5 comments about The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind.

1. The Bomb in My Garden was very easy to read and held my interest throughout. Although I did not know Dr. Mahdi as a student at Colo School of Mines, he was in school at the same time as I, graduating three years after me. That added to my interest in the book.
   
   It gives an insight into the kind of goverment Dr. Mahdi had to work under and give in to.



2. Once you get started you won't be able to put this book down. This oral hisory shows how honorable, intelligent people with the best intentions can be forced to do the work of a corrupt regime. Thank you, Mr. Obeidi, for coming forward with your story revealing the individuals and countries (including our own) that made the acquisition of nuclear-producing components possible, in spite of the nuclear ban. It makes the current situation of nuclear fuel enrichment in Iran and North Korea all the scarier. Thank you, Kurt, for organizing this story so well and making the scientific jargon so easily understood.



3. I just finish reading the book of Mahdi Obeidi.
   I found informative, interesting and entertaining.
   In his book the author manipulate us into being sympathetic and compassionated for his case.
   (just as Albert Speer would have done)
   I certainly do not deny that to work in an oppressive dictatorship is extremely difficult and that most of us one day or the other compromises our integrity for our job security or for the safety or the security of those we love.
   Nevertheless at the end we stand responsible and accountable for our acts, especially if we are men and women of faith.
   One day every one of us will have to give an account for his/her actions or in-actions.
   It will cost us; sometimes a lot or even everything to stand for what we know is right or is true, even our freedom or the live of these we love.
   DC Obeidi took the chance to have thousands or millions killed, thank to his efforts, to protect himself and his immediate family.
   The Nazi engineers did just the same.
   Would Dc Obeidi have had any pride at all if one of the atomic bomb, that he helped to built, had landed on Israel or another county and killed thousand or millions?
   I believe that he would have.
   Would he have turned down the honors and the rewards from the government he served?
   I believe that he would have not.
   Adolf Eichmann was very proud of killing millions of Jews very efficiently as good Nazi bureaucrat.
   Dc Obeidi is not different, he just did not had the chance to go to the end of the experimentation.
   To stand or not to stand is what distinguish a man from a slave.
   If nothing else Dc Obeidi was and still is a slave of his fears.



4. This book reads like one of the best spy thrillers, without the ending comfort of knowing it's only fiction.
   
   Obeidi's story puts into perspective the frail protection that exists against the development and use of nuclear weapons in the world today.
   A complex issue often over simplified is illuminated by this factual account of how close Iraq came to the development of weapons grade uranium and the bomb.
   
   This book should be required reading.



5. It is more than a cliche to say that Saddam Hussein was a madman, and in fact, it is an understatement. Mahdi Obeidi spent a major portion of his career as a scientist under the thumb of Saddam and his minions, and the twists and turns this imposed on his life would surely have broken a lesser man. Somehow Mahdi found the strength to persevere the horrific threats, forced isolation from his wife and children, the unbearably stressful, not to mention insane schedules he often had to work under, and much much more.
   
   Throughout the book he offers insights into the mind of Saddam Hussein that only someone who has experienced that brutal regime could truly comprehend. Try as we might, and as chilling as it often is, we can only imagine what it must have been like. As the top man in Saddam's nuclear program, he succeeded in enriching uranium and was well on the way to success in building a nuclear weapon. This fearsome weapon would have been in the hands of one of the world's true madmen, a tyrant whose only obstacle to surpassing Hitler in atrocities committed was his lack of power to do so. What if he had succeeded though in his nuclear ambitions? How does the world disarm someone like that? The prospect is chilling and it CAN happen again. Read this book, you will learn how and get a glimpse of what must be done to prevent it.
   
   Below is a short quote from the CIA website at https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol48no4/bombs_in_garden.html;
   
   "The Bomb In My Garden is not documented with sources, but the names, dates, and events discussed allow checking of key facts. Moreover, the former head of the UN Iraqi Survey Group, David Kay, and a number of American nuclear specialists find the story largely accurate and compelling as indicated by their comments in the book and on the dust jacket. Mahdi Obeidi concludes that Saddam came close to having an atom bomb in 1991 and probably intended to restart the program given an opportunity. As to the future, Obeidi warns the reader that "illicit nuclear programs share a common weak spot: they need international complicity" to succeed, and there are many unemployed nuclear scientists still in Iraq."
   
   In other words, it is likely in Obeidi's opinion that Saddam had a passion for the bomb that only his deposing and subsequent execution could stop...........

5 comments about Mapping Fate: A Memoir of Family, Risk, and Genetic Research.

1. A must read for anyone interested in Huntington's disease. This book tells about how HD affects families and tells about how the gene was found after a ten year search. Courage and perserverance -that's the Wexler family-they give courage to so many others who are also on the same difficult journey with HD.



2. This book is just as other reviewers have said-- a heartbreaking but fascinating tale about two sisters' response when a devastating disease crops up in their family. But it's not a depressing, downer of a read. The two sisters deal with the future possibility of their own disease diagnosis in different ways but both have many lessons to teach all of us facing something difficult (and who doesn't at some point). And the story-within-a-story about the search for the Huntington's gene is a really candid and interesting look at the world of important scientific research. It's just a good read.



3. I felt Mapping Fate was a very informative and interesting book about Huntington's disease and genetic testing. I highly recommend it for anyone with Huntington's disease risk in their family. Also, very useful for anyone interested in genetics and genetic testing.



4. Wexler tells an incredible story of both the personal and medical aspects of HD. She takes the time to explain the important biological and genetic background, while not overwhelming you with useless facts. She does a wonderful job explaining the pain of having a family member with HD, while not soley focusing on their struggles. I learned a lot about HD through this book, and would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the disease and its biological basis.



5. Beautiful book. This book brings to life the science of Huntington's, as well as the personal dilemmas surrounding genetic testing, as written by one of the pioneers of this test. I also recommend Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior to anyone who enjoys this book for the scientific, biographical aspect.

5 comments about Schirra's Space (Bluejacket Books).

1. I long have been a huge fan of Wally Schirra. I have always adored his keen sense of humor and wit. Furthermore, his impeccable aviator and astronaut careers always made me feel awe struck. Therefore, I greatly looked forward to reading Mr. Schirra's account of his career. My main interest was to get a real insiders look into the space program - which I believe the book did successfully on some major points. Mr. Schirra's wit pleasantly shined throughout the book - this made the reading more pallatable. Regretfully, the reason for my three star rating is the fact that the book would ramble. Without a moments notice, it would jump ahead in time and backward in time. I found this fact to be very irritating as I tried to stay focused and gain as much information as I could from my reading. I thought that maybe I was being too critical, but this sore spot was evident throughout the book. By the time that I had finished the book, I felt exaspirated from the time warps. Do not get me wrong, Mr. Wally Schirra is still a brilliant man in my eyes - I just found that the book was not a good representation of the the true great man that he is. All in all, for the average reader, I feel that this book has many good bits of information - as long as you are willing to sift through the minutia of time jumps.



2. Wally Shirra doesn't lack for confidence. Then again how would a person, without the self confidence of a test pilot, strap himself to a rocket? A great insider's view of the program. However for all his confidence Shirra goes out of his way to not cast a single stone at the many people he crossed paths with through out his career. A class act. No new real information is uncovered through this book. Just a fun read.



3. Not even factually correct in some cases.. as when Wally implies that he got the LLTV training cancelled because it was dangerous. Wrong !!! It was used through Apollo 17. I own over a hundred aviation and space books, but this one I gave to Good Will after I read it.



4. As much as I was a fan of Wally Schirra during his days in the space program, or perhaps because of that, I was mildly disappointed in his autobiography. This work strikes me as typical of a number of astronaut biographies and autobiographies rushed into print over the past generation or so, rather unremarkable in literary style and adding little to the historiography of this critical era of space travel.
   
   Perhaps this should not be surprising. The author identifies himself as a technical man who throughout his military career kept his nose to the grind of precision flying and admits to little connectedness to the culture outside. No one should take up this work and expect to find Astronaut Schirra's opinion of "My Fair Lady." To the day of its publication the author through his book exudes continued pride in his association with other pilots of exceptional competence, and conversely, an avoidance of those who in his view are or were more form than substance. [Chuck Yeager, for example, will probably never grace the Schirra Thanksgiving table.] If Schirra is infected with hubris, it comes honorably.
   
   Schirra is the antithesis of the joker and clown he was sometimes depicted as in, say, "The Right Stuff." It is within the world of test flying and space exploration that the reader will best connect with Schirra: learning, for example, that Schirra had little use for the extensive battery of medical tests to which all the early astronaut candidates were subjected. He was highly critical of the early conceptualization of Project Mercury. He was among those who considered early spaceflight "Spam in a Can" and lobbied extensively for pilot control in all of the various programs in which he served. His blunt talk, however, made sense as events would prove.
   
   One can probably argue with credibility that Schirra was one of the half-dozen most competent pilots of the entire Mercury-Apollo era. His Sigma 7 flight in October, 1962, was a quantum leap for Mercury in terms of both distance and fuel economy. But his greatest contribution to the space program may have come in December, 1965, when in a four day period the author not only averted a major space catastrophe but achieved a technical breakthrough of major importance for reaching the moon.
   
   Gemini 6 was a star-crossed flight from opening day. Scheduled for October, 1965, its mission objective was rendezvous with an unmanned Agena rocket launched hours earlier. The Agena inexplicably blew up before Schirra's and Tom Stafford's craft was launched, and the mission went into temporary limbo. However, after much discussion about feasibility, Gemini 6 was rescheduled for a December launch, with its new rendezvous target being nothing less than Gemini 7, the 14-day endurance epic of Frank Borman and Jim Lovell.
   
   Gemini 7 was launched successfully early in December, and after a mere nine day turnaround of the Gemini launch pad--itself a record of sorts--the author and Stafford were ready to launch Gemini 6 in pursuit of Borman and Lovell. But in what has to be one of the more hair-raising moments of the space program, Gemini 6's launch rocket shut down a millisecond before lifting off the ground. The various disastrous scenarios were as numerous as the imagination permitted. In his own printed words Schirra is quite matter of fact about this dilemma and his now-famous choice against capsule ejection--which, incidentally, saved the rendezvous mission itself, as matters would transpire. For the historical record, Schirra sees his decision as the vindication of human pilots over computer guidance, and he seems proudest of this maneuver and the mission that followed.
   
   He is right to be proud. If Schirra's instincts served him well atop Gemini 6 on the ground, his piloting skills three days later would set the space program ahead by leaps and bounds. Gemini 6 found its target in minimum time and milked the maximum possible navigational experience from the rendezvous. Gemini 6 established that with a skilled pilot a space vehicle could pretty much go wherever needed, an indispensable technical advance for moon landing technology.
   
   Gemini 6 may have been Schirra's finest hour in the space program. It would be different after that. The fiery death of his old Mercury sidekick Gus Grissom in 1967 left Schirra as the only active member of the original seven astronauts and raised doubts in his mind about the Apollo Program in general. Apollo was exponentially more complicated than the Mercury Program for which he was chosen. Schirra has plenty to say about Apollo management, but there is a hint in his reflections that the Mercury crew [which included, at least hypothetically, Cooper, Slayton, Shepard and himself] might have been "over the hill" when Apollo took center stage. [182]
   
   Schirra's comportment before and during Apollo 7, the first of the Apollo manned flights, has been the subject of considerable conjecture. This reader's impression is that Schirra had reservations about the vehicle, but more so with the management team behind it. The author complains that he was misled about guidelines for acceptable launch time wind velocities, and once in flight, pressured to perform tasks that interfered with basic shake-down procedures. The author's head cold while in space would later take on humorous proportions in his award winning Actifed TV commercials, but at the time his general health and its impact upon flight procedure became major ground to space confrontations. But in rare candor for an astronaut, Schirra admitted the unthinkable--Apollo 7 was boring him out of his mind by mid-flight. [203]
   
   Schirra had announced his retirement before Apollo 7, and if Deke Slayton is to be believed, the author would never again have to worry about space boredom, as his crewmates Eisele and Cunningham ruefully discovered. The happy ending to this tale is Schirra's personal pride and contentment at his career's body of work and the ongoing respect he enjoyed from the top professionals in his field at the time of his book`s publication in 1988.
   
   .



5. Wally Schirra, perhaps more than all the other "Original Seven"
   Mercury astronauts, embodies all the great strengths along
   with the weaknesses of this group compared with the astronauts
   who entered the space program after them.
   It must be remembered that when the original astronauts were
   chosen in 1959, manned spaceflight was a great unknown. In particular,
   it was not known how the human body would responds to all the stresses
   caused by the massive accelerations and decelerations of the spacecraft
   in addition to the problems of prolonged "weightlessness". Thus,
   those astronauts chosen were found to be able to withstand worst-case
   scenarios for these things. Piloting skills were not as important
   because the astronaut didn't really have much control of the Mercury
   spacecraft.
   By the time Schirra flew on his Sigma 7 flight (the fifth of the series), it had been found that the psychological and physiological stresses were not that great. In addition, the flight before his, Aurora 7, by Scott Carpenter was a near disaster because he did a poor job doing what little
   piloting he could. Thus Schirra was called on to show that, indeed, with
   good piloting skills, precise maneuvers could be carried out. Using what
   Schirra called "the light stuff", Schirra proved that a skilled pilot can
   do what has to be done while conserving precious fuel.
   By the time the much more advanced two-man Gemini spacecraft came to fly, it was now necessary to carry out far more sophisticated missions, involving rendezvous, docking and EVA. Schirra in his Gemini 6 mission, along with Tom Stafford, spectacularly carried out the first rendezvous when his spacecraft met up with the already orbiting Gemini 7. Schirra was the perfect choice because he showed that the "light stuff" can
   allow complicated space operations of the type needed to land on the Moon using the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous mode within the fuel constraints that were available. He also saved his Gemini mission when the Titan II booster rocket's engines cut off seconds after ignition and Schirra's
   outstanding "feel" as a pilot told him NOT to carry out a very dangerous
   ejection, so the mission was saved to fly another day.
   Gemini training using simulations was far more complicated than those for Mercury and the veteran Mercury astronauts who flew Gemini like Schirra and Gordon Cooper found them more exhausting.
   After the Apollo 1 fire, Schirra was once again called in to save the manned spaceprogram and was assigned the first Apollo flight. By this time, as he put it in his own words, he was being "devoured" by the space program. Fellow crewman Walt Cunningham felt that Schirra really didn't want to fly the mission but he pushed himself to do it out of a feeling of responsibility to his friend and fellow Mercury astronaut Gus Grisson who perished in the fire. This flight (called Apollo 7) not only would break in a new spacecraft that was far more sophisticated than the already complex Gemini spacecraft. Whenever flying a new spacecraft, there are always uncertainties as to whether all the bugs have shaken out, and in addition, the simulation training was even more time consuming and exhausting. All these things took their toll on Schirra, and the pressures came bursting out of him during the flight when he became ill with a head cold. Schirra began berating the flight controllers which enraged Chris Kraft, the head of flight operations.
   Also, even though the mission was scheduled to last 11 days in order to
   test the ability to last the duration of a lunar landing flight, Schirra
   adamantly opposed carrying out more than a minimal number of scientific experiments. This was another legacy of the Mercury astronauts who loved flying but generally had little interest in the scientific aspects of space exploration. Thus, Walt Cunningham felt that the mission, although proving the spacecraft
   was spaceworthy, wasted a lot of time that could have been used to
   carry out more experiments and which would have alleviated their boredom
   on the last days of the mission. Schirra even objected to carrying at TV camera on board, but NASA management insisted, saying the taxpayers had the right to see what their billions of dollars were going for. In this matter, Schirra relented.
   Fortunately, as the moon landings approached, NASA began to choose astronauts who weren't as "tough" as the Original Seven, but they were better educated scientifically and technically, and they were better able to handle and understand the complex systems that made up the Apollo spacecraft, and they had more of a willingness to study geology and other scientific disciplines which Apollo's space exploration capabilites would enable space and planetary scientists to exploit.
   Like all the other astronaut autobiographies, with the notable exception
   of Mike Collins' "Carrying the Fire", this one does not really describe
   what spaceflight is really like, nor will the reader will not really learn much more about America's space program by reading this book.
   However, American owes Wally Schirra a lot. He stepped in twice when the
   space program was in crisis and his exceptional piloting skills (maybe the best of the Original Seven) put America on its path to the Moon.

5 comments about The Man Who Predicts Earthquakes: Jim Berkland, Maverick Geologist--How His Quake Warnings Can Save Lives.

1. Jim is one who refuses to follow the "normal" way of doing things, and I love that. Thanks to both of you I have found many more ways to enhance my forecasts at quakeprediction dot com! Not only does Cal cover Jim's ideas in detail, but she also gives the reader a great deal of earthquake information.



2. I wrote the introduction to *The Man Who Predicts Earthquakes* because I believe that James Berkland's work on earthquake prediction deserves serious attention. Cal Orey's book provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of mysterious earthquake precursors and it offers a fascinating overview of James Berkland's colorful career as a maverick geologist. Berkland's adventures and explorations on the frontiers of scientific discovery will haunt conventional seismologists and intrigue open-minded students of unexplained phenomena.



3. Man who predicts Earthquakes - Jim Berkland, Maverick Geologist -biography
   by Cal Orey, Sentient Pub '06 Review - micheal sunanda Oness press
   
   This book is charming & dramatic in language, vast in scope, very personal & accurate in reporting. Jim keeps Equake records of his `Syzygy' coorelations being Sun, full & new moon cycles of Equake clusters happening after many cats & dogs run away from homes. That natural data been observed in China for decades, but not reported to US much. Cal explains the politics around Jim & controversy still rejected by most geology now. Jim is open, careful & lucid telling of Equakes recent & historical. Even wild animals act weird or run away before Equakes, as many folks in northern California know. But government people are too worried & afraid about money & reputation to allow such a radical rebel to work for them predicting Equakes, makes'em look dumb, even if it saves damage & lives to know ahead & prepare.
   I been hearing Jim on Coast to Coast am radio interview for 5 years now, So here I get to learn the details of his radical lifework around earthquake predictions. He has more honest integrity of any geologist I've ever heard or read. His observing & reporting natures cycles really inspired me to study earth science more about all earth changes causes & effects. Even him getting fired by his agency for publishing earthquake predictions is typical as it is absurd. But he continued his career research in patterns around earthquake wherever they happen & especially the precursors, not causes, but the signs of it coming soon. His Syzygy is 80-85% accurate predicting earthquakes. Jim's been tracking solunar cycles, ocean tides & animal behaviors & more coorelations to earthquake precursors
   We read of other Equake predictors, sensitives to pre-quake rumbles, prophetic dreams & ESP. I've talked with 2 Equake sensitives who feel pre-quake vibrations as aches, pains & stress in their bodies, they've mapped according to body parts & earth regions. Cal probes the depths of the field. I like her referring to Rupert Sheldrake's work on morphic resonance & ESP of animals sensing invisible & farway things. If you want a deeper read on earth-quake dimensions this is it. Reading her is fun & profound at once, to realized how we're all connected with Mother earth. But animals seem more & sensitive & instinctual than most humans are. So we can learn about patterns with them, Like `where'd they go? Why running away? Is quake coming? When? Some causes of Equakes are still a mystery.



4. This book causes you to think about the possiblity of an earth quake
   and how to handle it. Lots of good advise and information.



5. But really, what is sadder? That he has convinced himself, or that he has convinced others? How ironic that we have more access to more real non-biased data than any people anywhere at any other time in history, and that scientists are discovering more about nature at an unprecedented pace, and yet superstitions continue to be thriving despite it all. It's no surprise that we revere entertainers over scientists in this world, but it is sad.
   
   Folks: NO HUMAN HAS EVER predicted earthquakes with a pattern of accuracy (hits without false alarms) in a way that exceeds random chance. (I should note I use random chance to refer to the known historical frequencies/magnitudes of earthquakes in the "prediction" regions from publicly available records.)
   
   Many engage in the practice of fooling themselves with an unconciously selective review of data to make themselves believe, but none of their claims have ever stood up to rigorous statistical analysis. Should they have a statistically significant record of predicting these events beyond random chance, every seismologist in the world would be studying their techniques and perceptions.
   
   And that goes for the other reviewer of this book who simultaneously offers a 5-star review and claims to be the only Parkfield "predictor". Wow.
   
   -Greg

5 comments about MY BRAIN IS OPEN: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos.

1. Paul Erdos was a unique individual. He never had a permanent residence; instead, he traveled from one mathematics conference to another with his few earthly belongings in two suitcases, one which held a few changes of clothes, the other a treasure of mathematics papers. He collaborated with mathematicians everywhere; the extent of these collaborations is so immense it gave rise to the Erdos number, which is this: You have an Erdos number of 1 if you co-authored a paper with Erdos, your Erdos number is 2 if you co-authored a paper with someone who jointly wrote a paper with Erdos, etc. About 500 people have an Erdos number of 1 and well over 5000 hold the Erdos number of 2. Erdos numbers go as high as 16 and the number of people with an Erdos number is said to be well above 100,000.

   Stories about Erdos abound. It is rumored that he walked into a classroom, saw some writing on a chalkboard and asked if this was mathematics. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, he then asked what the various symbols were. Immediately after the explanations were given, Erdos took chalk in hand and in two lines proved the hypothesis that had baffled other mathematicians for some time, and this was in a field of mathematics that Erdos was largely unfamiliar with! Another story had Erdos taking a train fron Boston to New York; across the aisle sat a beautiful female who said "hello" to him. One thing led to another; by the time the train arrived the two of them had written a paper!

   This book covered much of the life and mathematics of Paul Erdos; much of the mathematics in the book is number theory because it is a topic that is easy for anyone to understand yet difficult to prove. A typical example is Goldbach's conjecture, which says: "Any even number greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers." Sounds simple enough and logical; 4=2+2, 6=3+3, 8=3+5,10=5+5 or 3+7,... The problem has been around for about 300 years but as yet lacks a proof. Other mathematics topics touched upon include Ramsey theory, the division of a square into unequal squares, and Godel's Incompleteness Theory. The book also shows the strange language of Erdos, in which women were 'bosses', men were 'slaves', the United States was 'Sam' (from Uncle Sam), and the Soviet Union was 'Joe' (Stalin), to list a few of his own variations of English.

   This book is easy to read, even if the reader has only a high-school background in mathematics. If you are curious about mathematics and/or human nature, you will find this book of great interest. I highly recommend this book.




2. Bruce Schechter's book is exceptional. In telling this fascinating story of the eccentric mathematician Paul Erdos, the author manages to convey the recent history of math and capture the magic of this unique art/science. Quite an accomplishment for a book that is so enjoyable to read!



3. +++++
   
   The four-word title of this book is "My Brain Is Open." If you keep the first word and form a word from the first letter of the three remaining words, you get "My BIO." And that's exactly what this book is. This ten chapter book, by Dr. Bruce Schechter, is a BIOgraphy of Dr. Paul Erdos (pronounced "Air-dish").
   
   Erdos (1913 to 1996) is said to have been one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century (especially in number theory, the branch of math concerned with the properties of integers) as well as the most eccentric. Throughout this book, we also learn of the many others who collaborated with Erdos on his many published mathematical papers. (He wrote or collaborated on more than 1500 papers with over 450 collaborators.)
   
   This book is also filled with the sorts of mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdos and continue to fascinate mathematicians today. Schechter does a good job of explaining these puzzles (with the aid of diagrams, tables, and graphs) so the reader does not have to worry that these problems will be too difficult to understand.
   
   The reader is also taken on a tour of mathematics. We are introduced to such people as Pythagoras and his famous theorem, Karl Gauss who, when ten years old, was able to add up the numbers from 1 to 100 in less than half a minute, and Bernhard Reimann and his work on prime numbers.
   
   Erdos was born in Hungry. By age seventeen he had gained international recognition as a prodigy. He eventually left Hungry and went to the Institute of Advanced Study at Princton in the United States. (Einstein was the institutes most famous resident then.) Because of his politics, he was exiled from the U.S. for a decade. From this point beginning in the 1950s, he became "the Bob Hope of mathematics" or "the travelling mathematician."
   
   Since Erdos was constantly travelling, he had no home or job but still managed to meet with math colleagues all over the world. He had all his belongings in a suitcase and his mathematical papers in a bag when he arrived at their homes. Erdos also depended on the generosity of colleagues to sustain him.
   
   The reader is introduced to Erdos' eccentricities throughout the book. For example, he invented a vocabulary where the U.S. was "Sam" or "Samland" (after Uncle Sam) and the Soviet Union was "Joe" or "Joedom" (after Josef Stalin).
   
   There are more than fifteen black and white photographs found in the middle of this book. These photos span a period from 1916 to 1993.
   
   To get the information needed to write this book, Schechter relied "on the memories of the many people" who met Erdos -- his hundreds of collaborators and friends. That is, he "primarily relied on interviews with many of the people who knew Erdos best." Schechter also "drew heavily" from biographical essays as well as magazine articles about Erdos. He also used the information from the over ninety sources listed in this book's bibliography.
   
   Finally, as I said above, this book does contain mathematical puzzles that intrigued Erdos. Personally, I found these interesting but some readers may find that they interfere with the flow of the book. As well, mathematicians who read this book may question the accuracy of a few of the mathematical concepts that are introduced.
   
   In conclusion, this book invites the reader into the wacky world of mathematical genius Paul Erdos. If you're like me, you'll find this book both comical and enlightening!!
   
   +++++



4. If one has to define a perfect man of knowledge, one would come up with someone who is a genius, has done pioneering work in several areas of his domain, is friendly and sociable towards all (especially 'epsilons' or children), finds material possessions as a hassle and spends all his time doing what he loves best. In other words, someone just like Paul Erdos.
   
   In this short and engaging biography, the author manages to inform and entertain at the same time. Apart from the life-story of Erdos himself which is fascinating, what I also enjoyed are the anecdotes on other greats like Gauss and Ramanujan. And there is just enough math in the book (explained very well) to interest us so that we get a glimpse of what lies at the heart of it all.
   
   I cannot think of a better gift than this book to be given to any child to provide inspiration as well as a 'cool' introduction to mathematics. Highly recommended.



5. Shurik, a friend of mine I used to share student dorm with, was a mathematician. Algebraist, to be precise. We talked a lot discussing multitude of topics, not necessarily mathematical ones. In those days hot water was customarily shut off across campus during summer season so students could prepare for exams without such a distraction as hot showers. That fact prompted me to comment that our lifestyle, while notably different, still somewhat resembles what a lifestyle in Upper Paleolithic might look like. Shurik was digesting my remark for a few moments with the stamp of intense thinking on his face (his Calculus test was next day), then said excitedly:
   
   - Dude, you know why there was no hot water in Upper Paleolithic? That's because the water pressure was not strong enough in the Lower Paleolithic!
   
   That insignificant episode from my student years characterizes true mathematicians very eloquently. They are quite unusual breed of humankind with extraordinary abilities to locate not very obvious properties and relations in seemingly regular objects and notions. Having been exposed to interaction with mathematicians for sometime I, by the time the book of Mr. Schechter was read through, felt I knew Paul Erdos almost personally. Very light and elegant writing style of the author was a contributing factor as well.
   
   Mathematicians rarely can be aggressive. Usually, they are very sensitive and kind people. In this regard the portrait of Paul Erdos by Mr. Schechter goes along quite naturally with my experience of dealing with them. At the same time that portrait leaves a very sad impression of the true inner nature of Erdos - depressingly lonely person, with no family and no home. The deep tragedy of the Erdos family with Paul's siblings gone by disease, father's suffering in Russian exile, terrible WWII ordeals - all that makes you wonder how Paul and his parents can continue "to prove and conjecture" so successfully under such horrendous circumstances? Author partly explains this phenomenon very brightly describing the scientific and especially educational traditions in Hungary before the war. Indeed, the density of incredible talents generated in this small central European country somewhat shocking. It underscores how important the role of truly good teacher in elementary school can be. Taking into account all that and also the fact that both parents of Erdos were superior math teachers in high school themselves a reader can see the roots of the enormous productivity of Erdos, who published more math papers in multiple branches of it than any other scientist in history. But it also can be a city of Budapest whose streets, as per Mr. Schechter, are very inviting for any kind or scientific reasoning - although not a scientist myself, I did experience the same when I was roaming with friends along Duna shores in Buda one summer.
   
   The mathematical content of the book is very engaging for non-mathematicians. It is explained almost with no formulas but Mr. Schechter manages to convey the depth of the mathematical ideas very well without them. It is especially applicable to the chapter about prime numbers. The primes, although endless in the set of integers, do have very strange properties. Take the theorem proved by Chebychev first and re-proved by Erdos by elementary means - between N and 2N there is always a prime. At the same time we know that the intervals without primes can be as long as one would wish. At first glance two facts seems to contradict to each other but they do not. Facts like that are abundant in the Numbers Theory with most enigmatic one as a problem of primes distribution and Riemann function. Mr. Schechter does a good job providing historical background of the Numbers Theory, its evolution, contributions of Paul Erdos and controversy of Erdos and Selberg.
   
   I have to admit the author did a brilliant homework researching all kinds of details pertinent to mathematics and its origins. I did enjoy pages about clay table Plimpton 322 with its incredible content of Pythagorean triplets as well as multitude of other stories like most bizarre "application" of Numbers Theory when close collaborator of Erdos avoided deportation to Gulag just because he happened to have his publication on the subject in Russian mathematical magazine with him. In this regard, the book of Mr. Schechter can be considered as not so much as biography of Paul Erdos but as biography of mathematics as a scientific discipline. Humor, albeit sometimes very dark (for example, about math students, who were "studying" Jordan theorem being confined to "inner area", id est being imprisoned) sparking the text regularly and appropriately.
   
   Mathematics is somewhat similar to soccer. While everybody can perceive the beauty of ball handling by say Riquelme or Robinho, very few of us can do the same on the soccer field. In math, formulation of the conjecture can be deceptively simple and elegant, and most of us can understand it well. At the same time, it is very different story once you start thinking about trying to prove that conjecture. In many cases it might require years of learning and tons of exercises. But even that no guarantee to success. The inclination to a special way of thinking is required. In this regard, magic of Riquelme on the stadium is direct equivalent of wizardry of Erdos in Numbers Theory. The books similar to Mr. Schechter facilitate our comprehension of the conjecture beyond mere formulation, opening the curtain after which the proof is hidden.
   
   On the other note, I can't stop thinking of what kind of future European science might have should its development was not brutally aborted by sad realities of Second World War. True, many of bright Hungarian (and other) minds escaped from the inferno of warfare and extermination campaigns; true, many of them intensified their research in military related directions and achieved significant results. Still so many perished needlessly making a good number of famous European scientific centers empty and forgotten for a very long time. It seems incredible that one person's paranoia can mercilessly terminate so much in such a short period of time. Let's us hope the future Erdoses will never be forced to travel so intensively against their wills even with theirs brains open so widely.

5 comments about Theremin: ETHER MUSIC AND ESPIONAGE (Music in American Life).

1. Mr. Glinsky has done superb research. He writes beautifully. This book is equally important for the cognoscenti as for those who know nothing about Theremin, electronic instruments and the Soviet Union. It is difficult to imagine such a life but it characterizes the 20th century and Glinsky brings it alive in every respect. Theremin was a genius and a private man. Those who knew him in later life (as did I) have no conception of his personality. But Glinsky found those in his early years who make his person come alive. Certainly the best music biography I have ever read......



2. After seeing "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey" for the second time last year I was motivated to seek a more thorough biography of this fascinating life. Luckily Glinsky's book was hot off the press. This book is amazing.

   Theremin's life is so interesting, and the narrative is so engrossing, that it reads like a thriller. Only one that covers a nearly hundred year life. The setting covers revolutionary Russia, roaring twenties NY, depression era NY, Stalinist Russia, the Gulag, the cold war, the sixties, and on and on.

   The research Glinsky put in is astounding. You get the feeling that there exists no document of this life that he didn't catalog. Yet he writes beautifully and does a wonderful job of bringing the subject to brilliant life. There are so many details I'd love to mention but I wouldn't want to spoil a thing. Anyone who was intrigued by the documentary (which barely scratches the surface) should buy this book and read it. For me, the book has awakened an entire fascination with twentieth century Russia and I'm already reading other non-fiction on the topic.

   Mr. Glinsky is to be congratulated on a stunning piece of work.




3. Dr. Glinsky managed to write a complete factual book and yet have all the action and suspense that you would commonly find in an espionage novel!



4. Glinsky has done a great job of compiling the factual story of Leon Theremin and electronic music, particularly the Theremin instrument through the years.
   I have several reservations. First, the writing style is pedestrian and not terribly stylish or interesting. Second, it would have been nice to have a bit more detail on how the instrument actually works. And last but most serious, Glinsky is obsessed with the evils of communism and spends far too much time sneering at Americans fooled by Stalin and on wallowing in the grotesque history of communism in the USSR than is justified given that the book is about Leon Theremin, not Stalin, Lenin, Beria, Kruschev, etc. etc. He gives us several pages on Beria and his fate, for example, when Beria actually had only an indirect link to Theremin. The point seems to be to portray Beria as an evil man. Fine, but this book is about Leon Theremin, right?
   My last reservation is that in the end, I still did not feel we ever got to know Theremin. Why he did what he did, what he thought of events in his life, remains a mystery. It may well be that Theremin, a committed communist, was too alien to Glinsky's own imagination for him to be able to write about him with any insight or sympathy. We get, generally, a pretty clinical detachment.
   This is a fine book for the facts. I cherish it as a solid resource. But Leon Theremin himself remains unknown to us on a personal level, and so as a biography this book falls short.



5. Three and one-half stars.
   
   Yes, the author has evidently researched his subject exhaustively, but he doesn't always have the courage to forgo the results of his research when they aren't relevant or, especially, when they're redundant: It isn't necessary to describe in detail each and every single recital on his instrument Theremin gave in the United States, for example; we get the idea.
   
   Because of historical inaccuracies, such as its strong suggestion that Khrushchev directly succeeded Stalin (actually Georgy Malenkov directly succeeded Stalin), and because of its suspect hyperbolic tone, I don't completely trust the book's account.
   
   The prose is generally serviceable, but there are number of annoying solecisms that recur. The author consistently uses the term "enormity" to mean "enormous", for example, whereas in fact an enormity is an atrocity. He uses "hopefully" to mean "I hope", whereas in fact "hopefully" is an adverb meaning "full of hope".
   
   There is almost no insight proffered as to the subject's motivation, which leaves a fairly gaping hole in the work considering the many very odd and fateful choices Leon Theremin makes over the course of his long life.
   
   If you're particularly interested in electronic music or twentieth-century history you should read this--just take it [...] grano salis.

5 comments about Coroner's Journal: Forensics and the Art of Stalking Death.

1. I am a true crime afficionado and found this one especially interesting because I live near Baton Rouge, and it gave more details about some high profile cases which you never heard on the local news. I also appreciated his perspective on the nature of his work.



2. This is book that is hard to put down. Cataldie takes you with him to crime scenes. He is a very detailed writer. I would love to find more books like this.



3. I was totally involved with reading this book. I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.
   Very in depth, very well written, really does show the steps a coroner goes thru in a death and crime situation.
   I felt as if I were on the investigating team. It really is a very good book, including much about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area.



4. This was an excellent forensic case book. Not only do you get excellent cases but you also get the author's down to earth personality, concern for life and true emotions. If you enjoy forensic novels and case books - This is a definite must read!!



5. This book is, for the most part, as deep as a conversation - like what you'd hear over dinner or having a beer - more than it is a real examination of the coroner's role and duties.
   
   Don't get me wrong, this is a really nice first effort, but I come away feeling like I have not learned much about Dr. Cataldie or his office.
   
   We learn that he takes his work seriously, it's a tough job and you can't let it get to you.
   
   Don't get me wrong, I personally know people with similar positions, and it is a tough, demanding job that takes a toll most people will never realize. I wish everyone could understand the sacrifices Dr. Cataldie and others like him make each and ever day.
   
   However, I do a little professional writing myself, and the most important lesson: Show, don't tell. Take us with you, don't just describe the trip. You got real close, particularly in the Conclusion chapter when he talks about some of the regular people who have needed his professional services. I'd like to hear more about them.
   
   So for that Katrina book I hope you're working on, dig deep, buddy. I know you can do it.

5 comments about Nothing by Chance.

1. Richard Bach writes of his 1960's attempt at living a 1920's gypsy-pilot life: barnstorming. With descriptions of wordless flight that only Bach can capture so well, he paints a beautiful collage of the sky, the lakes and the people of the midwest. This magnificent book comments on friendship, destiny, and what it means to be human



2. Bach has captured flight in its purist form. He set out to do this and he did. Bach acquires an antique biplane (in this book a Fleet Biplane and in "Biplane" a Parks-Detroiter Biplane) and spends a summer in the early 1960's flying passengers throughout the mid-west, sleeping under the wing, eating questionable food, and meeting people who, in many cases remember the golden days of flight. This was the age of the Barnstormers. Bach wanted to re-create the majic and romance of these eariler aviators, share with them the joy of introducing flight to the every-day people who make up the back-bone of the great mid west. Bach cared little, as did the majority of the early aviators, of the rigid regulations imposed upon the early aviators by the Federal Government. These same regulations that soon became the demise of that beautiful time in aviation history. Part of that summer was spent traveling with a young "parachutist" and a young photographer who flew an old Luscomb. Together they re-wrote the exploits of the Barnstormers as only they could and as only Bach can write about. I loved this book, and all of Bach's books, and read it frequently. I loved the book so much I too finally was able to obtain my own antique biplane-a 1930 WACO KNF, and intend to recreate the adventure of Bach in his quest for the purist form of flight, that is, the true freedom of flight.



3. Bach has captured flight in its purist form. He set out to do this and he did. Bach acquires an antique biplane (in this book a Fleet Biplane and in "Biplane" a Parks-Detroiter Biplane) and spends a summer in the early 1960's flying passengers throughout the mid-west, sleeping under the wing, eating questionable food, and meeting people who, in many cases remember the golden days of flight. This was the age of the Barnstormers. Bach wanted to re-create the majic and romance of these eariler aviators, share with them the joy of introducing flight to the every-day people who make up the back-bone of the great mid west. Bach cared little, as did the majority of the early aviators, of the rigid regulations imposed upon the early aviators by the Federal Government. These same regulations that soon became the demise of that beautiful time in aviation history. Part of that summer was spent traveling with a young "parachutist" and a young photographer who flew an old Luscomb. Together they re-wrote the exploits of the Barnstormers as only they could and as only Bach can write about. I loved this book, and all of Bach's books, and read it frequently. I loved the book so much I too finally was able to obtain my own antique biplane-a 1930 WACO KNF, and intend to recreate the adventure of Bach in his quest for the purist form of flight, that is, the true freedom of flight.



4. I found this book in my father's library when I was 15 and starting groundschool. It's now 20 years later but I have a suppressed desire to someday have a go at the gypsy-pilot lifestyle. Mr. Bach's novel speaks to the romantic heart of every pilot and leaves a lasting imprint.



5. This is a simple, well written account of a summer spent trying to recreate the 1920s 'flying circus' days of aviation in the America of 1965.

   Flying a 1929 vintage biplane, with a young parachute jumper and a friend with another aircraft, Bach flies more or less at random across the Mid-West, charging $2 for a five minute ride at the small air-strips dotting the landscape. Part travelogue, part hymn to old aircraft technology, this is great read for anyone interested in flyers and flying.

   From a 2000 perspective, the book (accidently) gains some resonance. Vietnam is in the near future (there's a brief conversation on the draft) and the Cuban missile crisis is just past. The 1960s social revolution is around the corner but for a brief moment the sun is shining, the corn is ripe, and adventures like this one seem possible and almost sensible - in that respect this book is very much of its time...

   Early Richard Bach works have been neglected since the astonishing success of the mawkish seagull tale published in 1970. 'Nothing by Chance' is perhaps the best of his early books, the ones that concentrated on living life rather than slushy 'philosophy' and flying rather than levitation.

5 comments about Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth -- A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen".

1. Lillian Moller Gilbreth is well remembered today as the patient mother of "Cheaper by the Dozen". This book makes it clear that this was the least of her attributes.

   Dr. Gilbreth spent over a half century as one of America's leading engineers. First colloborating with her husband, Frank Gilbreth, she spent the first forty years of her widowhood on an intense schedule of conferences, consulting, and teaching, finally retiring near her ninetieth birthday.

   While the primary focus of this book is on Dr. Gilbreth and her engineering career, and the conculsion makes clear author Jane Lancaster's bitterness that Dr. Gilbreth is best remembered for the fictionalized mother of "Cheaper by the Dozen", fans of the book will find material to satisfy them. Several chapters deal with the family's life. Few of the many footnotes are simply to "Cheaper" or its sequel, "Belles on their Toes"--appropriate, as a later chapter deals with how "Cheaper" came to be, and that it was written not as non-fiction, but rather as things should have been. For example, the episode in "Cheaper" where Dr. Gilbreth spent a day in bed, and the children were convinced that a new baby was due, having associated Mother's brief bedstays with childbirth, was based on Dr. Gilbreth giving birth to a stillborn, thirteenth child.

   Jane Lancaster gives life to this pioneering woman engineer, unfortunately typecast by her children's books. Highly recommended.




2. I just finished the book. Lillian led an exhausting life of lecturing, travel and endless writing. As the mother of 13 children, she puts us all to shame (with many fewer children)because of her unbelievable work schedule. This book does a great job of paying tribute to her life's work which is clearly well-documented.
   Although she did not promote herself as an activist for Women's Rights, Lillian Gilbreth took giant steps for all women because of her dedication to her family, husband, and her monumental career.
   Jane Lancaster has a beautiful command of the English language. This book is well-written without being intimidating. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in juggling family and/or career.



3. The work of the Gilbreth couple has been influencing the way people work both in industry and at home since the beginning of the last century; and this influence has been quite underestimated, mainly because of the lasting succes of the books "Cheaper By the Dozen" and "Belles on Their Toes". The time has come to write a both thorough and neutral review on this work and to show the driving forces behind it. I am very pleased to say that Jane Lancaster with her book "Making Time" wrote this perfect review, which is carefully researched from the scientific point of view and very well written for the reader's pleasure.
   
   Ms Lancaster delivers several things: (1) A precise and complete description of the life of both Gilbreths (which of course is mostly the life of Lillian M. Gilbreth, because she survived her husband by almost 50 years). (2) A neutral evaluation of this work, where she points out that most of Gilbreth's work was outlined and carried out by Lillian M. Gilbreth, although Ms Gilbreth kept herself in the background during the life of her husband. (3) The creation of a well-deserved attention for the work of Ms Gilbreth beyond her (not neglectable at all!) role of a mother of 13.
   
   Having dealt with the work of the Gilbreth couple for more than 20 years, I highly recommend Jane Lancaster's book both for reading pleasure and for scientific work. "Making Time", in my opinion, sets the standards for the research on the work of the Gilbreth.



4. When you think of Lillian (Cheaper by the Dozen) Gilbreth you can help but think of her more as a mother than anything else. The movie presented a story of a wonderful mother, but none the less, just a mother. As is often the case reading the book gives one a much better, much more complete story of her life.
   
   You don't think of a female engineer from her time. Engineering was something that a man did. Yet she was an engineer of some reknown. And being left after her husband's death with eleven children under nineteen she had to face many of the same problems that women have to face today.
   
   To see how she faced them so many years ago is enlightning. Just to see that all of that many children graduated from college is rather amazing even in our world.



5. "This is funny, you might like it."
   
   That suggestion from a long-ago English teacher introduced me to a book called "Cheaper By The Dozen," which in turn kicked off a lengthy fascination with the Gilbreth family and their other books. Along the way, I got a taste of the fact that Lillian Moller Gilbreth was among the more important women of her generation, up there with Marie Curie and Eleanor Roosevelt. But, as other Gilbreth-philes surely know, her children's writings only hinted at that importance, concentrating instead on her role as the family matriarch. This, the first full-length biography not written by a family member, is therefore a welcome addition to the already sizeable collection of books about the Gilbreths.
   
   Jane Lancaster's research is very impressive, as is her ability to overcome the surviving Gilbreth children's noted concern for their privacy. Through over a century's worth of private letters and papers, she provides a surprisingly vivid look at the family you thought you knew as a kid. More importantly, she provides a well-rounded look at Lillian Gilbreth, who even in early life was not nearly the demure introvert so often portrayed elsewhere.
   
   Though very much a product of her 19th century upper crust California childhood, she was quite independent minded from the beginning, as reflected in her decision to go to college, get married and move East while most of her siblings never left home. A lifelong Republican and a close friend of Herbert Hoover, she was nonetheless an early and effective advocate of workplace safety regulations, paid breaks, eight-hour workdays and, of course, women's right to work outside the home. (Oddly, Lancaster makes no mention of Gilbreth's views on women's suffrage, by far the most prominent feminist issue of the era.) In earning a PhD, she overcame not only sexism and the responsibilities of a large family, but a "lost" dissertation as well.
   
   There are also more stories of the children, although few of them are as lighthearted as the ones you already know. Chances are you'd already figured out that "Cheaper By The Dozen" and "Belles On Their Toes" were a couple of idealized memoirs, but if not, prepare to have your bubble burst! Lillian's long absences from home after Frank's death were quite hard on some of the younger children, and Lancaster suggests (without going into much detail) that many of their childhood memories were not all that rosy. Still, Lillian's heroic role in keeping the large family together through hard times comes through everywhere.
   
   I do find Lancaster's thesis - that Mrs. Gilbreth's reputation was shortchanged through her simplistic portrayal in "Cheaper" - slightly unfair. As at least four generations of middle-schoolers know, that book ends with Mother choosing to soldier on with Dad's business after his death and to continue raising all her children on her own. That was no small undertaking for a woman in 1924 or for a single parent of eleven children in any era. (If anything, it gives her slightly more credit than is due: Lancaster reveals here that she briefly sent one daughter to live with her grandmother in California.) The admittedly less-remembered "Belles On Their Toes" and "Time Out For Happiness" are both loaded down with accolades for her achievements both at home and professionally. Also, engineering is not like music, sports, art, or literature - the geniuses of the field, male or female, are generally remembered only by people who practice it. Still, Lancaster does have a point that this pioneering giant of her profession is too often remembered only as a doting mother. And she's done a great job of helping to change that.

5 comments about A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table.

1. I've heard a part of story of Mendeleev directly from Michael Gordin during the dinners in the Harvard Society of Fellows, and the discussions with Michael were always extremely insightful as well as entertaining.

   One of the main reasons is that Michael knows a lot, and he is interested in everything. My feeling is that he knows more about Russian history than those who are specialized in humanities. Think about any two people whom you know and who lived in the 19th century or the early 20th century (two Russian writers, for example), and Michael will be able to tell you what was the relationship between these two people, when they met, and why it was important. What you read in this book about Mendeleev is just a fraction of what Michael could tell you about the 19th century.

   Moreover, he also understands the important technical points of chemistry - in fact, not just chemistry: physics, mathematics, and other sciences are his cup of tea, too. Therefore his presentation is not superficial: you will learn the right things about the right ideas and their evolution, about the wrong ideas as well as about the influence of politics and ghosts.

   Michael Gordin's Russian is very good and it helped him to understand all the relevant events and links between the contemporaries of Mendeleev as he studied the archives in St Petersburg (and perhaps also Moscow). Incidentally, he also learned Czech - which is my first language - because at some moment he decided that it is helpful to follow some old letters about chemistry.

   Anyone who is interested in chemistry, history of science, or Russian history should immediately buy this book because Michael Gordin was the right person to write it, and you will certainly learn a lot about all these issues. Moreover, Mendeleev might be the most famous chemist ever and his life was rich enough to keep you excited as you read through these 300+ pages of a superb text.




2. When young Dmitrii Mendeleev drafted the Periodic Table of Elements as a guide for his chemistry students, he was already dreaming of building a scientific empire in his home of Russia - with himself at its center. His Periodic Table predicted the existence of three unknown elements and helped foster the entire science of chemistry, so it's sad to learn the name of Dmitrii Mendeleev himself has been relatively lost in relation to his creation. Micahel D. Gordon's A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table resolves this neglect, providing an excellent review of both the Table's importance and Mendeleev's stormy relationship with his Russian background. An exciting, enlightening survey evolves.



3. +++++
   
   When I studied chemistry in high school, I was taught that Mendeleev (pronounced Men-de-LAY-ev) was, due to his "Periodic Law," the inspiration behind the periodic table of chemical elements, perhaps "the most widely recognized talisman of modern science." And that was it! Nothing more was said. Thus, I thought that Mendeleev was only of importance due to his association with the periodic table. I thought this until I picked up this book and learned how wrong I was!
   
   This extremely well researched book (that won the Basic Prize in the History of Science) by Assistant Professor of History Michael Gordin is about Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834 to 1907) and the Russian Empire.
   
   This is not your typical (boring) biography that runs from Mendeleev's birth to his death. Gordin explains: "I concentrate on Mendeleev and the Russian Empire from [the] Emancipation [of the Serfs in 1861] to the [Russian] Revolution of 1905, the epoch of Mendeleev's greatest chemical achievements and of Russia's greatest hope for a reformed liberal state. I have selected seven major episodes from Mendeleev's life not because they were...the `most important'...but because each emphasizes a different feature of the cultural life of both Imperial [Russia] and nineteenth-century science."
   
   You'll learn from this book that Mendeleev was more than just a chemist. His other credentials include father, author, economist, bureaucrat & public servant, meteorologist, and aviator to name just a few. Gordin elaborates: "[I]t is hard to conceive that one person occupied all the roles this man played." The author continues: "[H]is life illustrates what it was like to live and work in [Russia]." As a consequence the reader will learn much about Russia in general and about St. Petersburg (the city where Mendeleev worked) in particular during the period 1860 to 1905.
   
   This book contains almost ten black and white illustrations and ten black and white frontispiece images. My favorite illustration is "Short-form periodic system from [an]...1870 article [written by Mendeleev]." A couple of the illustrations are too
   dark.
   
   Although not absolutely necessary, I would know some basics of general chemistry and a bit about the history of Russia during the time period concerned in order to fully enjoy this book. The author does do a good job in explaining basic chemical terms.
   
   My only minor quibble with the book is that it gives the impression that Mendeleev was the only one that made a table of the elements. This is not quite true. However, his was the first one that was scientifically useful. Also, it would have been instructive to include in this book a modern periodic table to illustrate the modification that atomic numbers are now used instead of atomic weights (which Mendeleev used) to order the elements.
   
   Finally, I was surprised that there was no mention of the chemical element named after Mendeleev. It's called Mendelevium (symbol Md).
   
   In conclusion, until this book came out, Dmitrii Mendeleev's life was "shrouded in [a] historical fog." Read this book to learn why "he remains the most recognized Russian scientific name both at home and abroad!!"
   
   (first published 2004; note to the reader; preface; introductory chapter; 7 chapters; concluding chapter; main narrative of 250 pages; acknowledgements; extensive notes; extensive bibliography; index)
   
   +++++



4. Chapters 1-3 of this book were exactly what I expected with the history of Mendeleev and the periodic table. However, the author mentions at the end of chapter three that Medeleev did not work on the periodic table from that point on to the end of his life.
   
   My primary reason for reading the book was to learn about the history of the periodic table. I stopped reading in the middle of chapter four when Mendeleev was pursuing other interests.
   
   The first three chapters are excellent if you are interested in the periodic table, and the rest of the book may be of great interest to a reader interested in other facets of Mendeleev's life. I encourage anyone to buy this book, but I don't believe the last half of the book will be of interest to me.



5. It's difficult to 'grade' a book that refused to stay on what the intended topic (as presented to the reader). When I ordered the book, I thought the picture of Mendeleev was a rather haunting one, that looked like so many of the great minds like Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and other minds from the slightly earlier time of the Enlightenment. This was a man who started his life in the time of horse and carriage, of gas lights, of sloppy science in Russia, and ended in the next century when his country was beset by revolution...one of the very things this authoritarian abhored.
   
   Grodin wrote a fascinating and difficult book to read. He starts out with the information Mendeleev is most known for...the periodic table. Yet, a lot of the information here in this part of the book is almost 'circumstantial' and did not add much more than what I already knew.
   
   However, the following chapters demonstrated that Mendeleev applied his organizational skills to many other areas in both science and social life in Russia, and though it was not expected by the reader, the information is emmensely interesting. Russia was the backwards part of Europe, just as the South was the backwards part of the United States. Mendeleev worked to bring that same organization used in chemistry to make sense of the elements to such diverse areas of need in Russia such as her economic life and the deeply engrained superstition that became so fashionable in both Russia and the U.S. and Britain at the turn of the century. All thesee countries dabbled in seances or otherworldly things in the guest to understand one of the least knowable things: death and the afterlife. Mendeleev had not patience with this kind of chicanery and strenously tried to disprove it's existence with science.
   
   Grodin's choice for a title could only be determined through reading the book as a whole. The greatest achievement of Mendeleev shadowed his much larger life as a diplomat, as a world-class scientist trying to bring his country into a new century. Not an easy book to read, but definitely a worth-while one!
   
   Karen Sadler
   Chemistry