No comments about Antoine Lavoisier: Science, Administration and Revolution (Cambridge Science Biographies).

No comments about Math Trailblazers: A Mathematical Journey Using Science & Language Arts - Student Guide.

No comments about Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Library Edition.

1 comments about Jacques Cousteau: Man of the Oceans (Rookie Biographies).

1. A biography of the French ocean explorer written for the very young in short sentences ("Jacques Cousteau is a real person. He was born in 1910. He has learned and taught about life underwater"- at p. 3). Ironically, the photographic captions require a higher level of reading; that on p. 9, for example, notes that "Jacques Cousteau would grow up to use machines, such as the windship Aleyone, and to make films of his exploits and underwater adventures." One wonders whether words like "regulator" and "aqualung" are appropriate to the age group targeted, at least without further explanation. At least one photograph, that on page ten entitled "A French navy ship gives a 21-gun salute as it enters the harbor at Havana, Cuba" has nothing to do with Cousteau, while it seems foolish to identify Bernard Delmotte in a picture (at p. 31), but not to name the co-inventor of the aqualung ("A man in Paris helped him"- at p. 16). Similarly, many of the photographs are not parallel to the text. The account of an amphora wreck off Grand Conglove is illustrated by two statuettes found off Greece (at p. 23), while although wars and typhoons are mentioned in the text, the picture offered is that of the Calypso in a blizzard (at p. 34).
   
   Greene incorrectly indicates that Cousteau did not help clear enemy mines after World War II (at p. 17), gives the wrong date for Philippe Cousteau's death (1979, not 1978), and confuses the aircraft involved with the accident which was a flying boat, not a helicopter (at p. 41).

No comments about Geographical Voices: Fourteen Autobiographical Essays (Space, Place, and Society).

2 comments about Sea Legs: Tales of a Woman Oceanographer.

1. Sea Legs: Tales Of A Woman Oceanographer is the personal and inspiring story of Kathleen Crane, one of the first female oceanographers to earn her credentials at the world-famous Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. From research on undersea volcanoes, to meeting and befriending Soviet Union scientists during the height of the cold war, Sea Legs is a memorable and informative autobiographical journey filled with a love of science, a respect for the sea, and the sheer joy of reaching out to embrace the world.



2. I really didn't know what to expect when I picked up Kathleen Crane's memoirs of her experiences in graduate school at Scripps and her professional life. To many, it might seem that a book on oceanography is a bit too esoteric or "niche" to be of interest to the general public.

   But "Sea Legs" is a truly fascinating, deeply (no pun intended) interesting book. For the scientifically inclined, the detailed descriptions of Crane's work will be of great interest. But the general reader benefits the most from this book, as the reader accompanies Crane and her colleagues on numerous voyages of discovery to fascinating destinations. "Sea Legs" is well worth your time, and beleive me, it is a real page turner.

3 comments about A Passion For Gold: An Autobiography.

1. Ralph J. Roberts has found that a devotion to family and geology can lead to a life well lived and he relates the story of his life well in A Passion For Gold. Roberts spent 44 years with the United States Geological Survey and after retiring, became a private consultant. His most important discovery was the Carlin-type gold deposit. The reader with a non-geologic background will want access to a copy of the Glossary of Geology to help with the few technical sections included in the book [there is a glossary at the back of the book, but it is not thorough enough]. There are a few awkward sentences and some extraneous commas [I think, being the extra comma and awkward sentece king myself], but this is a suprisingly comfortable read considering that most of Mr. Roberts' earlier writings were technical papers. I trained as a mining/exploration geologist and so it was easy for me to relate to this autobiography, but non-geologists should find much of interest in Ralph Roberts' life story. It was on top of one of the mines near Battle Mountain, Nevada that Mr. Roberts writes about that I found myself deciding to abandon my masters thesis in geochemistry and to devote my life to the education of America's younger citizens [I teach earth science at the high school level]. I knew I couldn't help folks did big holes in the ground just for a little gold. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone with an interest in geology, but I can't give A Passion For Gold a full five stars because I think the technical sections could have been handled in a way that would have made this book a little more accessible to a wider audience.



2. Excellent read with good intermix of personal and professional history. It is inspiring to read as well as educational. Thank you Dr. Roberts.



3. While doing due diligence on The Cortez Trend in Nevada I came across this wonderful autobiography of the geologist that reinterpreted earlier work in the Nevada basin and range and discovered the Carlin Trend gold belt, also the Battle Mountain Trend and the Cortez Trend. Nevada had been scoured by prospectors since the gold rush of 1849 and the Comstock Lode silver discovery. Virtually all surface deposits had been found and exploited. The Carlin Trend is micro-gold which does not show up when panning, it must be assayed. With the advent of heap leaching Nevada has produced in excess of 600 million ounces of gold and this will continue for quite some time with the prospective development of The Cortez Trend. Dr Roberts tells of his work in the USGS in Central America during WWII, Nevada, Utah and Saudi Arabia. He gives us his reasons for believing the Ophir mine that produced the gold of King Solomon is in Saudi Arabia. It was very interesting to read about the life of a field geologist.

No comments about The Life and Death of Petra Kelly.

1 comments about Young Humphry Davy: The Making of an Experimental Chemist (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society) (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society).

1. Humphry Davy was an experimental chemist of considerable renown and received highest honors from his contemporaries for his work and discoveries in the then fledgling science of chemistry. After his death in 1829, his life and manifold accomplishments continued to impress the academic community. His achievements include the discoveries of the scientifically novel, isolation and identification of seven new elements, association of electrical properties and chemical behavior, and ability to popularize the excitement of chemistry with both colleagues and the general public through his skills as a lecturer. He invented the miners' safety lamp (and refused to profit financially from his life-saving discovery); and throughout his career worked tirelessly for the benefit of the people. Young Humphry Davy: The Making Of An Experimental Chemist is an exceptionally well researched, deftly written, totally engaging biography of a most remarkable and accomplished man of science in his early days at Penzance, Bristol, and London.

1 comments about A Genetic and Cultural Odyssey: The Life and Work of L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza.

1. In recent years it has becomm possible to use DNA to trace human development. For instance the people of iceland believed themselves to be of Viking descent. DNA testing has shown that yes, the men of Iceland are of Viking descent. But the women came from England and Scotland. Apparently the Vikings stopped off to capture a few women on their way west.
   
   This little tidbit of knowledge is a mixture of multiple sciences and fields of study. The beliefs of the Icelanders has to come from a humanities perspective. The DNA evidence has to come from the hard science in the laboratory. (The supposition at the end is my own.)
   
   Dr. Cavalli-Sforza, as the title of this book says, has spent a lifetime of study spanning across many fields of study in the hard sciences and in many different areas of the humanities. This is a book that spans the globe from his offices in California and Italy to field studies in Africa and elsewhere.
   
   Written by an anthropologist and a geneticist, this book is also a good combination of crossing the fields of science and humanity.