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    Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society
    Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society
    Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society
    Ebook821 pages10 hours

    Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society

    By Bill Bryson

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    “Bryson is as amusing as ever….As a celebration of 350 years of modern science, [Seeing Further] it is a worthy tribute.”
    —The Economist


    In Seeing Further, New York Times bestseller Bill Bryson takes readers on a guided tour through the great discoveries, feuds, and personalities of modern science. Already a major bestseller in the UK, Seeing Further tells the fascinating story of science and the Royal Society with Bill Bryson’s trademark wit and intelligence, and contributions from a host of well known scientists and science fiction writers, including Richard Dawkins, Neal Stephenson, James Gleick, and Margret Atwood. It is a delightful literary treat from the acclaimed author who previous explored the current state of scientific knowledge in his phenomenally popular book, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

    Editor's Note

    Illuminating essays…

    Honoring the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary, these essays illuminate centuries of groundbreaking work & scientific contributions that have advanced humanity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateNov 9, 2010
    ISBN9780062036223
    Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society

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    Reviews for Seeing Further

    3.5/5

    144 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A mostly-very-good collection of essays to mark the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. The contributions by James Gleick, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Richard Fortey, and Neal Stephenson were those I liked best.
    • 3/5
      From Bill Bryson's introduction:

      The Royal Society...invented scientific publishing and peer review. It made English the primary language of scientific discourse, in place of Latin. It systematised experimentation. It promoted - indeed insisted upon - clarity of expression in place of high-flown rhetoric. It brought together the best thinking from all over the world. It created modern science.

      This is not a straightforward history of the Royal Society, as I expected when I picked it up. It's a collection of articles by various notables on sundry subjects of scientific and philosophical interest. As with any collection of writing by different people, I found some of the subjects more interesting and some of the writing more to my taste than others.
    • 3/5
      Sadly, "Seeing further" just wasn't as interesting as I expected it to be. There are certainly some engaging entries (Bill Bryson's inroduction and Margaret Atwood's article referencing "Gulliver's Travels to name just two) but there are also too many entries ranging from the dull to the outright incomprehensible (Margaret Wertheim's article, for example, had me regularly squinting to determine what on earth she was driving at - in my library book copy someone has underlined "futile" in Wertheim's piece, which sums up my attempts to make heads and tails of her article).Obviously, there are many people out there more intelligent than me (no doubt including you) and will understand more of the denser science ideas at play here and will get a lot more out of it than me.And in closing, a shout out to Margaret Attwood for including the sentence (about "Gulliver's Travels"):"The edition I read was not a child's version, of the kind that dwells on the cute little people and the funny giant people and the talking horses, but dodges any mention of nipples and urination, and downplays the excrement."
    • 1/5
      I have to say that whilst I love Bill Bryson, I really didn't like this book at all & that's sad as i was so looking forward to read it. I would like to put two thousand scientists in a room and ask those who believe in God to put their hands up and then ask those who do why they relentlessly pursue this seemingly personal mission of theirs to disprove Gods existence. Not a book for me !!
    • 4/5
      Seeing Further wanders all over science as we know it, with everything eventually tying back into the Royal Society. Margaret Atwood wrote a piece on the view of scientists in pop culture, tracing back to the satirizing of the Royal Society in Gulliver's Travels. There are essays on Darwin, crystallography, space-time, and climate change, among others. It was an enjoyable read, and it really gave me a broad appreciation for what the Royal Society does and influences.
    • 3/5
      Although edited by Bill Bryson there are a number of authors contributing chapters. The style and quality of the articles varies greatly, but there were a few I enjoyed.
    • 4/5
      Collection of essays about science celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. Authors include scientists, science and science fiction authors. Topics span all sciences and technology, and from the easily accessible to the difficult.

    Book preview

    Seeing Further - Bill Bryson

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