7 ms·

This was a very well written article.

sho_hn 6y ago
The article is an excerpt from a new book by Jo Marchant, a PhD/BSc microbiology/genetics who apparently has made a name for herself writing popular science books that intermingle covering a subject with covering the science history and the colorful personalities involved. Like you I enjoyed this piece tremendously, then discovered this info via the byline below and ended up buying three of her books, including this new one. I started her older book on King Tut's Mummy last night and it's equally fun so far (it's about the discoveries of and research about this and related mummies, and their relationship to the science news cycle - so you get stuff about ancient DNA and that scene of science along with an inspection of popular Egyptology). The third book I bought is about the Antikythera Mechanism. This author might end up giving me a similar popsci fix as Simon Singh did as a kid! :) Side note, if you end up picking the King Tut book, this blog series is a fantastic companion adopting a similar approach to the topic of the Pyramids and their research history: https://analog-antiquarian.net/2019/01/11/chapter-1-the-charlatan-and-the-gossip/ https://analog-antiquarian.net/2019/01/11/chapter-1-the-char... This is the side project of Jimmy Maher, better known as the author of the Digital Antiquarian blog. Under the guise of Analog Antiquarian he wrote this and is now writing further history books in chapter-as-blog form about the Seven World Wonders of antiquity. It's some of the best reading I did last year, and since some of the historic characters overlap with Marchant's book they end up combining into a fuller picture for me currently. I love this genre - learning about history via the history of the historians and researchers. You learn about the subject as well as of the twists and turns of how the present day knowledge was amassed. Singh, but also Neal Stephenson novels to some extent (couched in fiction), etc. And, though more of a witness' account rather than critical writing, the favorite book of my youth, John Chadwick's "The Decipherment of Linear B".
- mrphoebs 6y ago
  Thanks for the information and links, looks like a great way to spend some downtime.

The article is an excerpt from a new book by Jo Marchant, a PhD/BSc microbiology/genetics who apparently has made a name for herself writing popular science books that intermingle covering a subject with covering the science history and the colorful personalities involved. Like you I enjoyed this piece tremendously, then discovered this info via the byline below and ended up buying three of her books, including this new one. I started her older book on King Tut's Mummy last night and it's equally fun so far (it's about the discoveries of and research about this and related mummies, and their relationship to the science news cycle - so you get stuff about ancient DNA and that scene of science along with an inspection of popular Egyptology). The third book I bought is about the Antikythera Mechanism. This author might end up giving me a similar popsci fix as Simon Singh did as a kid! :) Side note, if you end up picking the King Tut book, this blog series is a fantastic companion adopting a similar approach to the topic of the Pyramids and their research history: https://analog-antiquarian.net/2019/01/11/chapter-1-the-charlatan-and-the-gossip/ https://analog-antiquarian.net/2019/01/11/chapter-1-the-char... This is the side project of Jimmy Maher, better known as the author of the Digital Antiquarian blog. Under the guise of Analog Antiquarian he wrote this and is now writing further history books in chapter-as-blog form about the Seven World Wonders of antiquity. It's some of the best reading I did last year, and since some of the historic characters overlap with Marchant's book they end up combining into a fuller picture for me currently. I love this genre - learning about history via the history of the historians and researchers. You learn about the subject as well as of the twists and turns of how the present day knowledge was amassed. Singh, but also Neal Stephenson novels to some extent (couched in fiction), etc. And, though more of a witness' account rather than critical writing, the favorite book of my youth, John Chadwick's "The Decipherment of Linear B".

mrphoebs 6y ago
Thanks for the information and links, looks like a great way to spend some downtime.