On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists And Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA by Melvyn Bragg

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On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists And Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA

(1998)
A non fiction book by

Melvyn Bragg

Amazon.co.uk ReviewSo many of us are blessed--or at least affected--by the fruits of science, yet how many of us really understand how we got them? Scientific creativity, like all other kinds, is a product of its times, but we can learn much from looking at the lives of its greatest practitioners; as a sizable side benefit, these lives are often tremendously entertaining. Author and BBC radio host Melvyn Bragg understands this well, and invited many of the great modern interpreters of science to discuss the lives and work of 12 greats from Archimedes to Watson and Crick, and published the cream in On Giants' Shoulders. These are no dry transcripts, though; Bragg has a genius for selecting the most intriguing quotes and selections from both his guests and his subjects and weaving them into his own engrossing narrative. His many novels have tightened up his prose so well that he can make even a discussion of the genesis of relativity a page-turner. He couldn't have invented better material, either: Newton's notorious snobbery, Darwin's almost-naïve sincerity and Lavoisier's turbulent life and untimely death make for compelling stories indeed (one almost wonders how they had time to change the world). His guests, including luminaries such as Lewis Wolpert, Richard Dawkins, Oliver Sacks and Roger Penrose, consistently cut to the heart of their subjects' importance and tie it all up neatly in the last chapter: "Where Are We Now?" An important question, of course, and one that can be better answered from On Giants' Shoulders. --Rob Lightner

Used availability for Melvyn Bragg's On Giants' Shoulders

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Hardback Editions

August 1999 : Hardback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA
Author(s): Melvyn Bragg, Bragg
ISBN: 0-471-35732-4 / 978-0-471-35732-2 (UK edition)
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
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June 1998 : Hardback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA
Author(s): Melvyn Bragg, Ruth Gardiner
ISBN: 0-7567-5026-1 / 978-0-7567-5026-8 (USA edition)
Publisher: Diane Pub Co
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March 1998 : Hardback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders-Signed Stock
Author(s): Melvyn Bragg
ISBN: 0-340-83673-3 / 978-0-340-83673-6 (UK edition)
Publisher: Sceptre
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March 1998 : Hardback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA
Author(s): Melvyn Bragg
ISBN: 0-340-71259-7 / 978-0-340-71259-7 (UK edition)
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
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1980 : Hardback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders : Great Scientists and Their Discoveries From Archimedes to DNA
Author(s): Melvyn Bragg
Publisher: NY
Availability: Amazon
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Paperback Editions

March 2007 : Paperback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA
Author(s): Melvyn Bragg
ISBN: 0-471-39684-2 / 978-0-471-39684-0 (UK edition)
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
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February 1999 : Paperback

Title: On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA
Author(s): Lord Melvyn Bragg
ISBN: 0-340-71260-0 / 978-0-340-71260-3 (UK edition)
Publisher: Sceptre
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1998 : Paperback

Title: on giant's shoulders great scientists and their discoveries from archimedes to dna
Author(s): melvyn bragg
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Availability: Amazon UK
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