Alchemy, the flat earth theory, lost worlds, and aliens among us: these ideas once seemed plausible—but now we know they’re just plain wrong. Take a fun journey through the history of science as it transforms from a field of wild speculation into a powerful tool of understanding. Explore the world in upheaval as Earth changed from center of the universe to a smallish planet orbiting an average star. Find out about hidden races and unknown creatures (like Yetis); early and bizarre thoughts on evolution; ancient astronauts and UFO crazes; the music of the spheres; the acquisition of virtues through cannibalism, and much more!
Discarded Science: Ideas that Seemed Good at the Time
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Editorial Reviews
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"Anyone interested in the history, development, and the refinement of scientific ideas, methods, and thinking will be engrossed by this book." -- School Science Review, June, 2007
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More About the Author
John Grant is the author of more than seventy books, including the critically acclaimed Discarded Science, Corrupted Science, and Bogus Science. In addition to his popular science writing, Grant is a prolific science fiction and fantasy writer. He has won two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a number of other international literary awards. He coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their field. Under his real name, Paul Barnett, he has written several books and run the world-famous fantasy-art-book imprint Paper Tiger, for this latter work winning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award. For more on this prolific author, see www.johngrantpaulbarnett.com.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By C. Peterson
Format:Hardcover
"Discarded Science" is a nicely readable book describing what used to be "known" about the world, life and the universe. For example, when the Earth was flat, how did the best minds of the day explain the movement of the stars? This book tells us. The reader need not be well versed in science to enjoy the book - the writing is very accessible.
However, Grant spends a good amount of time lambasting crackpots who have cropped up from time to time, many of whom were never taken seriously in the first place. The book would have been much more interesting had he stuck to describing what was the orthodox thinking, even if it was wrong. A Rogue's Gallery of Nutcases would have made an entertaining (other) book.
The illustrations in the book are black line drawings with red backgrounds that are very tough on the eyes.
However, Grant spends a good amount of time lambasting crackpots who have cropped up from time to time, many of whom were never taken seriously in the first place. The book would have been much more interesting had he stuck to describing what was the orthodox thinking, even if it was wrong. A Rogue's Gallery of Nutcases would have made an entertaining (other) book.
The illustrations in the book are black line drawings with red backgrounds that are very tough on the eyes.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is an intriguing bestiary of peculiar scientific ideas that were eventually cast aside as hokum. Encompassing everything from Velikovsky's wacky cosmological theories to phrenology to the idea that we're all living inside the earth, Grant's work provides an excellent overview of the pseudoscience of yesteryear. Other reviewers have commented on how Grant goes out of his way to jab at religious folks, but really he's going out of his way to jab at young earth creationists and, let's face it, they probably deserve it. In any event, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book, but I can see how some people might find it distracting.
That being said, some of the actual presentation left a lot to be desired. The peculiar red line-art illustrations (to prevent photocopying..?) were kind of an eyesore, and the book itself has kind of peculiar dimensions (very compact yet extremely thick) that make it somewhat unwieldy and unappealing. If you can look past the unattractive presentation, this book is definitely worth a look. It's fascinating to see what bizarre ideas used to lurk in the shadowy periphery of science, even in the relatively recent past.
That being said, some of the actual presentation left a lot to be desired. The peculiar red line-art illustrations (to prevent photocopying..?) were kind of an eyesore, and the book itself has kind of peculiar dimensions (very compact yet extremely thick) that make it somewhat unwieldy and unappealing. If you can look past the unattractive presentation, this book is definitely worth a look. It's fascinating to see what bizarre ideas used to lurk in the shadowy periphery of science, even in the relatively recent past.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The title misled me into thinking that this book would offer a careful consideration of what made some scientific ideas "seem good at the time." Unfortunately, this is only true of a few of the vast number of outdated ideas considered in this book. The author intends, apparently, to be encyclopedic--everything is considered here, even things no one would claim were ever thought to be scientific hypotheses (e.g., cannibalism to acquire the powers of one's enemies). However, like an encyclopedia, most entrees are brief, the exceptions being the ones the author seems a little obsessed by (intelligent design and religion in general get bashed repeatedly, sometimes amusingly, but usually in a way that makes you embarrassed for the author). George Bush gets beat up a fair number of times too, for related reasons, but this betrays the polemic character of the book, which is often condescending (in the spirit of "look at these quaint or irrational ideas... we know so much better now, unless you're a Christian fundamentalist moron!") (Incidentally, I'm not.) As a scientist myself--I teach physics at the College level--I expected more rigor to the criticisms and more scholarship. For example, not a single quotation comes with a page citation, and several quotations are not mentioned at all in the Bibliography). In short, an easy read, but disappointing.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book
John Grant writes with humor and it shines thru in all his works. I first became aware of him from his brilliant 'Directory of Discarded Ideas' back in the late Seventies. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Thomas McLean
2.0 out of 5 stars
Check out the big brain on J. Grant
Science history and outmoded theories is a fascinating subject in its own right with several theories about the nature of the universe having been adopted, accepted and reluctantly... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Tim Lieder
5.0 out of 5 stars
Discarded Science
We owned this book and cannot find it, so I ordered it from this place. It arrived in a timely manner and is in perfect condition. Read more
Published on January 16, 2011 by Virginia Llorca
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly recommended
This is an engagingly written and enlightened book that covers ideas in "discarded" science. It provides a marvellous debunking of many poor but historically important... Read more
Published on April 20, 2009 by Mr. M. P. Speed
1.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't live up to its title
Perhaps a better sub-title would be "why I'm so smart and everyone else in the past was so stupid." I was looking forward to understanding how some of the scientific ideas in the... Read more
Published on February 10, 2008 by Kenneth Reeves
5.0 out of 5 stars
Regarding Science-Ejected Vitalism:
Vitalism is a profoundly science-ejected concept, though many CAM or 'natural health' cabals falsely claim that vitalism survives scientific scrutiny. Read more
Published on January 19, 2008 by Robert J. Cullen
3.0 out of 5 stars
a fun read
This is a fun read that is also filled with information. Though to be honest, the author is wrong. People really didn't think the earth was flat through most of history. Read more
Published on March 13, 2007 by C. Nappi
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Enlightening Read
John Grant's comprehensive tome puts under his investigative spotlight a wide range of misinformation that was commonly accepted as fact throughout history. Read more
Published on February 9, 2007 by Randy Dannenfelser
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and Valuable
I love science-for-the-layman histories and have a shelf of them, from Richard Feynman's autobiography to Ed Regis's multiple bios in his survey of physicists, "Great Mambo Chicken... Read more
Published on January 30, 2007 by Fiona Kelleghan
5.0 out of 5 stars
This One's a Keeper
Grant travels through the history of wrong science and gets it right at every turn. With his slyly sardonic wit sneaking to the fore, Grant turns what could easily have been a dry... Read more
Published on January 25, 2007 by Roolady
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