SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN's The Big Idea: 150 Years of the Best and Worst Ideas in Modern Science goes beyond the headlines to present the passions, prejudice, and outrage that, from 1845 on, formed the ideas of modern science -- from the sublime to the ridiculous. This fascinating new book, based on SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN's wildly popular feature, -50, 100, and 150 Years Ago in Science Today-, presents the often hilarious human aspect of science as well as a serious timetable of scientific discovery. Progress in science is rarely a straight line. While the events are arranged in chronological order,...