Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (Harvest Original)

What the author has accomplished here is a very readable and fascinating book about scientists and the bizarre experiments they envisioned. It is not a scientific publishing, mired with technical details, but a great read about how calculating minds attempt to understand and influence the world around us, and how wrong those minds can be occasionally. Caveat: there are some very graphic images of animals being harmed for the sake of science. Despite how you feel about this, it is important to remember that the author did not conduct these experiments, he is merely reporting on them. This book is still packed full of information and humor (I utterly howled about the scientist who was recording facial expressions of people who were forced to decapitate a live rat- and then failed to see the more important issue of people killing on command!). Highly recommended and doctors in particular seem to be really taken with this book.

It never fails to amaze me what scientists can come up with. At times gross, at times funny, I loved this book enough to pass it on to my neice.. After she had finished reading it we went out to dinner with my sister (her mother) who had not read the book. We spent so much time discussing the book my sister got annoyed with both of us. We certainly didn't intend to leave her out of the conversation it was just that there was so much that was interesting in this book that we couldn't stop ourselves.

...very interesting.

This book is certainly bizarre. If keeping a dog's head alive, monkey brain transplants, and elephants on acid is your thing, this is for you! The layout of the book is slightly different than I expected with a smattering of pictures and a really good font. It reads well and I certainly recommend it to others.The best thing about the book is the attraction it draws. The cover is really vibrant and people are always curious as to what I am reading. Some of them get weirded out, and some are totally fascinated. But I bet a smattering from both categories end up buying it! If you are on this page you should probably grab it as well.

I got this for one of my classes but the book itself is so interesting. The stories told in this book actually sound crazy and they are so interesting to read and know about!!

I think this book would be a great addition to the library of any science teacher or professor. Reading a story from the book could spark some lively discussion about the scientific method, scientific ethics, and the pursuit of knowledge. I think the reviewer who complained that this book promotes animal cruelty misses the point. The author isn't advocating the type of bizarre experiments he chronicles, he's merely reporting them. There are some experiments in here that are classics like Pavlov's experiment on conditioned response or the Milgram experiment on the psychology of obedience.There's also a part of the book about flatulence that I'm sure adolescent males will love.

Elephants on Acid is a collection of some of the most bizarre, curious and plain cruel experiments executed in the name of science. Among them, the LSD induced elephant of the title, Russian two-headed dogs, monkey head transplants, sleep deprivation, monkeys brought up as humans, baby reactions experiments, sexual studies, how to maximize waiters’ tips experiments and missiles guided by pigeons.The book is very informative and does have it’s moments, but the tongue-in-cheek humor did bother me a little, specially when talking about some of the more cruel experiments, to both humans and animals. I do like me some dark humor, but I just couldn’t see the funny side the author was trying to show me.I liked a lot the research and background on the experiments, specially the Victorian studies on electricity and dead bodies, as well as the neurosurgeries and famous psychology studies like the Stanford Prison experiment, that turned normal students into sadistic prison guards.On the other hand, outside of the most interesting and chocking studies, the book seemed to have a lot of filler of uninteresting ones. Ironically, the chapter on sex was so boring I found myself skipping some pages, as I did on the one on babies.Elephants on Acid does deliver on it’s promise as an informal compendium of the strangest side of science – and the horror when moral and empathy is not considered by scientists – but I think it could be improved by concentrating on the truly bizarre and toning down the internet-like humor.

This is an interesting read to say the least. If you've ever wondered how far some fringe scientists have gone in the past this is the book to start with. Let me just say, you really won't believe some of the stuff you read here, but according to the author, Alex Boese, a graduate of Amherst College with a Master's Degree in the History of Science from the University of California, San Diego, it's all true. Considering his field of study, he should know.One of the bits I found most amazing was the experiment with a cat which actually succeeded in capturing visual information (real moving images!) from the cat's visual processing center of the brain. Another is The Isolated Head of a Dog. Completely inhumane, but an incredible tale nonetheless. The author's writing style is such that we read the information, acknowledge disgust, but are still entertained and happily move on to the next potential atrocity of scientific experimentation.Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments, is a remarkably entertaining and educational book. Some subject matter may not be suitable for all audiences. You have been warned!

A good book for people interested in science and in the methods it used to reach conclusions

Excellent fun book to read

Buen precio envio muy rapido desde USA

An assortment of funny, fascinating and field-shaking experiments. Great if you are into psychology. DIY: Feed sugar to ants and watch how they behave. Fun Fact: Cockroaches are also affected by the observer effect (when other cockroaches are watching).

(This is far too long, sorry)This was the first book I took out of the college library when we first started and HAD to take out something during the demo of how the system worked. Those first few weeks in college most people are trying to make friends, frantically socialising with strangers trying to find somewhere to fit in. One of my most memorable memories from college for some reason was that same day, when I started reading this book during the break between lessons. I didn't know anyone, and i'm socially awkward and bad with people so I just decided to sit at the bottom of one of the stairwells, on a bench in a cosy little corner. I pretty much picked the book at random, but was really surprised how enjoyable it was. It's full of bizarre stories of experiments gone wrong, or sometimes even more worryingly, experiments gone right. Someone I had known from school before spotted me and with a little group of random people I didn't know, asked if I wanted to go hang with them.I said "nah".I didn't want to pause reading the book. I just started the titled chapter that bought my attention to the book in the first place, some nutter giving LSD to an elephant, I couldn't stop now??I look back on that now and always think... seriously?Anyway, I just thought i'd share that because to me it shows how intriguing it can be. Years later, I have my own copy on my shelf and bought another here recently for a friend of mine who likes the wacky side to science and psychology (mad scientist material themselves to be honest). They loved it too.I'm yet to read the other one that came after this, have been saving it for a reading-reward for getting through something a bit more boring. I'd recommend them if you are casually interested in science and/or psychology. The sections themselves are short, but a lot of sources/references are given at the back so that you can look into anything further if you wanted to.