Hal Harris

In an era of high-stakes testing, a struggling school made a shocking choice.

When addressing those who deny the conclusions of standard science, scientists tend to respond with whatever argument most succinctly shows the fringe view to be incorrect.  For example, most chemists confronted with the claim of a homeopath that a substance diluted in water by a factor of 10^³⁰ would not bother to inquire further,

Professor Tyrone Hayes of University of California- Berkeley began his studies of the effects of the herbicide Atrazine (1-chloro-3-ethylamino-5-isopropylamino-2,4,6-triazine) at the invitation and with support from its maker, Syngenta.

I have known many chemists who have been involved in the synthesis of potential therapeutics and have learned quite a bit about the process from the view of those in the laboratory, including some of our graduates.

This book would be a great holiday gift, but you should buy two copies so that you can have one for yourself. Simon Singh is the author of one of my favorite books about mathematics, "Fermat's Enigma", that was one of my picks when it came out in 1998.  It was a brilliant and insightful description of Andrew Wile's amazing solution to the famous puzzle.