Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre

Description

"A fascinating guided tour" to how the strangest experiments often lead to the most brilliant scientific discoveries (The Boston Globe). Len Fisher, the author of How to Dunk a Doughnut, continues his accessible explanations of scientific principles using humorous personal stories, everyday life examples, and offbeat experiments. This intriguing and informative volume covers such topics as the discovery of electricity, the structure of DNA, and the invention of computers. "Science and common sense often don't mix," notes Fisher, a research fellow at the University of Bristol, who is famous for studying the science of dunking doughnuts. His latest book is an entertaining and thought-provoking foray into the science of the bizarre, the peculiar, and the downright wacky. It is largely about discoveries, such as the wave theory of light and the theory of relativity, that defy reason yet are the bedrock for scientific understanding of...