Eric Yeaman's story about A SCHOOL CHEMISTRY FOR TODAY
« Back to The Book That Changed My Life
Author: F.W. Goddard and Kenneth Hutton
SynopsisThis is a school Chemistry textbook.
My Story
In the late fifties, school Chemistry was traditional. Oxygen – preparation, properties and uses. Carbon dioxide – preparation, properties and uses. Chlorine – preparation, properties and uses. Hydrogen chloride – preparation, properties and uses. And so on. It was all methodically catalogued in our textbook. And it was all (fairly) conscientiously copied into our jotters.
Then, it was probably early 1959, our teacher gave out a new book – “A School Chemistry for Today,” by F W Goddard and Kenneth Hutton.
To me, it was like throwing open a door, showing a bright new world of chemicals which I had hardly suspected. I remember taking that book home, and going through it, discovering all sorts of fascinating substances with exciting names. Cobalt. Fluorine. Phosphorus. Manganese. Barium. Even common things, like iron, copper and lead, could do unsuspected chemical reactions.
I spent hours, compiling my own files on these substances, using the book’s index to track down each sliver of information, and carefully noting it down.
I don’t claim that the book was my sole reason for going on to study Chemistry at university, but it undoubtedly inspired me to anticipate the prospect with greater enthusiasm. I went on to teach Chemistry, and I can only hope that I managed to convey to my pupils the excitement that I experienced in my explorations of, “A School Chemistry for Today.”
I did not study A school Chemistry For Today in the formal education, but I found chemistry is very interesting subject. I start doing Chemical experiment when I was 9 years oil " Simple ones".
When I went to high school, my dad noticed that I do care about chemistry, he then told me that he has very interesting book called A school chemistry for today, he studied it in high school when Sudan was a British subject. He kept it with him for more than 30 years. I couldn't stop reading that book. I was just everything to me.
I still have it, read it occasionally. The way the book was written, is very very nice. It talks about Chemistry to everyone and it is very informative. It gave me a very strong base in Chemistry.
Because I like it so much, I still remember some sentences from its dedication, suck as " We wish to express our thanks to our colleagues, Messrs, Lucas,Humby and Crompton for helpful comments; to Isotype institute for preparing Fig. 131" :D
Thanks for sharing your story about A School Chemistry For Today.
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