Chapter 14

      Kean first reinforces that money is intertwined with how and when science was done. He emphasizes that those with money were the only ones capable of affording the equipment necessary to do science. His first subject is a man by the name of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He was a German author and nobleman. He was highly involved in government, philosophy, and science.
      Goethe wasn't exactly a great scientist, as most of his "science" was in more of a poetic format and not based upon actual studies. His masterwork, Faust, incorporated his wonder in the science of his time. Ironically, it was a story of scientific hubris, something he wasn't willing to admit about himself. However, his greatest and most lasting contribution to science is his patronage for J.W. Dobereiner. Dobereiner observed elements with key similarities and would call these groups of three elements "triads." These triads would later be viewed as the columns of the periodic table.
      Kean later talks about the American author Mark Twain and poet Robert Lowell. Kean describes Twain as prescient. This is mostlydue to Twain showing incredible foresight into the future of science, as with most science fiction. He even had a version of Satan in one of his stories who was made of radium and wore a thin polonium jacket to protect the world from his radioactivity (which actually is not plausible). Lowell was admired for his rather mad form of art. Unfortunately, his madness persisted in all parts of his life, as he was likely bipolar due to a chemical imbalance within him. He once believed that he himself was the Virgin Mary, or that he could stop traffic by spreading out his arms. Stability returned to his life through the use of lithium. Lithium, in a salt-like form, would work to fix the body's natural clock and stop the occurrence of a future manic episode.
     I liked how Kean dove into literature in this chapter, discussing famous authors whose lives or stories were intertwined with science. I liked the story of Robert Lowell. It's explanation of early antidepressants was informative and interesting. That is definitely something I would like to learn more about. I didn't like the lack of any disappearing spoons, that was a bit disappointing. If I had a bae, I'd tell them that antidepressants such as lithium help me tolerate them. I'd also tell them that I would enjoy testing Goether's theory of human couples working like chemical reactions.