Book review: Civilization and the Culture of Science
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, United Kingdom Cover of Civilization and the Culture of Science: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1795–1935 by Stephen Gaukroger. The word civilization has both Latin and French origins: civitas (city) and civis (citizen) in Latin, and civilise (civilized) in French. In 1923, physician, philosopher, and theologian Albert Schweitzer wrote […]
Book Review of Insulin – The crooked timber
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, United Kingdom Cover of Insulin – The Crooked Timber: A History from Thick Brown Muck to Wall Street Gold by Kersten T. Hall. The title of this interesting book is taken from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who wrote that: “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing […]
Book review of Albemarle Street: Portraits, personalities and presentations at the Royal Institution
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, United Kingdom Cover to Albemarle Street: Portraits, personalities and presentations at the Royal Institution In this fascinating book, the late Professor Meurig Thomas, a distinguished chemist, former Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge University, and an accomplished popularizer of science tells the story of one of Britain’s greatest scientific institutions, which for […]
Book Review of Casanova’s Guide to Medicine
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, United Kingdom Cover: Casanova’s Guide to Medicine. Lisetta Lovett. The eighteenth-century Italian Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) is today best remembered for legendary amorous pursuits that resulted in his name becoming a part of the English language. What has been forgotten, however, is that he was a remarkable and erudite polymath. He […]
Book Review of Viruses, Plagues, and History by M. B. A. Oldstone
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, United Kingdom Cover The first edition of Viruses, Plagues, and History was published to great acclaim twenty years ago and has now been updated to include the pandemics of the twenty-first century. These include the SARS, MERS, and Zika virus outbreaks, which have now been eclipsed by COVID-19. The early […]