Great Feuds in Science: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever

This is a highly entertaining and informative book. The ten feuds that are covered are: --- Galileo vs. Pope Urban VIII (sun centered versus earth centered universe) --- Wallis vs. Hobbes (Hobbs Leviathan and squaring the circle) --- Newton vs. Leibniz (who first developed calculus) --- Voltaire vs. Needham (spontaneous generation) --- Darwin (Thomas Huxley for Darwin) vs. Bishop Wilberforce (plus the 20th century fights against the theory of evolution) --- Lord Kelvin vs. Geologists and Biologists (over Kelvin's calculation of the age of the earth, which was far lower than that shown by geology and evolution) --- Cope vs. Marsh (conflict between dinosaur hunters) --- Wegener vs. Everybody (continental drift) --- Johnson vs. the Leakeys (conflict between the human fossil hunters and the search for the missing link) --- Derek Freeman vs. Margaret Mead (Mead's scientific legacy and the idea of nature versus nurture) The title is, however, a bit misleading. Of the 10 "feuds" that are discussed, only 6 are actually feuds per se. Those that fall into the feud category are those between: Wallis and Hobbes, Newton and Leibniz, Voltaire and Needham, the dinosaur hunters Cope and Marsh, Johnson and the Leakeys and finally between Derek Freeman and the legacy of Margret Mead (who was dead when Freeman's book challenging her work was published). The other four chapters might be better characterized as the resistance to new paradigms, such as that faced by Galileo, Darwin, Wenenger and Lord Kelvin. Modern science supports the first three, but not Lord Kelvin (whose calculation is wrong not because of any scientific error on Kelvin's part, but is due to the lack of any understanding of nuclear processes at the time of his calculation). The discussion of the feuds and the resistance to paradigm shifts in thinking serve as just the backdrop for a book that covers much more. It is more in the mold of Bryson's "Short History of Nearly Everything", in that it discusses many of the major areas of scientific investigation of the past 400 years. The background of the science as it existed at the time of the "feud" is discussed as is the feuds impact on science of the day and afterwards. As with Bryson's book much of "Feuds" is concerned with nature of the solar system, evolution, and the age and dynamic nature of the earth. Those who liked Bryson's book will like this one, as will those who only want to read a shorter book (the Feuds cover only 193 pages versus about twice that for Bryson's book).

This is simply a marvelous book. Period. I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who is looking for a stimulating, yet fairly easy read over a vacation, holiday, plane ride, whatever. Hellman's prose drew me in --and keep me in--. I normally have trouble finishing books. Not this one. This is one of those books that leaves you feeling better educated upon completion.

I have to disagree strongly with one of the customer reviews of Hal Hellman's "Great Feuds in Science." "Iceage" complains that "... the book dissapoints (sic)... mainly because of its lack of first person perspeective. I was looking for more feeling, more virulent attacking by two historical giants ..." Apparently the reviewer was expecting people like Newton and Leibniz or Thomas Hobbes and John Wallis to stand head to head yelling four-letter words at each other. We should be fair: these feuds are scientific battles, not barroom brawls. As for his complaint that he "was hoping for more of a graphic and detailed picture of the opposition ..." I found Hellman's examples apt and intriguing. One example: John Wallis, mathematician and clergyman, writes to a colleague about Hobbes: "... nor should we be deterred ... by his arrogance which we know will vomit poisonous filth against us." In Chapter 10, Hellman r! elates that Derek Freeman, Australian anthropologist, wrote of that American icon, Maargaret Mead, that many of her assertions about Samoa, made decades earlier, are " ... fundamentally in error and some are preposterously false." Also, "There isn't another example of such wholesale self-deception in the history of the behavioral sciences." These aren't four-letter words, but they are explosive. Hellman has given us that good feel for who these people were and what they meant to society at the time. This book could bring science to life for the young and those of us who are more experienced. Iceage missed the boat but your readers should jump on board.

I highly recommend Hal Hellman's book, Great Feuds in Science. By his interesting, lucid and informative style, he clearly brought together the important issues that have made our modern world more easily understood. For science teachers, it would probably be an excellent way to acquaint students with the development of those important issues that has made science have such a great impact on or lives in our lifetime, and in the next century. It would be hard to find another such source that covers the subject so well.

Hellman presents us with a well written and carefully researched series of entertaining profiles about some notable debates in science (both old and current). These are informative and fun to read, but perhaps their greatest value for lay readers is in revealing the all-too human sides of the combatants. This discredits the "Story Book" version of science so often given in texts wherein noble scientists are portrayed as unblemished heroes fighting to bring light into the darkness against a purely non-scientific opposition. Here we see that even great scientists often squabble with one another and that they seldom epitomize rationality and objectivity.