Book Review: Lavoisier in the Year One
Posted on August 27th, 2011
Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution (Great Discoveries) by Madison Smartt Bell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book probably ought to be called “A brief survey of Lavoisier’s life, the origins of modern chemistry, the French Revolution, and some interesting scientific rivalries,” but that’d be a bit wordy. It just about covers it, though: it’s a decent little survey (not much depth) and a quick read. Heck, it practically reads itself.
In nearly every book about the history of science, it’s a good idea to know a bit about the particular science in question, but in this case, I think someone with zero knowledge of chemistry would do just fine. It’s not a slight on the author; it’s that he made it accessible.
If you want to learn about Lavoisier, this would be a good start. And it’s always nice to review — especially to read a summary of the “discovery” of oxygen without it turning into a Priestley pity party.
One annoyance: some bad copy editing errors (e.g, “Versaille” instead of “Versailles”). Ouch.
