whats he all about then ????? (John Gribbin in general)

Member Name: Helix

Product:	John Gribbin in general
Date:	20/07/01 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: read text !!

Disadvantages: american publishers

Having more that just a passing interest in all things scientific and being a voracious reader, Gribbins’ books have helped me to compound the academic knowledge gained at university with the history of the subject. Being a prolific writer Cambridge graduate Gribbin has a long back catalogue of books and articles covering the major scientific achievements and area’s research of the 20th century as well as biographical texts covering the life and works of Dr S. Hawking and Dr A. Einstein. Gribbin , an astrophysicist by trade has charted the progress of biology with a little bit of quantum theory thrown in for good measure in his book : In Search of the Double Helix. This is a good account of Watson and Crick’s research, as well as supplying a good grounding in the history. An easy to read format of the academic theory allows for easy understanding of the scientific principles involved and this is a feature of all his books that I have read.

All of his books are appear to share the same title. They are, in the majority called, In Search of Something Or Other. Whilst this is a little unimaginative it aids in easy location in book shops and libraries. During my first year at university on a medicinal and biological chemistry degree, all first year chemists came up against quantum theory, introduced slyly into ‘A’ level syllabuses, this nemesis can often prove to be a major stumbling block. Although by no account an idiots’ guide, his book : In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, with its clear explanations of the nitty gritty in well presented chapters, helped me not only to learn the basic but also to fully understand the fundamental concepts and thus was a great help to me .

Other subjects he has tackled have a much more esoteric nature, introducing readers to the mind boggling world of particle physics to the probabilities of worm holes and time travel and other cosmological ideas. Written for the rea
sonably well read lay man, Gribbins’ writings have made scientific knowledge accessible without jargon and line upon line of algebraic torture.

The only thing I can find to whinge about is that although the books are published by penguin and he lives in Sussex, his books are printed in American. I am still smarting from the IUPAC ( International Union of Pure and Applied and Chemists ) ruling of Sulphur to Sulfur and I get very annoyed at things like color and favor.

To start with I recommend In Search of the Double Helix as not only does it deal with the history and who did what, it also offers up the basic ideas in chemical bonding as well as genetics with a smattering of physics thrown in

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