Listen and read

Step into an infinite world of stories

  • Read and listen as much as you want
  • Over 1 million titles
  • Exclusive titles + Storytel Originals
  • 7 days free trial, then €9.99/month
  • Easy to cancel anytime
Subscribe Now
Details page - Device banner - 894x1036
Cover for Lightening Often Strikes Twice: The 50 Biggest Misconceptions in Science

Lightening Often Strikes Twice: The 50 Biggest Misconceptions in Science

3 Ratings

4

Duration
4H 3min
Language
English
Format
Category

Non-fiction

Tackling some of the most common scientific myths still believed today, Brian Clegg blows these widely held misconceptions about the workings of our world out of the water in this engaging and entertaining book.

You may well be familiar with the fact that lightning, contrary to the popular saying, often strikes the same place twice. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what many of us wrongly believe about the way the world works. Whether it’s word of mouth, myths you’ve read about online, or misremembered facts from school, we’re bombarded by misconceptions about the science we come into contact with every day – this book will uncover the most popular myths to help you avoid contributing to the perpetuation of these misunderstandings.

Breaking it down into fifty of the most popular misconceptions in science, each chapter of this book will be headed up with a ‘fact’, followed by the real story, providing the science and theory that debunks the myth. From fears about the exponential growth of the human population to the embarrassment of always pointing out the north star as the brightest in the sky, this is the book to read if you want to separate the science fact from fiction.

© 2022 W. F. Howes Ltd (Audiobook): 9781004088188

Release date

Audiobook: July 21, 2022

Others also enjoyed ...

  1. The Coming Good Society: Why New Realities Demand New Rights
    The Coming Good Society: Why New Realities Demand New Rights William F. Schulz
  2. Force: What It Means to Push and Pull, Slip and Grip, Start and Stop
    Force: What It Means to Push and Pull, Slip and Grip, Start and Stop Henry Petroski
  3. The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever
    The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever Peter Ward
  4. Mapping Humanity: How Modern Genetics Is Changing Criminal Justice, Personalized Medicine, and Our Identities
    Mapping Humanity: How Modern Genetics Is Changing Criminal Justice, Personalized Medicine, and Our Identities Joshua Z. Rappoport, PhD
  5. Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism
    Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism Sharyl Attkisson
  6. Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
    Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture Andreas Wagner
  7. Saved by Science: The Hope and Promise of Synthetic Biology
    Saved by Science: The Hope and Promise of Synthetic Biology Mark J. Poznansky, PhD
  8. The Artificial Intelligence Contagion: Can Democracy Withstand the Imminent Transformation of Work, Wealth, and the Social Order?
    The Artificial Intelligence Contagion: Can Democracy Withstand the Imminent Transformation of Work, Wealth, and the Social Order? David Barnhizer
  9. Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity
    Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity Michael Kinch
  10. Luck
    Luck David Flusfeder
  11. How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict
    How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict Nina Jankowicz
  12. The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts us all at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World
    The Irrational Ape: Why Flawed Logic Puts us all at Risk and How Critical Thinking Can Save the World David Robert Grimes
  13. The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Winning Streaks
    The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Winning Streaks Ben Cohen
  14. Hot Air
    Hot Air Peter Stott
  15. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023
    The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023 Carl Zimmer
  16. Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future
    Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future Robby Soave
  17. An Infinity of Worlds: Cosmic Inflation and the Beginning of the Universe
    An Infinity of Worlds: Cosmic Inflation and the Beginning of the Universe Will Kinney
  18. Distilled: A Natural History of Spirits
    Distilled: A Natural History of Spirits Rob DeSalle
  19. Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-Truth Era
    Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-Truth Era Donald A. Barclay
  20. Secret Worlds: The Extraordinary Senses of Animals
    Secret Worlds: The Extraordinary Senses of Animals Martin Stevens
  21. The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It
    The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It Shawn Otto
  22. The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes
    The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes Paul Halpern
  23. Spaceflight: A Concise History
    Spaceflight: A Concise History Michael J. Neufeld
  24. What’s the Matter with Delaware?: How the First State Has Favored the Rich, Powerful, and Criminal—and How It Costs Us All
    What’s the Matter with Delaware?: How the First State Has Favored the Rich, Powerful, and Criminal—and How It Costs Us All Hal Weitzman
  25. The China Dream: How the Aspirations of Government, Business, and People are Driving the Greatest Transformation in History
    The China Dream: How the Aspirations of Government, Business, and People are Driving the Greatest Transformation in History Jonathan Krane
  26. The Great Great Wall: Along the Borders of History from China to Mexico
    The Great Great Wall: Along the Borders of History from China to Mexico Ian Volner
  27. Block by Block: The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics
    Block by Block: The Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Thermodynamics Robert T. Hanlon
  28. Broken Brains
    Broken Brains Ian Mitchell BSc, DPhil
  29. The Environmentalist's Dilemma: Promise and Peril in an Age of Climate Crisis
    The Environmentalist's Dilemma: Promise and Peril in an Age of Climate Crisis Arno Kopecky
  30. The Influenza Threat
    The Influenza Threat Scientific American
  31. Charles Darwin's Barnacle and David Bowie's Spider: How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels
    Charles Darwin's Barnacle and David Bowie's Spider: How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes, and Even a Few Scoundrels Stephen B. Heard, PhD
  32. The Long Shadow of Default: Britain's Unpaid War Debts to the United States, 1917-2020
    The Long Shadow of Default: Britain's Unpaid War Debts to the United States, 1917-2020 David James Gill
  33. The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny
    The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny Bradley Schurman
  34. Cyber Privacy: Who Has Your Data and Why You Should Care
    Cyber Privacy: Who Has Your Data and Why You Should Care April Falcon Doss
  35. Birds, Sex and Beauty: The Extraordinary Implications of Charles Darwin's Strangest Idea
    Birds, Sex and Beauty: The Extraordinary Implications of Charles Darwin's Strangest Idea Matt Ridley
  36. Invisible Trillions: How Financial Secrecy Is Imperiling Capitalism and Democracyand the Way to Renew Our Broken System
    Invisible Trillions: How Financial Secrecy Is Imperiling Capitalism and Democracyand the Way to Renew Our Broken System Raymond W. Baker
  37. The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy
    The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy Francesca Bolla Tripodi
  38. Spacefarers: How Humans Will Settle the Moon, Mars, and Beyond
    Spacefarers: How Humans Will Settle the Moon, Mars, and Beyond Christopher Wanjek
  39. Why We Hate: Understanding the Roots of Human Conflict
    Why We Hate: Understanding the Roots of Human Conflict Michael Ruse
  40. The Shape of Things to Come: Exploring the Future of the Human Body
    The Shape of Things to Come: Exploring the Future of the Human Body Druin Burch
  41. Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future–and Shape It
    Stories, Dice, and Rocks That Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future–and Shape It Byron Reese
  42. Ten Short Lessons in Space Travel
    Ten Short Lessons in Space Travel Paul Parsons
  43. Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream
    Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream Alissa Quart
  44. The Primacy of Doubt: From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World
    The Primacy of Doubt: From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World Tim Palmer
  45. What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms, from the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner
    What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms, from the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner Dan Levitt
  46. Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity
    Dark Skies: Space Expansionism, Planetary Geopolitics, and the Ends of Humanity Daniel Deudney
  47. The Rise of Anarchism: From Historical Roots to Modern Movements
    The Rise of Anarchism: From Historical Roots to Modern Movements Arlo Holders
  48. Time Machine Tales: The Science Fiction Adventures and Philosophical Puzzles of Time Travel
    Time Machine Tales: The Science Fiction Adventures and Philosophical Puzzles of Time Travel Paul J. Nahin
  49. Progressive Capitalism: How to Make Tech Work for All of Us
    Progressive Capitalism: How to Make Tech Work for All of Us Ro Khanna
  50. The Tyranny of Big Tech
    The Tyranny of Big Tech Josh Hawley
  51. Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers
    Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America's Best & Brightest Workers Michelle Malkin
  52. AI Ethics
    AI Ethics Mark Coeckelbergh
  53. Exoplanets: Worlds without End
    Exoplanets: Worlds without End Scientific American
  54. The Science of Pets
    The Science of Pets Scientific American
  55. The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather
    The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather Roland Ennos
  56. The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives’ War on Fun
    The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives’ War on Fun Noah Rothman
  57. Simply Electrifying: The Technology that Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk
    Simply Electrifying: The Technology that Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk Craig R. Roach
  58. On Not Dying: Secular Immortality in the Age of Technoscience
    On Not Dying: Secular Immortality in the Age of Technoscience Abou Farman
  59. Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia
    Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia Gregg Mitman
  60. This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain: The Collapse of Liberal Britain
    This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain: The Collapse of Liberal Britain William Davies
  61. On Decline: Stagnation, Nostalgia, and Why Every Year is the Worst One Ever
    On Decline: Stagnation, Nostalgia, and Why Every Year is the Worst One Ever Andrew Potter
  62. The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives
    The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives Brook Manville
  63. After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It
    After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It Will Bunch
  64. Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics
    Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics Russell Blackford
  65. No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity
    No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity Daniel Kennefick
  66. How the Post Office Created America: A History
    How the Post Office Created America: A History Winifred Gallagher
  67. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages
    Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages Michael Keen
  68. Social Capital: Life online in the shadow of Ireland’s tech boom
    Social Capital: Life online in the shadow of Ireland’s tech boom Aoife Barry
  69. Mom Genes: Inside The New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct
    Mom Genes: Inside The New Science of Our Ancient Maternal Instinct Abigail Tucker
  70. How China Escaped the Poverty Trap
    How China Escaped the Poverty Trap Yuen Yuen Ang
  71. Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives
    Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives Philip N. Howard
  72. The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America
    The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America Michelle Wilde Anderson
  73. Destination Mars: The Story of our Quest to Conquer the Red Planet
    Destination Mars: The Story of our Quest to Conquer the Red Planet Andrew May
  74. Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong
    Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong Greg Brennecka
  75. Before The Big Bang: The Origin of Our Universe from the Multiverse
    Before The Big Bang: The Origin of Our Universe from the Multiverse Laura Mersini-Houghton
  76. A Primer of Life Histories: Ecology, Evolution, and Application
    A Primer of Life Histories: Ecology, Evolution, and Application Jeffrey A. Hutchings
  77. The Biggest Number in the World: A Journey to the Edge of Mathematics
    The Biggest Number in the World: A Journey to the Edge of Mathematics David Darling
  78. Bacteria: A Very Short Introduction
    Bacteria: A Very Short Introduction Sebastian Amyes
  79. Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong
    Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong Andrew Shtulman
  80. Plunder and Deceit
    Plunder and Deceit Mark R. Levin
  81. The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider
    The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider Michiko Kakutani
  82. Profit over Privacy: How Surveillance Advertising Conquered the Internet
    Profit over Privacy: How Surveillance Advertising Conquered the Internet Matthew Crain
  83. The Language of Deception: Weaponizing Next Generation AI
    The Language of Deception: Weaponizing Next Generation AI Justin Hutchens
  84. In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century
    In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century Sebastian Strangio
  85. Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left
    Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left Eoin Higgins
  86. How Will Capitalism End?: Essays on a Failing System
    How Will Capitalism End?: Essays on a Failing System Wolfgang Streeck
  87. Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro's Brazil
    Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro's Brazil Glenn Greenwald
  88. Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables
    Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables Jo Wimpenny
  89. Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World
    Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World Gordon Brown
  90. Awakening to China's Rise: European Foreign and Security Policies toward the People's Republic of China
    Awakening to China's Rise: European Foreign and Security Policies toward the People's Republic of China Hugo Meijer
  91. A Blue New Deal: Why We Need a New Politics for the Ocean
    A Blue New Deal: Why We Need a New Politics for the Ocean Chris Armstrong
  92. A Vulnerable System: The History of Information Security in the Computer Age
    A Vulnerable System: The History of Information Security in the Computer Age Andrew J. Stewart
  93. Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory
    Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory Edward J. Larson
  94. The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans
    The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans Bill Hammack
  95. How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate
    How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate Isabella M. Weber
  96. The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight
    The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight Thomas Suddendorf
  97. The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human
    The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human Adam Piore
  98. Mosquito: The Story of Man’s Deadliest Foe
    Mosquito: The Story of Man’s Deadliest Foe Michael D'Antonio
  99. The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
    The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Keith Cooper

This is why you’ll love Storytel

  • Listen and read without limits

  • 800 000+ stories in 40 languages

  • Kids Mode (child-safe environment)

  • Cancel anytime

Unlimited stories, anytime

Unlimited

Listen and read as much as you want

9.99 € /month

7 days free
Save 60%
  • Offline Mode

  • Kids Mode

  • Cancel anytime

Try now