Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science
Michael Brooks
Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science
Scientists have colluded in the most successful cover-up of modern times. They present themselves as cool, logical and level-headed, when the truth is that they will do anything — take drugs, follow mystical visions, lie and even cheat — to make a discovery. They are often more interested in starting revolutions than playing by the rules. In Free Radicals, Michael Brooks reveals the extreme lengths some of our most celebrated scientists are willing to go to, from fraud and suppressing evidence to reckless, unethical experiments, in order to bring the most groundbreaking discoveries to the world's attention.
3.2 out of 5 based on 3 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Science & Nature |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
288 |
| RRP |
£12.99 |
| Date of Publication |
July 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-1846684050 |
| Publisher |
Profile |
| |
Scientists have colluded in the most successful cover-up of modern times. They present themselves as cool, logical and level-headed, when the truth is that they will do anything — take drugs, follow mystical visions, lie and even cheat — to make a discovery. They are often more interested in starting revolutions than playing by the rules. In Free Radicals, Michael Brooks reveals the extreme lengths some of our most celebrated scientists are willing to go to, from fraud and suppressing evidence to reckless, unethical experiments, in order to bring the most groundbreaking discoveries to the world's attention.
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Reviews
The Guardian
Steven Poole
"Brooks writes unconvincingly of a historical "cover-up" about scientists' true (human) nature, and suggests that because revolutionary ideas often come "from nowhere", science must be more "irrational" than we think. Such pop-Feyerabend rhetoric risks tabloidising his otherwise fascinating and serious demonstration of how human foibles and creativity are inseparable, and how this fact is not so dangerous after all."
15/07/2011
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The Sunday Times
James McConnachie
""The time has come to celebrate the anarchy," he trumpets, "not conceal it." And here’s the problem with this book: it’s kicking at the shins of a straw man. It certainly celebrates a rough and hairy side of science, and does so entertainingly, but is there really any great cover-up going on? Did anyone ever really believe that scientists were not flesh and blood, under those white coats?"
17/07/2011
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The Financial Times
Clive Cookson
"Free Radicals is fun to read … But encouraging selfish determination to succeed at any price, as exhibited by Newton, Einstein and some other great names of the past, will not help the cause of science, or society."
08/07/2011
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