Banned Book - The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments
Tuesday August 5, 2008
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Comments
This is a fantastic book! I remember borrowing this book from the school library when I was in 5th grade. This book not only inspired me to learn more about science in general, it also started me down a path which eventually led to the formal study of engineering in college.
Just curious, but what research did you do on the copyright in order to make the claim that it is legal to download? (Not that I doubt you, just wondered if you’ve done the necessary copyright research to say that with true confidence.)
Supposedly the copyright was not renewed:
http://www.chrisbrunner.com/2006/09/21/banned-the-golden-book-of-chemistry-experiments/
Heh. I cracked water and ignited the resulting oxygen in my garage as a teenager. I used an old model train transformer, a couple of carbon rods that had been liberated from 6-volt batteries, and a green glass jar (probably realemon) to catch the hydrogen. I used a standard glass mason jar on the other electrode. I salted the water heavily to make it conductive, and as a result ended up with quite a bit of liberated chlorine in the garage. I remember my mother coming in and about falling over from the chlorine. What I was doing was a bit dangerous, but no more than climbing trees and about a million other things we did every day.
This is fantastic. This is the book, I had up in the attic when I did my experiments there. It was formative to me. Yes, I did extrapolate from there and experimented briefly with explosives in pursuit of a really authentic model volcano eruption. My father forgave me for ruining my work desk when an eruption covered it with droplets of molten aluminum. I think he was scared but he never discouraged my interest in science which eventually lead to a career in electronics engineering. Touched off memories of many hours spent investigating first hand.
Decent chemistry sets are also in short supply.
Banned or not, it’s still available on Amazon… used, for upwards of $200.00. There’s no such thing as “banned” for something people want, there’s only an artificial increase in price. I wonder if we’ll start seeing gang bangers robbing and murdering people for money to feed their chemistry book habits.
quote:”Banned or not, it’s still available on Amazon… used, for upwards of $200.00. There’s no such thing as “banned” for something people want, there’s only an artificial increase in price. I wonder if we’ll start seeing gang bangers robbing and murdering people for money to feed their chemistry book habits.”
I’m generally opposed to gangbanger behavior but as long as they rob and murder the sort of people who ban books and otherwise promote censorship they’re fine with me.
I remember making and igniting hydrogen in my garage as a kid. Great fun. Not a lot of hydrogen, mind you, just what could be produced by my Sears-bought Testor chemistry set.
Most of the top science and engineering schools in my day were actually insisting on this kind of inquisitiveness in their applicants, BTW.
I guess the Muggles have to clamp down on this, too.
“I would have to agree that you probably don’t want your kids making and igniting hydrogen in the garage, …”
Why not? In the quantities a kid is likely to be able to generate, the danger is minimal. I generated, and ignited, a test tube full of hydrogen several times before I hit the teen years. It was a blast.
“Me”, you think “promoting” censorship should be a crime punishable by death? Guess what that makes you – a censor (and a psychotic one at that).
This reminds me of the Harry Potter book/movie in which the sickly-sweet, politically correct, deeply evil Mrs. Umbridge forbids the students from learning about certain magic spells… information that might actually be useful to them in real life.
Could you publish the URL for the .pdf? I cannot access the .pdf due to a sceurity restriction (not identified). Would love to have a copy for my Grandsons.
Tom: Here is the URL:
http://chemistry.about.com/library/goldenchem.pdf
Good luck!
-The copyright date on the title page is 1969 for what it’s worth.
-That’s about the same time the “Whole Earth Catalog” came out; I can’t remember when the “Anarchist’s Cookbook” hit the street.
-I’m very curious about the “Supposedly the US government had the book removed from libraries and banned for sale” comment. Is it true or not? If true under what authority was the book banned? If false why did the book disappear? Did libraries pull the book? Why?
-I remember newspaper articles that gave descriptions on how to build “zip guns” and manufacture LSD.
I had this as a kid, though a pre-1969 version apparently. Very influencial on my love of the sciences…
SW
IANAL, but I’ve dealt with them, and I suspect the “banned by the govt” is a hyperbolic urban legend. More likely the publisher pulled the book out of liability concerns, especially as litigation grew more prevalent after the (relatively) innocent 60s. (I had this book as a kid, too–dunno what became of my copy.)
This book was available in public libraries as of last spring. I requested a copy of it over ILL (inter-library loan) at my city library, and received it a couple of weeks later. The library I received it from had it filed in their children’s department.
I’ve been looking for this book for a long time, and wow! someone shared it on the web. Makes my day! I used this book as a budding young scientist (around 1970-1972) and loved it. Borrowed it from the public library then.
Now I am looking to make a career switch into teaching math/science and always on the lookout for interesting things to inspire kids (have kids too, now, great in science, BTW).
Thanks to whomever scanned and shared the book with all of us!!
–Rich
When I was in elementary school, I checked this book out so much they gave it to me when I moved on to middle school. I still have it today. The color illustrations are truly classic and the directions are easy to follow. You really learn a lot about science, chemistry and building your own equipment with this book. I’m now an Engineer with 16 years experience working with engines and fuel systems. This book and Star Wars are probably the two biggest influences in developing my interest in science and problem solving. Shame on anyone for banning it!
Safety, while important is not the *only* important thing people seem to make it.
But thanks to the people who “ban” things like this and the ones who make “no running on the playground” rules, we’ll all have nice safe children. Dumb, fat, safe children.
My copy was definitely pre-1969. I would have received it as a birthday or Christmas gift in 1964 or 1965. I thought the cover looked “not right” on the .pdf file, but I still remember some of those pages as if I’d only looked at them yesterday.
My mother bought this book for me for $1.95 in Woolworths in Maple Heights, Ohio as we were walking out of the store. I loved the book and still have it, all tattered & used and loved. I did as many of the experiments as I could, including extracting elemental iodine from its salts over & over–it made purple fumes and smelled up the basement something terrible. It was my companion for years. I learned good lab practices from this book–it teaches many safety principles. You cannot protect children from everything. I cut and burned myself while working with glass tubing. Many times I split water into the 2 test tubes of hydrogen and oxygen. I learned to think for myself how to get things done. I spilled 45 cc of carbolic acid (phenol) on our basement asphalt tile–my dad did not get angry but made me flood the area into a nearby drain for 2 hrs. with a garden hose. The last 4 pages of the book taught me how to balance chemical equations and I was able to teach my mom how to do this to pass her nursing exam in chemistry later when I was in high school. This book, like the radio/electronic books of Alfred P. Morgan, are national treasures and taught a generation of people by fact and fascination instead of by glitz and spoon feeding and splashy computer graphics. I became a vascular surgeon and an extra class ham radio operator. My mom always taught me, “Books are your friends” and it was certainly true with this one. Someone please figure out how to go back in time.
Actually, our library system still has it (SILNET). I just checked it out via interlibrary loan. So it must be individual libraries or states that don’t allow it. Also, it’s listed in juvenile nonfiction.
im 16 and i have a recently discovered love for chemistry…i look at all these comments and the main theme is that you all developed an hunger for science and and a willingness to become independent. If this bok could really play such a fundamental role in the deveolpment of independent free thinking people then y would any one ban it?? i also see that most of the comments posted have pointed out that they have made successful carreers for themselves aswell…isnt this what we would want for the next generation of people??
Alfred P Morgan’s “Simple Chemical Experiments” was another great book. Particularly the chapter on “Safe Fireworks”. I had a lot of fun with that. That book now fetches big money on the used market. Hopefully someone will scan it and set it free.