麻豆传媒

IN 1935, a 26-year-old Viennese art historian called Ernst Gombrich distilled his doctoral work into a history of the world for younger readers. In the years since, it has sold over half a million copies in 30 languages, including English, as A Little History of the World.

It is a tough act to follow for A Little History of Science by medical historian William Bynum, who aims his book at teens and adults interested in science. Beginning with the Babylonians and ending with the World Wide Web, Bynum manages to squeeze in nearly every essential scientific idea and discovery while also discussing most major disciplines. There are a few gaps, though: mathematics and psychology get very thin coverage, and there is nothing on neuroscience.

鈥淣early every scientific idea and discovery from the Babylonians to the internet is squeezed in鈥�

Though scrupulously free of jargon and often enjoyable, it is debatable whether this book could pass Albert Einstein鈥檚 alleged test that important ideas should be made 鈥渁s simple as possible, but not simpler鈥�. While Bynum integrates biographical details about great discoverers with care, the book鈥檚 explanations do not always sparkle. Nor are there any diagrams 鈥� not even a helpful DNA double helix. Unsurprisingly, the liveliest sections discuss medicine and the life sciences, including Andreas Vesalius鈥檚 work on anatomy and William Harvey鈥檚 on physiology.

Some errors may be inevitable with such an ambitious undertaking, but it is hard to excuse the description of the third script on the Rosetta Stone, demotic, as an 鈥渆ven older form of Egyptian writing鈥� than five-millennia-old hieroglyphics; demotic is of similar age to the stone鈥檚 Greek alphabet. That said, I happily confess I learned a lot.