author
John Phin
1830–1913
A restless 19th-century writer and publisher, he turned practical science, microscopy, gardening, and workshop know-how into books meant for curious everyday readers. His work ranges widely, but it is united by a clear wish to make useful knowledge easier to understand.
1 Audiobook
![The Seven Follies of Science [2nd ed.] A popular account of the most famous scientific impossibilities and the attempts which have been made to solve them. To which is added a small budget of interesting paradoxes, illusions, and marvels](https://listenly.io/api/img/6638bc64972dc5c80ef5d2c4/cover.jpg)
About the author
Born in Scotland and later active in the United States, John Phin was a prolific author, publisher, and teacher of applied science. Sources consistently describe him as a writer with unusually broad interests, and his books show that range clearly: he wrote on microscopy, practical science, home and workshop methods, gardening, and other hands-on subjects intended for general readers.
He is also remembered as a Shakespeare scholar, which adds another dimension to a career that moved easily between literary study and practical instruction. That mix helps explain why his work remained useful to readers looking for straightforward explanations rather than highly technical writing.
Some sources list his birth year as 1830, while others give 1832, so that detail is not entirely consistent. He died in 1913.