5 comments about Men of Science Men of God: Great Scientists of the Past Who Believed the Bible.

1. This book, written by Henry Morris and Chuckie Darwin, gives new perspective of creationism. The science of intelligent design shows the blueprint used by an "intelligent designer" to create the universe. Periodically, the creatures designed, both evolved and changed. Monkey may or may not have evolved into man. But various creatures have changed as God planned they would. God can make these plans, because ... well, ... He is God!



2. Some qualifications for opining to start. I have read this book and I am a public school teacher with 9 years of teaching elementary school. I have a BA in Psychology and a M Ed.
   
   This is a great little book. It is important that we understand the beliefs of the scientists as well as their backgrounds. Contrary to popular opinion, scientists aren't devoid of beliefs and everyone's beliefs influence their perspectives. This can be readily seen by perusing these reviews. Our beliefs also determine our actions which makes being certain of their veracity all the more important as they will dictate the course of our lives and our destiny.
   
   These scientists stand head and shoulders above many of their peers. It is important for all of us to understand what they believed and why they chose those beliefs.
   
   I highly recommend this book and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did, and do every time I read it. It is a short, interesting, and fun read. Bon appetit!



3. Wonderful, fascinating, little-known information lies in this book! Evolutionists would have society think religion (and Christianity specifically) has only ever hindered science, yet this book shows that the best founders of our modern scientific disciplines were motivated to explore the world explicitly because of their faith in God.
   
   These men were not Christian out of the cultural norms of their respective societies, these men sincerely had a zealous faith that far exceeded their peers in their day.
   
   This books forever terminates the image of anti-scientific, Christian knuckle-draggers; a must-read.



4. The late Henry Morris, a creationist with no background in biology or history (his degree is in hydraulic engineering), levels false implications of evolution with evils (or Morris's preceived evils). This book is nothing more than a thinly veiled attack on the science of evolutionary biology using long dead mens' faith as some kind of attempt to place Christianity on a pedestal (funny how he didn't get into other faiths, as if science cares if someone is Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or what have you). The bulk of it is something a middle school student could have done as a report; as for accuracy I would suggest reading biographies by actual historians. Someone who is willing to lie about evolution (e.g., Henry Morris) should not be taken seriously in any scholarly field that he is not formally trained in.



5. I found this book very interesting and encouraging--these are the fathers of science--the men who pioneered our scientific method and thought. It was encouraging to see them as recognizing the role of God in themselves and their work.

5 comments about The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist.

1. Neil de Grasse Tyson's writing style is unpretentious and reads like a letter from a good friend. It reaches a wide audience from the high school student interested in astronomy to the astrophysist. It is easy to understand and appreciate, even if you don't have a degree in astrophysics. Upon completion of this book you will have gained a wealth of knowledge and a basic understanding of astronomy. This book is a great find for anyone intersted in learning about the how's and why's of the stars, solar system and the universe. The book is jam packed with interesting information presented to you as an autobiography rather than a text book, which makes it very easy to read and very enjoyable. I would give it more stars if I could.



2. The sky is not the limit is a novel that goes deep into the heart of the author, Neil de Grasse Tyson, who started out at a young age shooting for his dream to become an astrophysicist. This book gives the reader a mental view of the objects surrounding us both in space and on earth. Throughout Neil's life he has worked hard pursuing his passion in astrophysics.
   I enjoyed this book because it is scientific and also teaches lessons of life that you may not otherwise encounter. I also enjoyed the comedy in his statements. I have learned that if I want to become a scientist like Neil, then I must start training at a young age. This book has opened up my eyes to become aware of many things that I did not notice before.



3. I ordered this book after reading Tyson's wonderful "Death by Black Hole" without knowing it was an autobiography.
   
   Overall, I enjoyed learning about Tyson's life path from a childhood interest in astronomy to becoming an acclaimed astrophysicist. Included are tales of how being black adversely influenced several life experiences. Fair enough. On the flip side, I wouldn't be too surprised if some of his extraordinary opportunities were due in part to his ethnicity. That said, Tyson is a true original, and his books are well worth reading.



4. I've been a fan of Dr.Tyson for a long time. I expected to enjoy this book and was not disappointed. Particularly enjoyable was his recap of his experience as a prospective juror. He was removed from the jury pool for being, well, too intelligent. It seems like the lawyer was concerned he might be too objective. My only quibble with the book is that he whines too much about racism. Notwithstanding this, I highly recommend The Sky is Not the Limit.



5. Astronomy is every physicist's first infatuation; which makes "The Sky Is Not the Limit" by Neil deGrasse Tyson somewhat of a love story. But this book is more about him than the object of his affection. It is a rewarding read because it is both general and specific. It provides insight into how all physicists think, while revealing much that is unique to the author. Like him, we physicists usually knew what we wanted at an early age and we share many of his youthful experiences (monthly pilgrimages to the Hayden Planetarium, high school nights spent with a six inch telescope). Despite our high coefficient of nerdiness, we were pretty average kids. The author, however, is not your average scientist. He writes and speaks much better than most of us. He is more famous than most of us. And, he is blacker than most of us. His reflections on being a highly educated minority in a world uncomfortable with both characteristics could constitute another fascinating book.
   
   Dr. Tyson is a worthy successor to the late Carl Sagan who was both a public educator and an advisor to the government on technical issues. The book discusses the author's experiences in both these roles. It also includes his heartbreaking account of witnessing, and inadvertently participating in, the 9/11 tragedy.
   
   Dr. Tyson relates how one can become totally absorbed in pages of equations. Indeed, if astronomy is a physicist's first infatuation, Maxwell's equations are their first true love. The author clearly wants to communicate to his readers the beauty and majesty of these equations, but wistfully acknowledges that impossibility.
   
   After a just-for-fun chapter on the fate of the universe, the book ends with his views on religion, where he succinctly, and thoroughly, covers a topic that has generated countless tomes.

5 comments about Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries) (Great Discoveries).

1. The title is both descriptive, and very apt, for it sums up the story of this remarkable lady in two words. Barbara Goldsmith gets under the façade of Marie Curie, and gives some thoughtful insights into her life, and perhaps the reasons she worked in the way that she did. For, make no mistake, here was a very purposeful, driven lady.
   
   Most would know Curie as a scientist, the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize (in 1903, jointly with her husband and Henri Becquerel) but also one of very few to have been awarded this accolade twice. Her second award was an individual award (after the untimely death of Pierre), announced just before a scandal broke in France concerning her relationship with another in the field of radioactivity. Goldsmith gives a more rounded picture than the usual view, concentrating both on her achievements, and her short-comings.
   
   After her rise to prominence with the isolation of radium and polonium (named in honour of her homeland and beloved Poland), Curie was there to be shot at. She was successful, and she was a woman. Society delights in bringing such individuals down, but Curie's behaviour would have attracted scant attention in a man. Goldsmith goes some way to disentangling the woman from the myth, which was perversely a myth that Marie Curie deliberately fostered.
   
   Curie is remembered for radium, but Goldsmith also highlights her contribution to the development of x-ray technology, particularly mobile x-ray in the First World War. She was also a noted peace activist, and a campaigner for women's rights, and is held aloft as an inspiration to women the world over. But Curie was intensely driven, at the expense of both her family, and those she worked with. A reader is also tempted to ask if Curie was aware of the dangers of radiation exposure, and if she was, would she have acted in the same way. Goldsmith does not ask this question directly, but leads readers to ask it for themselves. I would postulate that she would have acted in the same way, and was aware of some of the dangers, and still acted as she did.
   
   Curie achieved remarkably results in spite of the fact that she was a woman. She had continually to overcome prejudice because of her ethnicity or gender. Goldsmith convinces me that it was not easy to work with this woman, or have her as a mother. Part of her legacy is that the elder of her two daughters was the second woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Even though this was after Marie Curie's death, Goldsmith intimates that she would not have been surprised or pleased. She would have expected it!
   
   Obsessive. Yes. Genius. Yes. That sums up Marie Curie very well
   
   Peter Morgan (morganp@supanet.com)



2. I read this book for background on Marie Curie because I'm working on a project related to her - this book far surpassed my expectations. It was engaging, informative, and a great story.



3. Growing up, I hung a picture of Marie Curie along with those of other scientists on a wall in our living room. Until I picked up this book, I was only briefly aware of her early struggles, nobel prizes and her scientific contributions. Like for many others, she has been my role model and inspired me to dream big and overcome many socio-economic hurdles.
   
   With this book, I have rediscovered some of the Marie Curie I knew as a child, some images of Marie Curie as an ideal career woman have been shattered but I have been able to perceive the pieces of Marie Curie that I can choose to be or not be in my remaining life. This book is much more than a chronicle of one scientist's life- you will read about Marie's jealousy and meanness towards another leading woman scientist of her time, Lise Meitner, you will perhaps wonder whether everyone who has ever won the Nobel Prize deserved it and also whether some who did not ever win actually deserve it more. The craze and myth that came to surround Radium at that time will sound all too familiar for those keeping up with new technologies of our time.
   
   This is a great book for everyone (wo/man, non-/scientist) who has ever been curious about Marie Curie and the people behind the evolving story of particle physics at that time.



4. This is one of the most wonderful biographies I've ever read. It is not a dry listing of dates but rather a tender telling of the lives of the Curies. I highly recommend it.



5. The life of the Curie was incredible. Her deep passion to her work and alinating herself from life and pain was breathtaking.

5 comments about The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How To Build an Atomic Bomb.

1. - for anyone seriously interested in our nuclear heritage, weaponeering, or the NWEPS program. Gives INCREDIBLE insight as to the minds and directions these young physicists were going.

   This book is a must-read. Simple, concise, straightforward technically. You gotta read it, 'nuff said.




2. Excellent book, it takes a bit to stick with it, but the modern day excerpts/perspectives threaded into the book give it a good historical perspective. This is a good combo to go together with Richard Rhodes "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "Dark Sun".



3. This is a truly exciting book for people with the desire to understand bomb physics. This book consists out of the original lecture notes from a series of seminars given in 1943 to the bomb scientists at the start of the Manhattan Project. These lecture notes are clearly annotated so that a layman can understand the bomb. Although the book discusses mainly the knowledge of 1943, the clear annotations of the author comments also on the advances since 1943.

   In this book you will learn to calculate the energy of an atomic bomb after already 5 pages using only one simple physical law (no, not Einstein!). When you are halfway in the book, you will understand the calculations of the critical mass.

   However to fully appreciate the book, you need to have a basic understanding of mathematics and physics. (it would be nice if you know what a differential equation is.)

   The book also contains several funny anekdotes which make it a truly astonishing reading.




4. IANAP (I Am Not A Physicist), but the son of one who worked in Los Alamos some time after WWII ... definitely recommend this for those not intimidated by some equations. There's lots here without the match, and the more of it you can appreciate the more the insights. Serber's comments add a lot of perspective.



5. This book gives a brief and highly technical summary of what was known about nuclear fission in 1942 and how to go about turning this knowledge into a "practical weapon". Great fun to read if you have an engineering or physics degree or similar background knowledge. The author has extensively annotated and updated the terse original lecture notes that were given to new arrivals at Los Alamos. Interestingly, the annotations now take up more space that the original notes. These annotations may help to make the subject accessible to a non-technical audience as they provide invaluable historical and technical background. Invaluable for anyone interested in science history and/or the Manhattan Project.

2 comments about Lost Worlds: Adventures in the Tropical Rainforest.

1. Most readers know Bruce Beehler for his field guide type of books, Birds of New Guinea, etc. This is a whole different book. Part adventure story, part field biology and conservation. You learn as much about the native people of the various forests visited as you do the flora and fauna. For anyone who is facinated by the world of birds, this is a must read. I've been a bird watcher and aviculturists for over 40 years and have an entire library of bird books. I'm very happy to add Lost Worlds to my collection.
   Dick S. Escondido, CA



2. For years I though 'A Naturalist in New Guinea" by Bruce Beehler could not be topped. But "Lost Worlds" has done just that. I have longed for a book that would serve as a tour of these magnificent areas by great ornithologists and not only in a field guide fashion. Beehler takes us through New Guinea and the forests of Panama and India in a frank and approachable manner making the experience seem very real. I felt like I was there. Having grown up in Panama and spent a lot of my life on Pipeline Road I felt instantly transported back there. I wish other great scientists of today would follow in Beehler's footsteps and relate their experiences in prose form and not only in field guide fashion. The positive effect on forest conservation and awareness could be furthered even more as these books could reach many audiences that may not otherwise be able to visit these places.Congratulations on an outstanding narrative.

1 comments about The Everything Einstein Book: From Matter and Energy to Space and Time, All You Need to Understand the m an and His Theories (Everything Series).

1. This is a very readable and enjoyable book about the great physicist. The easy-going but informative style is reminiscent of the "Dummies" series books which I'm a great fan of for their ability to impart a great deal of information painlessly and enjoyably. I learned many interesting things about Einstein the scientist and Einstein the man that I didn't know before, and I've read several other bio's of the great physicist. After providing some historical background on the scientific events that led up to Einstein's great discoveries, discussing the ideas of Ernst Mach, Helmholtz, Hertz, Planck and so on, the authors launch into a discussion of his most important contributions, which were the paper on the photoelectric effect, the special theory of relativity, and the general theory of relativity.

   There is such a wealth of information and detail about both Einstein's scientific ideas and his public and personal life that it's difficult to summarize it all, but I'd like to mention a few of the more interesting things that I learned. Einstein's role as scientist, cultural icon, humanitarian, father, public speaker, and legendary and mythic genius are all discussed.

   One interesting thing is that the book explodes one myth about Einstein, which is that he did poorly in the German gymnasium in everything but math and science. Actually he excelled in Latin and languages too, so contrary to the popular myth, he wasn't a total failure in the public schools. He did run into trouble with the form-master at the gym and graduated without a diploma, and in high school he was even less happy and threw fits so he could be declared mentally unstable by the family doctor so he could stay home from school. Despite this Einstein was reading Kant's ideas about epistemology and logic by the time he was 13. This also enabled him to avoid required military service. In college Einstein routinely skipped classes although he got caught up using his friend Marcel Grossman's notes. But Einstein still graduated at the bottom of his class.

   Einstein's increasing discomfort with the conclusions of quantum theory such as the famous uncertainty principle led him to try to disprove it in a famous paper he authored with the younger David Bohm (who only recently passed away). His opposition to the theory despite all the evidence once led Oppenheimer to say, "Einstein is cuckoo."

   In addition to his more well-known contributions, I didn't know that Einstein had collaborated with fellow physicist Leo Szilard on the invention of a new refridgerator pump. The idea for the pump came from a famous but tragic incident in which an entire Berlin family was killed when the pump leaked toxic gases into their home. Einstein and Szilard set out to develop a safer pump using magnetic fields and coils and sold two of their designs to the Electrolux Co. Eventually they would hold 45 patents for three different models of the home refridgeration pump. Einstein developed a new type of compass, a hearing aid, and had a patent for an auto-exposure camera.

   Einstein had more romantic dalliances that one might expect for such a cerebral man, and in some ways the most interesting part of the book, since I was already familiar with his scientific ideas from other books, was the section on what happened to his children and grandchildren. Hans Albert Einstein, his oldest son, became a civil engineer and was professor of civil engineering at U.C. Berkeley when he retired. He was an expert on the transportation of sediment by water and the process he developed is still in use today. Unlike the older son, the younger brother wasn't especially talented at math and science and prefered the humanities, but he suffered from depression and even schizophrenia his entire life, and after being looked after by his mother until she passed away, was placed in a mental institution where he lived the rest of his life. Lieserl, the daughter, is thought to have been put up for adoption since she was born before Einstein and Mileva were married because of the stigma of illegitimacy in those days. Although no-one really knows, she is thought to have died in childhood but nothing is really known of her life.

   Of Einstein's two grandchildren by Hans, Bernard is a physicist and author and wrote a biography of his famous grandfather. The grandaughter Evelyn is a psychologist and cult-deprogrammer. Evelyn has another dubious distinction, which is that after Thomas Harvey autopsied Einstein's brain to see what was so special about it, she received a portion of it. Apparently, it was transported across country by automobile and resulted in a book entitled Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain, by Michael Paterniti. I don't know if the book is any good but with a title like that I'll have to look it up and see. But I can certainly recommend the present book for anyone interested in the life and ideas of the great physicist, and this would probably be the first book I'd recommend to someone who wanted to read up on Einstein.

5 comments about Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist.

1. This is one hell of a riveting biography. I've often read biographies of really interesting people, but the writing is so turgid or lackluster, that I find myself wishing a better writer would tackle this story and do it right. Not so with this one, this is a phenomenal book.



2. Darwin: the life of a tormented evolutionist, the title says it all. Desmond and Moore work around the idea of the tormented evolutionist as a central theme in this magnus opus of Darwins life. The reader is taken on a journey through Darwin as a young lad, collecting shells and minerals, to the debilitated, ailing old man who writes non-stop on many aspects of natural history from selection to a complete and still used encyclopedia on barnacles to orchids and earthworms. But this is not an essay merely about the life and accomplishments of Charles Darwin, it is a story about science and society in the 1800's England. Desmond and Moore create a scene of Darwin getting swept up in the events of Victorian England. They illustrate a man torn by his religious convictions and the interpretations of what all the evidence from his life's research points toward. I relished in getting to know other famous scientists such as Hooker, Wallace, Romanes, Spencer, Tyndall and Huxley, and many others from that time who were among Darwin's followers and critics (i.e. Owen, Agassiz, Duke of Argylle, Mivart, Wilberforce)

   A highly enjoyable book for people from all backgrounds and an absolute must read for anyone not so much interested in the complete biography of Darwin's life, but for people interested in the history and philosophy of Victorian England's science.




3. I just completed my second reading of this work. I do feel it is one of the better Darwin biographies. It certainly is not in the same league with Janet Browne's two volume work, but if you cannot get Browne, then this one will certainly do. This work is well researched and certainly presents us with a good look at not only Darwin the man, but of his science. I had to agree with another reviewer who made the observation that reading Charles Darwin's work is much easier after reading this work on his life and times. I also enjoyed the insightful look into the Victorian mind...it was an added bonus. Unfortunately, I have noticed that the anti-evolution folks go through these reviews bashing anything said positive about any of the Darwin Biographies. The study of the man, Darwin, is not necessarily an endorsement of his theory. On the other hand, Darwin and his contemporaries did change the way we look at our world and we do owe them a debt for that, and anyone that can produce such a profound work, indeed, needs to be studied. Any one who denies this simply has their head in the sand. Highly recommend this one. Good biography and good history. Well written!



4. This is a thorough and well-written biography of Charles Darwin, with emphasis on the torment he suffered as his theory of evolution caused upheaval in the Church and in his own beliefs. Darwin suffered from a debilitating illness (gastro-intestinal in nature) almost his entire adult life. He was also a very emotional man--tears came easily to him. These are just a few of the things I found interesting about this biography. Where his theory might be questionable, however, is not discussed. Highly recommended.



5. This is a really first class biography, bringing the full weight of Charles Darwin's "torment" to light. As a devoutly religious man during the oppressively Christian Victorian era, it took uncommon fortitude and intellectual honesty for him to follow the paths down which his researches led him, all the way to the ultimate conclusions which today bear his name.
   
   Much like H.W. Brands's biography of Benjamin Franklin, the authors here do an excellent job of bringing Darwin back to life, both the highs and the lows (including lots of personal tragedy) that shaped his monumental career. Heartbreak played as great a role in his life as discovery.
   
   Compulsively readable without sacrificing detail, all of the major milestones of his life are covered in a personal perspective which gives exactly as much emphasis as events must have had at the time -- even ones which have since reached mythic proportions. This is, as Steven Jay Gould touts on the cover, "Unquestionably, the finest [biography] ever written about Darwin..."

1 comments about Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius.

1. THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN COMPILING A BIOGRAPHY OF HANS BETHE. HE HAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED A BOOK COMPARING OPPENHEIMER AND BETHE. DURING THIS TIME HE HAS DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH ON MANY PROMINENT PHYSICISTS WHOM BETHE HAS INTERACTED WITH (SOME WHO THE AUTHOR KNEW QUITE WELL). THE WORD "GENIUS" HAS BEEN APPLIED TO MOST OF THESE MEN AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER.
   
   ONE MAY NOT AGREE WITH ALL THE AUTHOR'S CONCLUSIONS. BUT THESE CONCLUSIONS ARE BASED ON EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND THOUGHT. IF NOTHING ELSE, THEY SHOULD STIMULATE YOUR THOUGHT PROCESSES AND OPEN UP A NEW HORIZON.
   
   RECENTLY THERE HAVE BEEN MANY BOOKS ON EINSTEIN AND ON OPPENHEIMER, BOTH COMPLEX MEN FROM THE VIEW POINT OF US MORTALS HOWEVER THIS BOOK IS UNIQUE IN ITS COVERAGE AND INSIGHTFUL COMPARISONS

5 comments about The Starship and the Canoe.

1. As both an outdoor loving ocean kayaker and an ardent supporter of space exploration, I found this book a synthesis of two different worlds that are difficult to unite in today's political climate. This book was way ahead of its time.



2. The Dyson's, Freeman and George, are father and son. Freeman, a nobel laureat physicist, has his sights set on the stars. George lives in a tree house in British Columbia and has combined modern materials and ancient techniques to build the largest canoe on the inland water way. See what happens when they reunite in the company of a pod of killer whales.

   This is my second read. Not my usual practice.

   My one major disappointment is the exclusion from this paperback edition of a section about Freeman Dyson's work on a "safe" nuclear reactor. I found this section particularly interesting because of the specific subject and because of the learning and work principles illustrated. This was an inappropriate job of editing.

   Read, enjoy and learn about learning and living and relating in our complex and conflicting world.




3. The Starship and the Canoe is not a book on kayaking, any more than A Tale of Two Cities is a Victorian travelogue. I felt as though I had to correct that impression created by Amazon's page on the book. Although it is twenty-five years old now, it remains a vital and engrossing tale of a father and son separated not only by the familiar gulf of misunderstanding and culture shock, but by their remarkable journeys, some through the vast and perilous estates of the mind, some through the cold and sparsely settled inlets and bays of the Queen Charlotte Sound and the Pacific shoreline of Alaska and British Columbia.

   The father and son are celebrated physicist (and author in his own right) Freeman Dyson and kayaker, tree-dweller, solo marine traveller (and also an author) George Dyson. In the wild, anarchic 1970s, author Kenneth Brower (who, it turns out, is also a friend of George's) takes us along with George and Freeman as they explore and plan explorations. His book is engrossing and one feels as though one has actually spent time with these fascinating, sometimes incredibly eccentric and singular men.

   Freeman Dyson, an influential theoretical physicist, spent a great deal of time in the optimistic 1950s and 1960s preparing to push the New Frontier outward on nuclear explosion-powered spacecraft. This work, Project Orion, was supported and funded by NASA and the US Air Force until the atmospheric nuclear test ban, competition for funding from Project Apollo and the Vietnam War finally killed the project's funding leaving him and fellow physicist Ted Taylor to develop the concept further.

   Together, the two men pushed the original project's concepts to their ultimate limits, and Project Orion grew to become spacecraft the size of Chicago leaving for nearby stars - so far, however, only in the minds of Dyson, Taylor, and those of us who have become enraptured by the concept of Orion.

   Later, son George Dyson ventures up and down the Pacific Coast from California northwards before finally settling (sort of) in the area between Vancouver and the glaciers of Alaska, sometimes living in a treehouse at the top of a tall and spindly fir, sometimes setting off from southern British Columbia up the Queen Charlotte Strait, meeting people on the islands of the strait in voyages oddly reminiscent of Antoine du Saint-Exupery's Le Petit Prince. Brower narrates these journeys with unobtrusive wryness, allowing the reader to chuckle at the interplay between author and subject as they paddle to and for between Alaska and Canada.

   Buy this book. Read it. Few other books reward their readers as richly as the Starship and the Canoe.




4. If someone asked me to recommend a book to explain the Sixties this would be it. George Dyson, son of well-known physicist Freeman Dyson, was raised in a rarefied academic atmosphere. He walked away from that life at sixteen, not because of random rebellion but because this truly was what he needed to do.
   In this book author Kenneth Brower alternates the telling of the divergent lives of these two men. As a result he captures the generational tension of an era.
   Freeman Dyson was a product not only of the Fifties but of the flowing optimism of those years that today seems unimaginable. Truly, back then if one could think it then it was possible. One of the ideas Freeman thought possible was project Orion, a huge space vehicle propelled by external nuclear explosions. In the beginning years Freeman actually expected to journey across the solar system in Orion.
   George's life was nearly the diametric opposite of his father's. He wound up on the Canadian Pacific shore, living in a tree house and designing ocean-going canoes. The irony is that he found a universe to explore in his canoes - the coasts and islands of the Canadian Northwest and Alaska.
   In a fractal sense, both physically and culturally, George's universe was as infinite as his father's. And while he continues to explore it to this day, his father never got into his universe more than the cruising altitude of a 737.
   I am nearly the same age as George, long enough into my life to wonder what I've done with it. Frankly, I envy not just George's vision but his ability to follow it.
   I admire his father's pursuit as well. In much of the story there is clear tension between father and son, yet in the end some sort of meeting of minds happens.
   Even though this book was written over twenty-five years ago it offers a still-fresh notion of the gulfs between people, and how our failures in bridging these distances cause us to forsake a real future.



5. I liked the book's story, but not the way it was told. The author interjected his opinion and personal bias too many times for it to be anything biographical. However, it was a neat story.

5 comments about Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist.

1. Anyone buying this book as a gift or for insight on how a typical child becomes a scientist will be very disappointed. Do scientists work in industry? Not in this book. Is your child a female? She would be a distinct minority if she becomes a scientist, to judge by this book. Will your child have a Ph.D. by age 21? No? How disappointing. The scientist profiled in the first chapter, Nicholas Humphrey, descendent of famous scientists who grew up an acquaintance of, among others, young Stephen Hawking, captures why this book misses the mark in its selection of role models for aspiring scientists. He "wonders if having been born to be a scientist has not undercut my right to call myself a scientist at all." That is too harsh. It's not his fault that such a good idea for a book and a promising title were wasted.



2. Memory is faulty. "Even when we remember events accurately, we are apt to misidentify their places in the casual tapestry of our lives." It wasn't anything in childhood which influenced psychologist Steven Pinkier to pursue his dreams or career, or take a certain path. I think that fate has some place in what we become and do at a particular phase in our lives. It was in grad school when his interest in language became the focus for his career in vocabulary and grammar, my special interests, too.
   
   Just like a man, when he is confronted with a question or situation he isn't expecting, he just nods -- therefore, no real "thinking" takes place. For a psychology professor, he has a strange way of thinking about truth, changing his viewpoint as the whim hits him. He feels that childhood influences don't steer a "curious mind" in a certain direction. Usually we find our niche in life quite acccidentally.
   
   Most of us don't know what we will become (when suffering through childhood) nor any way to deflect what the future has in store for us. Happenstance has a way of steering us in a direction we might not want to go. We never know when life will throw us a curve ball.
   
   The old hometown is full of transplants and aliens interested only with making big money, not in promoting "curious minds" of children to become scientists. Thomas Wolfe was right, "You can't go home again." Because home is where you are, not the place you were born. That's a myth -- an illusion. Nothing is ever the same. No one is ever there to greet you or welcome you "home."
   
   These essays include stories by Howard Gardner on making a social scientist, Doyne Farmer (physics), Steven Strogatz (math), V. S. Ramachandran (science), no big names, no one I've heard of, but they have been successful enough in their diverse fields to be included in a social science assortment.
   
   John Brockman's books include SPECULATIONS, CREATIVITY, and HOW THINGS ARE, all of which decide who we are as individuals and what we become as adults. He's been busy writing, editing and co-editing. He owns a software agency in New York City. What I am wondering is why he didn't become a scientist with his "curious mind."



3. As the parent of two school-age children, I loved this book. For all of the current passion for loading our children up with the "best" and "the latest", the best approach is perhaps to simply get out of the way. What struck me about this book was that so many of the scientists profiled made do with very little as children--it wasn't all chemistry sets and parents with advanced degrees. My favorite was the primatologist who was inspired by the Bronx Zoo down the block AND the theme-song from Gilligan's Island ("...the professor and Mary-Ann" convinced him that brains might attract women). There was the woman whose parents wanted her to be a nightclub singer, but the Nancy Drew books she read led her to love investigations. A brain surgeon grew up searching for bullets in the brains of cows that his cowboy-butcher father processed. Indeed some of the scientists don't even find their focus until adulthood (in other words, if your high-schooler doesn't win the Intel science prize, there's still hope). This book made me realize that inspiration is all around my children and the wisest thing I can do is just be supportive.



4. Although the subtitle uses the terms, Child and Scientist, I think the real topic is how a person develops into a successful, creative adult. I found the book fascinating as I looked for patterns to validate how I raised my own children, or how I was raised, or how anyone should mentor younger people. What I learned was that becoming a scientist or any thinking adult is a mixture of luck, genetics, family influence, peer influence, and social setting. There is no recipe, but there may be patterns for our children and ourselves.
   
   While this was not a well constructed statistical survey, it was a well conceived set of informative essays from interesting, successful folks. Excellent book, great to discuss. Also, the format of many short essays made it easy to read in pieces and reflect.



5. I have enjoyed this book so much. After reading the New York Times Tuesday Science Section for years, I wished that those writers would gather the stories in the "Scientists" series and put them in a book. In CURIOUS MINDS the personal reiminiscences include surprises such as a woman who loved Nancy Drew and her sleuthing. Richard Dawkins, often in the news now,
   loved the Dr. Doolittle books. A good number of women scientists are included. Some of the scientists are from "scientific" families, others from good ole blue collar roots.