorous inspection is not your thing, the anecdotes she relates are amusing or are amusing interpretations of not always amusing people and events. I would like to sit in on her classes just to see how students react to her, not her facts. She must be anathema to some of the unenlightened academics that she so outrages by tripping through the hallowed shiboliths and the embalmed reputations of the "leaders in the field' of the history of chemistry.

Excellent choice for high school or college students trying to get an overview of the field. The author knows her stuff and can present it in fascinating detail. Very readable.

Excellent read. Wonderful bits of history and science made fun and accessible wrapped up in one great storytelling package. Highly recommend this book.