5 comments about The Monk in the Garden: The Lost and Found Genius of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics.

1. This book is a wonderful historical account of how
   Gregor Mendel, the father of modern genetics, came
   about to describe the units of heredity.
   
   The story is not only of one monk's personal struggle
   to be recognized as a notable and respected scientist
   and teacher, but also one of other scientists'
   motivations (selfish and unselfish) for scientific
   excellence and recognition.
   
   Mendel had to overcome many social and political
   challenges along the way to his discovery. Even after
   his death, others fought difficult battles for him in
   order for Mendel's thoughts to be accepted as the truth,
   and to have Mendel himself recognized for his awesome
   achievement. The man was truly a genius.
   
   The author does an incredible job compiling the
   information available on Mendel, as well as building a
   timeline and social environment that allows the reader
   to feel as if he/she were truly in the time of Mendel.
   This was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
   
   Now the warts...
   
   1. I was a bit disappointed in not getting a more clear
   discussion of the concepts Mendel was working with.
   The fact that Mendel started out with a clear plan
   of attack and then systematically developed a model
   that later led to his theory well after he made his
   observations was simply posed as a question of whether
   he had foresight to do the experiments. It really doesn't
   matter, but the answer is obviously yes. He knew what he
   was doing. His scientific inquiry and application of
   mathematical concepts to the study of heredity was
   revolutionary, yet overlooked. He was not ahead of his
   time, but rather his peers (and many scientists today)
   were (and are) not thinking in Mendel's mathematical terms.
   Others were preoccupied with the physical world, but
   Mendel was only concerned with the mathematical.
   Try to describe the law of gravity to someone and you
   will get a nod of understanding as you drop an apple
   to the ground. But, try to describe the same using a
   mathematical equation...and you will get a blank look,
   I guarantee it...just try it for yourself.
   
   2. It seems as if the writer was working with a pencil
   (or word processor) in one hand and a thesaurus in the
   other. There are so many obscure vocabulary words that
   it disrupts the flow of thought. This is just great if
   you would like to use the book for teaching high school
   students, which may actually be the intent - note the
   reference to the author's teenage daughter - but is
   very distracting to most other people. In addition, the
   flow of thought is interrupted by many long parenthetical
   discussions. Sometimes, you just lose sight of the topic.
   If you put the book down in mid-chapter, be prepared to
   re-read the whole chapter again. I ended up skimming the
   entire book several times after reading through the first
   time, so I was sure I was getting the whole story.
   
   If you want to use the book as a study guide for the
   vocabulary portion of the S.A.T., scrabble championship,
   or for jeopardy, you may want to look up the definitions
   of words from this short list beforehand:
   
   acerbic
   acumen
   apogee
   apostatic
   banal
   cacophony
   chafed
   churlish
   comported
   dioecious
   ecclesiastical
   erstwhile
   exegesis
   heretical
   ignominy
   imperious
   macabre
   marshalled
   misanthrope
   paean
   parson
   pedagogy
   polemic
   prescient
   propitious
   quixotic
   rubric
   slake
   sojourn
   stolidity
   talisman
   tweedy
   vituperative
   waggish
   
   3. There are some obvious mistakes (typographical or
   otherwise) that a geneticist would see immediately, but
   may be confusing for someone trying to learn genetics
   and reading this book. For example, on page 90, there is
   a discussion of dominance that had me scratching my head,
   and I have Ph.D. in molecular genetics! Also, on page
   240, line 8, replace the word "phenotype" with "genotype"
   and you will understand the authors point.
   
   4. Skip the epilogue. Why pontificate about what might be
   if Mendel had not done his gardening? Would we be better off
   without atomic warheads? What about antibiotics? Hmmm....
   Wait...the book is about something entirely different.



2. I'm surprised so many rated this book so highly. As I was reading, I kept asking myself why Henig included so many petty descriptions of Mendel, especially regarding his size: "widening face", "despite his girth", "rotund fellow like Mendel", "his fellow brethren might have been surprised to hear Mendel admit that there was something more important to him than eating", and when Henig calls Mendel "thick-fingered" I looked at the book's cover, and the hand-surgeon in me noticed--normal-sized fingers.
   
   So why does Henig take so many cheap shots, in what's supposed to be a scholarly biography? I've seen plenty of pictures of Mendel, and his size is not conspicuous. Why the constant comments? Why the extensive discussions about the food in the monastery kitchen? And why go on and on about his health difficulties, far in excess of what would be required in a biography? Is there any reason for her almost snide remarks?
   
   But then she did something that made her motives, if not agenda, obvious. On Page 41 she writes a single paragraph that can only be described as outright anti-Catholic bigotry:
   
   " . . . Galileo Galilei, an Italian mathematics professor and devout Catholic (FALSE), faced excommunication (FALSE) for defending those same ideas (i.e., Copernicanism). (FALSE) Official doctrine had changed by then (FALSE) . . . but Galileo . . . refused to renounce his radical ideas (FALSE) . . .
   
   Clearly, Henig is no historian:
   
   1. Galileo was NOT a devout Catholic--he had a mistress who bore him 3 illegitimate children
   2. Galileo did not face excommunication, and if Henig had done her homework, she would have known that excommunication was not an option given his crime BECAUSE-->
   3. Galileo was NOT brought before the Inquisition for advocating Copernicanism. The Pope had told him NUMEROUS times that the Church did not think Copernicanism was heretical, and that Copernicanism was NOT the issue. The issue was Galileo's insistence that the Church change its interpretation of Scripture to conform to Galileo's REINTERPRETATIONS (at least one of which was wrong), which he had based on Copernicanism. The issue was Galileo's (erroneous) foray into Scriptural re-interpretation, not his astronomy.
   4. The Church never took an "official" position on Copernicanism, so it was never an issue of "doctrine", and if Henig had read any reputable historian (Catholic/Protestant/Secular/whatever) she would have known that. (And, no John Paul II did NOT apologize for it in 1992).
   5. Of course Galileo renounced his radical ideas. Every junior high school student in America knows he ABJURED--that's why he got house arrest--in his own villa outside Florence. (And no, it was not because he was afraid he'd be tortured--Inquisition rules forbid torture in someone Galileo's age, and he knew that).
   
   One last one: Henig writes: "But natural scientists, if they are intellectually honest, often find themselves taking heretical positions on matters of creation and procreation, positions that challenge the very underpinnings of the Catholic Church." What dishonest nonsense. Here's a (very) brief list of internationally known historians who disagree with Henig: Lindberg, Numbers, Ferngren, Hedley Brooke, Shea, Rowland, Artigas (none of whom, to my knowledge, are Catholics themselves).
   
   I agree with the previous reviewer(s) who mentioned Henig's obvious lack of accuracy when it comes to Christianity, but these errors are so glaring that either she is the most ignorant historian I've read in years, or she's an outright anti-Catholic/Christian bigot.
   
   In either case, these biases/errors/inaccuracies make the book a waste of time. Not that it's not entertaining in parts, but if she can put so many errors/distortions into a single paragraph, the rest of the book is not to be trusted, on any level.



3. I have spent 10 years teaching high school biology, and as such a person, I have a reverence for poor Mendel strugling in his garden.
   
   This book gave me insights into his work, and the work of those who followed, and thus gave me new insight into how to communicate the humanity of these surprised giants to my students; possible giants of the future.



4. The Monk In The Garden by, Robin Marantz Henig, is a good book surrounded by a more boring, speculative one. At the core of this "novel," of course, was the explanation of the life and times of Gregor Mendel that helped procure his work on genetics. However, concealing this was much fluff, and unnecessary banter from Henig. The story of the monk growing his peas is a familiar one, to any person having passed a high school biology class, yet the purpose of this novel was to delve further into the unknown to see a side that we have never previously seen. While at times, Henig creates lighthearted descriptions of his rotund body, or widening face, for the most part she generalizes and presupposes that Mendel spent his time looking at objects out windows. For having lived so very long ago, it is amazing someone has been able to so accurately describe their daily life, and without ever meeting them as well? Now if she could only do the same for the many other illusive historical figures.
   
   After reading some reviews, I too picked up on a certain religious bias held by Henig. She seemingly had two agendas in writing this book, both uncovering Mendel's life and work, and discrediting Christianity at any point possible.
   
   While trying to be entertaining, Henig still uses excessively large vocabulary at points, and seems to be mixed up, and frazzled when it comes to her explaining important concepts. Still eagerly trying to explain genetics, Mendel, and how Christianity is wrong, she seems to forget that not everyone reading this book has a PhD in molecular biology. Henig seems to have failed as both a geneticist, and a novelist. Harsh, yet someone publishing a nonfiction book should be 110% sure everything is both correct, and at least factual based on primary resources, not made up chitchat. Plus its just plain boring.



5. Henig admittedly takes creative license to fill in some historical gaps, but she goes too far in propagating the misconception that Mendel sent a copy of his paper to Charles Darwin and that Darwin never read it. This urban legend (also brought up by other authors, such as Philip Kitcher) has made its way into newspaper articles and even textbooks. Catalogs of Darwin's library in the early 1900's and later made no mention of Mendel's paper. Instead, a secondary source by Focke that mentioned Mendel was in Darwin's library, with the relevant pages uncut. See Andrew Sclater's 2003 article in the Georgia Journal of Science.

3 comments about Paul Dirac: The Man and his Work.

1. After missing the first collection of essays on this brilliant recluse published soon after his death, I picked up the present version as soon as I was able. It did not disappoint.

   The book is a collection of four lectures given in the subject's honor in 1995 on the tenth anniversary of his death. The final lecture and the latter part of the third are highly mathematical and technical and clearly intended for a professional audience.

   But for me, the first lecture by Abraham Pais is worth the purchase price alone. Pais was not only a contemporary physicist, but also a close friend and as close to a confidant as was possible with such a reticent man.

   Through Pais' eyes, we see a mathematician turned physicist who was very different from the man to whom Dirac is most frequently compared, Albert Einstein. Einstein was a physicist first, mathematician second. Dirac was exactly the opposite. Einstein became a social and political critic, Dirac never strayed far from his study. The two were similar in that both viewed mathematical beauty as primary and both hated the modern remake of quantum mechanics (after the initial theory) for very similar reasons. This last point was interesting as Dirac was the first one to combine all his contemporaries' work on this improved quantum physics into a formal mathematical structure. His resulting equation, called naturally the Dirac equation, is classic Dirac, short and sweet. It combined Einsteinian relativity with the new quantum theory and Dirac considered the result to govern most of physics and all of chemistry. Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist, says in his introductory memorial address to the book, "If Dirac had patented the equation ... he would have become one of the richest men in the world. Every television set or computer would have paid him royalties." For this work, Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize with German physicist Erwin Schroedinger. One unexpected consequence of this work was a mathematical conclusion that defined a "negative energy" matter (aka antimatter) solution. Simply put, he had discovered a universe noone had imagined. To this day, we see the effects of this discovery from medical necessities (PET scan imaging-Positron Emission Tomography) to science fiction (Star Trek).

   The quotations and anecdotes Pais chooses are well placed and often very funny. They are also supported by the images of Dirac portrayed in the sketch on the cover and in the few photographs scattered through the first two lectures. They reveal his character well. He saw mathematical and physical realities so clearly that he simply could not understand why others did not see them as well. The photo of him "listening" to future Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman in Maurice Jacob's section is one of the most amusing of the collection.

   In the second lecture, Jacob shows the path of discovery and effect on latter day experimental physics of antimatter. He goes too long in spots but is generally fine.




2. We were ourselves participating in the inauguration of the Paul Dirac memorial in Westminster Abbey. Especially the speeches of Stephan Hawking and Abraham Pais were very touching as they did not only touch Dirac's work but also his personality and life. He was a very complex person and a great physicist. This book reflects that more than others about him.



3. A man Stephen Hawking calls 'probably the greatest British theoretical physicist since Newton,' has got to be a pretty bright man. Paul Dirac wrote the definitive equasion that joined the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Like Einstein before him, his equasion is very simple to express, very complex in its overall impact. It explains things like how television sets or computers work.
   
   This book is not exactly a biography, but more a tribute to him. It is a series of four talks given about Dirac eleven years after his death, upon the dedication of a plack to him in Westminster Abby.
   
   Abraham Pais describes Dirac's character and his approach to his work.
   
   Maurice Jacob explains not only how and why Dirac was led to introduce the concept of antimatter, but also its central role in modern particle physics and cosmology.
   
   David Olive gives an account of Dirac's work on magnetic monopoles and shows how it has had a profound influence in the development of fundamental physics down to the present day.
   
   Sir Michael Atiyah explains the widespread significance of the Dirac equation in mathematics, its roots in algebra and its implications for geometry and topology.

5 comments about Isaac Newton: Inventor, Scientist, and Teacher (Sower Series) (Sower Series).

1. This book should be placed in the adult section at church in addition to the children's section. These days new books are coming out claiming Newton to have been a deist and to have dabbled in alchemy, while his Christianity has been completely ignored. This book blows the covers off of those myths. Newton is shown to have been a dedicated Christian believer as well as a dedicated scientist. Many quotes from his one million word commentaries on the Bible are mentioned. His relationships with other important Christian scholars of the day are explored, and his true genius are revealed. The book will even bring a tear to your eye. Highly recommended.



2. This book serves up a bowdlerized version of Sir Isaac Newton that has been carefully crafted to make him look like a modern Evangelical Fundamentalist. It makes good Sunday-school reading, perhaps, but it doesn't make for accurate biography.

   Sir Isaac Newton was indeed a committed Christian and an almost obsessed Biblical scholar, as well as a towering mathematical genius. However, his years of scholarship ultimately led him to reject the doctrine of the Trinity and adopt a system of Christian belief that was closer to Arianism than to orthodox Christianity. See the essays collected in John Fauvel's <> for more information on this view of Newton and the evidence for it in his personal notebooks. See also Dr. Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs' careful study <> to understand how important the thirty years Newton spent investigating the claims of alchemy were in the development of his mature scientific philosophy.




3. I love this book, and read it because my 9 year old son said he enjoyed it so much! Newton is an amazing man and is to be looked up to. His accomplishments are incredible, and include more than gravity! I'm interested in his theological writings and thoughts as I never knew he had any...all I managed to learn in school was that an apple fell on his head and this led to his discovering gravity. The things you miss in grade school! Newton is a fascinationg subject for people of all ages and this book is a great starting point for adults who missed much of what went on in class. For children it is a far more accurate and rounded teaching tool than I ever received for those who are interested in science and in character building.
   Great to read aloud!



4. The title of the book is Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton was a young boy who was born on Christmas.He was interested in models when he was young, but in the future is intriguement changed. Soon he became interested in other things.Thru his youth, he transferred form many schools. In the future when he was studying, he decided to start inventing. This story takes place in many settings such as, his home, Trinity University, so on.The theme of the book is go out and learn. I give the book 4/5.



5. The title of the book is Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton was a boy born on Christmas. Isaac was interested in models at first, but his interests changed. Soon he became more intrigued in other things, and he started studying things like Science, Physics and, Math. Through his youth, Isaac transferred from many schools.In the future he wanted to start doing experiments of his own. This story takes place in many settings such as, his home, Trinity University, ext. The theme of the book is, go out and learn. I liked this book because it taught me many things, like where ring around the rosies came from.

5 comments about Rosalind Franklin and DNA.

1. For those who want an exhaustive, touching and unbiased biography of Rosalind Franklin read "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA" by Brenda Maddox. It is far superior to Sayre's analysis. Unfortunately Sayre in trying to defend her friend gets too caught up in supposition on what Franklin was likely to do and not to do, rather than providing factual evidence. Much of Sayre's biography stems from her obvious hatred of J D Watson's personal recollection of events and this leads her into inaccuracies. In the first chapter of the book her attempt to discredit Watson has Sayre stating that the eyeglasses Watson mentions Franklin wearing are pure fiction. Maddox is not so easily swayed by personal vendetta and the photograph in Maddox's book of Franklin at a scientific meeting in 1949 wearing eyeglasses clearly says more about Sayre's motives than the proverbial thousand words.

   The question which none of the books on the description of thestructure of DNA can ever answer is whether Franklin would have won a Nobel had she lived. However bear in mind the following. Only three can receive the prize and Crick and Watson would always fill two of those slots. Wilkins in the obvious choice for the third spot because he stuck with DNA and provided additional experimental evidence in support of the Watson and Crick model. Franklin, although she provided help to her student Gosling after she left King's College (Against Randell's specific request that she not work on DNA) she was obviously moving on to other things. So what did Frankin provide that was important for the structure? The only really important detail was the excellent x-ray image of the B form. (Her discovery of the A and B forms was important but not for the Watson and Crick model.) The information contained in this image essentially constitutes the "stolen" data - data that was actually freely communicated amongst a number of scientists, and made available to Watson and Crick. Franklin was obviously aware that such information was used to make the model. Did she complain? Did she request coauthorship with the two "thieves"? No, she did not and it is clear from both Sayre and Maddox that if Franklin had thought she had been "robbed" she would have made her feelings known only too well! It is very possible that she knew the data had been widely disseminated.

   IMPORTANT EDIT: I, like many others, believed that a photograph of the B form was included with the material sent to out by Randell but rereading Horace Judson's excellent "The Eight Day of Creation" I find that no photo was included. Thus only Watson saw the B form photo, Crick did not. Any information Watson got regarding the photo must have come from Wilkins, as Judson notes. Ironically Franklin had all the information she needed to solve the main features of the structure (3.4A/base, 34A/turn and 20A width) months before Watson and Crick.

   Would Franklin have determined the structure herself? It is even more impossible to predict this than the award of the Nobel. But again bear in mind as the model was being published Franklin was leaving King's College and appears not to have done any more significant experimental work on DNA. Together with Gosling (who stayed at King's to complete his PhD) she may have been successful but she would have needed Watson's luck at having a chemist nearby who knew what chemical form of the bases was appropriate, and to make use of Chargaff's "rules". She would have needed to realize that the two sugar phosphate backbones run in opposite directions (apparently almost immediately obvious to Crick from the crystal data but not to Franklin) and she would have needed to build models - something she was not in favor of doing. Could she have done it in three weeks, maybe, three months, possibly. EXCEPT, she was leaving, moving on, leaving behind DNA which at that point was still only a model, albeit a biologically appealing model. The most important aspect of Franklin's story is that there is no evidence that she had Watson's unfailing belief that the structure would be the holy grail of biology. The most significant aspect of Watson's crusade was that he was never seriously sidetracked by others who wanted to restrict his interest. Rosalind Franklin was a strong-willed individual and an excellent scientist and if either Sayre or Maddox had provided me with evidence that she truly knew the potential significance of her work then I would more easily believe that she would have been determined to complete the structure, but the evidence is not there. When she voluntarily left King's College she left the prize behind.




2. +++++
   
   I read Dr. James Watson's "The Double Helix"(1968) years ago. In it, he badly caricatured Dr. Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) by systematically stereotyping her. (However, in his book's epilogue he does admit that his initial impressions of her were often wrong.)
   
   I forgot about this until I read the late Dr. Linus Pauling's "How to Live Longer and Feel Better" (1986). In the 'About the Author' section I read the following: "Watson and [Dr. Francis] Crick [both of whom worked in the Cavendish lab at Cambridge University, England] proposed the double-helix structure, which turned out to be correct. Watson and Crick had the advantage of X-ray [diffraction] photographs of DNA taken by Rosalind Franklin [who worked in a lab at King's College, a division of the University of London], an advantage denied Pauling [who worked overseas in a U.S. lab]."
   
   Years later I read "Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker" (2001). One science article in this book called "The Triple Helix" said Pauling saw Franklin as "a talented young crystallographer [a scientist who is expert in structure and properties of crystals]" and that he had great admiration for her abilities. It also states that "[Dr. Maurice] Wilkins [the scientist who 'worked with' Franklin at King's College] was not...well trained in [the] interpretation of X-ray photos [like Franklin was]."
   
   Thus, my interest was aroused!! I wanted to learn more about Franklin. I thus chose Anne Sayre's book for two reasons:
   
   (1) It was originally published in 1975, just over 15 years after Franklin's death meaning the memories of events were still relatively fresh in people's minds and key people were still alive. (Contrast this to a book written in 2002, ALMOST 45 YEARS after Franklin's death. Are people's memories still reliable and are all key people still alive?)
   
   (2) Since Sayre was Franklin's friend, she would be privy to information that only friends could share.
   
   Sayre's book has many good features:
   
   (1) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SECTION. In it she stated that she interviewed many scientists and/or their wives as well as significant others that were still alive. She also had access to her scientist husband (who was also a crystallographer) as well as Franklin's mother and friends.
   
   I was surprised that Wilkins and Watson both consented "to lengthy and frank interviews." Crick also consented.
   
   Knowing all this quelled my trepidation that this book would somehow be biased and inaccurate.
   
   (2) THE BOOK'S INTRODUCTION (chapter 1). Here she tells us why she wrote this book. It was in response to Watson's caricature of Franklin in his 1968 book. Sayre states, "[She] was not recognizable as Rosalind Franklin. She was recognizable as something else not related to the facts."
   
   Sayre also states that her book is more than just a biography since "biography is too cruel a word to use in connection with a life which was over long before it was finished."
   
   (3) THE BOOK'S CONTENT (chapters 2 to 11). These chapters give a good, detailed description of Franklin. These chapters can be divided into three parts. In these parts the author describes the science Franklin was involved in. Sayre does a good job in making the science understandable. These parts also touch on other things such as science ethics and communication, the nature of science, psychology, and sexism in science. As well, included are copies of Franklin's critical lab notes and transcriptions of interviews with key people.
   
   Part I includes chapters 2 and 3. This part give insight into Franklin's character, her education, significant people she met, and much more. It covers the years from 1920 to 1950.
   
   Part II includes chapters 4 to 9. It covers the years from 1951 to early 1953. These were the years she worked in DNA research.
   
   The major event that transpired during these years was that Wilkins (and others) passed Franklin's data and her X-ray photos of DNA (especially the X-ray photo of the alternative or 'B' form of DNA) to Watson and Crick without her permission, and this critical information enabled them to determine the structure of DNA. (Pauling's structural model was inadequate because, as mentioned, he did not have access to these photos.)
   
   Part III encompasses chapters 10 and 11. It covers the years from mid-1953 to Franklin's death from cancer in 1958. During this time, she worked at a different lab on tobacco virus research and later, on polio virus research.
   
   (4) THE BOOK'S AFTERWORD SECTION. This section discusses various issues vigorously. Some examples of what's discussed include the importance of Franklin's discoveries, what might have been if she had not died so young, how poorly Watson's book portrayed her, and more.
   
   (5) NOTES. There are over ten pages of footnotes at the end of the book. These contain REVEALING information that never made it into the main narrative.
   
   (6) PAULING'S BOOK ENDORSEMENT. This two-time Nobel Prize winner states his endorsement on the book's back cover. I think this speaks volumes for the book's quality!
   
   It's good to know that Rosalind Franklin is now being honored posthumously and her reputation is being restored as part of a government crusade against sexism in science. Also, as of 2002, the "Franklin Medal" is awarded in her honor to exceptional women scientists.
   
   Finally, besides the books mentioned above, I recommend reading "The Third Man of the Double Helix" (November 2003) by Maurice Wilkins to get his side of this story.
   
   In conclusion, if you want to learn about a gifted female scientist and know the true story of the discovery of DNA's structure, then read this fascinating and honest book!!!
   
   +++++



3. Rosalind Franklin was a topnotch crystallographer in the U.K. who discovered the double helical structure of DNA in the 1950's and was about to publish it. But the scientists who received the immediate credit and enjoyed fame for the discovery were three men who worked on the same problem by modeling, a method rather different from that of Rosalind's method. The men were (by now) world famous James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. They got ahold of Rosalind's data without her knowledge and beat her to the finish line... And they never gave her proper credit. In his best selling "The Double Helix" Mr. Watson even wrote about her rather unflattering lines. ("Although she made essential contributions toward elucidating the structure of DNA, Rosalind Franklin is known to many only as seen through the distorting lens of James Watson's book" ex: Physics Today)
   
   After Rosalind's death from cancer the trio even received a Nobel prize for "their" discovery. The story of Rosalind Franklin (1920 - 1958) is a true story of competition and intrigue. Both are common among scientists. But, to my knowledge, never before have they come so close to treachery and deceit. Three men scientists used the results obtained by one woman without her knowledge and became famous overnight. For an excellent one-page summary of this story read: (The) Rosalind Franklin question in Critical Point: March 2003 (on the net). But if you want to read a fair, intelligent, balanced and reasonably detailed but not overlong book, read Sayre. It is a perfect science history book and an elegant feminist book at the same time. Factual, easy and impressive, written by a friend of Rosalind.



4. Watson and Crick received the Nobel Prize for their discovery in 1962. Rosalind Franklin was dead, but it was her legacy that made it possible for them to receive that award. In her honor, Rosalind Franklin and DNA by Anne Sayre tells of what a compelling and determined female scientist in an age when women weren't expected to do great things. Her accomplishments in the face of adversities like hostile work environments, sexist and politically closed minded institutions and general lack of acceptance because of her gender were numerous and remarkable. Her groundbreaking work with X-rays warrants telling, and it is only right that Anne Sayre relates this fascinating story. Otherwise, a remarkable woman whose advances so influence today's society would be overlooked and overshadowed by super popular scientists like Watson and Crick. For this same reason, it is important that anyone interested in DNA, the study of viruses, x-rays, or feminism in the 20th century read this book. Rosalind Franklin's impact on our culture is too important to overlook.



5. Rosalind Franklin was (and often still is, in histories of the discovery of the double helix) brushed aside when credit and prizes were awarded to those who discovered the Double Helix. It was Rosalind Franklin who first recognized DNA's form as a double helix; other scientists were guessing at other forms, even a triple strand. She literally gave her life to science, and needs recognition. The author knew Rosalind Franklin, and provides an insightful view. Women in science, mathematics, and statistics often face a struggle in these male-dominated fields, to this very day.

5 comments about Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us.

1. Listening to Whales is a wonderful story of a woman's life in the wild and the beautiful creatures she has devoted her life to. This auto-biography of the life of Alex Morten follows her journey through studying dolphin noises to captive dolphins to captive orcas and finally spending 25 years in the wilderness off the western coast of Canada studying killer whales in the wild. This story is so powerful and definitely shows us how important and intelligent these creatures are. Aside from retelling the moving story of how the whales thrived in those empty waters to completely leaving the same land with the coming of fish farms, this novel teaches the reader so much about this whale species, their culture and their environment. This is a must read for anyone interested in the preservation of the once pristine waters that are home to the killer whales and other marine animals--such as dolphins, porpoises, salmon, seals and otters--and for anyone who finds these beautiful and smart animals at all intriguing. Morton will make any reader fall in love with orcas as she takes the readers out on the waters in her boat, watching the whales live, play, love, and die. The end of the novel becomes more of a commentary on the industries--fish farming in particular--that destroy natural ecosystems. Morton leaves the touching story of her whales as they leave the once peaceful waters near her home, and throws a lot of political jargon at the reader. Though what she has to say is quite shocking, and definitely will leave the reader understanding the terrible effects of such an industry, the constant barrage of numbers and statistics that Morton uses to get her point across can become quite tiresome. However, it makes the final beautiful pages of this novel all the more emotionally touching. This book is amazing, and will definitely leave any reader feeling the same love that Morton does towards killer whales.



2. The book, Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us, is a spellbinding story of a woman's stuggle through life as she relentlessly studies killer whales. She brings us with her through her life's work of note taking and photo identification of the whales as she raises children, survives as a single mom in the wilderness, and falls in love. Alexandra Morton also teaches us of our human errors and our insensitive treatment of nature, as we do whatever is needed to fill our own pockets with more money, acting naive to how it is affecting the world around us. I especially enjoyed the peace and serenity of the novel. The setting and the whales themselves calms the nerves. I think it makes us all somewhat jealous of life outside of busy streets and many people. However, like with all autobiographies, the author can not control what has already happened, which makes the story move slow at the times when not a lot happened in the author's life. I would definitely recommend this novel, especially to anyone wishing to learn about whales and to anyone who loves reading about the serene and complexity of nature.



3. The novel "Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us" tells Alexandra Morton's story of how she dedicated her life to studying marine mammals, in particular killer whales, in captivity and in the wild. In addition, it describes the struggles she encountered along the way, such as caring for her young son on her own. After finishing this novel, the reader feels like she is an expert on killer whales, due to the clear descriptions Morton gives on the lifestyle, habits, and traits of the species. I felt that for the parts of the novel when Morton described her life aside from the whales, though, that she skipped over details, making it seem like events occurring over a long period of time were instead occurring over a matter of a few days. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone interested in learning about killer whales and how important it is for people to protect their species.



4. Alexandra Morton's book, "Listening to Whales" is a fantastic story of how she came to study and love dolphins and killer whales. Morton grabs the reader's attention from the beginning by telling of her childhood and how she came to love animals and research. She was first intrerested in frogs, then snakes, then moved onto dolphins and eventually to killer whales. Morton's story of how she started her career was fascinating, and all about meeting the right people at the right times. She started slow but her passion willingness to learn kept her going. After years of tedious work, Morton finally landed a job at Marineland where her first job was to study the sounds that dolphins make. By using a hydrophone, Morton was able to listen to the dolphins, but there were many problems in her studies. One problem was that the dolphins were too fast for her to write cooresponding notes, and also, she wasn't able to figure out which dolphin was making which noise. Two killer whales that also happened to be in Marineland started Morton's true interest on killer whales.
   Morton's career has let her listen to these killer whales, witness a birth, and uncover habits of these creatures that no one at first believed. Morton then goes into the wild to listen to and observe these beauties in their natural habitats. Morton continues to study killer whales in the wild and learns a lot from listening to these whales communicate.
   I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was interesting that Morton gave a lot of information on her personal life and background and told the readers of how she started her career. I thought the way she opened the book got the reader's attention from the start and built up her ethos. The only weakness to the book I'd say is that it is a little slow at the beginning. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about killer whales, or anyone who wants to hear the story of how a young, animal loving girl, grew up to be a wonderful scientist. This is story is one of "following your dreams". Morton did what she loved and knew she wanted to do, even when discouraged by others. Aspiring scientists and whale lovers would love this book.



5. 'Listening to Whales' was a touching story of how a women's life was enchanted through her passion for marine life. We follow the author, Alexandra Morton, through her life and career- which often go hand in hand- as she evolved as a marine scientist and a woman devoted to her love: the orcas. We are taken from her first job as an acoustics expert in Marineland to her more profound passion which is to examine the killer whales in their natural habitat; the open ocean. This book was not only captivating, but as I read through it I learned so many fun facts about orcas and dolphins and the life of a marine enthusiast.
   My favorite aspect of the book was the way she explained how her extreme passion for orcas came to be. I loved learning about how her love for marine life evolved from her love of frogs and grew from there. I find it so fascinating that as a small child something like loving frogs has evolved for decades and turned into her fulltime career. It proved how dedicated she has been to her work for so long and how there is constantly so much more to learn. I loved how she dedicated her young life to follow her dream, and this story showed how far you can come if you are persistent and dedicated.
   There wasn't any specific part of the book I didn't like. It was a story of this brilliant woman's dreams and stories, I don't think anyone is to say there was something wrong with it; it's an unedited, unchangeable story of her life. I think she had a good balance of her life-stories and experiences and her knowledge and history of her life with the whales. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in marine life or anyone who has a passion that they want to persue. It's a very inspiring story, which makes the book good for almost anyone.

5 comments about The Life of Isaac Newton (Canto original series).

1. This book was very enjoyable and a great source of information. I did not know much about the Jewish Holidays before reading this book. I now have some wonderful insights for their Holidays and the importance they play in their lives and their faith. I am LDS (Mormon) and the Temple, as the House of the Lord, is very important to me. This book help me to understand the importance of the Temple and the role it played from the time of Moses down to the time of Jesus Christ and into our very own time. This book is very good at explaining the ceremonies and the assosicated Holidays. I recommend this book to all.



2. This book tells us Isaac Newton in detail. It tells us about his life as a man, philosopher, theologian, alchemist, scientist and public figure. It tells us how he interact with other scientist and how his ancestors were like. I've learned many things about Newton that I didn't know before. Before I read this book I didn't know that he had involved with alchemy or theology. This book convinces me why Newton is one of the greatest scientists in history



3. The Life of Isaac Newton, by Richard Westfall, addresses the life and work of one of the greatest scientists of all time. Indeed, many consider Isaac Newton to be the greatest scientist of all time, because his work was the culmination of the Scientific Revolution. Westfall covers Newton's unhappy childhood, from which he escaped to Cambridge University where he emerged as a solitary, studious individual. Newton's genius found expression during the anni mirabilis, 1664-1666, when Cambridge was closed due to the plague. During these years, Newton explored a wide range of scientific issues, including mathematical physics, optics, mechanics, and celestial dynamics. He expanded upon Descartes' geometry, to develop the calculus. He conducted experiments with light, concluding that white light is made up of a series of colors. Newton also pursued studies of the movement of objects, following up on the work of Gallileo. Westfall covers Newton's lengthy career at Cambridge, where he devoted his life to his studies, avoiding most relationships and incurring animosity and resentment among many of his fellow scientists, including Robert Hooke. Newton's masterpiece was the Principia, in which he laid out his three laws of motion: inertia; acceleration; and action and reaction. Newton also presented the laws of universal gravitation. Westfall was compelled to write this biography - which is a shortened version of his larger, more technical study - to share the unfolding of the amazing genius who discovered so many of the laws underlying the physical world. This book is worth reading because it provides in an accessible form insights into the discoveries in the fields of mathematics and physics that ushered in the world of modern science.



4. Newton has been a fascinating figure for me, ever since I read a condensed history about him in one of those INTRODUCTION TO series, I think that one was on Quantum Physics. What fascinated me about Newton was his singleness of mind, a genius who devoted himself almost entirely to the pursuit of knowledge.
   
   Westfall's book is a condensation of an earlier book _Never at Rest_ which I have not had the pleasure of reading. Westfall presents the life of Newton warts and all. It describes his rise to prominence in the scientific world of his time and all the events leading to his most significant publication, the Principia.
   
   What was new to me was Newton's arguments with Hooke and his behavior toward Flamsteed which diminish the man's greatness, in my mind at least. What may be interesting to readers of Newton, the man, rather than the Scientist, are his `latter years' in public service at the Mint.
   
   Overall, I think Westfall kept the proper balance between presenting the works and person of the life of Newton. A worthwhile read.



5. Westfall's "Life of Isaac Newton" is everything the other reviewers say in regards to it being a good ABRIDGED biography of Newton. True, it is based in thorough scholarship and has served for the basis for many other Newton biographies to follow. But I would strongly caution any historian, whether by hobby or profession, to solely consult this book when referencing or discussing Newton. Westfall's abridged version lacks any mention of references (unless you count the very incomplete bibliographical essay at the end) in either footnotes, endnotes, or a comprehensive bibliography. In order to trace his references, one must consult his much more complete "Never at Rest", which is, altogether, a much more academic book. Don't get me wrong, "The Life of Isaac Newton" is easy to read and a good foundational text but should not serve as an authority on Newton, but rather a companion to a more authoritative text on Newton.
   Aside from the historiographical issues in this book, if it is to serve as an introduction to early modern science, it might also help readers to know that they should read, at some point, some sort of text that deals with British history from the Sixteenth through Eighteenth centuries, as Wesfall provides no historical or political background in which to understand Newton. Based on my own reading of books to suit this purpose I would recommend Simon Schama's "History of Britain, vol. 2"; "Leviathan and the Air-pump" by Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer; "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes, or "The Scientific Revolution" also by Steven Shapin (which would be less of a cultural or political history but a good introduction to the issues with history of science in the seventeenth century).
   As an alternative to Westfall's abridged version, I would also suggest (though he is not an academic, he is a pretty well-regarded science journalist with a very readable style) James Gleick's "Isaac Newton" which is a little shorter and more in depth in some regards (and does completely cite references).

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 You Belong in a Zoo!: Tales from a Lifetime Spent with Cobras, Crocs, and Other Extraordinary Creatures.

1. You Belong In A Zoo!: Tales From A Lifetime Spent With Cobras, Crocs And Other Creatures is the one-of-a-kind memoir of Peter Brazaitis, a man who dedicated his life to working with exotic reptiles and other animals, ranging from alligators in the reservoirs of Florida, to cobras on the loose, to capturing giant frogs in West Africa. A wry dash of humor flavors an inspired and informative discourse. You Belong In A Zoo! is a life story highly recommended to the attention of anyone with an interested in reptilian wildlife as a hobby or as a potential career.



2. I am loving this book. I decided to come online in the midst of it and urge others to read it...and this is not a paid urging!!!I hate to see what I look like reading this book..I go from grimaces to smiles to shock to belly laughs...I at times find myself leaning back in my chair as a particular tale is taking hold of me! The information is astounding and the authors sympathy with snakes is heartwarming...truly!!! More...more...more!!!



3. This is a great book. I find myself laughing at times, grimacing at others.

   The author has a great understanding of snakes and other reptiles. His respect for crocodiles comes across very clearly in this book. He also has a great understanding of human nature and some of the stories he tells are touching and sensitive. Others are hilarious and I laughed out loud while reading this book

   The book is well written and enjoyable. It is easy to read and grabs you right from the opening pages. Even when he is lecturing to the reader or providing information, it is done in context and is very interesting.

   Well worth every penny.
   Enjoy.




4. "You Belong in a Zoo" is Peter Brazaitis' tale of his storied career caring for and studying reptiles. Brazaitis' served as Superintendant of reptiles at the Bronx Zoo and as Curator of the Central Park Zoo, and has also acted as an advocate for endangered reptiles through his work to prevent the illegal importation and killing of these animals. Brazaitis of course has a wealth of stories to tell - some humorous, some frightening, and some a combination of the two. After describing 15 foot long King Cobras capable of rising to look a full grown man in the eye, Brazaitis relates the story of his attempt to capture one of these fascinating but deadly creatures by precariously balancing above a pool of crocodiles to reach the ceiling panel where the snake is hiding. Brazaitis' take on reptiles, and animals in general, is interesting. He obviously has a deep respect and admiration for animals, especially the reptiles he has spent a lifetime studying, but his view of animals seems different from that of some of the more radical animal rights activists. One could also argue that Brazaitis' work - especially his work with customs officials to stop the smugggling of endangered reptiles - has done more good than some of the antics of the more extreme members of PETA, for example. Brazaitis writes in an earnest style with some dry wit thrown in, and this style is quite effective in relating the story of his career. "You Belong In a Zoo" is an entertaining tale of reptiles and other animals, and an enjoyable autobiography of a man who has obviously "found his niche" in caring for these creatures.



5. As a child, Peter Brazaitis' stepmom told him "You belong in a zoo!" He decided she had a point.
   
   This book is part biography, part recollection of interesting episodes in his career. Brazaitis went on to work at the Bronx Zoo and Central Park Zoo in New York, and his specialty is reptiles.
   
   Many people find scaly animals to be scary or repulsive, but Brazaitis helps to bring some uunderstanding and fondness for them to the reader. He has a talent for storytelling. He raises the tension in a scary story about an escaped cobra. He transports you to a very different kind of society as he describes a trip to capturte goliath frogs in Africa. He brings insight into how zoos are run and how they've evolved. And more than once he gets a lot of chuckles from landmark human stupidity. (Such as the lawyer with a unique idea about the digestive + reproductive systems, or the true pinheads who seem to think venomous snakes make for interesting pets.)
   
   If you're interested in animals, you'll find "You Belong in a Zoo!" to be an excellent read.

5 comments about To Conquer the Air: The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight.

1. Not a biography of the Wright brothers, but the story of early flight from several perspectives. It jumps around a bit, but you do develop a sense for the various attempts and programs that were going on. Tobin presents the Wrights as the heroes, and rivals often come off negative, but the Wrights were heroes. Not 5 stars, but close, and an enjoyable read.



2. As the title of the book states, James Tobin offers a study of the progression of the airplane not just as a Wright brothers biography but as an examination of the efforts of many scientists and inventors in the "race for flight." As Tobin follows the years of research and test flights of the Wilbur and Orville Wright, he also switches to the works of Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Langley and Charles Manly, Octave Chanute, Alexander Graham Bell and his crew of young, ambitious visionaries which included the Wrights' chief rival Glenn Curtiss, and inventors who made their fame in France where lighter-than-air fliers were king. Tobin demonstrates through articles and correspondences how these experimenters influenced and motivated each other in their steps toward the creation of a practical flying machine.

   Although this book is not a biographical study per se, Tobin does offer a lot of information on the personalities of the Wrights. Tobin examines the many letters between the brothers, their father, and sister Kate to give the reader some sense of what these quiet, mysterious inventors working in a bicycle shop were like. Tobin also gives the reader some historical context for the times; for example, the popularity of bicycles at the turn of the century during which the Wrights had their own cycle company (pg. 45), or the importance of the photos in McClure's magazine of Otto Lilienthal gliding in his makeshift monoplane in 1894 two years before he met a tragic fate in another experimental flight (pg. 49) (photographs of things in motion being relatively new at the time).

   The details in this book demonstrates exhaustive research. One learns, for example, that the brothers had two buzzers in their cycle shop so that, if the second buzzer rang, they knew the customer came in just to air up his tires and they could remain upstairs conducting their many wind tunnel experiments. Of course, Tobin describes each stay at Kitty Hawk where the brothers tried their machines, Wilbur's demonstrations in France, Orville's demonstrations at Fort Myer (where the brother was injured and one of Bell's young crew members was killed), and Wilbur's sensational circling of the Statue of Liberty. I agree with another reviewer that the famous first flight on December 17, 1903 is not emphasized. I did not realize I was reading about it when I got to it. It is buried among all the many test glides of the Wrights and the frustrations of Langley. But there are many books that cover this topic thoroughly. Tobin is looking at the larger picture in this book.

   The book is 366 pages of text with occasional photographs and illustrations plus a middle section of photos. It does not become hampered by technical data. The mechanical element of flying machines is described (i.e. the observation of birds to determine how the wings should work) but not in a way that distracts from the human aspect of the story. This is the first book I've read on the Wright brothers and I enjoyed it very much. I also think it is a worthwhile book for those who've already read books on the Wrights as it is an overview of the quest for flight which may cover aspects of the story that other books do not.




3. This could have been a tangled & complicated story, or it could have been a one-dimensional story of the Wright Brothers and nobody else. Fortunately, Tobin has the skills as a researcher & writer to sustain about half a dozen different story lines without having the whole structure collapse. I am not sure which was harder --- keeping this book coherent or perfecting the art of flight.

   What was most interesting for me were how different the incentives were for the various compeitors. For some the incentive was the pure pursuit of science (the Wrights & Alexander Bell), for some the incentive was securing a place in history (S.P. Langley & Octave Chanute), and for some it was the quest for profit & commercial success, plain & simple (Glen Hammond).

   Just the motives were extremely varied, so too were the approaches to solving the challenge of flight. Langley assumed that the biggest part of the puzzle was power; build an engine strong enough and the other details would just work themselves out. If Langley had had a jet engine available, he might have gotten away with it --- although I wouldn't want to be flying in any plane developed along those lines. The Wrights on the other hand, saw the challenge of lift to be the key to the puzzle --- build a device that could achieve near-vertical lift and you could probably manage without a super-powerful engine.

   One comes away from this book with an enhanced respect for the natural scientific brilliance of the Wrights. So few of us actually have any knowledge of the systematic approach the Wrights took in solving the problem of lift in their little wind tunnel. Never ones to get ahead of themselves, the Wrights made sure they had explored every wing configuration they could think of before moving to the next stage of development.

   Tobin could have ended the story with the Wright's first flight, but he is too good of a historian not to look at the larger picture. As soon as one battle was won, other battles needed to be fought. It is open to debate as to who ultimately won this war, depending on what your perspective was.

   This was a great book. Tobin makes aerodynamics pretty understandable to almost anyone, and he has a great narrative skill. You will be left with a much greater respect for what a magnificent scientific feat achieving flight was --- after all, almost everyone else ultimately failed.




4. The Wright Brothers did not achieve their historic accomplishments in a vacuum, without the advice and support of other pioneers in the quest for human flight. I suppose that this should be common knowledge, but I was unaware of the contributions of Samuel Langley and others to the study of flight before reading James Tobin's remarkable book. Before his in-depth description of the Wright Brothers work that led to the first manned flight, Tobin describes in some detail Langley's investigations into flight, including one ill-fated attempt at a manned flight that would have beaten the Wrights by just several days. Tobin goes on to describe the race for accomplishments in the area of human flight, noting such worthy competitors as Alexander Graham Bell and Glenn Hammond Curtiss. Tobin's book is thus both a touching tribute to the Wright Brothers, as well as a spirited salute to their friends and competitors (some of whom were the same people). Details such as the power struggle within their church may seem irrelevant to some, but to me they provided a richness to Tobin's book that is no doubt missing from many other works on the Wright Brothers. An excellent book, one of the rare works I plan on reading again at some point.



5. I received this audiobook as a gift for Christmas and it took me a little while before I screwed up the desire to listen to it. I have a lot of podcasts and other audiobooks vying for my attention and don't want to spend time with things that aren't really interesting to me.I was pleasantly surprised. Like most Americans I was pretty ignorant of many of the details surrounding not only the Wright brother's landmark powered flight, but also around their attempts to market the idea in their own country.
   The infamous Kittyhawk flight is at about the middle of the book. I had rather assumed that it was a fait a complete, that once they had proven their technology the rest was as easy as pie. But nothing could be further from the truth.
   A very worthwhile read / listen if you have any interest at all in the social politics behind one of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century.

5 comments about Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life.

1. 
   The author's intent is to describe Darwin's thought process as he developed his theory, but the author's thesis isn't presented in a very organized way. I think that time is the culprit. It looks like this book was rushed in order to meet the deadlines, one of which is a major exhibit, which the author was also responsible for.
   
   Eldredge believes that Darwin was convinced of what Darwin called "my theory" at least 20 years ahead of his publication of it. Evolution wasn't Darwin's original idea. It had been posited before and was going to be published by another scientist, when Darwin, (perhaps the fittest because he had more evidence) decided to go public.
   
   The author is clearly Darwin's defender, and he gives good reasons why. Eldridge feels that Darwin not only gave us a scientific view of how evolution occured, but also gave us a milestone in developing the scientific process. Eldridge more than touches on the courage it took to do this when a creation view held sway not only in England, but also in Darwin's nuclear family.
   
   The first chapter is a bio, but it goes forward into the theory. The second chapter is more biography but it laps back and forth into the first and later chapters. The chapters on Darwin's work tell and retell biography and push forward into the thinking of today's scientists, and back and forth again.
   
   The illustrations are not placed with the text. In one place you are left mid-word to flip through 8 pages of illustrations to get back to the text.
   
   The book is very attractive. Its paper and its texture, the print, layout and colors are well selected. The author is very knowledgeable. I believe this book is destined to be a souvenir volume for those who enjoy the exhibit. With a little more time, this could have been a great book, maybe even a "must read" for 2009, for a very wide audience.



2. In some places, challenging Darwin is a cottage industry. In the US, it's almost a multi-national in size and scope. Challenges have run from his upper middle-class origins and existence to whether he was the first to define how evolution works. It's the last point that Niles Eldredge counters here with some vigour. In this life of the man whose novel concept of life should have overturned the concept of who we are, Eldredge is forced once again to mount the barricades in Darwin's defence. Much of the theme of this book is "when" Darwin came to the idea that transmutation of species was the key to life. Although most scholars hold that Darwin concluded species change sometime in the mid-1840s, Eldredge pushes the idea further back, even possibly during the Beagle voyage of the 1830s.
   
   As a publication associated with a new touring exhibit from the American Natural History Museum in New York, Eldredge deftly keeps his text associated with the artefacts on view. As the curator of the exhibit, he's in a prime position to give the material a good portrayal. A dedicated Darwinist, Eldredge is intimately involved in what the naturalist thought, why he thought it and, so far as possible when he came up with his ideas. Eldredge has thoroughly investigated Darwin's notebooks in preparing this book. It was clearly a labour of love. Besides his research skills, Eldredge is an expressive and convincing writer. He has a point to make, and presents it with skill and verve. Even the unitiated is unlikely to feel bogged down by arcane information. The author's fluent language is a joy to read.
   
   Darwin's career is essentially outlined here. The element of chance is strangely muted. It was almost a fluke that led Darwin to walk up the gangplank to board the Beagle. It was a chance occurence that he was in Chile during an earthquake that raised sealife above the ocean. A chance remark about tortoises slipped by him almost unnoticed. What would have happened if Albert Russel Wallace had sent his own groundbreaking paper to somebody else, such as Henslow? All those near-misses were overcome, as Eldredge forcefully notes, by Darwin's dedicated pursuit of what he did learn. It's easy to dismiss Darwin as a plodder, but this account shows that every step was carefully sighted and reviewed for what it might contribute. In no small measure, Darwin provided a significant leap forward, not only for our understanding of life, but in the pursuit of scientific excellence. He may not have had all the answers, but those he put forward were firmly buttressed. Given that Darwin was an observer and not a laboratory researcher, his accomplishments become yet more noteworthy.
   
   This being a "modern" author, and a scientist who has striven for a generation to overturn a fundamental aspect of Darwin's original concept, this book necessarily preaches the notion of abrupt speciation. Darwin's use of geologist Charles Lyell's "uniformitarian" means of change has been challenged by Eldredge [and his mate Stephen Gould] with "punk eek", the idea that evolution works in a jerky fashion. Not unexpectedly, Eldredge gives this idea a good deal of ink. He attempts to ameliorate this heresy with a muted discussion of scale - the measurement of rate of change - but it's skimpy and inconclusive. The author might have done better to skim the topic and presented more on Darwin's other work. Eldredge's pushing the date of Darwin's becoming convinced of the idea of evolution in the first place is accomplishment enough for both. The final chapter throws down the gauntlet to the hordes of Christians obstructing the dissemination of Darwin's concept in education and society.
   
   As an accompaniment to a museum exhibit, this book is richly illustrated. A multitude of contemporary illustrations, sketches, cartoons and photographs all provide visually pleasing enhancements to the text. There are even photographs of undecipherable pages from the Notebooks. In all, Eldredge has provided an fine introductory survey of who Darwin was and what he accomplished. It's to be hoped that the combination of the exhibit and this volume will retain the status Darwin deserves. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]



3. I found this book to be both highly informative as well as beautifully produced. The author, a distingished paleontologist currently at New York's American Museum of Natural History, who was curator on the smashing exhibit last year commemorating Darwin at the museum which I had the privilege of seeing, accomplishes a number of objectives in this volume. First, he focuses upon Darwin's own history, methods and theories. Next, he does an examination of Darwin's famous Red and Transmutation notebooks, including interesting photographs of some of the pages. The reader soon comes to understand why the author feels that much of Darwin's evolutionary theory was anticipated in these journals long before he published "On the Origin of Species." This discussion is succeeded by one on Darwin's own early manuscripts (i.e., "The 1842 Sketch" and "the Essay of of 1844"), which integrates well with his analysis of the notebooks. The author also does a concise review of the "Origin" itself. One of the most interesting chapters is on "Evolution After Darwin," including the period when discussion of Darwin almost disappeared from the scene. The final chapter discusses Darwin, religion and the current "intelligent design" debate.
   
   The author strikes a remarkable balance between a level of discussion aimed at the general reader while injecting some substantial scientific information as well. His recounting of some of the most recent leading evolutionary research is particularly informative. The book's illustrations are exceedingly helpful in illuminating the author's analysis--many are beautiful color photographs of the first quality. The book is printed on the finest glossy paper as well, resulting in a beautiful production. So, while written for a general audience, there is a good dose of scientific information as well. And the writing is always clear and concise (the entire book including illustrations and bibiography runs around 245 pages). A solid addition to the literature on Darwin and evoluton.



4. Eldredge is the curator of the exhibit currently at the American Museum of Natural History focusing on Darwin. This is the obligatory "companion book" to the exhibit, though in fact it's far more than just a picture book of the exhibit with explanatory captions.
   
   The first two chapters are largely a brief biography, of Darwin but also the background that led up to his dramatic breakthrough in his understanding of natural selection. The next two chapters are perhaps the heart of the book, as Eldredge takes us through Darwin's various notebooks and manuscripts, showing in Darwin's own writings how he groped his way toward Origin of Species and the ideas therein. The last two chapters are perhaps the most interesting part of all. Eldredge focuses on what we know today about biology, and how it has followed from Darwin. Eldredge has his own strong opinions--as one of the founders, with Stephen Jay Gould, of the theory of punctuated equilibrium--and does not hesitate to cast views through that prism. He is particularly interested in effects secondary to natural selection but still significant, like geographic isolation. And the final chapter has the striking title "Darwin as Anti-Christ: Creationism in the Twenty-first Century." Here he initially points out that creationism held full sway in Darwin's world, and it was the strength of Darwin's arguments that brought it down. He then revisits some of the key arguments in evolution's favor: the nested hierarchy, the progression from simple to complex, the fossil record that clearly shows the divergence of humans from apes. He spends several pages comparing the bifurcated development according to natural selection with the more complex development of a designed object, specifically the cornet, in which good ideas jump from one lineage to another, something that is never ever seen in the tree of life.
   
   Speaking as a non-expert, I found this a very worthwhile book, both for learning more about Darwin and his thought, and about how to muster additional arguments - as if any should be necessary - against creationism.



5. Niles Eldredge is an excellent writer on evolutionary theory and he was certainly a good choice to write the companion volume for the American Museum of Natural History's 200th birthday of Charles Darwin exhibition. In "Charles Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life" he covers not only the basis of Darwinian thinking, but adds illustrations of Down House, the famous sand walk, various documents associated with Darwin and some modern phylogenetic analyses. Indeed, this book gives the reader a peek into Darwin's very though processes, where he was on the right track and where he went wrong on occasion. Darwin's accomplishment is not diminished by his errors, but is more appreciated by the difficulties of arriving at the truth, or as much of the truth as humans can comprehend.
   
   If you cannot read Janet Browne's detailed two volume biography, this is certainly the book to read! While a great companion to the exhibit, if the reader has the opportunity to see it, it is also a stand alone text that is well worth the effort to read on its own!