5 comments about Leonardo: The First Scientist.

1. Michael White does not seem to be a researcher in history of science. It seems he picks up some books written by historians and selects what he wants according to his own personal views and contemporary marketing needs (he wants to sell books). This is not serious. For me, reading this book was a waste of time and a waste of money.



2. I find this book very aweinspiring. It reveals the
   unpublished works of this great artist, engineer
   and scientist.



3. It is appropriate that Leonardo da Vinci painted the woman with the mysterious smile, the Mona Lisa, perhaps the most famous painting of all time. For just as there are many questions surrounding the subject matter, and why she is smiling (or is she), and whether her eyes follow you around the room, there are also many unknowns surrounding the artist. He is an enigma himself, so THAT is why he painted the Mona Lisa.
   
   Michael White gives a broad picture of the artist, and how he broke new ground, both within art, and also is his investigations. Da Vinci also managed to bridge science and art. He was able to see science from the perspective of an artist, to visualise art with the mindset of a scientist, and capture architecture from the viewpoint of the artist-scientist.
   
   White postulates that da Vinci was the first scientist. However, we have to remember that the 21st century of a `scientist' is very different to that in 15th century Florence, or Milan. There was still the scope for individuals to engage in an all-embracing approach, so the body of knowledge was sufficiently small as to be able to be grasped. Furthermore, this was so for about 250 years after da Vinci's time.
   
   Da Vinci was a very talented man, and it is tempting to question what he might have achieved if he had been more focussed. He tended to flit from one thing to another, leaving many incomplete projects, and ever two or three books-in-the-writing, not finished, or indeed, hardly started. White does bring out the breadth of the tasks that the Italian tackled, correctly giving emphasis to some achievements not generally known.
   
   However, whereever you look, there is the enigma that is da Vinci. He is a peculiar mix of old and new, showing in his studies of eyes that he was far ahead of his time. Da Vinci goes some of the way towards the notion of blood circulating, but not quite making the impossible leap that William Harvey was to make over 200 years later. What White does is show that da Vinci was one of the first to systematically investigate, to move from the cognitive to the experimental scientist.
   
   Da Vinci left a huge collection of notes, drawings and "scribblings", and these were firstly lost for over 200 years, and then dissipated into private collections and archives. It is always possible to show tenuous links with hindsight. Maybe there is some over eagerness on White's part, but da Vinci was a marvellous man.
   Geology, rain, water and clouds, anatomy, fortifications and machinery of war, canals, and the list goes on. He was forward looking, and many have claimed that da Vinci invented helicopters, and other diverse items of machinery. Yet he was steeped in the Aristotelian view of the four elements; earth, air, fire and water. He also did not spend large amounts of time investigating cosmology, as many of his age did.
   
   Da Vinci had feet of clay, yet a very freethinking mind. He used science to aid him, to help him as an artist. His only published work, a book on art gives views ahead of his time, on distance, perspective, light and shade. That in itself would have made the man worthy of praise. He also continued to study, to both aid his art, and for scientific discovery. The fact that he was a bridge between the old and the new is another facet of the enigma that is Leonardo.
   
   Peter Morgan, Bath, UK (morganp@supanet.com)



4. Known as one of the most advanced thinkers of his time, Leonardo da Vinci explored technology, art and science much beyond that of his era and surroundings. This novel delves into Leonardo as a scientist, his struggles, accomplishments and overwhelming amount of knowledge in more fields than any one scientist should endeavor into. From a rough childhood to the center of Renaissance society, Leonardo's life isn't easy, whether he is dealing with societal pressures, or just pressures he puts on himself, there is always something occupying his mind. He defies popular belief in his works in anatomy, making over 30 successful dissections accompanied by thousands of detailed and nearly perfect diagrams and drawings of the human body and its systems. In exploring technology, he diagrams countless ideas for flying machines and military warfare, most of which were years ahead of the current technology and technology in centuries to come. From his struggles in homosexuality to his coded notebooks, Michael White explores the lasting influence that Leonardo da Vinci has had on his society and ours as well.
   Michael White wanted to make known the scientific side of da Vinci, emphasizing not only his artistic abilities, but his scientific knowledge as well. Many people disagree about Leonardo's role as the world's very first scientist, but White defines what he believes it to be: "...exploration, it is questioning, it is the application of imagination, it is analysis." As Leonardo fulfills all these requirements and more, White finds him to be the first true scientist. White's fascination with this man is understandable, stemming from Leonardo's knowledge, ambition and overall figure of humanity. If you enjoy thrilling stories about knights, thieves and princesses, don't read this book, but if you enjoy the thrill of discovery, passion and overwhelming genius of a man, jump right in. This book is a clue to why humanity and society is shaped the way it is today, and why science in the 21st century is advanced as it is, all influenced by one man: Leonardo da Vinci.



5. This is a book which is not worthy of serious consideration. Author, tries to darken middle ages even rinascimento as possible for the sake of lighthen the star of Leonardo. There are many unconvincing and poor arguments(!). I do not mention its non-exist, bad bad bad bibliography scattered in notes. Throughout the book, the author shows his ignorance of renaissance, science, art, middle age, history of since etc.

5 comments about It's a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops.

1. This book is a great read. Written by a mom-scientist and her two sons, it offers a captivating look into some of the most interesting natural environments around the world-all viewed from the treetops. Armchair ecologists, parents, kids, teachers, and tree climbers interested in adventure, science, and/or world travel will thoroughly enjoy this book. It's the perfect follow-up to Life in the Treetops.
   
   Many of the anecdotes are laugh-out-loud funny (like hiding "the possible" in Samoa) while others are extremely touching. The photographs and drawings make this book feel like a family album of the most extraordinary kind.
   
   Although the author and her sons have spent much time high in the tree tops and in the stratosphere of world-famous scientists, they come across as extremely down-to-earth, likeable folks. Our kids especially enjoyed hearing what the author's sons have to say about their own experiences as well as their reflections on religion, their mom's career, and our imperiled environment. We all came away with a new respect for plant ecology and a greater love of science and scientists.



2. Notes on Margaret Lowman's book, "It's a Jungle Up There---More tales from the Treetops," with Edward and James Burgess. Yale University Press, 2006.
   
   
   Margaret Lowman is a remarkable woman scientist. I say this not only after reading this book and her first book, "Life in the Treetops," but because I had the rare opportunity to be her Executive Assistant for 8 months during 2002-2003 while employed at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. Meg is an inimitable, intriguingly interesting scientist, enthusiastic about canopy research, ecology, and her family. This excitement exudes from within her into one's very own, and no matter what one does, it cannot be ignored.
   
   Likewise, "It's a Jungle Up There," is also enthralling. Her many scientific pursuits are entwined with her two boys' experiences in the field with her, into a wonderful and educational view of the world, its ecology and the workings of the world's ecosystems. For many single parents, Meg sets the stage as a fine example of "get up and go," and "leave no stone unturned." There appeared to be no obstacle that could not be overcome by personal persistence, with the end result of reaching the goal. Even small setbacks were used as stepping stones to move forward and to be used to a positive advantage.
   
   Her chapters on canopy research, canopy walkways, encounters with internationals, and environmental ethics for families, educate the novice in this comparatively new research area. Providing her children with an always new and exciting way to experience life through nature is certainly an example parents and teachers should emulate.
   
   The book is comfortable to read, has a glossary of terms and a selected bibliography for further reading on each chapter. An index of names and places referred to in the text also assists the reader for quick reference.
   
   Both Meg's books are fine examples demonstrating what a person can do if willing to accept the challenges offered. Do some self-promotion and be cognizant of an ever-increasing need to be a guardian of the world's biosphere. As her Executive Assistant for even a very brief time, I am proud to have shared some of the pages of "the padded chair" with her, and will always recall Meg as a fair, straight and honest supervisor.
   
   
   Susan A. Jarzen CPS
   Secretary, Florida Museum of Natural History
   February 27, 2006



3. What a really terrific read! In this book Dr. Lowman has co-authored with her sons, we find a beautiful story of developing a conservation ethic for families. The tone is so positive and inviting, I felt like I was up in the canopy with them.
   
   One of the really captivating elements of this book is the wonderful journal notes and essays by her sons. Their authentic voices make this a great book to share with young people. For example, her son's last touching essay in the book summarizes their family quest to combine science and spirituality in efforts to expand scientific research into a more global sense of responsibility through conservation. This is a topic seldom touched in science writing. What wise thoughful teenagers!
   
   What I loved most about this book was that many parts of Lowman's story are the story of women in science, my story, about the challenges of balancing a career and the rest of our lives. Lowman's book is just the ticket for inspiration AND some reassurance that we can have a well-lived life that combines a passion for science with family and community. I am in awe of the courage it must have taken to share such a personal story, filled with adventure, challenge, adversity in the work place, loss, humor, and quite a few poisonous snakes. We could use an Earth of sons and daughters raised by her.
   
   Lowman really is a role model for parents to become stewards of all of Earth's creatures, and her passion and work efforts certainly have made inroads to this goal. Through this story, Dr. Lowman and her sons will inspire and mentor thousands of current and future naturalists, both boys and girls. As I finished the last pages of this book, I decided I need to find my copy of her earlier book "Life in the Treetops" and read it again. What a terrific adventure.
   
   I highly recommend "It's a Jungle Up There" and will be giving copies to all the young people I know for birthdays, graduations, and other celebrations. And I believe I will share it with a few adults who could use a great read, and a little vicarious adventure.



4. I suppose it depends what you're expecting. I felt a little deceived having read 'It's a Jungle Up There', not that it's Lowman's fault. The packaging, press and quotes suggested it might be something more, say along the lines of E O Wilson. But this is not an original look at man's relationship to the world. It's more of a cheerleading exercise for the mixture of motherhood and biology. It's filled with enthusiasm for nature, but also with personal asides and exlamation marks. ("Happy Anniversary Michael!"). At the risk of sounding like a real grinch, the book is unforgivably padded by pages written by her two sons. All of these essays, of which there are many, read like college applications. It's a thin book, aimed perhaps at a younger generation. People looking for meatier stuff should keep on looking.



5. Do you want you and your family to be inspired by the wonders science reveals to the world? This book can get you there. Dr Lowman and her children have made ecology and adventure part of their lives, traveling into the treetops to see how this delicate ecosystem works. They will make you understand the joys of adventure and the possibilities for discovery on a little understood planet.

1 comments about Galileo Observed: Science and the Politics of Belief.

1. William R. Shea (professor of History of Science, University of Padua) and Mariano Artigas (Dean of the Ecclesiastical Faculty, University of Navarra, Spain) present Galileo Observed: Science and the Politics of Belief, a history written to set the record straight about what really happened at Galileo's famous trial, unmuddled by propaganda or novelizations. Skeptically examining all available historical sources, from claims that Galileo was port in chains and subjected to torture or that a forged document was brought forth at his trial, to numerous comparisons between Galileo and the friar Giordano Bruno, Galileo Observed strives to uncover the truth or its most likely estimation. A scholarly work illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs, Galileo Observed is nevertheless thoroughly accessible to lay readers and is therefore recommended for public library collections as well as those of college libraries.

3 comments about The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis.

1. This is a rags-to-riches-to-rags story. Sam Insull came to the US with $200, got a job with Thomas Edison. Then he basically designed and set up the electric power grid as we know it today.
   
   Then through a series of misadventures that he couldn't have forseen he was wiped out. He was tried in court because there was at least a hint of fraud. He was found not-guilty on all charges.
   
   Why do we care about such a man -- two reasons:
   
   First, he is the one that made it possible that when we turn on the light switch, the overhead light comes on. This convenience is a major part of the reasons for the advances in the world. Not only light, but medical equipment, tools, motors of all types.
   
   Second, the collapse of his company attracted the attention of the Federal Government. Because of the way his company collapsed the Government passed all kinds of laws forming the Securities and Exchance Commission, requiring quarterly reports of the financial condition of the company and so on.
   
   It's also interesting that this book came out now in the aftermath of all the recent corporate scandals. I guess that there is little that changes in the world.



2. Everyone knows the inspired inventor Thomas Edison. Edison was a classic rumpled genius, driven in his eagerness to invent but sloppy in his other habits. He was devoted to the technical aspects of his gadgets, but he had little head for business or making those gadgets pay. The business of his endeavors was as unkempt as his clothing, but lucky for him, he had a young ally to help get his books in order. Samuel Insull, in contrast to Edison, is barely remembered today, but he had a huge role in making the modern world through the electrical inventions that Edison churned out. He was driven to make electricity pay, and he did so in millions of dollars, using all the dubious financial levers through the 1920's until it all went wrong. In _The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis_ (Palgrave), John F. Wasik, a journalist in business and finance, has told Insull's story, one full of ambition and financial spectacle, and leading to the sort of ruin contemporary readers will recognize in, say, the Enron scandal.
   
   Insull was born in London in 1859. He scrambled to improve himself as ever any Horatio Alger hero did, and won his way to New York as Edison's private secretary. His ability to work right through the night and get by on catnaps ingratiated himself to his new boss. As Insull took a firmer grasp of Edison's technological advances, he centered on one in particular, the distribution of electricity that could power the lights and other inventions that Edison had produced. He went on literally to electrify Chicago, using huge generators never imagined before. He initiated the metering of power and other financial innovations, not all of them strictly on the up and up. He actually fled America when the bust of the Depression came, tooling around Europe to avoid extradition. Eventually, he could not avoid coming back and facing trial for fraud. A brilliant defense expounded on his rags-to-riches life story and made credible the idea that although he had brought down thousands of investors, no one had fallen as low as he had himself, and that his financial machinations had been for the purpose of preserving his stockholders' fortunes, failing merely because everything was failing. He was acquitted, but he remained a useful enemy for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's campaign against "big power".
   
   Insull may be forgotten, but the foresight of his role in the electrification of America deserves recognition. He was a major influence in the arts, too, but not in the way he would have wanted in promoting the Grand Opera that was fashionable for patronage in his day. Insull did promote the dramatic career of his wife, well beyond her years or capacity. Herman Mankiewicz had started a venomous review of one of her performances in New York, got drunk, passed out on his typewriter, and couldn't finish the review. When it came time to write the script of _Citizen Kane_, Mankiewicz included the incident as part of Kane's sad advocacy for his wife's opera career. Insull served physically as well, as one of the models for Kane; Orson Welles handed his makeup man a picture of Insull, with his brush mustache, and wanted to look as much like him as possible. It's quite the legacy, but Wasik's book presents a memorable picture of the original, as well as the technological and social life of Chicago in his times.



3. Subtitled: "The more you know, the more you know you don't know."
   Coming across "The Merchant Of Power" by John Wasik, I was intrigued by the title and book jacket, but I half expected this book to be a clever spoof, like a book-bound Zelig. It was hard to believe that one person could have had such an effect on the history of the United States, indeed living a substantial part of his life in New York City, but had been almost erased from history less than a century later. In fact, I Googled Mr. Insull, and found that yes, he did exist, and yes, he was that influential in the modern industrialized America of the late 19th- and early 20th-century.
   Insull was the business "brain" behind the eccentric tinkerer, Thomas Edison, who comes across as something of an old fool, and in the New York years, Insull was deeply involved in the Edison/Westinghouse/Tesla/AC/DC controversy, and the bitter J.P. Morgan takeover of Edison Electric (which became General Electric). Getting the heck out of Dodge before things got too dicey, he headed west to a primitive outpost on the edge of the American frontier, Chicago. Finally he was able to work his magic without running up against adversaries like Morgan or George Westinghouse; he bought and consolidated several small electric companies that were serving the city and created the complex electric grid that we know today.
   Part biography, part history, part science (or, electrical engineering, at least) and part gossip, the book illuminates a forgotten man, and a never-to-be-forgotten period of the American story.

5 comments about Remarkable Mathematicians: From Euler to von Neumann (The Spectrum Series).

1. Don't miss these captivating tales of the life and the times of mathematicians starting from the period of Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, and right up to recent times, at least up to and including the Cold War. Even if you aren't in math, I think you are likely to be caught up in the drama of the various lives, times, and events. The writing is fast paced and engaging, much like that of Constance Reid's books: "Hilbert", or "Courant"... Over the tumultous historical periods, it has been said that mathematicians have been more likely than others to have been uprooted in the upheavals of history, perhaps because they are concerned with theories and ideas that are more universal. But their lives are still much affected by the times and the events of history: The French Revolution(Galois, Poisson, Fourier...), the Napolionic Wars(Cauchy, Abel...), the period of Bismarck and Nationalism in Europe(Weierstrass, Cantor, Lie...), the Russian Revolution(Alexander, Kolmogorov...), the two World Wars, and the crisis period between WWI and WWII(Banach, Hadamard, Courant, Hilbert...), and the Cold War(von Neumann, Wiener...). The pictures on the cover give you a sample of the profiles in the book: G. Polya, K. Weierstrass, A. N. Kolmogorov, N. Wiener, S. Kovalevskaya, and S.-D. Poisson. Even if you won't get to meet them in person (I was a guest at George Polya's ninetieth birthday!), this book is the next best thing.



2. When reading about the great ones of mathematics, I always enjoy short biographies rather than long ones. If the biographer is required to fill a large section of a book, then they tend to cover more detail than I really care for. While I do enjoy some details about the personal life of a mathematician, anything more than just a few morsels tends to detract from their accomplishments in mathematics.
   James strikes the perfect balance in describing the lives of these great historical figures. Each biographical sketch is less than ten pages and he covers their life from birth to death. One valuable thing that he does is give their complete names, which is often omitted from biographies. In fact, despite all of my reading about the people of mathematics, there were some whose full names I had not known until I read this book.
   The emphasis is on the lives of the people, and the general concepts of the mathematics that they created, rather than the specifics. No formulas are used in the explanations. Personal and professional interactions are a large part of the life of nearly all mathematicians, and from these biographies, we learn many of the specifics of how contemporaries reacted to each other. As is always the case, the full range of human foibles are displayed as the lives of the mathematicians unfold.
   The lives of these sixty mathematicians are described in chronological order according to their birth years. Given that they all began their mathematically productive lives at different ages, this leads to some degree of overlap in both directions. Nevertheless, it is possible to easily trace the development of the major mathematical ideas as they are nurtured from early germs to towering oaks.
   Mathematicians are people who find themselves in a social and political environment that they must cope with and sometimes just survive in. In this book, you will learn about sixty of them who made a major contribution, sometimes starting from a point of privilege, and other times only after great struggle. It is well worth reading for pleasure and can also be used as a resource for a course in mathematical history.

   Published in the recreational mathematics e-mail newsletter, reprinted with permission.




3. The only reason that this book doesn't get 5 stars is because of the fact that not enough emphasis is placed on the achievements of the mathematicians in terms of their mathematics.

   However, this does not take away from the fact that is is exteremely well researched, laid out and presented. We get a meaningful insight into how these geniuses (genii?) lived and that fact that they were quite ordinary people with the same levels of hardship (and in some cases even more) as the rest of us. Perhaps an improvement could be made on further mathematicians, both past and present.

   Still recommended reading.




4. This book is a collection of short biographies of notable mathematicians from Euler to von Neumann. It does a good job of explaining both a mathematicians background and the significance of their contributions to mathematics. Great to read through or as a reference to have on the shelf.



5. I read this book a few months ago. I thought it got kind of stale by the end, they way the author presents the information is fine, but I think that after a while the biographies start to run together. The mathematicians start to fall in similar types, like the mathematician who was famous and didn't have many problems who overshadowed a brilliant mathematician who fell into obscurity. You do learn a lot of information about the mathematicians themselves, but I think that the book could have been better with less mathematicians, or more important famous ones (extend the time frame).

5 comments about Oncogenes, Aneuploidy, and AIDS: A Scientific Life and Times of Peter H. Duesberg.

1. Mr. Bialy's journeyman's prose never fails to bore. He creates a parallel universe in which the modern-day plague of AIDS is a fiction created by greedy and ambitious scientists, politicians, activists, Pharma executivies, and other assorted henchmen.
   
   Against this backdrop of evil, we are given a Christ figure, played by a scientist at a California university who would save the world from the great lie that is AIDS. Oddly, Mr. Bialy's descriptions of our hero smacks of a schoolgirl crush. Would that we had learned whether this curious realtionship was ever consummated.
   
   Mr. Bialy takes a halfway good science fiction story idea (what if HIV were harmless??) and beats it to death with excrutiating, ham-handed detail.
   
   Life is too short for this kind of drivel. Shame on me for wasting several hours of my life on this nonsense. Shame on YOU if you repeat my mistake.



2. I was impressed. I invite you to read this fascinating book and decide for yourself whether Duesberg has a point or two. I took time from a busy schedule to see quickly how the saga would end, and came away enlightened by a rich body of information about issues of profound significance that cry out for resolution. The message is quite serious, but the presentation is buoyed by abundant humor and wit - a pleasure to read. This is one of those books that will inspire unending conversations with friends and colleagues. Rarely have I been as moved by a book as by this very scientific biography."
   
   
   Gerald H. Pollack - Professor, Dept. of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle



3. First, this reviewer is a dyed-in-the-wool contrarian with no background in medicine.
   
   The book's main subjects are AIDS and the role of aneuploidy in oncogenesis. Its arguments are deeply flawed, but still very much worth reading.
   
   The current consensus on AIDS may be summed up as follows:
   1) AIDS is an infectious disease, deadly if untreated.
   2) The HIV virus causes AIDS.
   
   The book argues that both 1) and 2) are false. As far as 1) is concerned, the book's argument amounts to little more than handwaving. As for 2), the book may have a point, although the alternative explanations provided, such as recreational drug use, are as vague as they are unconvincing and scientifically untestable.
   
   Systematic omission seems to be an essential tool of the author's argument. Just to give an example, the spread of AIDS among hemophiliacs is barely mentioned. The AIDS epidemics among hemophiliacs in countries that did not tempestively adopt blood-screening for HIV is ignored.
   
   As for HIV causing AIDS, the story is somewhat different. Duesberg's critique may have played a role in pinpointing unwarranted hidden assumptions and flaws in the mainstream arguments. The HIV virus appears to be a very special one, its dynamics is still unclear and, since "in vivo" experimentation is problematic, no direct proof that it causes AIDS appears to be available, although circumstantial evidence is there.
   
   The book's chapters about aneuploidy effectively, albeit unwittingly, exemplify the role that explanations (i.e. rethorical models) play in scientific research. It also suggests that neither Duesberg, nor anyone else has a scientifically testable and convincing model for oncogenesis.
   
   The author laments the unfairness of mainstream scientists and provides a wealth of vivid and even entertaining examples. On the other hand, Duesberg and Bialy are hardly champions of civilised debate, resorting to double standards (e.g. concerning Koch's postulate), obfuscation and "ad hominem" attacks.
   
   The book paints a vivid picture of the inner workings of medical research and it raises important issues, a.o. about the role of the media and about the practical implementation of the scientific paradigm. The critical scrutiny it invokes may be fruitfilly applied to its arguments as well as to those it targets.



4. Shame on Harvey Bialy for not telling the entire story of this misguided man. Duesberg has caused many people to stop or not start medications that have been proven countless times to save lives. Who cares about the argument that HIV doesn't cause AIDS. Does HIV do bad things to people's bodies? Yes. (This has been proven thousands of times.) Can HIV treatment, imperfect as it is, help? Yes. (This too has been proven thousands of times.) Where would you find this information out? The same place you would discover information about heart disease and diabetes and other diseases. Just read scientific medical journals, not this bio of a wasted scientific career.
   
   Scientists should look at study results. Scientists should not hold onto one theory from 1993 and not change their minds when the data change. Medical knowledge changed rapidly. Peter H. Duesberg has not changed his mind as most of us witnessed the world of HIV dramatically change from one where a great percentage of those infected with HIV died to one where the disease could be managed. So many lives have changed as a result of these developments in HIV care and treatment.
   
   I personally know a few people who bought into the Duesberg theory of HIV medicine and did not take medications. Guess what. They died. People like Harvey Bialy who write biographies of flawed men share the responsibility for these people's deaths.



5. Great book. Read it in one go despite the technical vocabulary brain stretching. I've read similar minded books including Lauritsen's which gives a clear picture from the gay world's point of view during the first AIDS outbreak.
   
   What's most important is the reaction of the one star reviews. It's amazing the degree to which they make their scientific arguments entirely out of personal attacks. An example: "If HIV is not an infectious disease why don't [they] take a vial of infected blood and inject it in [their] body?" Of course this could in no way constitute an experiment, whatever the result might be, but it satisfies the true believer by focusing hatred on the perceived enemy.
   
   No one argues that AIDS sufferers have not died, but the HIV=AIDS folks have such a huge emotional attachment to the (as yet unclear) mechanism of the syndrome that they have stopped doing science, or even reason in favor of the championship crying jag. In many of these one star reviews we are beaten down with the reports of (reports of) thousands who have, or will suffer. Regarding each death as a vote for their "side" they heap abuse on the skeptical for not caring as much as they do.
   
   That there are people capable of objectivity in the study of diseases is a great thing. That this objectivity can be strained and tested is the running theme of this book. Reading of famous scientists (famous patent holders) who can't come up with real answers, (in a tough debate situation, maybe, but even months afterwards?), but launch into personal attacks is a warning about who these people are and how their objectivity is holding up.
   
   The parallel to Global Warming is identical. Again, the numbers of scientists belonging to the club rather than the value of any reasoned arguments, is used to beat down the opposition.

No comments about 20th Century Microbe Hunters.

5 comments about Genes, Girls, and Gamow: After the Double Helix.

1. Anyone expecting a stoic recollection of the works of a great scientist will find many such books available.This is not one of them. It is, however, a very real self-portait of a man in his latter years who, while being a great scientist, admits to not being a great 'everything'. It makes the legend human, just as the anecdotes about his peers makes them less stone gods of science, and more multi-dimensional people. 'Genes, Girls, and Gamow' is the kind of book you might hear orally from the author in his den in a comfortable leather chair.It is definitly not lab coat and sterile conditions reading. If you want a genetics text, BUY a genetics text. If you want a good example of how great insight in an art or science does not make one immune from the human condition, then give this book a read.



2. I bought this book hoping to understand more about the circle of people who relates to the DNA problem; I found an author who thinks and talks like a l3 year old and has nothing to say..well yes a name is dropped here and there 2 sentences later he is off talking about something else, usually girls. What a waste of money this is unless you want to have nothing but contempt for scientists, but this is a very unrepresentive book and person to appreciate science..a silly 300 pages of drival. Those who wonder what his relationship with Franklin was might find interesting that initially in California he dreaded seeing her again, found her pleasant, pretended to do this and that to help her, but in reality skips off looking for girls! What a jerk! What a vacuous book, worse than one could ever imagine.



3. Having read the truly exciting and insightful account of the discovery of the double helical structure in Watson's `The Double Helix', I was looking forward to more insights on science, the process of discovery if not insights into how great minds collaborated. I found none of this in the book.
   
   The book is an honest account of Watson's experiences, thoughts and feelings during 1950-1970. Much of the book relates to his being enamoured and his insecurities in relation to Christa, who turns out to be a love lost.
   
   More interesting are the descriptions with Gamov - a giant both figuratively and literally - who impacted Watson deeply. Gamov made lasting contributions to both biology as well as physics.
   
   Other interesting aspects of the book include the formation of the `RNA Tie Club' of 20 members aiming to solve the structure of RNA, various travels, accounts of lively parties (with copious consumption of alcohol) and practical jokes everyone seemed to enjoy / revel in. At times one can't help but feel that this was a concerted attempt to shake lose the nerdy image.
   
   In parts, the book reads like a journal, in other instances the discussions of specifics requires a deeper understanding of Chemistry. I was hoping for a insightful and cogent description of efforts, how science works, how the best minds pool ideas to extend knowledge and how significant was the contribution by key players outlined in the book. In these areas, the book left more than a little to be desired.
   
   From someone who co-discovered `the secret of life' readers should be forgiven to expect more than is delivered by Watson in Girls, Genes and Gamov.



4. This book is perhaps more interesting in giving a little window into the lives of a small community of wealthy elite scholars in that era of Cambridge, with their summers climbing mountains and their academic reputations sometimes secured more by lineage than personal accomplishment.
   
   I was disappointed with this book mainly because there is a dearth of science in it, and the many characters in the book lack personality. In some ways it reads like a laundry list: So and so met so and so here and they did so and so.



5. Normally I wouldn't take the time to add to a chorus of negative reviews, but this book was a doozy. The contrast between the author's reputation and what he reveals about himself is breathtaking.
   
   The best part of this book: seeing how so many brilliant people wandered into so many dead ends while trying to figure out the structure of RNA and the genetic code in the 1950s. This is much more interesting than the usual presentation of scientific discoveries as faits accomplis.
   
   Many physicists were drawn into this quest, including Richard Feynman. But it was the intuitions of (ex-physicist) Francis Crick that were right on the money, including his predictions of "RNA adaptors" much like transfer RNA, and of a triplet code with multiple reading frames (with S. Brenner). And unlike Watson and many others, he hadn't even been working on the problem full-time.
   
   You do need to know at least a little about virology and molecular biology to enjoy this aspect of the book, because the text leaves a lot unexplained. So one wonders whom Watson intended as an audience - if he was thinking about his audience at all.
   
   Watson certainly does think a great deal about, and of, himself. In his prologue he describes a 1986 visit to his old Cambridge office, where he found a grad student "who had no idea who I was ... The manners that Cambridge so long ago instilled in me did not let me reveal my identity." Later, describing a 1956 trip to Israel, he mentions his "relief" at "finding hosts who knew who I was."
   
   His self-infatuation informs the "girls" aspect of the book too. Watson doesn't only kiss and tell, he holds hands and tells, hugs and tells, exchanges long meaningful glances with wives of friends and tells, and guides "once-ripe" mothers of friends on the dance floor and tells. He freights the slightest incidents with unspoken meaning -- but ultimately comes across like the virginal Eric Idle character in the "Nudge, nudge" Monty Python routine. Thankfully, we never hear if he ever made it to second base or beyond.
   
   How could he recall all this 50 years later? According to the introduction, his former heartthrob, Christa Mayr Menzel, gave him access to 60 letters he'd sent her during this period. (He started pursuing her when she was a 17-year-old high school senior, and he was a Ph.D. of 25 or so.) But if his letters really detailed every time he walked on the beach with some other girl after a drunken party before a chaste good-night, it's no wonder Ms. Mayr grew cold to him. Watson thinks it appropriate to include reproductions of two banal postcards from her (one of which is signed "love, Christa", as if he has something to prove to us), plus the text of the whining letter he wrote to her father after she dumped him.
   
   By the book's epilogue it becomes clear that even after his Nobel Prize, Watson pursued only women who worked in his lab or were undergraduates. The water pistol comment quoted by a reviewer below leads one to suspect that they were nonetheless more mature than he.
   
   The "happy ending" is his marriage to a Radcliffe sophomore less than half his age, a few days before his 40th birthday. His celebratory postcard to a Harvard colleague, "19 year old now mine," is creepy and chilling. Watson claims this has been a happy and durable union, and there's no grudging him that. But one wishes he'd kept some aspects of his life known only to his intimate circle, instead of sharing them with the unsuspecting reader.

1 comments about A Word for Nature: Four Pioneering Environmental Advocates, 1845-1913.

1. Dorman explores the origins of American conservation and environmentalism by studying four key men of the nineteenth century -- George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882), Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), John Muir (1838-1914), and John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). Thoreau and Muir appear often in works of this kind, and Powell is occasionally added and is best known for his trip down the Colorado River and into the Grand Canyon. But what of Marsh? This Vermont lawyer, legislator, and industrialist published the book _Man and Nature_ in 1864. His travels to Europe and the Middle East were part of his enlightenment into the relationship between humans and Nature. He was one of the first individuals to admit that "all nature is linked together by invisible bonds" and to see man as a "destructive power" in the scenario. He recommended restoration efforts for the rampant deforestation in the northeastern America of the mid-1800s and suggested governmental control of such an endeavor, in spite of that institution's many failings. For the biography of Marsh alone, Dorman's book is worthwhile reading. But even if you think you already know the basics about the other three personalities, you'll learn something new here. Dorman doesn't just rehash old information; he provides a fresh interpretation of their contributions, illustrating the societal influences that formed their belief systems, and connecting each man to at least one of the other three at least once. A good addition to the 21st-century environmentalist's bookshelf.

No comments about Mikimoto.