
The Chemical History of a Candle (1848) - xbryanx
https://www.bartleby.com/30/7.html
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jbay808
This is one of my favourite books! It's very readable with a bit of effort,
and must have been riveting to see in person.

I most enjoy how thoroughly Faraday demonstrates how exactly they were able to
know what they knew at the time - which gets into pretty advanced stuff. I
doubt many today could so easily explain how we know certain scientific facts
to be true, let alone demonstrate the chain of reasoning on their desktop.

At the time this would have been cutting edge science put into a lecture for
children; his massive electromagnet would have been like having a cyclotron in
a lecture hall today. At the same time, despite being something like 170 years
ago, Faraday manages to stick pretty much to facts that we would still agree
on today, despite all the scientific revolutions that have happened since then
(like disproving the aether, understanding atoms and heat, electromagnetism,
and such). Pretty much the only archaic aspects of it are the names of the
chemicals he uses.

His explanation about the essence of what makes fire glow is also the best I
have ever encountered.

~~~
cvs268
_> despite being something like 170 years ago,_

 _> Faraday manages to stick pretty much to facts that we would still agree on
today,_

 _> despite all the scientific revolutions that have happened since then_

So much like how good Product Managers / Architects "spec-out" the system.

The implementation(s) may be left open (or change over time), but the
architecture remains valid.

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bradyd
Bill Hammack, engineerguy on YouTube, did a video series based on these
lectures that are a very good.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrHnLXMTOWM&list=PL0INsTTU1k...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrHnLXMTOWM&list=PL0INsTTU1k2UCpOfRuMDR-
wlvWkLan1_r)

~~~
soniman
I tried to read this book a few years ago and my first thought was, "This book
would be much better as a video." Look forward to watching this.

~~~
jhbadger
That makes sense because originally it wasn't a book but a live performance by
Michael Faraday (who was a pioneer of scientific popularization besides being
a great original researcher).

