The Usborne Book of Scientists

Tycho Brahe, whose name I still don't know how to pronounce, lost his nose in a youthful duel. A plastic surgeon could have helped, and plastic surgery was by then, in India, an ancient art, but poor old Tycho didn't know that so, vain but resourceful, the Danish astronomer fashioned a false nose from bronze which he wore for the rest of his life. This is just one of the stories that can be assembled from Usborne's contribution to the history of science-a whistle stop through many areas and valuable in that it shows that 'science' is not something practised solely by men in white coats remote from real life but that it has its origin in worldly curiosity practised by ordinary men and women. It proceeds, as Usbornes do, spread by six-column spread, from early civilizations (not just Europe and the Middle East) to mid 20th century radio astronomy, touching, among others, life sciences, electricity, medicine and geology en route. And this route is littered with anecdotes, portraits, dates and significant facts, with the the pleasing pattern emerging that scientific 'progress' depends for its greatest effectiveness on well recorded and communicated observations. There's a lot left out, for sure-I found nothing on anaesthetics, Humphrey Davy, or anything later than 1964 but I did discover why Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim called himself Paracelsus (a certainty for next week's pub quiz) and this is the only Usborne I've ever felt like reading from end to end. Really good stuff for middle school browsers but you need good glasses (first worn in 1352) to manage the index.