Customer Reviews

A Travel Guide to the Scientific Sites of the British Isles: A Guide to the People, Places and Landmarks of Science

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Can you say, "Niche subject?" This book has tremendous appeal to those people (all 12 of us) who are both science geeks and frequent travelers to Great Britain. I say "frequent" travelers because there are too many places listed in this book for one visit. Having beaten a well-worn path through the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the British Museum I was looking for something that would guide me to other local landmarks of scientific interest both in, and outside of, London. This is the book.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part is titled, "Turning the world upside down" and lists, by area of interest, scientists who have made significant contributions. Several pages are devoted to each scientist with a very nice, albeit brief, biographical history and a discussion of how he or she came to the discoveries for which he or she is known. This first part of the book is definitely the easiest to read.

I was, however, surprised by the author's overly brief (in my humble opinion) summary (p. 84) of the life and works of Francis Galton. In particular, giving only the briefest of mention of Galton's extensive travels and no mention at all of his traveler's handbook, "The Art of Travel", which I reread parts of in preparation for travel to this today.

The second part is entitled appropriately enough, "Places to Visit." This part of the book is more of a reference for travelers than a must-read-straight-through section. It divides the British Isles into eleven geographic zones. Places of interest (i.e., where scientists were born, lived, did their best work, and died) are noted in each zone. My favorite place being Woolsthorpe Manor where Isaac Newton was born and grew up. It is also the place where Newton went during the years of 1665-1667 to escape the Great Plague, "... during which time he formulated the binomial theorem of mathematics, developed calculus, studied decomposition of light into its spectral colors by means of a prism, began his study of mechanics, including the universal law of gravitation." Yeah, but what did he do in his spare time?

There is a handy series of maps at the back of the book that shows the eleven geographic zones with the areas of interest indicated on them.

This small book manages just the right combination of background on scientific personalities large and small (i.e., Henry Briggs, the originator of decimal logarithms? Who knew?) And detailed instructions for how to find the places they touched. This book was a wonderful find for me and should also be for the dozen or so other science geeks who get to England regularly. I loved it, and, if you are one of them, so will you!