5 comments about Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station Mir.

1. When you see members of the author's family adding book reviews to this website which attack other reviewers (as you can see here on the reviews for this book) you know something is wrong with this book - it doesn't need defending if it could stand on its own. Having read this book, I can see why the family is being overprotective and jumpy. What people have written here is true - this is an amazing story, obscured by the overpowering ego of the writer.
   
   I hope the author had the integrity to call off his family, as they embarrass him here with such posturing. I recommend reading this book and judging it on its own merits - it really is an amazing tale.



2. During the middle part of the 1990s NASA and the Russian Space Agency engaged in a set of cooperative missions that resulted in nine Space Shuttle-Mir link ups between 1995 and 1998, including rendezvous, docking, and crew transfers. Jerry Linenger was one of the NASA astronauts sent to fly on Mir, serving there between January 12 and May 15, 1997. This book recounts his experiences training for this mission, including the difficult time he spent at the Cosmonaut training facility at Star City, as well as the mission itself. As he noted about the Russians at Star City, "the goal of helping cosmonauts and astronauts better prepare for a mission was not a shared goal. Making money off the Americans seemed to be the overriding consideration" (p. 43).
   
   A centerpiece of this book is the exceptionally difficult crises on Mir while Linenger was aboard. The first took place on February 24, 1997, when Linenger and his fellow crewmembers fought a fire caused when an oxygen generator in Kvant 1 malfunctioned and ignited. While the fire burned for only about ninety seconds, the crew was exposed to heavy smoke for five to seven minutes and donned masks in response. Linenger had been in the Spektr module working on his computer when he heard Mir's master alarm go off. He shut down his computer--in case the power should go off--put on some protective gear, and rushed as best he could in his weightless condition to the scene of the accident. They all realized that the fire was serious, it could jeopardize the station and their lives, for it blocked access to one of the Soyuz spacecraft needed for return to Earth. Crewmembers extinguished the fire with foam from three fire extinguishers, each containing two liters of a water-based liquid. The fire was not small. Burning in all directions in the microgravity of the space station, the oxygen from the generator fueled hydra-like flames up to three feet long. Periodically, said Linenger, bits of molten metal from the oxygen generator went splattered the bulkhead. Once the fire had been contained they started purging the atmosphere of the smoke, and Linenger, a physician, examined the other members of the crew to ensure they had not been injured. The crew wore masks and goggles until an analysis of the Mir atmosphere ensured that they experienced no serious health risk.
   
   The fire foreshadowed a series of problems aboard Mir during the spring and summer of 1997. Oxygen generators broke down, the automatic docking system malfunctioned, various types of equipment both great and small interrupted the normally monotonous activities, the station's orientation system broke down, the power system failed when the solar arrays lost their position toward the Sun, and leaks in the Kvant-2 cooling system forced numerous repairs and seemingly endless fussing to keep it running. It appeared that the Mir crew, including Linenger, spent the majority of their days repairing the space station. They gingerly positioned Mir in relation to the Sun so that they could control temperature on various parts of the station. The environment on Mir was uncomfortable, and the crew complained about it.
   
   Linenger believed that Russian mission control failed to inform the crew about the status of their station. He expressed nothing but praise for his fellow crewmembers for their strength and perseverance throughout the mission. Even with communication difficulties, a cloud of doubt surrounding the station's systems, difficulties with mission control, and fires and toxic fumes, the crew worked relatively well under very difficult circumstances.
   
   Linenger tells his story with verve and style, and not a little humor, but that that barely hides a cynicism aboiut the whole effort. He concluded, "That the shuttle Mir program is primarily a political rather than a technical endeavor is obvious to anyone working on it or familiar with it" (p. 113). He also notes that the Shuttle/Mir program was essentially a form of foreign aid by the Clinton administration to Russia using NASA's space exploration money rather than funds appropriated through the various foreign aid programs of the United States. He concluded: "the U.S. government perceived that engaging the Russians in a cooperative space undertaking was reason enough to stick by Mir. Or perhaps having a means for our government to funnel millions of dollars in foreign aid to Russia under the guise of `rent money' so the United States can send astronauts to Mir is a valuable political stratagem" (p. 248).
   
   In many ways this is a fascinating book, pulling back the curtain on the Shuttle/Mir cooperative program between the U.S. and Russia in the mid-1990s.



3. Unexpectedly, the best book by an astronaut I have ever read. Utterly honest, detailed but not too much, Linenger certainly had "the right stuff". Brilliant, adaptable and a jock, he survived 5 months in an unreliable, uncomfortable Mir space station, and got along very well with two pairs of Russian Cosmonauts, after "learning" Russian in a 5-week crash course. He gives the lowdown on Russian competence in the space program, the political reason for funneling US funds into joint space activity, the excessive control of by Russian ground crew of their cosmonauts. Much is as expected for Russians long living in a repressive, loveless society. True, the poverty of the Russian Republic would make anyone difficult.
   
   Descriptions of ordinary lavatory functions, repair of every imaginable device on the Mir, all of which broke down, and details of docking, undocking, and returning to Earth on a Space Shuttle were more complete than any other I have read. Details of bone density loss, odd effects of Earth gravity and other bits were seen by me for the first time. For me "Off the Planet" was far superior to the classics such as First on the Moon by Armstrong, Collins & Aldrin (too sanitized), "Return to Earth"? by Aldrin (too personally focused, but good), or "Last on the Moon". Only "Apollo 13" compares, but is too sanitized.
   
   My only gripe is that the scientific experiments on which so much time and money were spent do not come in for any description at all, nor any refs. to their publication, or Principal Investigators. Minor gripes were an occasional ambiguous antecedent, pride in contributing to lowering the fat content of Navy diets (on p7; utterly discredited by "The Cholesterol Myths" by Uffe Ravnskow, 2000; "The Modern Nutritional Diseases" by Ottoboni, 2001; "The GReat Cholesterol Con" by Anthony Colpo, 2006; and many others. See http://www.health-heart.org/acceuil.htm). On p9, canned tuna is healthful, but Minute Rice is not for the carb-sensitive among us. Twice, p78 and 189, "hydrolysis" of water is used instead of the correct "electrolysis".



4. As Jerry Linenger capitvatingly and brutely describes his experience with the Russian traning center and MIR leadership, I was both shocked and amused. To the average person, it is unbelieveable that the Russian Space Program was so adhoc, unscientific and unorganized. The disorganization that is described is so prevalent that I wonder how the Russians could manage any space travel sucessfully.
   
   Before I read this book I imagined the life of astronaut was a hero's life, little did I realize the patience, team work and politics involved in Space travel.
   
   Recommended for it's great story and window into a world very few of us will ever experience.



5. I bought the book after hearing Mr. Linenger speak. It was easy to read and very interesting.

3 comments about Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography (Norton Critical Editions).

1. How many books have you read that you remember thirty-six years later? Ben Franklin's insights into principles of self-improvement, and his love for the adventure of life were not only inspiring to me when I discovered his autobiography in the Holmesburg Library in Philadelphia at age 14, but they still remain motivational for me at age 50! Ben Franklin was the Dale Carnegie of his age. He realized that by following basic core value principles, and by constant practice in the adventure of life, he could not only creatively change himself, but he could positively impact those around him as well. Ben Franklin led a purposeful, creative life. I am thankful that he had the foresight to pass his exhuberance along to us in this his autobiography. It was fun to read. I think I'll read it again. Thanks, Ben.



2. Anyone who has ever taken a literature class in college knows the Norton Critical Editions: an absolutely first-rate version of the text, a healthy supply of contemporary responses and letters, and the best essays yet written about the text. This edition of Benjamin Franklin's "Autobiography" is no exception. The quintessential American Enlightenment figure, Franklin is far more complex than most people think, and far funnier. When it came time to write the Declaration of Independence, the Congress wouldn't give it to Franklin alone, in large part because they were afraid he'd hide a joke in it. One of his most infamous pieces of writing was under the guise of a prostitute being brought before the court for having yet another illegitimate child -- and then attacking the court for making it necessary for her to pursue her profession! And the letter Franklin wrote his own illegitimate son about how to keep a mistress is a classic in and of itself. The only great flaw in the autobiography is that it stops before Franklin ever reaches the Revolutionary War, and thus we don't have the inside story of that perilous time. But anybody wanting to understand Franklin's life, the means to wealth, or the evolution of a brilliant mind will love this text. It's mandatory reading for every American, in my mind.



3. If you are looking for "the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," this is the volume to get. It is a Norton Critical Edition, perhaps the gold standard of anthologies, and it is edited by Lemay and Zall.
   
   I believe Lemay and Zall are the "experts" in the autobiographical writings of Benjamin Franklin.
   
   Critical essays include essays written contemporaneously with this autobiography (including David Hume and John Adams); in the 19th century (including Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Mark Twain); in the 20th century (including D.H. Lawrence, W. Somerset Maugham). The critical essay by D. H. Lawrence is a classic, but it is clear that Lawrence "misread" Benjamin Franklin, and having read it, I have lost some admiration for Lawrence.
   
   Watch for this volume at discount book stores and independent books sellers through Amazon.com.

1 comments about Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment.

1. If you want something to read that's more improbable and exciting than most fiction, this is an excellent choice. Steeped in history, lovingly researched and with strong scientific underpinnings, this is a book that will make you feel like you almost know Voltaire and wish you knew (and you will weep for) the amazing Emilie du Chatelet.

3 comments about Einstein: A Biography.

1. Very well written, excellent translation fro German. Neffe gained access to many new documents and letters previously hiddedn in archives. Science very accessible to a general reader.



2. This is an excellent biography of Albert Einstein, whom Neffe considers "...one of the greatest men in the history of the world...." In addition to special and general relativity (including how these ideas developed in his mind), there is very good coverage of Einstein's contributions to quantum physics, including the photoelectric effect, the duality of light, Bose-Einstein statistics and condensates, stimulated emission, and the EPR paradox. Neffe explains how Einstein's work in relativity and quantum physics is influencing research in physics today. There is the interesting story of how East Germany (GDR) honored Einstein by renovating his vacation home in Caputh and of the woman--a former art teacher--who was hired by the GDR in 1979 to be its caretaker and who continued in that role after German reunification. The biography also covers Einstein's private life as well as problems caused by anti-Semitism both in Germany and in the U.S., where his humanitarian concerns in the latter also caused difficulties. This comprehensive biography should by read by anyone with an interest in Einstein, science, or human civilization.



3. Drawing from a wide variety of globally dispersed primary documentary sources as well as personal recollections, Neffe's bio is engaging, tragic, amusing and highly informative. And Frisch's translation seems perfect and makes for smooth reading. Neffe synthesizes Einstein's lifetime scientific achievements and anchors them into a broader scientific framework. Simultaneously, he also presents Einstein's personal experiences and the political and social context in which he evolved, in which he tried to mediate, though often unsuccessfully, if not provocatively.
   
   Having already made lots of observations re electro-technical workings in his parents business, Einstein absorbed even more of the same as a technical expert working in the Swiss patent office. Contrary to the myth, he was a top student from the beginning though rebellious against the widespread discipline inflicted on students of his era.
   
   What emerges is a highly talented person endowed with a lifelong intense curiosity and obsession with finding answers to what falsely may appear as childlike questions----all qualities necessary for profound breakthroughs which cannot be achieved without what many would call an infantile curiosity and grinding obsession. Neffe frequently points out Einstein's boyish humor, which lasted to the end, as well as his stubborn defense of his interests in carrying on his research to the point of damaging familial and personal relations. With the necessary aid and carried on the shoulders of mathematicians and scientists who pushed research and knowledge already close to breakthroughs, Einstein formulated his special theory of relativity in 1905, the year of miracles. There is the sine quo non of reciprocal ratcheting, the constant intense interaction, at times almost offensively so, between competing talented researchers who submit ideas, concepts, equations and publications, etc., to which others react, criticize if not modify. This is the process in which Einstein dwelled, to which he made first-rate contributions and from which he benefited. And this is what produced his general theory of relativity which was then verified in 1919, his year of glory and which was followed up with the Nobel Prize in '22, though not for the theory of relativity.
   
   A commendable pacifist during World War I and a consistent life-long anti-militarist except for WWII, Einstein, seemingly like an unruly teenager, defended Friedrich Adler, his former housemate who assassinated the Austrian Premier, von Stuergkh, in '16. He correctly, though with some detachment at first, observed the post-war turmoil in Germany with its rising anti-Semitism, visited the U.S. where he ironically advised fellow Zionists amidst thunderous applause to "follow the leader", an ironic answer to what the emerging Nazis were doing which sort of manifests itself as the political equivalent of the scientific reciprocal ratcheting which becomes eventually catastrophic and to which Einstein unwittingly contributed when he deserted his commendable WWI pacifism for war advocacy before and during WWII, for building the atomic bomb, etc. which cements a framework in which mass murder is maximized. Later in life he regretted having affirmed the atomic bomb and expiated commendably through his reviving pacifism and warnings re nuclear catastrophies.
   
   Neffe carries the story further after Einstein's move to the U.S. and the brilliant physicist's unsuccessful and relentless efforts to forge a unified theory combining cosmological macro and micro events. He recounts how Einstein was temporarily neglected and forgotten but eventually revived. After WWII, Einstein correctly fathomed that the U.S. was "drunk on power" and becoming militarized a la Germany and sure enough he was confronted with being outcast, spied upon, defamed, maligned and shunted. The FBI had a massive dossier, much of it based upon material from the Women Patriot organization which attempted to prevent his immigration. On the other hand, Einstein was not beyond inviting some of his criticism to the point of having more letters criticizing him coming from Jewish sources who were worried about his excessive radicalism causing a backlash. He defended the Rosenbergs as he had defended Adler. Neffe points out that Einstein admired Lenin, had his living quarters used for Soviet spying and, according to his physician, may have died from an abdominal aortal aneurism caused by weakening due to syphilis.
   The story is carried forward into the present with scientific updating on how Einstein's work, having been revived, contributed to laser, digital cameras, among other products and how quantum research, string research, etc. are being expanded by scientists around the world such as Anton Zeilinger in Vienna.
   
   Neffe's Einstein appears to have been a womanizer with plenty of lovers including a Russian spy and a N.Y. dancer, among others. He did not always treat his first wife nor his lovers with courtesy. There were illegitimate children and the fate of his first wife, Mileva, is nothing but tragic to the point of portraying Einstein as being somewhat misogynistic. Neffe provides a balanced view as he does with all events. Those interested in finding out how female researchers contributed to the major breakthroughs can find some satisfaction in Mileva' role and the brief mentioning of others female scientists who actually came either close to what Einstein discovered or were making major contribution to atomic research. Einstein's first wife could be cited as could Lisa Meitner, Ida Naddock, etc.. On balance, this is a riveting biography of a brilliant scientist living in a turbulent period.
   
   
   
   
   
   

5 comments about Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons.

1. This book examines in detail the life of Jack Parsons, friend of Alister Crowley and rocket scientist of Jet Propulsion Labratory fame. Lots of juicy details! The author appears to have more than a passing knowledge of Thelema, as he can explain and embellish on ceremonial material with ease. Fascinating information on a legendary man!



2. This was a good read but I get the feeling that the full story of Parsons will never be known. Parsons was a rocket scientist who was one of the pioneers in the field. He was heavily into the occult, a protege of Aleister Crowley as well as L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard later went on to swindle Parsons out of a large sum of money but not before he and Parsons conducted the infamous "Babylon Working" ceremonial magic rituals. Parsons died by blowing himself up at his home labratory which was ruled an accident but considering Parsons was the worlds greatest authority on rocket fuel at the time of his death many believe that he was set up and murdered. Most people really have no clue as to how much overlap there has always been been between the space program, the occult and science fiction. This book is one to dig into if you want to explore those connections.



3. While everyone knows that the early days of rocket science were full of good CHRISTIAN PATRIOTIC MEN like Werner Von Braun, this book lays out the very scary case that one of the pioneers of rocket science, indeed, one of the VERY FOUNDERS of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was NOT a CHRISTIAN at all, and was, in fact, a WORSHIPPER OF SATAN, and, a fanatical follower of one of the wickedest men of the entire 20th century! According to this book, Jack Parsons even tried to create his OWN SCARLET WOMAN (Rotting Goddess: The Origins of the Witch in Classical Antiquity), with whome to conceive a "magical childe" (a supreme BLASPHEME if I ever heard one). He is alledged to have commited SEX ACTS which would shock even the most hardened LIBERAL HOMOSEXUAAL, and then proceded to try to sell AMERICAN GOVERNMENT SECRETS to the ISRAEL Government when the jews were trying to get a leg-up! His sickness was finaly put an end to when he (OR GOD) blew Himself up inside his own home, in a laboratory in his garden shed while handeling rocket fuel. (Talk about the SPARK OF DIVINE JUSTICE.) Altogether a disquieting, disturbing tale of one of the lesser known, but more improtant (if the aurther is to be believed) pioneers of what would become NASA. CHILLING.



4. By day, Jack Parsons was one of the founders of Jet Propulsion Laboratories and basically single-handedly invented the rocket. By night, he was Frater 210, the self-proclaimed Antichrist, a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis, and a follower of Aleister Crowley (rhymes with 'holy'.) Oddly enough, he was a very meticulous, if reckless scientist, but a very sloppy and reckless magician. (Though his death might suggest otherwise. He was killed in an explosion in his home when he was 37.)
   
   The information in the book was great and I drank it up, but Carter's writing is simply bad and uninteresting. His speculations are often spotty and he blindly repeats some untrue myths about Crowley as fact. Otherwise, it was a nice view into the early years of the OTO and Thelema in America. My favorite parts, I think, were the excerpts from Crowley's correspondence. He was intelligent and witty till the very end. (Jack Parsons sent large amount of money to Crowley on a regular basis, supporting Crowley in his last years.) Much of this time period was not covered in Crowley's autobiography, The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.
   
   L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, also appears in quite a large chunk of this book as a magical scribe and con man. Parsons and Hubbard performed some powerful rituals that were well beyond their skill levels and there is a whole branch of conspiracies that say they opened a sort of magical portal and that's where UFOs came from. Considering that Aleister Crowley once contacted an entity named LAM who looked much like a modern grey alien, it's an interesting story to delve into, which this book only touches upon. Parsons and Hubbard also had strange connections with John Dee & Edward Kelley. (Hubbard stole a very large sum of money and ran off with Parsons' wife. Kelley did the same to Dee way back in the ye olde 1500s.)
   
   Hopefully further books will be better written. I can see why this is the only book John carter has written.



5. Sex and Rockets is an illuminating and inspiring book that provides a detailed account of the rich and bizarre world of Parsons. The reader takes a mind-bending mystical journey through a dynamic realm of magic and science that reads more like great fiction than reality. Parsons was as interesting as any character in a science fiction novel of the time.
   
   He was a visionary in the world of the occult and an accomplished iconoclastic rocket scientist. The author confidently conveys the humanity behind Parsons and the extent of his influence upon many diverse realms of thought. Additionally, the author uncovers miraculous details.
   
   This penetrating work offers a straightforward portrayal of events and includes a thoroughly entertaining foreword by RAW and extensive photographs. I preferred the elegantly written "Strange Angel," for the language and the insights into the relationships, but this well-researched and enjoyable book was certainly worth the time. The author and his publisher deserve much credit for their accomplishment.
   
   Strongly recommended to science, occult and literary enthusiasts.

3 comments about The New Quotable Einstein.

1. I was overjoyed when the first edition came out. Here in one small volume were many of Einstein's most famous lines. I was even happier when new expanded editions came out. I have used the book almost as an index to my collection of books about Einstein (and I have a dozen of them).
   
   But I noticed one problem in the editing. In the first edition, in the chapter "On Religion, God, and Philosophy," Einstein is quoted as saying "I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of his children for their numerous stupidities, for which only he can be held responsible; in my opinion, only his nonexistence could excuse him." In the "expanded" edition, the word "only" (the first one) was removed. Well, this changes the meaning a lot, given what we know about Einstein's denial of free will in man. With the word "only" removed, God's guilt is lightened, as though suggesting there are other culprits, but in so doing she also distorts Einstein's meaning. I was startled enough by this that I went to the science library at the University of Toronto, and double-checked Einstein's words in the multivolume "Collected Papers of Albert Einstein." The word "only" appears in both the German original ("nur") and the English translation. Over and over Eisntein denied that human beings have free will, and so objectively there is no one to blame for our crimes but God - if, as Einstein said, He even existed.
   
   Initially I suspected the editor of deleting "only" deliberately - after all, the "censored" version appears in both the second and third editions. But I'm now satisfied that this was an honest editing error and I have been reassured that it will be corrected in the next edition.
   
   On the whole, the quotes are quite reliable. And the sources are very wide, including not only Einstein's own collected papers but the Einstein Archive and other secondary writings (such as memoirs). There must be materials that may be new and interesting even to Einstein scholars.
   
   In his foreword Freeman Dyson claims Einstein had a "darker side" - for example, with respect to his family. Well, I'm sorry, but Einstein never pretended he was a saint. He was in some ways only an ordinary human being with a very extraordinary brain. He was certainly no great father or husband. But Einstein never asked anyone to censor his biography for him, making him look better than he was. If he cheated his wife, he did so virtually openly. So I think Dyson's point is really pointless. Besides, the term "darker side" misleads people into thinking that Einstein must have done some evil deeds which he tried to keep away from view. Newton's deceitful conduct in the priority dispute certainly suggests a nasty side to his personality. Nothing of the kind was ever in Einstein's character or conduct. Einstein had a temper, and he could be grumpy, or sexist, or rude, or over-the-top in his words on occasion. And that's about as far as his "dark side" gets. So what? He never did anything remotely criminal or unethical or even deceitful, for those of us wondering what this "dark side" means. (Incidentally, Dyson's assertion that the Japanese show "exquisite taste" in admiring Einstein and Hawking defies common sense. It's not just the Japanese but the whole world over who have such "exquisite taste"; nor is it just Einstein and Hawking whom the Japanese admire. The Japanese admire all sorts of people, some of whom would not be considered terribly heroic by us. Dyson is a great mathematical physicist, but I'm familiar enough with Dyson's many writings to know this guy doesn't always say sensible things.) Returning to Dyson's foreword, his story about armed Israeli soldiers commandeering Einstein's files at Princeton, NJ on a dark and rainy Christmas night, possibly breaking American laws, while good enough for a cheap movie scene, sounds too fantastic to be believable. His implication is that Einstein's dirty laundry is now safely and deliberately hidden in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Unless you're a connoisseur of conspiracy theories, you can safely dismiss this notion. Unless the files are physically destroyed, archivists will dig them out sooner or later. There is no reason to believe that non-Israeli Einstein specialists are denied access to them. I can't say I'll never be surprised by new revelations, but I doubt any will be interesting enough by now because the most important of Einstein's deeds and words and beliefs are already well known. What's yet to be revealed is most likely not interesting enough. (If someone could somehow find a manuscript proving Mileva doing most of the original mathematical thinking in Special Relativity, that would be an example of interesting new revelations.)
   
   This book is very good as a general introduction to Einstein the man and even to his physics to a limited extent. The quotes are well-chosen and cover a good range. On the other hand, I wouldn't call it an Einstein concordance. For one thing, it is too short to be any such thing. For another, only an expert about Einstein AND his physics - like Abraham Pais - is qualified to compile a "concordance." (It would help that this expert also knew Einstein personally, though this is perhaps not necessary.)
   
   This book is thus not the real thing - but surely a handy enough substitute. Its merits still far outweigh its imperfections. Here in one handy volume you can find Einstein's views on wide range of subjects, from politics to women to pipesmoking to Germans and Jews and of course physics. Not all of us will agree with everything he said. But in my opinion, Einstein's insights in philosophy, the scientific method, and music are devastatingly penetrating. And this book gives a fair and representative sample of these. (For those of you who are really interested in Einstein's "darker side," look for his tough opinions on Germans. For me, Einstein's bitter views of Germans come closest to showing his so-called "darker" side. Close but not quite though. Given all those dumb things Germans did in his lifetime, who can blame him?)
   
   Two indexes, one for subjects and another for key words, make this book particularly user-friendly.
   
   Calaprice has done Einstein admirers like myself a fine service. And the timing of this edition is good. Not only is 2005 the 100th anniversary of Special Relativity (1905), but April 18, 2005 is also the 50th anniversary of Einstein's death.



2. I have long loved quotes and especially quotes from Einstein, becaues like many great men, he did not think solely in one area on science. He thought greatly about many things. that doesn't mean that he was a perfect man. Far from it. He had major problems with personal relationships, was lacking in parenting skills, was very often not a great husband. Yet he tried to his utmost to use his immense intelligence to the good of mankind. I think he found it easier to deal with humans on a group basis, rather than an individual one. That does not mean that he did not leave an immense area of thought from which we can learn and put into use in our own lives.
   
   Calaprice does a great job of sorting through the many quotes that were attributed to Einstein, but were not actually his. HOw best to get your ideas into print than to state they were words from the premier physicist and statesman of his time. I've seen some I often wondered about and shall have to change the way my mind memorized these statements (they are still often quite good statements).
   
   It does not surprise me to see how greatly, especially in areas such as religion that Einstein changed his views: especially in organized religion. But his basics remained the same. That man and woman can work in science and other fields to achieve greatness, and that greatness can be used for good or for evil. As with the discovery of fission of the atom, it is evident that we decide our own fate, and that that decision is made on an individual basis.
   
   Sometimes, when I am overwhelmed with work, or just life in general, I like to go get this quote book and randomly read through Einstein's thinking process. I don't always agree with, but he always makes me think. I cannot think of a better book to get on this anniversery of his life and death.
   
   Karen Sadler,
   Science Education,
   University of Pittsburgh,
   Chemistry,
   CCAC



3. One more delightful collection. Einstein and Alan Greenspan (The Age of Turbulence) share some delightful,common attrubutes.

5 comments about Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel (Great Discoveries).

1. The author, Rebecca Goldstein, appears to be one of those authors who feels it necessary to use obscure words, phrasing, and technical language to impress her readers. Although I am a well-read professional person, I found it necessary to refer to my dictionary far more than I ever have before, to the point that it was difficult to maintain a smooth flow of understanding. I was struck not only by the topical tangents used to fill space, but by the incredible overuse of fabricated terminology, much of it based on the prefix "meta-".
   Unfortunately the book's style obscures the story of Godel and his theorems. Perhaps time will heal my wounds and I'll be able to find a more coherent, lucid treatment of this mathematical icon's work.



2. Probably a better choice for most of us (including me) to read first, which I am glad I did. I was expecting a mathematical book about Goedel's incompleteness theorem, but this is really a biography of Kurt Goedel [Note: 'oe' is the standard substitute for an umlauted 'o' when one doesn't have the option of using the latter, which this text box doesn't provide.]
   
   Professor Goldstein does provide a simplified explanation of Goedel's incompleteness theorems (there are 2), and a reference to Godel's Proof, by Nagel, Newman, and Hofstadter, which she cites as a fuller presentation of the theorems themselves. Professor Goldstein's presentation of the theorems was, for me, a very helpful introduction which I am very glad to have read. It gives the reader a broad, but shallow overview of the forest, which should keep the reader from getting lost among the trees when tackling the actual proof, if s/he even chooses to do so, and it gives sufficient understanding to satisfy probably the great majority of us.
   
   Also, the biography of Goedel is interesting in itself and well worth reading.
   
   Read this enjoyable and well-written book first, then decide whether you want to tackle Nagel, Newman, and Hofstadter. If you do, you will be better prepared for it.
   
   watziznaym@gmail.com



3. Among the interesting byproducts of feminism and the admission, commencing in 1970, of women to places like Princeton are overall more interesting and "cultured" readings of analytic philosophy and mathematics, before that male ghettos.
   
   Goldstein, who studied logic and philosophy at Princeton (and who used vignettes from her experience in "The Mind-Body Problem", a novel) met Goedel, and understands the technical details of his work thoroughly. She does a better job, in fact, than Ernest Nagel did in 1968 because she makes emotional connections that exist in mathematical work but which mathematicians often don't like to talk about.
   
   Nagel did say something about Goedel's "intellectual symphony", but Goldstein, unlike Goedel, did deeper research into Goedel's biography, snooping for example around the Mercer County courthouse for records of his US citizenship application.
   
   She reveals the plight of the hyper-intelligent and why we have tenure, since guys like Kurt Goedel and John "A Beautiful Mind" Nash are snuffed out in the so-called "real world": once Einstein passed on, Goedel, we learn, had nobody to talk to.
   
   Interestingly, we get no Pop-feminist nonsense and boo-hoo-ing about Goedel's wife and her loneliness, having married a truly weird individual. Mature women know today what my Mom knew: you make your bed and you lie in it, and any marriage is a unique contract. Gretel Karplus, Adorno's wife, was far more intelligent than Mrs. Goedel but she buried the possibility of being an Arendt or a Weil in service to Teddy and was shattered by his unexpected death. Likewise, Goedel's wife seems to have gotten what she wanted and what many women would kill for: a quiet husband and a house on Linden Lane.
   
   Goldstein's "philosophy of mathematics" is nuanced. Unlike some feminist philosophers she makes no attempt to reduce the subject-matter to some sort of Freudianism. At the same time, she knows that "what we think about when we think about math" comes as do other inputs: by way of meat.
   
   This is an *aufhebung* worthy in its own workyday way of an Aristotle or an Aquinas, because a sharper bifurcation and reification renders lifeless the terms on either side of the cut. Just as Aristotle realized that there are Forms but always instantiated, and just as Aquinas applied this insight to religion, Goldstein manages to hold together the apparently opposing thoughts, that mathematical realities are independent of our thought...but have no existence *that we know of* outside our embodied thought. They are the closest thing we have to noumena manifesting as phenomena.
   
   As a dialectical thinker, Rebecca Goldstein knows how negation works in embodied space. By trying to make themselves over into things, "thinking machines", the Positivists transformed themselves, as she shows, from a sought objectivity into its reverse; this was also C. S. Lewis' insight, in his novel That Hideous Strength, in which the Logical Positivists of Belbury turn out to be merely Satanists, of a sort, in a word, chumps who bow down to wood and stone, having emptied themselves of the capacity for thought through a nihilistic metaphysics.
   
   The problem with this gesture is that (as Adorno pointed out), the categories themselves are in motion so that at the end all we "know" is that:
   
   (1) Logical Positivism imprisoned the scientific subject within a barrage of sense-data, without explaining how sense data organizes itself.
   
   (2) Formalism in mathematics simply denies that anything exists outside a formal system in a relationship of containing. Fearful of either benign or else vicious circles, it refuses to do mathematical philosophy.
   
   (2) First rate minds (Goedel and Wittgenstein) wanted no part of this malarkey.
   
   As the Austrian philosopher Gustav Bergmann pointed out, Logical Postivism's denial was a perverse sort of metaphysics. In the middle of its denial, Goedel upped the ante by discovering that the paradox of the Liar has a metaphysical implication as regards the capacities of formal systems, versus that of human beings. Goedel stood outside the machine (the formal system) and derived an indirect existence proof of truths unprovable within the machine, such that if they were incorporated as axioms, new unprovable truths would appear, and this is why today we almost never anthropomorphise computers: whereas the pronoun for a ship was she, the pronoun for computer is it (and, the adjectives are not printable).
   
   Parenthetically, I was glad to see Goldstein mention Gustav Bergmann, a relatively minor member of the Vienna Circle, since he'd self-marginalized by moving to the Midwest, that black hole, and teaching at the University of Iowa. Bergmann gave a talk at my university in which he pronounced a Goedelian commitment to the continued existence of ontology and its truth, saying he'd die in a ditch to defend it. At this time, in 1970, Goedel was invisible and people were unaware that he felt and thought pretty much the same as Bergmann.
   
   Does Goedel's proof have metaphysical import? Goldstein rejects what she calls the postmodern interpretation, which she re-presents as the argument that (1) mathematics is undecidable ergo (or, as First Gravedigger says in Hamlet, argal) (2) there is no "truth", only "stories".
   
   Of course, neither Derrida nor my fat pal Adorno make this argument. Indeed, there's quite a lot of metaphysical speculation and conviction in Derrida; for example, arche-writing is an ontological analysis of meaning which, ontologically and Kantian-metaphysically rejects doing ontology with received categories of writing and speech. Derrida was merely unconvinced that the only reine vernunft on tap is mathematically expressible as opposed to using natural language.
   
   But this is a minor aporia on Goldstein's part, caused I think by the fact that during her studies at Princeton, "deconstruction" was fashionable and usable in a sloppy way unlike mathematics.
   
   There are many popular books on mathematics that overstress fascinating and sexy details about the biological mathematicians. While the current rage for this, sparked by the movie A Beautiful Mind, might help to get math geeks laid, a mathematical biography should balance the math and the meat, and even more than Sylvia Nasar's book eponymous to the movie, Incompleteness does this.



4. Goldstein, does a masterful job describing the life and the work of the greatest logician to ever live. Ironically the genius and logical perfection exuded by Gödel is in the end matched by the equilibrium of the universe- he becomes completely illogical and insane.
   
   Goldstein writes with a piercing passion and pointed savvy that I envy. He deep appreciation for the mind of the great logician bleeds all the way through the entire read. Gödel's incompleteness theorem took formalistic logic and arithmetic in a time when it was getting ready to announce its supreme dominance and perfection to the world and turned it on its head. Gödel proved that logic and arithmetic will forever be incomplete within themselves. In other words, logic and arithmetic will never take the place of human reasoning or mathematical truth. Man is not machine.
   
   This all started with Russell's paradox which is the proposition
   
   This sentence is false.
   
   Known as the liar's paradox, Russell's paradox has a very strange quality about it. The "false" part applies to the whole sentence and its subject simultaneously. Thus if you seek to give the sentence a true or false value we run into immediate problems.
   
   Is the proposition is false then it cant be false within itself and so it isn't false it must be true. This means that it is self contradictory.
   
   But then again if the proposition is true then it isn't' false; another contradiction. Russell's paradox wins no matter what. There is something very special about negations indeed.
   
   
   This book is monumental not simply because Goldstein can write like a demon on a mission but because Gödel's life and accomplishment is timeless. His theorem is crystal clear and logically flawless-- one of it's, if not "the" strangest and most ironically paradoxical qualities.
   
   If you have any interest in philosophy at all- read this book. Its a must. Not.



5. This book centers on the irony that Gödel's own philosophical interpretation of his work (which indeed may have driven his efforts to begin with) was in complete opposition to how it was most commonly interpreted by others.
   
   Gödel was a Platonist, believing that the mind was able to make contact with absolute mathematical reality. Given that he was an attending member of the Vienna circle in the 1920's, which was the locus of logical positivism, many assumed he was of like mind, believing there was no truth beyond what man could empirically discover. Gödel's extreme reluctance to speak or write on his views helped make this misunderstanding possible. Indeed, the incompleteness theorems have often been co-opted by sloppy post-modernists (along with relativity theory and the uncertainty principle) in making the case for truth relativism. They would focus on the conclusion that we can't construct formal systems (large enough to at least encompass arithmetic) which are both complete and provably consistent and treat this as revealing a limitation in our ability to reach absolute truth. Gödel believed the actual lesson was that the human mind can and does perceive truth beyond the capability of formal systems (equivalently, algorithmic computing machines).
   
   This book does a nice job in the treatment of the ideas as well as the biography.

5 comments about Euler: The Master of Us All (Dolciani Mathematical Expositions, No 22) (Dolciani Mathematical Expositions).

1. " Analysis incarnate " , no other more suitable words probably can describe the incomparable power of Euler, as his contemparies called him. Concerning the usual style of Dunham to write this stimulating book, other readers have made many comments and I think there is no need to repeat that. What I want is that Dunham to write another book, perhaps volume 2,3 etc and also write a thorough biography of Euler, one the greatest mathematicians in the history. ( To me, for mathematical ability, his should be at the same rank with Newton, Archaemedes, and Gauss, even Einstein concerning the mathematical and theroetical aspect, is below par compared with Euler )



2. With the publication of this, his third book, Dunham has once more shown himself to be a master himself of mathematical explanation. Unlike his previous two books, The Mathematical Universe and Journey Through Genius, which covered results by a variety of mathematicians, this book focuses on selected results that sprang from the remarkable mind of Leonard Euler, one of the most prolific and important mathematicians of all time. What sets Euler apart is not only the vast quantity of his output (the publication of his collected works, the Opera Omnia, spans six dozen volumes, or over 25,000 pages in all!), but also the breadth and originality of his work. Not only did Euler contribute to a wide array of mathematical fields -- from number theory to complex analysis to geometry -- but in many cases, he was the founder of those fields. For example, Euler invented the field of analytical number theory, and he was the first mathematician to recognize the importance of and to discover the important properties of complex numbers.

   This book in many ways resembles Dunham's Journey Through Genius. As in that book, Dunham has selected 15 or so theorems to present in detail, and he makes an effort to keep the proofs similar in spirit to the original proofs. Although the proofs are complete and the book is full of equations, they are accessible to anyone with a high school level of mathematics education. But in addition to the proofs, Dunham also provides historical context, as well as commentary on how later mathematicians used and improved upon Euler's work. For example, we learn that Euler began to loose the sight in his right eye at the age of 32, and that despite his virtual blindness by the age of 65, he continued his prolific rate of output until his death at age 84.

   The book's title is taken from a quote by Laplace, who said, ``Read Euler, read Euler. He is the master of us all.'' Indeed, if you have any interest in mathematics, you will almost certainly find yourself in complete agreement with Laplace's sentiments by the time you finish reading this wonderful book. ...




3. I really enjoyed reading this book that describes some background on Euler and his work. It is written in an informal style, so for people with a math background it reads like a novel.

   The book is not suitable for people who want to learn more about the person Euler, but do not have a math background, because 75% of the book is about real math (equations). So if you don't enjoy reading equations, do not buy the book.

   Summary: as enjoyable as the other Dunham books, although a bit more expensive (but still worth the money).




4. Once again, the Ivy League establishment has got it all wrong. They continue to perpetrate error in the historical record just as they do in the scientific record with that preposterous theory of evolution.
   
   First of all, Euler should not be credited with topology. Descartes had formulated, before Euler was born, the key topological equation F + V - E = 2.
   
   The Greeks attached mystical significance to the five platonic solids. So much so, Euclid included the five regular solids in book 13 of his Elements as if it were the culimination of his work, as if the three-dimensionality were a culimination of the two-dimensionality of the earlier books.
   
   These "regular" solids are three-dimensional objects: namely, the Tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. They are "regular" because, on each, the faces are congruent. Furthermore, the face angles are equal. For example, a cube's faces are all the same size.
   
   If we count the faces on the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron respectively, we get 4, 6, 8, 12, 20 respectively.
   
   If we count the vertices of each respectively, we get 4, 8, 6, 20, 12.
   
   If we count the edges respectivley, we get 6, 12, 12, 30, 30.
   
   Now, create an array of the faces, vertices and edges:
   
   F:4 6 8 12 20
   V:4 8 6 20 12
   E:6 12 12 30 30
   
   Descartes noticed that F + V - E = 2. For example, 4 + 4 - 6 = 2. Or take the second column: 6 + 8 - 12 = 2. Descartes conjectured (as we all would) that this formula represents an invariant amongst all polyhedra.
   
   Descartes died in 1650 A.D. when he was poisoned by some jealous Swede. Euler was born in 1707 A.D., some time after Descartes's death. Liebnitz had translated this work of Descartes which shows F + V - E = 2. And Euler is known to have read all of these Liebnitz manuscripts at the Hanover archives.
   
   Why scholars persist in giving Euler credit for this equation boggles my imaginatino unless their reading is limited. If it is limited, then appellation of scholar for such men is unwarranted.
   
   Pictures of the five platonic regular solids can be seen in Daud Sutton's little book "Platonic and Archimedian Solids."



5. Don't be fooled by the brevity or put off by the high price of this book - it's worth its weight in gold. If you have a university level math degree and you want to do proofs again, this book is for you. I have been able to understand everything in the book as a result of Prof. Dunham's amazing ability to explain things. I did have to resort to the Internet on occasion to brush up on some trigonometry and calculus. I have been reading it slowly for 2 years now and I'm only half way through - sometimes I pull it out when I need some brain exercise. If you like math, you will like this book.

5 comments about Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis.

1. Ever since "Tinkering with Eden," I have been eagerly awaiting Kim Todd's next book, and, with "Chrysalis," she does not disappoint. Anyone who enjoys a good biography should read this book - and for that reason, it's a great book to give as a gift. The topic sounds obscure, but Todd's vivid prose brings her remarkable subject to life. Highly recommended!



2. Today Maria Merian is mostly known for her lovely butterfly prints, but back in 1699 she sailed from Amsterdam to South America on an expedition to study metamorphosis - a rare journey for any naturalist of the times, much less a woman over fifty - and spent two years in the tropical jungle seeking out caterpillars and studying butterflies. Her accomplishments were largely dismissed and forgotten but come to life here in a gorgeous biography surveying her life and achievements.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. You may have seen the artwork of Maria Sibylla Merian, as it is a staple for pretty but accurate pictures of butterflies, caterpillars, moths, and flowers, and can be found on china or stationery. She was more than a painter or engraver, though. Her life was unique. She had artistic talent, but she was also a keen scientific observer, who advanced the study of insects immeasurably. She was a teenaged bride who left her husband who divorced her, and she had to care for their two children. She was so enthralled with the study of moths and butterflies that at age 52 she traveled to a mysterious and largely unknown land to see more of them, and to bring back pictures and scientific descriptions of their behavior. And she did this more than three centuries ago. _Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis_ (Harcourt) by Kim Todd is a thoughtful examination of what we can know about Merian's life from the few personal documents that remain about her, and a proper reevaluation of her place in the world's scientific effort. It also is a fine resource about the biological controversies that were brewing in the seventeenth century, controversies that had to be settled in order for a basic understanding of insect life to take hold.
   
   Merian was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1647. She could not have a formal apprenticeship like a male artist in training, and she could not even paint in oils, because the rules of the guild forbade women from doing so. She was, however, able to use watercolors and engraving with beauty and utility to bring her objects of study almost to life upon the page. When Merian studied or painted insects, she included what foods they ate, and how they proceeded from egg to larva to pupa and to the adult, and it was all part of her contribution to science and to the branch that later was to be known as ecology. In doing so, she was working against scientific currents of the time, since it was held that insects could spontaneously generate from rotting meat, dew, or wool. She also was taking a risk in showing interest in possibly satanic insects, especially since she kept them alive, fed them, and kept their cocoons in her kitchen. Women were accused of witchcraft for less. Dutch curiosity cabinets did contain spectacular specimens from the colony of Surinam, but Merian wanted to see the insects as they lived, and used the money she made from her books and her paintings to finance her two-year trip there. She relied on the natives to tell her about the plants and their uses, and she got the first rudimentary understandings of the rainforest as a complex ecosystem; she observed, for instance, that butterflies at the tops of the trees were different from the ones nearer the ground.
   
   Merian left Surinam after only two years because of illness, probably malaria. After she returned to the Netherlands, she published _Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium_ in 1705, full of pictures and descriptions of the colorful insects she had seen on her travel. The beauty of the pictures was praised, but only succeeding generations could appreciate the ecological innovations of her insect portraits. Her reputation suffered after her death; if she were discussed at all, it was to ridicule her picture of a spider capturing a hummingbird. After all, she had no formal education, she accepted the reports of natives who lived among the insects she depicted, and she was a woman. It was only in the twentieth century that her reputation was restored, not just as an artist but as a scientist who insisted on direct observation of the insects she described, and who realized how their cycles linked within a larger natural system. Todd's book has to have a great deal of speculation in it; she includes many sentences beginning with "perhaps" or "probably". This is because the sources are scant. There are Merian's books and paintings, of course, but beyond that are a couple of her legal documents and less than twenty letters she wrote. Nonetheless, Merian's contributions to biology were considerable, and Todd's well-illustrated and thoughtful book helps in the restoration of her reputation.



4. [...]
   
   Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, a nonfiction book by Missoula writer Kim Todd, sounds like a Victorian adventure novel: a fifty-two-year-old woman abandons her husband and European continent to study the metamorphosis of caterpillars in Surinam. But this was before the Victorians. In 1699, more than a century before Darwin, sixty-five years after Galileo's prosecution, and a time when witch hunts were part of the recent past, Maria Sibylla Merian embarked on a journey of scientific discovery in the dangerous New World with only her daughter for company. While the male colonists grew sugar cane on their plantations, Merian's slaves and servants helped her locate insects, reptiles, and plants for her to study and depict in her captivating watercolors. She trusted the natives' knowledge to assist her research, something that would be used against her reputation in the decades after her death.
   
   By the time Merian stepped on that boat to Surinam, she was a mother of two, had published two books about the metamorphosis of caterpillars in her native Germany, and spent five years living with a Pietist religious sect in a castle in Amsterdam, where she argued successfully for a separation from her husband using the sect's beliefs. At the time, a woman's husband was her legal representative and the court ordered numerous women to return to their abusive husbands. But after Merian's successful separation, she lived in Amsterdam and financially supported herself and her youngest daughter. Watercolors were her tool because "guild rules banned women from painting with oils." To get on that boat and to fund her scientific and artistic expedition, Merian sold her paintings and any unnecessary belongings.
   
   Kim Todd who received the PEN/Jerard Fund Award and the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing for her previous book, Tinkering with Eden, vividly describes the cultural, religious, and political time Merian lived in, as well as her artwork and scientific contributions, without overwhelming the reader. Todd also introduces other fascinating, accomplished women of the seventeenth century, and the new, exciting time of natural philosophers (the term scientist hadn't been created yet, neither had biology, ecology, or any of the other -ologies). Spontaneous generation, the idea that creatures could be born from non-living sources, was a common belief during Merian's time. Todd includes some of the recipes. My favorite is:
   
   To get a bee -
   Find a sunny space roofed with tile
   Beat a three year old bull to death
   Put poplar and willow branches under the body
   Cover it with thyme and serpellium
   The bees will emerge
   
   In language as colorful as Merian's paintings, Todd also describes the intricacies of metamorphosis and some of the insects that befuddled Merian and other natural philosophers. Through Todd's gripping prose, I became excited about the tricky metamorphosis of the large blue butterfly (Maculinea arion). Trust me, that's an accomplishment. If you don't believe insects and metamorphosis are interesting, you will feel differently after this book. To experience Merian's life and what happened to her work and reputation after her death, you will need, and want, to read Chrysalis. One hint: Peter the Great is involved.



5. What possesses a European woman to pack up her life and move across the ocean to study the natural world? Did I mention that it was 1699?
   
   Chrysalis tells the story of Maria Sibylla Merian, a woman living in the late 1600s and early 1700s, who is fascinated by the process in which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. She cultivates them as one might cultivate roses. More, she studies them in their own habitat. But how did she do it in a time when women were subject to their men, when witch trials were the norm, and dabbling in insect life was more than suspect?
   
   But Chrysalis is more than a biography. It is a study in entomology. What is the process from caterpillar to butterfly? And why do the chrysalises sometimes produce flies rather than butterflies? Remember this is the time of "spontaneous generation" when scientists thought frogs came from rain and meat produced flies.
   
   Chrysalis is more than entomology. It is religious history. What made the Pietist sects split off from the Lutheran church? What was the call of the Labidists for Merian? And how did she slide by the rules of stripping off worldly trappings in order to continue to paint and study?
   
   And still that is not all. There is her study across the ocean in Surinam. Her return. Her art. The study of microbiology with the invention of the microscope. This book is a comprehensive study of much that was going on in the world. It is fascinating and the art is beautiful. If I have any complaint, it is that the author references pieces that aren't pictured in the book and when the pieces are pictured, there is nothing to note that. I spent a lot of time flipping to the grouped photos in an often fruitless search.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: This is an overall fascinating book that could be improved by better referencing and picturing of the art.

5 comments about Making the Mummies Dance : Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1. This treasure was passed to me by a gallery owner who said I would love it and she was right. Hoving gives you just the right amount of background to ensnare you in Art politics and society without overdoing it and boring the reader who isn't that into art. The book is peppered with anecdotes about the glitterati of the New York and international art/high society scene that ends up having the tone of Gore Vidal but on a subject he probably would never touch.



2. This lively look at the life and work of a director of a world-class art museum not only educates and entertains, it shocks. The mummies do, indeed, dance as Thomas Hoving takes on the Park Service to expand the museum, wiggles around UNESCO and fights a host of governments for his favorite works of art, plays one collection against another, trades, deals and bluffs his way toward making the Metropolitan Museum of Art what it is today.

   Hoving has a steam-roller personality, the energy of nuclear fission and no small amount of self-confidence. His educational background -- Princeton and an archeological expedition or two in Europe -- isn't as impressive as you'd expect, but he makes up any shortcomings with old-fashioned chutzpah.

   After some experience in minor jobs and a city job with the Parks Department, he's told he may be selected as director of the Metropolitan so he looks the place over and makes some notes: "The museum needs reform. Sprucing up. Dynamics. Electricity. The place is moribund. Gray. It's dying. The morale of staff is low. The energy seems to have vanished. You've been missing all the fine exhibits...."

   This book shows how MOMA gets from where it was then to what it is now -- the politics, infighting, backbiting, sneaking, smuggling and downright stealing it takes to make a museum one of the finest in the world. It's also a fairly realistic look at the glittering personalities and the haute monde of the New York City of a few decades ago.

   This is a rousing tale that should hold the interest of any reader, art lover or no. Never mind that Hoving doesn't hesitate to toot his own horn. This is, after all, his book. Even taking the stories with a massive grain of salt, they're always riveting and vastly amusing. No one will ever say of Thomas Hoving that he has no opinion on the people and the issues of the art world or that he hesitates to express them.

   I can't imagine anyone not being fascinated by this marvelous picture of the fabulous and often sham world of art museums and the people who support them and run them.




3. This is a refreshing book, about the author's personal quest to transform the Metropolitan Museum of Art of N.Y., during his tenure as director of the museum (1967-1977).
   When Hoving arrived as Director, he assessed the Met as a disorganized institution, a collection of collections, located in a mixture of buildings and architectures that gave "the impression of something worse than incomplete; it seemed forgotten and forlorn...." At the time Hoving was offered the post, he was commissioner of Parks, under the tenure of Mayor John Lindsay, whose mayoral campaign the author had joined with a leave of absence from... the Met, where, after receiving his Ph.D. in Art from Princeton University, he went from assistant curator to curator of the Medieval Department and the Cloisters. And indeed, it was Lindsay, when told the news about the directorship, who said: "...have you considered the boredom? Seems to me the place is dead. But, Hoving, you'll make the mummies dance." Hence the title of the book.
   The story is a fascinating, at times egotistical and gossipy account of what it took to revolutionize an institution like the Met. From the seduction of the patrons and trustees, such as Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Annenberg, Brooke Astor, Robert Lehman, to the development of a network of experts, smugglers and famous collectors, Hoving takes us on a journey that reveals a lot about the inner workings of power, expertise and glamour, in the art world.
   At the end, we are led to believe Hoving's final insight about his tenure:
   "With the creative energy of the Trustees who had been on my side and the stuff who supported me, the most sweeping revolution in the history of art museums had taken place. The Met, once an elitist, stiff, gray, and slightly moribund entity, came alive. THE MUMMIES DID DANCE......"



4. This is a great book for reading and as a resource guide book. Makes you feel like your there



5. This book appeals to a select audience. Those who enjoy reading about the great chase for the treasures of the world. Treasures that wars have been fought over. Those who enjoy reading about the super-rich and their foibles. Those who enjoy reading about the intrigues and back stabbings in elite organizations (this book makes The Apprentice look like a pillow fight). And finally those who enjoy reading about a man's all consuming ambition to succeed and yet through it all remain passionate about great art. If any of the above is your cub of tea then you are going to love this. I absolutely recommend his later book 'False Impressions'. And yes, the author spares no punches in his analysis of alot of famous people.