Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry [Hardcover]

Cathy Cobb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

Science populariser Cathy Cobb takes a unique approach to explaining the concepts of physical chemistry by telling the story of the geniuses and eccentrics who made groundbreaking discoveries in this fascinating field that bridges chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The result is entertaining and illuminating. Her tale is about the colourful varieties of human character as well as the struggles to understand the workings of the material world. Through true stories of rebels, recluses, heroes, and rogues, she helps the reader to discover how one idea built upon another and how an elegant discipline arose out of centuries of difficult trial and error. Starting with the ancient Greeks, Cobb takes the reader on a sweeping tour of history. She shows how an understanding of basic chemical properties gradually arose out of ancient Greeks mathematics, Muslim science, medieval 'magick', and the healing arts. Her tour continues through the scientific revolution, the emergence of physical chemistry as an independent discipline, and up to the present. Today, physical chemists contribute to the fields of chemical physiology, chemical oscillations and waves, quantum mechanics, and the curious and promising field of nanotechnology. This absorbing, eloquently written history of science is loaded with intuitive imagery, everyday analogies, and a colourful cast of characters who are guaranteed to entertain as well as edify.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It will pleasantly surprise readers whose previous experience with chemistry has been a forced march through dreary formulas to learn that many of the makers of those formulas lived lives of wild unpredictability and fearless defiance. In recounting how chemistry emerged from the fogs of magic into the sunlight of mathematics, Cobb rescues the piquant stories that classroom lecturers generally omit. Readers learn, for example, how Napier risked going to the stake as a warlock for his investigations into logarithms and how Bunsen's laboratory enthusiasms cost him both his own eye and the heart of a neglected fiancee. In the feats of these cross-grained geniuses, Cobb limns the rise of a rigorous new science, founded on the skeptical analysis of all data and on quantifiable tests of every theory. Cobb particularly excels in illuminating how and why daring minds abandoned old perspectives and created new paradigms (as, for example, when Dalton transformed the early work of Lavoisier and Richter into a justification for atomic theory). Nonspecialists will find few more accessible and entertaining guides to an often-opaque science. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...a lively, readable account..." -- Skeptical Inquirer, March/April 2003

"...an accessible and largely accurate tour de force...stylish, easy-to-read...highly recommended." -- Choice July/August 2003

"...an extremely enjoyable book to read...an accessible overview of an often-maligned field." -- Foundations of Chemistry, 2003

"...easy and enjoyable reading...I would happily recommend [this book] to students and chemistry teachers..." -- Chemical Heritage, Fall 2004

"...gives real insight into the breadth and beauty of physical chemistry...a good read..." -- New Scientist

"...lively and swashbuckling...suitable for high school and college students as well as a general audience..." -- American Scientist, July-August 2003

"...one imagines that [Cobb] must be a remarkable chemistry teacher..." -- Technology & Culture, April 2004

"...thoroughly deserves a place on the shelves of any science library." -- Chemistry in Britain, July 2003

"A successful introductory history of science...can help to restore enthusiasm for and youthful interest in the scientific life..." -- Isis, March 2004

"[Cobb] uses a wide range of analogies to explain phenomena and concepts..." -- Chemical Education Today, July 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157392976X
• ISBN-13: 978-1573929769
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,841,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A huge disappointment, October 26, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry (Hardcover)

Having recently finished the excellent "Lunar Men", Jenny Uglow's masterpiece about Erasmus Darwin and his friends, I was looking forward to read MMM. I was hoping it would increase my understanding of physical chemistry history. I found it wanting and peppered with mistakes. See below for a few examples but I suspect there are more in the chapters dealing with material less familiar to me. The root of the problem can be found in the "notes" section: there isn't a single reference to an original work from the people described in the main text. The whole book is constructed using material from other 20st century authors. That's OK if you're writing a high school paper, it is not if you're writing a scholarly book.
Some mistakes are likely due to lack of proofreading: "egg yoke" or Lavoisier "isolating air's two elements oxygen and hydrogen".
Others are more troubling and indicate a lack of understanding of history: Watt did not simply improve the steam engine Newcomen (and others) designed. Newcomen's engine relied on the atmospheric pressure to generate work in addition to steam pressure. Hot steam in the cylinder was cooled by water to create a vacuum. Watt's engine eliminated the atmospheric pressure as a work generating force. Galvani believed in animal electricity, he did not "use electricity to make frog legs twitch". The atomists did not use the term "equivalent" to hide their belief in the atom, if fact the "equivalent" proponents were pitted against the "atomists" in a bitter battle. Early balloonists did not understand the role of the temperature in hot air ballooning. The Mongolfier brothers were looking for an "electrical emanation" that would allow a balloon to rise the same way small pieces of cloth can be lifted towards an electrified rod. They settled on a burning mixture of damp wool and straw as fuel. It took the systematic work of the Swiss de Saussure (not Gay-Lussac) to show that it was the "rarefaction of the air" which lifted the balloon.

And the list goes on. I stop here and point at a final annoyance: pictures without caption or references. Fortunately, in MMM most of them had no relation to the text anyway and seem to be included just because Cobb liked the way they looked. the same can be said for the weird symbols that are repeated throughout the book. At first I thought they were a clever reference to symbols used in Croll's 1609 "Basilica chymica", in Geoffoy's 1718 "table des affinites" or in Dalton's 1810 "New system of chemical philosophy". They weren't and if anyone can tell me what they mean, I'd be grateful.

To finish on a semi-positive note: Cobb pointed at contributions from women scientists, marking a welcome departure from earlier publications by other authors. Of course, she succeeded in misrepresenting Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier and in ignoring Lucia Galeazzi who played a massive role in the discovery of animal electricity.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inelegant writing, misinformation, poor editing, June 8, 2003

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry (Hardcover)

For a science geek like me, this book - an attempt to make physical chemistry understandable and even appealing for the intelligent layperson - misses its mark by a wide margin. Her exposition is, at times, poorly organized; Ms Cobb too frequently draws conclusions not made clear by her narrative. There are errors of language: for instance, she repeatedly refers to the logical process of 'reducio ad absurdam' (it should be 'reductio ad absurdum'). And, finally, there are careless errors of fact, perhaps aided at times by her wish to simplify the material and use a light-hearted approach. Granted she is attempting to make a difficult subject come alive for non-professional readers, but one doesn't do that by fudging the material. She does impart some interesting historical information along the way, especially about the pioneers who forged the field of physical chemistry.

But the book is a slog to read. At times one's heart leaps up at certain felicities, only to be slammed down again by the too-often illogical and inelegant writing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars University Student Review, December 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry (Hardcover)

I have never written a book review before, but in light of a recent less-than-generous review of Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks, I feel compelled to offer my own response to this unconventional history of an unconventional science. A history of physical chemistry must draw from the history of physics and mathematics as well as chemistry, and Magick accomplishes this task while managing to keep the story entertaining and lay-reader friendly. Dr. Cobb did not write an erudite, exhaustive treatise on the subject, nor did she claim to. Dr. Cobb's aim-to introduce the readers to interesting personalities and explore the human side of science-was accomplished as promised, and her goal of explaining difficult concepts with analogy and in everyday language was achieved in an enjoyable and readable style.