Scan barcode
A review by sstorm548
This Idea Is Brilliant: Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know by John Brockman
2.0
In retrospect, the weaknesses of this book should have been obvious to me. With several hundred idea essays in one book, each written by a different author and given only a few pages, there is a large amount of chaff. I found the majority of the essays to be duds - ideas poorly described, poorly chosen, or both. They're difficult to skim since each essay is already in essence a summary. The end result was that this book was a slog with occasional bright spots.
Reading other people's reviews, it's clear that these ideas were new to many people. Very few were new to me since I've read popular science widely for most of my life. Not that that makes me smarter than the average reader, but I think it's an important data point - I'd recommend that others like me steer clear of this book. If you're looking for a great way to find new concepts (as I was), your time is better spent looking through the table of contents and tracking down more in-depth work on anything especially appealing.
Reading other people's reviews, it's clear that these ideas were new to many people. Very few were new to me since I've read popular science widely for most of my life. Not that that makes me smarter than the average reader, but I think it's an important data point - I'd recommend that others like me steer clear of this book. If you're looking for a great way to find new concepts (as I was), your time is better spent looking through the table of contents and tracking down more in-depth work on anything especially appealing.