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| Type | Paperback |
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Description |
| Half a million years ago our ancestors learned to do fire from scratch. They crafted intricate tools from stone and brewed intellect-altering elixirs from honey. Their descendants transformed clay into pottery, wool into clothing, and ashes into cleansers. In ceramic crucibles they turned rock into metal, metal into colored glazes, and glazes into glass. Buildings of brick and mortar enshrined books of parchment and paper. Kings and queens demanded ever extra colorful clothing and accessories in order to out-class clod-hoppers and call-girls. Kingdoms rose and fell by the power of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. And the demands of usual folk for glass and paper and soap stimulated the first round of chemical industrialization. From sulfuric acid to sodium carbonate. From aniline dyes to analgesic drugs. From blasting powder to fertilizers and plastics. In a phrase, “from Caveman to Chemist.” Caveman Chemistry is an experiential exploration of chemical technology from the campfires of the stone age to the plastic soft-drink bottle. An experiential exploration? Not only will you study concerning these technologies, you will study to recreate them. Instructions are given for making bronze from metal ores; glass from sand, ashes, and limestone; paper from grass or straw; soap from fat; alcohol from honey; photographs from egg whites; chlorine from salt water and celluloid from cotton. Your guides on this journey are the four alchemical elements; Fire, Earth, Air and Water. These archetypical characters bring first-hand accounts of the births of their respective technologies. The spirit of Fire, for example, was born in the first creature to cultivate the flame. This spirit passed from one person to another, from one generation to another, from one millennium to another, arriving at last in the pages of this book. The spirit of Earth taught folks to do tools of stone, the spirit of Air imparted knowledge of units and the spirit of Water began together with the invention of “spirits.” Having traveled the world from age to age, who can say where they will locate their next home? Perhaps they will locate one in you. |
Customer Reviews |
 How to make chemistry compelling 2009-05-19 |
| By Evan D. Dorn (Pasadena, CA USA) |
I must say, I got sucked into this book like a novel. Granted, I like information about the history of technology anyway, but this presented it in a fun and wacky format - and frankly fun and wacky is nice for a change. The dialogue of the memes gets entertaining, particularly towards the end when they start arguing with each other and with their own author.
I read it during a busy time in my life and haven't completed any of the projects yet (though I have started making my glass arrowhead from a beer bottle). I do plan to at least finish the arrowhead, spin some twine out of my malamute's undercoat and dye it blue, and brew some mead at home. I wonder how my homemade mead will taste with a dash of orange peel and cloves... I may also get around to making fire and paper.
I don't have easy access to a kiln, so smelting my own copper and making glass may not happen unless I can find a used one cheap on craigslist.
This is an excellent book for anyone who wants a better appreciation of the chemical industry that props up our lifestyle ... and just how far it goes back. If we tried to live without chemical processes, as a few ill-informed people propose these days, we wouldn't lose just our plastics and lithium-ion iPhone batteries. We'd also lose our soap and paper and glass and bricks and mortar and beer. We would never have even entered the bronze age, and would be barely beyond hunting and gathering. |
| Great Book and Great for the Classroom 2009-04-27 |
| By Ashleigh (H-SC, VA) |
| Being at a college that has a course taught using this book is great. The book is an interesting way to get people hooked into science. Me being an humanities not math or science major, I never understood either math nor science, until I read this book for the class. Reading the chapters and doing the projects is a fun and interactive method of getting the other majors some basic knowledge and interest in the field that will hopefully grow. Most of all though being able to take the class with the author is another. In my four years at college, that B+ I got from Dr. Dunn is the hardest and yet most satisfying grade I have ever earned. |
| wacky and totally wonderful book 2009-03-29 |
| By cali bookworm (San Francisco, CA, USA) |
| Only suitable for those with wacky personalities. I've never had so much fun with chemistry. This book was recommended by members of the Handcrafted Soap Makers Guild - of course, there's only one chapter on soap, but I really appreciated Dunn's perspective on the topic. |
 Chemistry teacher's review of Caveman Chemistry 2008-04-14 |
| By D. Spence |
The author is crazy, but I still love this book.
Very cool experiments and a novel way of looking at chemistry.
Has some great ideas that could be used as an elective class or alternative ways to teach units in regular chemistry classes
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| Inspiration 2008-03-11 |
| By Kirt Adams (Danville, VT United States) |
Kevin Dunn has accomplished a rare feat in science book publishing: He has written a science book that is almost a page-turner. I always wanted to try to start a fire with a bow drill. He has written a procedure that makes me want to get my hands dirty just to see if it works. The complexity of the science matches the way humans learned to use the materials we found on the path to civilization. The book is as interesting and accurate as a text of the history of science. I remember being amazed that so many of the elements were already named before the modern era. The book mentions stone age, copper age, and iron age technologies and turning points and necessary knowlege for the change to occur. I enjoyed the first reading greatly.
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