1 comments about Galileo: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

1. In this slim volume is packed the central thesis of one of the foremost students of Galileo:
   1) that Galileo was not a victim of the inquisition but rather the Aristotelean method of reasoning particulars of Science from theoretical ideas. Galileo thought that experience, measurability and prediction should be the guide. Grand ideas he left to the Church and philosophers. Perhaps he was a little too naive in assuming that the inquisition would leave him alone. But it was in the defence of Aristotle that the inquisition indicted him. Not mere religious intolerance (which of course there was plenty).

   The other observation was the in-fighting and jockeying inside the academic community for political and religious favour -- the competition for well-paying university seats was intense and Galileo was a direct victim of academics who ruthlessly pilloried him to gain favour.

   2) Galileo was no crusader directly challenging the power of the church. He in fact had many freinds as high-archbishops and even a was a personal friend of the Pope. His desire was never to challenge the church and the church only very reluctantly charged him with "teaching" the doctrine of Copernicus and Kepler.

   This is a great jumping off point for further studies on Galileo. I love this series.

5 comments about The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2.

1. It's the 15th anniversary of the Biosphere 2 experiment, when eight individuals sealed themselves into a 2-acre desert building to survive without any help from the outside world - and here one crewmember shares what life was like behind the glass. It was designed to be a mini version of Biosphere 1, and was a self-contained ecosystem which could be viewed either as a prototype for a space habitat or a small version of Planet Earth experiences. The author helped design the experiment, lived it, and walked away from it in the end: her account holds insights for us all.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. Many people in 1991 were fascinated by the idea of Biosphere 2, a closed, hermetically sealed, self-sustaining, man-made ecosystem with a desert, an ocean, a rainforest, a savannah, a marsh, a habitat and an intensive farm, all in three acres. On September 26 eight people entered the structure for a two-year stint living "as if on Mars, farming all our food, recycling our water, our waste and even the oxygen we breathed..."
   
   But bad publicity dogged the project even before the team went in. The public grew skeptical, as the Biospherians were dismissed as frauds, cult figures, publicity hounds and charlatans. None of which, strictly speaking, was completely false. Or completely true.
   
   Jane Poynter, who celebrated her 30th birthday in Biosphere 2, and went on to found an aerospace firm with fellow Biospherian (and later husband) Taber MacCallum, attempts to set the record straight with this emotional and wide ranging account.
   
   Poynter was an upper-class English girl who joined the Institute of Ecotechnics at age 20 for travel and adventure - and, no doubt, to escape her parents' conventional expectations. The IE group, headed by charismatic and authoritarian John Allen, were Synergists who believed in a "strict adherence " to three avocations - theater, philosophy and business - to keep themselves in intellectual, emotional and economic balance. This was the group that went on to conceive and build Biosphere 2.
   
   Poynter was an early candidate for the team. Her training included stints on a Ferro-cement research vessel built by IE staffers and an outback ranch in remote Australia populated primarily by large meat-eating ants, plagues of flies, and termites who ate the tires off cars. Lessons in resourcefulness, difficult physical conditions and close, isolated living may have been useful as Poynter says, but nothing could really prepare any of them for the Biosphere experience.
   
   "After thirteen months in Biosphere 2, we were starving, suffocating and going quite mad."
   
   Inadequate food had plagued them from the start. In part this goes back to the cult-like group dynamic.
   
   The Biospherian candidates worked on design and construction of Biosphere 2 (earth being Biosphere 1), and were shifted to different tasks in order to have well-rounded experience. In practice, shifts were sometimes made to punish a staffer for disloyalty, i.e., criticism. Criticism was also dealt with in less subtle ways.
   
   Poynter, as agriculture manager, was asked to draw up a report showing that Biosphere 2 could produce all of the food they would need. When she could only arrive at a total of 80 percent she, and two others who sided with her, were fired from the team. Poynter and another woman were taken back three days later without explanation - the third was shunted to some other aspect of the program.
   
   This type of behavior was common and served to keep all of them cowed, off balance, and unwilling to point out snags. When a certain root fungus was cited as a potential problem, John Allen's response was to make the scientist "jump up and down, screaming `pythium, pythium.' " The fungus was indeed a persistent rice-crop killer.
   
   Their second big problem was a steady, unexpected drop in oxygen. For months they did intensive experiments, but the debilitating riddle remained unsolved until an outsider provided a clue in a casual phone call. Serendipity and science working together would seem to give the Synergists' creed of balance a lift.
   
   But the "going mad" part never really got better. Much of Poynter's book focuses on the interpersonal acrimony, which eventually divided them into two groups of four. Difficulties were exacerbated by backbreaking work on inadequate diets in low oxygen, but even when these problems were somewhat alleviated relations stayed poor.
   
   Of course, the manipulation by outside management never got better and it was that that separated them into loyalists and non-loyalists. Poynter was a non-loyalist. When she walked out of Biosphere 2 her time as a Synergist was done too.
   
   But her book seems balanced and open - something of a catharsis. She celebrates the science, such as it was, and laments that more was not done later to study closed-ecosystem reactions. There was one more 6-month group sojourn inside, but the project was too expensive to continue.
   
   Though the two years were arduous she counts them a success - "we had proven that a man-made biosphere can successfully sustain life, including human life, for an extended period of time without inexplicably crashing, or devolving rapidly into green slime." True, but they did need two infusions of oxygen, which would not have been possible in space, and for all their psychological problems they always knew they could walk out at any time.
   
   Naturally many questions remain, particularly about the environmental science. Though the environment was carefully engineered and controlled they still had ceaseless problems with insect pests (including ant intruders from outside) and plant diseases.
   
   Poynter is at her best describing daily life; the "dysfunctional family" they became, the feasts and famines, and the daily grind of work, though you get the feeling she's leaving a lot out to avoid pressing on old wounds. An absorbing, varied and often suspenseful read.
   
   -- Portsmouth Herald



3. I found the Jayne Poynter's book to be very interesting both for her personal "lead up" to how she came to be on the Biosphere crew, as well as the drama of the 2 years inside -- all the problems they had, both technically and psychologically.
   
   It's too bad the media spent so much time trying to find out why something might be a "fake" (for lack of a better term) with Biosphere II rather than trying to appreciate the enormous magnitude of the project and it's intent.
   
   As I understand it, Biosphere II sits largely unused today. I certainly hope that a university or two will get involved to keep the facility operating. There's a lot to be learned, and I suspect the majority of the cost is already spent.



4. This book is a well-written and entertaining look at the Biosphere 2 project from a former insider (literally as well as figuratively). The author does a good job of setting the broader stage for BIO2 as well as dissecting why it is widely regarded as a failure by the public and scientific community. Recommended!



5. Perfect condition. Written extremely well. After actually visiting Biosphere 2, this was a must read!

5 comments about A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton.

1. I'm writing this review because the fact that it didn't have a 5-star rating irritated me. I first saw the McPhee/Bill Bradley piece in the New Yorker Magazine about 30 years ago. After reading it I xeroxed the entire article and sent copies of it to every member of the University of South Carolina basketball team (which for those of you who are as old as I am was coached by the legendary Frank McGuire (the assistant coach was Donnie Walsh, now President and General Manager of the Indiana Pacers) and featured a cast of great college players like John Roche, Tommy Owens, Billy Walsh, Bobby Cremins, etc. All of the players (an unusually intelligent group) loved the article. We had many conversations about Bradley's approach to the game in the months to come. This is definitely a 5-star book for any lover of the true game of basketball. It's great and can't possibly be outdated. Highest recommendation.



2. Bill Bradley, a three-time basketball all-American at Princeton, Olympic gold medalist, Rhodes scholar, member of the New York Knicks and two time NBA champion definitely has a passion for basketball. This books helps show what goes into the making of a champion. Discipline, selflessness, respect, courage, imagination and passion are elements that made him a success on and off the court. I knew nothing at all about Bill Bradley before reading this book, but I have great respect for his personal code and his shining example.



3. This book is a must read for all aspiring young athletes and their parents. Bill Bradley always had his priorities straight. Although a gifted athlete, he knew that his education was more important. After being named the best college player in America, he eschewed the money and glory of the NBA to accept a Rhodes scholarship. Can you imagine one of today's selfish, ignorant, anti-intellectual, basketball stars doing that today?



4. "A sense of where you" are, offers a fascinating look at a true scholar athlete. Author John McPhee`s debut is well written and gives the reader a look at how a student athlete should approach life and grasp the opportunity ahead. Bill Bradley is the consumate teamplayer who pays tribute to the small and important details of the game of basketball. A hoop junkie growing up, but also a reflective mind,perhaps too reflective to become President of the United States.
   An inspiring book that should be read by people of any age, who seek to become successfull at whetever they do.



5. Whether you like sports or not, McPhee's book is so well written that it carries you along. Bradley at Princeton seems so ancient compared with the sports scene today, but the story reveals unknowingly how much we have lost in the culture when it comes to heroes.

4 comments about A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford (Great Discoveries).

1. There have been many biographies of Ernest Rutherford; what does Richard Reeves 'A Force of Nature' contribute to what has already been done? In a few words: popular accessibility. This is a book of scientific biography for a popular audience, and it works.
   
   Like other entrants in the Norton 'Great Discoveries' series, the point is the explication of a great scientific discovery and the life of the person most responsible for bringing it about. Reeves has already proven himself an accomplished biographer, especially of Presidents Reagan, Nixon, and Kennedy. This is apparently his first biography of a scientist.
   
   Reeves traces Rutherford's trajectory from New Zealand to the Cavendish in Cambridge to McGill (in Montreal) to Manchester and beyond. But the real story is Rutherford's discovery of the structure of the atom. Although the topic may sound boring to those not interested in such things, Reeves effectively relays the excitement and drama of this particular scientific discovery (the ability to do so of which is the real strength of many of the books in the 'Great Discoveries' series). Here's but one example: Reeves describing Rutherford's reaction after his team first split the atom:
   
   "Rutherford's first reaction was to swear Cockcroft, Walton, and Chadwick to secrecy...until the results could be published in 'Nature'. Only God could know what the Americans would come up with if they knew in advance of publication. ... Of course the secret did not really hold...Rutherford [soon] told members [of the Royal Society] what happened...then he swept his arm toward Cockcroft and Walton and boomed out, 'Stand up, boys! Let everyone have a look at you!' " (p. 147-48)
   
   Because politics and history appear to be Reeves' own biographical strengths, we learn perhaps as much or more about Rutherford's impact on politics and history (e.g. helping 'rescue' European scientists during WWII) as we do his impact on science. This is not to say that Reeves does not adequately discuss or understand Rutherford's scientific accomplishments (he does--he was an engineer early on in his career), but rather that Reeve's does not do any original analysis of Rutherford's scientific work. The author admits there are better (e.g. longer) sources available for this (see his bibliography at the back of 'A Force of Nature').
   
   Overall, this is a highly readable biography of one of the 20th century's greatest scientists, and is a good starting point for those interested in learning more about Rutherford.
   
   Final note (for full disclosure): As a reviewer for a major newspaper, I often receive books that I am not able review in print. I was pleased however to receive this one and was impressed enough to review it online.



2. There are probably only a handful of scientists the average educated person could name, among them Galileo, Newton, Einstein. And, of course, even a typical educated person might have trouble saying something about why these scientists are so important. This is too bad. Not just because of what it says about science education in the world today but because there are so many scientists whose work deserves better recognition. Ernest Rutherford is one of those who deserves better.
   
   Many students comes across Rutherford in middle or high school during the study of the atom. Rutherford's "gold foil experiment" through which he identified the atomic nucleus and developed the "solar system" model of the atom is a standard part of the curriculum. However, this only touches on Rutherford's body of work and says nothing about the type of man, and scientist, he was. In A Force of Nature, Richard Reeves does an excellent job of bringing both to the fore.
   
   Mr. Reeve's describes many of Rutherford's achievements in a very accessible way. Rutherford's work ranged from investigations of radio and radioactivity to basic sonar concepts during the war. His work on the atom included more than just his well-know discovery of the nucleus. He also was the first to split the atom, though he never realized (or admitted he realized) the awesome power potential of this process. His work earned him a Nobel Prize (in chemistry, Rutherford would sneer) as well as a number of other awards and honors, including the prestigious directorship of the Cavendish Laboratories.
   
   But Mr. Reeve is also able to give a real sense of Rutherford as a human being. As a "colonial" (a New Zealander), Rutherford found it difficult to fit in with the Cambridge set when he earned a scholarship to attend. It wasn't until he became one of the most famous experimenters in the world that he was generally accepted and, even then, his loud voice and rough manners were a matter of note among his contemporaries. Still, few scientists in history have been as successful as both a researcher and a teacher--he pointed many of his students in the direction of earn their own Nobel Prizes.
   
   As a science teacher, I have struggled to educate my students not only in the key ideas of the field but also on the people who brought these great ideas and discoveries into the world. As one of the true experimental geniuses in history, Rutherford still often doesn't get his due. (Theorists get all the glory.) Yet, in his time, only Einstein was revered more. It is nice that Mr. Reeve has put together a book that can bring Rutherford to the public's attention again.



3. I ordered this little biography because it was on sale. It was not a good deal. It lacks depth or insight. Although the author has a technical background, most of Rutherford's experiments are poorly described and their importance virtually ignored. Interactions between Rutherford and his many collaborators and students are trivialized. Because it is short and cheap, it will find it's way into libraries around the world. That's a good thing because Rutherford was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century and certainly New Zealand's most famous son. Hopefully, interested readers will have access to "Rutherford: Scientist Supreme"
   by John Campbell, a much more complete and authoritative biography. If not, then check out the following website for better information: [...]. For the technically inclined, get a copy of the recently reprinted "Radioactive Transformations" by Rutherford himself - absolutely fascinating!



4. Although this biography is aimed at a general audience, it does an effective job of presenting Rutherford's contributions to our early understanding of the atom and of the subatomic world. Using laboratory apparatus quaintly primitive by today's standards, Rutherford in the early decades of the 20th century found elegant, indirect methods to "see" into the structure of the atom. Guided by intuition as much as by previous knowledge and experience, he drew startling and startlingly accurate conclusions from data generated by his own experiments and by those of other scientists around the world. He is remembered not only as one of the greatest experimental physicists of the 20th century but also as one who fostered an international approach to science based on cooperation and sharing of results.

5 comments about Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary.

1. This is really eye opening stuff. If you are even remotely interested in Open Source Software, this will give you some insight into the mind of Linus Torvalds. On top of being informative it is a really fun read.



2. Once you read this book you get a better idea of who Linus Torvalds is, what his background is, what led him to write an operating system, where the name Linux comes from, where Tux came from, and all kinds of other tidbits. The book portrays Torvalds as definitely a rare breed. but it also paints him as a real person with real interests - albeit mainly technical ones. Linus does have a family and this book does cover a little bit about his family. If you want to know both the common and uncommon pieces of information about the guy who wrote an operating system, "Just For Fun", this is the book to get; it is definitely teh definitive book about how Linux came into being and about the man who made it happen.



3. "Just for Fun" may just as well be the real-life version of "Spider Man" - a tale of how a computer geek went from a social recluse to an everyday celebrity. Now, don't get me wrong, my friends are the first to brand me as a 'computer geek' also, and I wouldn't change anything about it. "Just for Fun" is an interesting introspective into the story and the mind of Linus. You'll learn about the early day of Linux, the philosophy behind it, and how both the author and the creation burst onto the scene. With a good mix of historical introspective and narrative passages - everything from the birth of GPL to Linus's philosophy of life - it makes for an easy and an entertaining read. If you've ever been exposed to Linux, Unix, or open-source, this is a book you won't regret picking up.



4. I bought this book for a presentation in class about Linux, and I got quite a bit of information out of it. The book goes into the personal history of Linus, his experience with computers, why he first started coding Linux, and it also mentions a few other topics closely associated with Linux, such as open source.
   If you're looking for a book that gives the technical ins and outs of Linux, this one will not do you much good, but it's a good book for those interested in the author of Linux, and the start of his project.



5. This is the story of Linus Benedict Torvalds, the creator of Linux OS in what seems like his own words (well 90% of the book is written as if Linus himself is narrating it). What interested me most and kept me reading the book was knowing how Linus pursued his self-learning of computer science. He started with writing games and toy programs in assembly language then taught himself C and kept doing projects to master his skills. One of the projects was a terminal emulator which he authored on Minix OS. He went on adding features to it and gradually ended up making an OS in a matter of months. He got started with Minix after reading Andy Tanenbaum's book on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (3rd Edition) (Prentice Hall Software Series) which was the book Linus says changed his life.
   
   A good reading for all programmers who like Linux. As Bertrand Russel says - There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge - so even if this book is not talking about any technical details of the OS but the knowing of how it came to be what it is is interesting and pleasure giving in itself. Highly recommended.

5 comments about A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash.

1. In Sylia Nasar's award-winning biography, A Beautiful Mind, which chronicles the life of mathematics genius and Nobel laureate John Nash, she divides his life into three acts (though the table of contents does not): genius, madness and reawakening. Act one, his genius phase, covers the first two parts of the book, and lasts for the first 29 years of his life. Act two - madness, which takes the form of schizophrenia - covers the next two parts, and lasts until he is 62. Act three, his awakening, covers his remission from schizophrenia, his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics in 1994, and his life at Princeton up to the present. The book was made into an Oscar-winning motion picture by director Ron Howard in 2001 and stars Russell Crowe. Both book and film are phenomenal, as are the man's life and Crowe's portrayal of it.
   
   Particularly interesting about act one of Nash's life, and part one of Nasar's book, is the discussion on game theory. Game theory, up until the time of Nash, was based upon the idea that only one player in a game can win and everyone else must lose. But Nash broke with tradition in his doctoral thesis by theorizing mathematically the results of a game in which everyone won, regardless of the number of players. His thesis became the basis of modern economic theory, and the reason for his eventual Nobel prize.
   
   Nasar does an exceptional job explaining game theory and the workings of the mind of a genius, and especially Nash's original idea, which he called "the Nash equilibrium," and introduced in 1950 when he was only 21. Nash theorized that a game could be both competitive and cooperative - as opposed to the "winner take all" stakes of purely competitive games like chess - and could result in a desirable balance of power, rather than the undesirable condition of domination by a single power. In other words, when a player considers both his own good and the collective good of the other players, the results are better for everyone. This allowed gaming theory to be applicable to economics, politics and other sciences.
   
   In Ron Howard's film, he illustrates this beautifully with the scene in the bar in which all the boys want the beautiful blonde who walks in. Russell Crowe's character, Nash, explains to his friends that if they all go for the blonde, they will all lose, because they will offend the blonde's friends, causing them all to strike out. But if each of them goes for a different girl, they will all score. This is the moment Nash realizes he has found the original idea for his doctoral thesis.
   
   Socially, Nash had no friends growing up. This is ironic for a person whose greatest contribution to science was a theory of relationships. It is also interesting in that it illustrates something about the environment needed to develop into both a genius and a schizophrenic: isolation. As Nasar puts it, "His overriding interest was in patterns, not people." I don't think a lack of interest in people is required for genius, but I do believe an interest in patterns is. It was his ability to see patterns in numbers that led Nash into numerology and decoding imagined ciphers for the Pentagon.
   
   Howard does an excellent job showing Nash's ability to recognize pattern in the opening scene when Russell Crowe insults a fellow student's tie after recognizing several patterns in it that are reflected in the layout of the punch table. He does it again when he is able to pick out the pattern of an umbrella in the stars for his love interest and future wife, Alicia, played by Jennifer Connelly. And when he is decoding for agent Parcher, played by Ed Harris, the patterns that he sees in the numbers and words "light up."
   
   Until he meets Alicia, who would stand by him through his illness and help him overcome it, Nash's relationships are cloaked in mystery and innuendoes. It is not important to get into them here; but let me just say that the homosexual community was vocally disappointed by Howard's choice to leave them out of his film. I believe he was right to do so, if for no other reason than that they would have added nothing to the story; but more because no one is certain of what those relationships consisted. Nash himself did not consider himself a homosexual, so it may be that they were merely codependent. Regardless, they would undoubtedly have been immature and ego-centric, as all his personal relationship were before he met Alicia.
   
   Alicia brought something to Nash's life that he had never experienced before: another focus besides himself and mathematics. Before her, his world revolved around the fact that he considered himself a mathematical genius. Now there was someone else to consider. Alicia drove a wedge into an otherwise self-focused, isolated life. She was the person that would recognize his slipping into schizophrenia - although she didn't know what it was at the time - and she was the one that would bring him back. Connelly is wonderful in the role of Alicia. Howard uses their relationship in the film to turn an otherwise straight thriller into a love story. It is this combination that makes A Beautiful Mind very much like a Hitchcock film; and yet, because it is true, it is even more interesting.
   
   Ron Howard is masterful at blurring the line between what is real and what is not in Nash's world. We are never really sure until the day of the storm, when Alicia goes out to get the laundry off the line and discovers what is in the garage. That is an exciting scene, especially when combined with the scene of the baby's bath, and then with the scene following in which Parcher (Harris) holds a gun on Alicia and tells Nash that she is threatening the mission. The conclusion that Nash voices, as he tries to prevent Alicia from leaving, breaks the tension: "She never grows old" (talking about Charles' niece Marcee). That is when he shows he realizes that something is wrong in his world.
   
   How he deals with his problem is what makes his "a beautiful mind." Once he is diagnosed with schizophrenia, he is given the usual drug and shock treatments. But he realizes that the treatments being administered to save his mind are also destroying it. With Alicia's consent and help, he tries to overcome his problem using the power of his own mind. It is because of her love and support, and the support of the mathematics community, that he succeeds.
   
   There is a key scene in the movie - the scene when he receives the recognition of his colleagues in the faculty dining room in the "pen ceremony" - when Thomas King tells him about his being considered for the Nobel Prize. Nash explains to King how he overcame his schizophrenia. He says it is like having an appetite for something but, rather than feeding it, choosing to starve it. He said he had an appetite for certain things in his life that weren't real. They are still there - talking about Charles, Marcee and Parcher - but he doesn't acknowledge them. Thus, they no longer have the power to affect his life.
   
   To me, this is the take-away from both Nasar's book and Howard's film. We all have appetites for things that are not healthy, not real - fantasies in which we play "what if" scenarios in our heads. Like Nash, we can choose to ignore them and go on to lead happy, healthy, productive lives. Or, as he did during his mad period, we can indulge and become involved with them, allowing them to affect and ultimately destroying us. Like Nash, we have power over our own thoughts, and, thereby, over our own lives. If we choose well, we, too, will have beautiful minds and beautiful lives. It's up to us.
   
   Waitsel Smith



2. John Forbes Nash Jr. is one of the most intriguing personalities I've known or read about. A precocious math genius and one of the few persons responsible for the establishment of game theory, he succumbed to mentally-decapacitating schizophrenia at around the age of 30. I think Sylvia Nasar succeeds wonderfully in recounting the personal aspect of Nash's life such as his various eccentricities and the effects his mental illness had on both himself and those around him, but when it comes to the science and theories the book is a wee bit disappointing. Of course this book is a biography and is therefore more concerned about his life than his work, but a lot of interesting examles could have been been used to more clearly illustrate Nash's theories that I was quite surprised Nasar didn't give at least a few of them. Until his theories are better understood, the enormity of Nash's genius could not be fully appreciated.
   
   Recommended for its storytelling, but if you'd like to grab the gist of the technical stuff read his published papers or game theory textbooks.



3. I assisted Nash with the C programming language at Princeton and was a source for the book.
   
   I found the book accurate, well-written, and readable. The part of the book that talks about the period in which Nash's economics prize was considered was indeed one in which this very private man was under a microscope, and my supervisor warned me to be very sensitive to his condition.
   
   Sylvia Nasar knows her craft very well. The book is narratively organized, and she doesn't need to do dramatic flashbacks or grabbers to get you to keep turning the pages. It's a man's life, in America of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s...to the early nineties, by which time Nash had become the Phantom of Fine Hall.
   
   But, Phantoms have a story too. Anyone interested in the human side of math and science, anyone interested in psychology, anyone who is impressed by women who both "stand by their man" and get a career of their own, will enjoy reading the story.
   
   The book is much more detailed and far more accurate than the movie, which had to take liberties with the truth to be entertaining. It includes Nash's other common-law wife Eleanor and a son by that marriage, which was very different from Nash's relationship with Alicia.
   
   The book is long but will probably be very rewarding for most readers.



4. I saw the movie and loved it, BUT the book is much, much better. I am a physician and have treated patients with schizophrenia. This book is a must read.



5. I read this book about two weeks ago, and I couldn't put it down. Maybe my opinion is biased because I have schizophrenia myself, but I found this story to be particularly encouraging in terms of my own recovery. The genius John Nash refused the coercive treatments of psychiatry and recovered naturally as some people do. I think it's sad that John could never reach the height of his mathematical genius again, after his illness, but it's still a hopeful story because he made a complete recovery, in my opinion. This book explains the mysterious and challenging symptoms of a misunderstood illness, and it also tells a tale of a person with the classic schizophrenic personality. It seems Nash was predisposed to the illness, and his behavior leading up to his first episode is characteristic of they typical schizophrenic. The difference between Nash's story and those of so many others with this difficult illness is that John was a true genius, became mad, and then recovered through sheer willpower. I think this book challenges the prevailing biopsychiatric model of schizophrenia and demonstrates that people can indeed recover without the use of toxic psychiatric drugs. You can also learn a lot about the politics of the Nobel Prize in this book.

5 comments about Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries, Second Edition.

1. I was enthralled by this delightful, healing, and eye opening crediting over the wonder works of scientific endeavor made by woman--unsung heroines who did not flinch one bit from their true calling, what for all the drowning out and dumbing down of class ostracism inundating them and their sisters in their times. These Ladies are the truest measure of what is called a benchmark in the progress of humanity to wake up and rise to The Greatest Challenge: to free the mind, the spirit, the yoke of history's circumstance, to unite us in peace, recognition, respect, and unqualified defference to all who carry forth the Light. From my heart, Thank You Sharon Bertsch McGrayne! And for those for whom it is easier to quip, 'a woman's place is in the home, raising children and so forth....' I'll just add, we got BILLIONS of 'em.



2. Nobel Prize Women in Science is a superb collection of hour-long biographies of women who either won a Nobel Prize or worked on a project that won a Nobel Prize in science. The biographies are full of memorable vignettes and quotes and lucid explanations of the scientific discoveries. This reader found the book liberating because it debunked so many myths she had had about good scientists. This book makes great bedtime reading and excellent gifts for both men and women.



3. Why so few? This is the question which the author put on the first page of the book. More than 300 scientists have won the Nobel Prize since its establishment,however, only 10 of them are women. Why? Why have so few women won the Nobel Prize in science? Some people might say this small number could be evidence for old prejudices. But the author tried to find a different answer through this book. This book contains stories of 15 women scientists who won the Nobel Prize or had a critical role in Nobel Prize winning works. Although this book takes the style of a biography and also describes all the scientific details quite well, it is neither just a biography nor just a science book for general readers. It is more than both of them. These women scientists had gone through lots of difficulties. All of them had experiences of being rejected from the opportunity of receiving a higher education. Most of them had more than once been mistreated and disregarded of their abilities as well as their works. And some of them, such as Rosalind Franklin, still have not received the full credit which she deserves. One might say that all the scientists who did remarkable works had faced and overcome many kinds of difficulties. But these women had to carry the added burden of being "women scientists". So, as the author pointed, another question should arise when the book is finished. Why so many? Why have so many women challenged themselves with such difficult works in spite of all the obstacles? The answer is simple. They loved science. And, through this book, the readers will find a love and a understanding for these fearless women as well as their lover,science.



4. I found this book really excellent--I was coming at it from being a female scientist (chemist) myself. Good from beginning to end....no complaints!



5. McGrayne chronicles the discrimination faced by female scientists in the 20th century. Even by those who would eventually achieve the highest prize of the Nobel. She also includes biographies of a few women who never won the Nobel, but were acknowledged later by many to have merited it. Lise Meitner, of course. She was doubly disadvantaged. Being female and Jewish in Germany during the 1920s and 30s. The story of how Otto Hahn won the Physics Nobel shortly after World War 2 for work that he did jointly with her is well known to physicists.
   
   Jocelyn Bell's work on pulsars is also described. Bell's advisor would later garner the Nobel for this, though Bell made the crucial observations and deductions from those.
   
   Both these chapters can be exercises in frustration to a reader. Injustices that were never remedied. Though Bell is still alive, and so there is a chance that the Nobel committe might redress this oversight.

5 comments about The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, Revised Edition.

1. This book was an easy read but still packed with lots of information. Not only about all the gorillas, and their individual personalities, but also about what it was like living with the people in Uganda. It also touched on the history of African exploration and the study of gorillas. I really didn't know much about topic and I now have much more empathy for both the gorillas and also for the people who live near them. Even if like me you're not a "gorilla person" I think you'll find this book funny, compassionate and a good adventure story.



2. Excellent view of Uganda and the culture of both the people and wildlife in existence at the start of the eco-tourism movement in that part of the world. The ability to experience the world of Thor as he was experiencing the joys and hardships as he co-existed with the people and animals of Uganda was fascinating.
   
   I really "felt" as though I was right there with him as he became accustomed to the new way of life - intertwined with his new culture, gaining acceptance with the natives.
   
   An excellent read!
   
   Jim Sandler
   Vernon, N.J.



3. I chose this book after seeing recent television shows about mountain gorillas. This author is sensitive to the people of Bwindi and the mountain gorillas and the issues of ecotourism, conservation and the effects these programs have on the local communities. While I hope that the mountain gorillas survive and thrive it is just as important that prosperity does not destroy this corner of the world for the farmers and other people who live there.



4. I liked this one. I hope to travel to Bwindi in the next few years and this book is giving me the incentive to keep my dream alive. I can't wait to see in person the places the author describes. And I can't wait to see the gorillas in their native habitat. What a story.



5. Most Americans wouldn't be able to cut it in a small rural village in Africa. "The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda" is Thor Hanson's reflections on his suffering for his craft as he stayed in such a village in order to further his studies on the endangered species of the Mountain Gorilla. A candid and vivid account about all the difficulties he had to face, "The Impenetrable Forest" is a riveting tale that will please primate lovers seeking a story of a man's dedication to science.

4 comments about A Piece of the Mountain:The Story of Blaise Pascal.

1. My mother handed me this book--I thought "Oh no another school book." When I started I discovered how incredible a 17th century mathematician can be.This book is especially good if you try to work out the mathematical equations it contains.This is a very good book.Though it would not make much sense to people younger than 13.READ THIS BOOK. I am going to read it again.



2. I never knew as much about Blaise Pascal until I had read this book. What I'm really interested in is getting to know all of those lovely sources that McPherson used for her research material.
   
   Before I had read this book, I didn't know much about Pascal's scientific experiments or his contributions to French society. This book has also cleared up a lot of the background concerning Pascal's writings. It is well written and highly entertaining.



3. Here is the biography of a life well worth studying. Pascal was one of those rare people who, like da Vinci, was a genius in several areas--in science, mathematics, and theology. He also helped develop the world's first public transit system! As homeschoolers, we also enjoyed the depiction of his early education, as he and his siblings were taught by their brilliant, loving father. Throughout, the book reveals Pascal as a thoroughly decent and honest man. I highly recommend this book for about sixth grade up through adults.



4. I should have read the other reviews more closely. This book is written for a target audience of 5th and 6th graders. I was expecting a factual biography but this is actually a children's book written to entertain. I believe it probably does entertain to the targeted audience but I would not recommend this book to someone researching this theologian's life.

5 comments about Albert Einstein: Out of My Later Years Through His Own Words.

1. I found Einstein's desire to start a rock band at such an early age very surprising. A man before his time for sure. Singing about relativity while distancing himself from the groupies must have been difficult. The book reads like a good guitar riff, jolting one's mind from time to time. Excellent!



2. Out of my Later Years is a collection of Einstein's speeches and articles covering not just physics but his thoughts on the social condition of man, of Jews, and of war as well as several speeches about the likes of Max Planck, Mahatma Gandhi, and Marie Curie.

   As letters and speeches, these are written as the ordinary man that Einstein once was - very easy to read and understand. Even some of the physics lectures are understandable. Each is relatively short making this perfect for when you want to read something of substance but don't have much time.

   The sections on Public Affairs are especially haunting as Einstein presents his arguments for the "global village" and advocated someting akin to the current U.N. - things that began to come into their own after his passing. In particular, there is an interchange between him and a group of Communist scientists that underlines the Cold War tension in its height and is a chilling read now in the Post Soviet Union age.




3. This volume collects essays of the last fifteen years of his life. The work has sections on 'Convictions and Beliefs' 'Science and Life' ' Public Affairs' ' Personalities' and 'His own people: The Jews"
   The work features expositions of some of Einstein's major scientific work.
   Among the personalities written about are Gandhi who Einstein greatly admires, Newton, Kepler, Planck, Madame Curie, Langevin, and lesser known figures Paul Ehrenfest,Carl von Ossietsky.
   Einstein writes much about the terrible changes in Germany he saw in his own lifetime, the rise of Nazism and Anti- Semitism.
   He writes about the creation of a national homeland for the Jews, his own Zionism, and his own connection with the Jewish people.
   He writes too about his conception of world- peace, about the threat to the world brought about something he is no small part a contributor to, the harnessing of the atom.
   In writing about himself in the opening section of the work he says, "I do the thing which my own nature drives me to do. It is embarassing to earn so much love and respect for it."
   He celebrates the life of thought , of the solitary individual .
   Einstein is the greatest modern example of Keynes dictum of how it is 'ideas' that change the world. He is the example of how one man alone , thinking, transformed our understanding of nature, and our power to change it.
   In these essays the main interests of Einstein's life are touched upon. He writes with clarity and modesty.
   An invaluable opportunity to be in touch with ' the Mind that defined an Age'.



4. Considering this book offer insights into the mind of one of history's greatest thinkers, I was slightly disappointed to find Einstein's views outside of science to be somewhat thin. It is natural to not expect great revelation from outside one's specialty, but as a famous intellectual, Einstein's should be the exception.
   
   I do not rate this book poorly because it does offer a wide spectrum of topics which coming from Einstein is appealing. Some of the topics outside of science include politics, religion, and even racism; thus offering an ample range of thought. The section on science is sound as expected and perhaps on this portion alone the book is worthwhile; however, his thoughts on the other topics included offer little revelation or at least nothing new or profound. It is for this reason I do not rate this book highly.
   
   I offer three stars so as not to discount the enjoyable read one might find merely gaining access to Einstein's thoughts on a spectrum of topics. However, on the same account, I do not offer more as I do not feel this book presents the insight one would expect from Einstein and thus it is somewhat disappointing.



5. The book arrived in good condition on a timely manner. Haven't had time to read, ordered lots of books. thanks