Similarly, LeVay's account of the death of Jesse Gelsinger in the now-infamous gene therapy trial at U. Penn was an even-handed presentation of the facts of the case, but left me wishing for a more illuminating discussion of its implications. The reader is left with the impression that the case dealt a death blow to the future of gene therapy which seems unlikely. Several interesting questions raised by the case are left largely unexamined, e. But ultimately, unless it fuels a discussion of how things can be improved in the future, it starts to feel like a slightly smug exercise in playing Gotcha!
LeVay's idiosyncratic selection of case studies, his conflation of science, technology, and engineering, as well as a repeated failure to explore the more interesting questions raised by his examples combine to make this book a real disappointment. Apr 27, Steven Williams rated it it was ok. This book looks at twelve mistakes in the history of science. Most of these mistakes were made in applied science or technology.
Unfortunately, I have misplaced my copy of the book and the few notes I took. Seeing this, I have no synopsis or commentary to offer. I will say from the title of the book, that I was disappointed with the content of the book. I thought the book was not really on how science goes wrong, but how applied science and technology can go wrong.
Still the book should be of in This book looks at twelve mistakes in the history of science. Still the book should be of interest to anyone that wants to learn some of the mistakes made in the name of science with the understanding, that except for a few of the twelve tales, basic science is not really covered. PS - I had mark this book as read already, but do not recall reading it before, and none of the text looked familiar to me.
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May 11, Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it really liked it Shelves: This was a fascinating book. Couldn't put it down. LeVay details twelve instances of scientific mistakes, fraud, and just plain bad science. I had only heard of two of them, the St. Francis dam disaster and the eruption of the volcano Galeras in Colombia, before. The rest were new to me. I was struck with the fact that, in many of these cases, the responsible parties failed to take responsibility, opting to pass the buck instead.
I can't believe how the victims of the medical treatments gone awr This was a fascinating book. I can't believe how the victims of the medical treatments gone awry continued to believe they were being cured despite all the negative effects of the treatment. I suppose when you run out of options, all you have to cling to is hope. Particularly interesting to me was chapter 7, "Nuclear Physics: Meltdown," about a little-known nuclear accident in Idaho in They know that the mistake was made by one of a crew of 3 men, but they don't to this day know why.
That man, by the way, happened to be from Utica, New York, where I work! Funny how you find local connections in the most unexpected places. I hope LeVay writes another book like this, both enlightening and entertaining. Jan 11, Sally rated it really liked it. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's everything you want from a lay person's science novel.
A romp through some infamous and obscure science screw ups. The main thing though, is unlike many other novels of its type, it's done respectfully. LeVay, a scientist himself, does not take this novel as an opportunity to badmouth, criticise or humiliate his scientific colleagues.
If it is schadenfreude that you're looking for, you'll not find it here. LeVay covers these often truly tragic mishaps with a sense I thoroughly enjoyed this. LeVay covers these often truly tragic mishaps with a sense of poise and and accuracy and a thorough reporting of the facts. My absolute favourite part of this though, is that it gives you just enough information, context and intrigue to want to go and find out more.
Since finishing it, I've found a couple of interesting documentaries on a couple of the subjects, and that's always an added bonus. Definitely a wonderful use of a spare couple of days that will leave you with further obscure and interesting facts to liven up a dinner party, or perhaps that winning edge at trivial pursuit.
Oct 29, Thomas rated it liked it. In these accounts, "science" per se did not go wrong. Science being a process and discipline of applying observation, measurement, logic, and reason to a specific issue, had it been followed well would not have produced some of the stories in this book. The accounts in this book were of science and technology woefully misapplied.
- When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales From the Dark Side of Discovery - Simon LeVay!
- When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales from the Dark Side of Discovery.
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Aug 31, Jennifer rated it really liked it. This book is a really good reason for being pro-IRB. The first story about the guy who grows a fetus in his brain Apr 14, Ray Savarda rated it really liked it Shelves: Multiple stories of science gone wrong, by ignorance or malice. Jan 22, Bridget rated it liked it. Jul 19, Hannah rated it liked it. Interesting, but a little loosely held together. Definitely learned a lot of fun stuff, though! Could have wished for a little more science detail in a couple of chapters, but others made up for it.
Mar 21, Andrea rated it liked it. There were no expectations when I started reading this. It was done in no time, good for a train trip.
When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales From the Dark Side of Discovery by Simon LeVay
The stories are interesting, but not detailed enough, in my opinion. Some of them have very little to do with science and more with human stubbornness. Dec 12, Yael rated it it was amazing. The scientific disasters included in this book include: A surprise hurricane makes a violent appearance on land despite repeated assurances that the hurricane doesn't exist LeVay says that Michael Fish, Britain's best-known and most arrogant weatherman, who told Britain that the hurricane "didn't exist," should have been hanged; eighteen people died because of it, and the damage caused by the hurricane mou The subtitle is, Twelve Tales From the Dark Side of Discovery , and a very dark side it is.
A surprise hurricane makes a violent appearance on land despite repeated assurances that the hurricane doesn't exist LeVay says that Michael Fish, Britain's best-known and most arrogant weatherman, who told Britain that the hurricane "didn't exist," should have been hanged; eighteen people died because of it, and the damage caused by the hurricane mounted into the billions of pounds.
A team of scientists hike into the crater of Galeras, a volcano in Columbia that their leader, Stanley Williams, has assured them is dormant, ignoring the signs of an imminent eruption. Several members of the team died horribly; Williams himself was badly injured; and the only member of the team to avoid serious injury, Andy Adams, came out of it relatively unscathed because of his fireproof clothing and hard hat, leaving him with only some minor burns on the back of his neck.
A patient who underwent cutting-edge brain surgery involving a fetal-cell transplant is found in a post-mortem autopsy to have hair growing inside his brain.
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Other scientific horror-stories documented in this volume include a study on the effects of the drug Ecstasy vs. Francis dam near Los Angeles, CA on March 12, , due to the fact that the dam had been built on a dangerous earthquake fault, that its abutments were made of soft, soluble sandstone rather than concrete, and that it was not built to the specifications and safety factors that had been planned for it before construction began; gene therapy with a lethal twist; a runaway nuclear reactor that killed several people and sickened many others; genegineered microbes that decided to go on vacation from their testing facility, thanks to a helpful wind and a lab accident; the arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of a black teenager for a rape he did not commit, and could not have done; and further disasters of space science, speech pathology, and nuclear chemistry.
Some of these cases involved serious injuries, deaths, and massive destruction; others were just embarrassments and money down the drain for the taxpayers. All of them illustrate the principle that regarding science and scientists as infallible is not the smartest -- or safest -- attitude in the world.
When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales From the Dark Side of Discovery
Beautifully written, the book is a treat to read, except maybe for the really scary bits. Extensively documented and annotated, it presents some aspects of modern history that many scientists don't want to talk about -- but which actually happened. Nov 09, Allison Hiltz rated it really liked it Shelves: From The Book Wheel: When I first picked up this book I immediately went to Goodreads to see what other people thought. National Library of Australia. When science goes wrong: Request this item to view in the Library's reading rooms using your library card.
To learn more about how to request items watch this short online video. You can view this on the NLA website. New search User lists Site feedback Ask a librarian Help. Advanced search Search history. Browse titles authors subjects uniform titles series callnumbers dewey numbers starting from optional. See what's been added to the collection in the current 1 2 3 4 5 6 weeks months years. Cite this Email this Add to favourites Print this page. Catalogue Persistent Identifier https: You must be logged in to Tag Records.
I should mention from the get-go that the title can be interpreted in two ways — one is that the science itself went wrong and the other is that science as a field has gone wrong. This book is more about the latter and focuses predominantly on human error or lack of information rather than failed science. Instead of telling you about the individual stories, I am going to share with you a few lessons that I learned from the book. When Science Goes Wrong: Jesse Gelsinger died at the age of 18 after a failed gene-therapy experiment in USA Today Not that that detracted from the book whatsoever.
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