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A review by paperbacksandpines
The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetuated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean
5.0
Morally dubious science is often ipso facto bad science - that morally dubious research is often scientifically dubious as well.
The Icepick Surgeon covers murder, fraud, sabotage, piracy, and other "dastardly deeds" perpetrated in the name of science. I found this book to be my favorite type of nonfiction science book. Short vingettes of biographies from a certain moment in a person's life focusing around a certain theme. Kean focused on different deeds individuals have used science throughout history to justify their beliefs. The most important question he raised was whether it is ethical for science to utilize scientific findings that were obtained unethically. He ventured into a morally gray area where there doesn't appear to be any black and white answers.
Albert Einstein once said, "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong. It is character."
Kean argued that character is the best guarantee against scientific abuse. A balance between intellect and character need to be struck in order to prevent scientific abuse.
As a bonus, Kean links this book to his podcast that goes into further details about the topics in this book that couldn't be covered within it. I thought that was a great tie in.
I did have to skip over the chapter about experiments on animals, not in the name of science but to boost Edison's ego. There are trigger warnings for several topics within this book.
I'd heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in nonfiction, science, and/or true crime.
The Icepick Surgeon covers murder, fraud, sabotage, piracy, and other "dastardly deeds" perpetrated in the name of science. I found this book to be my favorite type of nonfiction science book. Short vingettes of biographies from a certain moment in a person's life focusing around a certain theme. Kean focused on different deeds individuals have used science throughout history to justify their beliefs. The most important question he raised was whether it is ethical for science to utilize scientific findings that were obtained unethically. He ventured into a morally gray area where there doesn't appear to be any black and white answers.
Albert Einstein once said, "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong. It is character."
Kean argued that character is the best guarantee against scientific abuse. A balance between intellect and character need to be struck in order to prevent scientific abuse.
As a bonus, Kean links this book to his podcast that goes into further details about the topics in this book that couldn't be covered within it. I thought that was a great tie in.
I did have to skip over the chapter about experiments on animals, not in the name of science but to boost Edison's ego. There are trigger warnings for several topics within this book.
I'd heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in nonfiction, science, and/or true crime.