Kattas reviewed Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
Review of 'Uncle Tungsten' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Sacks' writing is dense - as he notes himself, he has a love for footnotes that borders on the pathological, and the small font used in the footnotes in the version I read made for some slow reading. That said, this is a great book, both giving an interesting insight into the childhood of a famous scientist, as well as an interesting history of various developments in chemistry and science of the 17th to early 20th centuries. While the historical information is far from exhaustive, it is well written, easily understood, and generally topically connected to Sacks' own development as a person.
Sacks' writing is dense - as he notes himself, he has a love for footnotes that borders on the pathological, and the small font used in the footnotes in the version I read made for some slow reading. That said, this is a great book, both giving an interesting insight into the childhood of a famous scientist, as well as an interesting history of various developments in chemistry and science of the 17th to early 20th centuries. While the historical information is far from exhaustive, it is well written, easily understood, and generally topically connected to Sacks' own development as a person.
