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Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society: 350 Years of the Royal Society and Scientific Endeavour |  | Creator: Bill Bryson
Publisher: HarperPress
Category: Book
List Price: £25.00
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 7338
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 0007302568
EAN: 9780007302567
ASIN: 0007302568
Publication Date: January 7, 2010
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Product Description
Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Martin Rees, Richard Fortey, Steve Jones, James Gleick and Neal Stephenson amongst others, this beautiful, lavishly illustrated book tells the story of science and the Royal Society, from 1660 to the present.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 A fascinating book, August 31, 2010
Paul Clappison (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)
This is a fascinating book discussing developments in science since the formation of The Royal Society in 1662. It has an introduction (by Bill Bryson) , a conclusion by Martin Rees and 20 contributed chapters. For me the most interesting contributors were:-
10 Henry Petroski Images of Progress: Conferences of Engineers
13 Philip Ball Making Stuff: From Bacon to Bakelite
15 Ian Stewart Behind the Scenes: The Hidden Mathematics that Rules our World
19 Stephen H Schneider Confidence Consensus and the Uncertainty Cops: Tackling
Risk Management in Climate
and particularly the Conclusion by Martin Rees in which he looks 50 years ahead.
Some of the other chapters are heavy going.
I don't think the typeface chosen is particularly good and I found the footnotes very difficult to read.
Still overall a very good book.
 Unbiased August 29, 2010
yalcton
The book is a collection of scientific writings. One or two are very complex but the whole picture, derived from the book, is excellent. The authors clearly know their subject and express it in lucid terms. An excellent read, difficult to put down even though it is a thick and heavy book. Even good for bedtime reading but will keep you awake.
 It's not what you think July 27, 2010
potomac
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is NOT a Bill Bryson book. Do not expect the usual wit and good humour. It is a collection of writings from learned worthies, some of whom can write better than others - and none can write as well as Mr Bryson.
Not recommended... hard to get your teeth into. July 1, 2010
Mr. Dh Welch (Newark UK)
The Bill Bryson introduction was the best thing about this book - it's a collection of short pieces by various authors, some of which are treading familiar ground and others seem to be wildly out of their comfort zones. I'm not sure that I can recommend it, as the structure of the book is such that as soon as you've got interested in an essay it finishes, and the next one is not nearly as impressive.
Disappointing April 14, 2010
Nige (Ashtead)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I must confess, I was disappointed by this physically beautifully-produced book, having held high hopes for it. I was expecting something more like The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, edited by Dawkins, which is brilliant and very varied, but I guess its purpose was different, mining articles by famous scientists from a century of publications, from Einstein (1919) to various more recent authors, such as Watson, Crick, Hawking, Maynard Smith (individually brilliant!), Perutz, Brenner, amongst many others. In the RS book we get a motley crew of writers, many of whom are known (just) as science writers rather than practising scientists, and some I found boring. Having said that, some articles are by well-known scientists, not necessarily at their best; the articles are longer, therefore fewer and less varied, but some are interesting. Nevertheless, I'm glad I bought it, but only at the £[] price from Amazon.
In my disappointment, I went to the two special issues of the Philosophical Transactions of the RS: Series A, Physical Sciences; Series B, Biological Sciences. Unfortunately the second was unbalanced and two of the most interesting biological articles were in the Series A volume; to me they were better than any in the Series B volume. The Series A volume was varied, interesting and worthwhile. I'm afraid that this review is about publications other than the Bryson volume, but this was where the book led me.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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