5 comments about I.Asimov: A Memoir.

1. I, Asimov
   
   I, Asimov is, I believe, the last autobiography written by the good doctor on his favorite subject,himself. Apparrently Asimov kept a diary from the time he was a young man. I, Asimov relates a number of his personal incidences,along with his contacts with a number of writers and editors in the field with him, some good, some not so good. If you enjoy his writings you ought to read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I'd read a little of it then call my Brother to relate the story (most of the time he knew about it). A fun book to read and great background for his novels.
   
   Gunner July, 2007



2. Isaac Asimov's writing style is easy to read, but it does not detract from his ability to be profound. This novel was captivating and brought out feelings of compassion in me. Isaac edifies everyone whom he has felt made a positive impact on his life, and in turn shows what a humanitarian he was.
   
   Isaac was undeniably a great author having published hundreds of books. You can really get a sense of how fantastic his accomplishments are from this book. It is awe inspiring the rate at which he published books and articles. And it seems that quantity did not detract from quality.
   
   I recommend this book if you are a fan of Isaac Asimov, autobiographies, humanism, or reading.
   
   Aaron



3. I bought this book with some reluctance, I have not read any book by Asimov since I was in College (In Memory Still Green (old book), Nemesis (kind of new book at the time).
   Supposedley with age I was somewhat a more "sophisticated" reader, whatever that means, and even though I greately regret Asimov's death at the time, I did not feel compelled to buy any more books by him after that time.
   This Christmas among the several books I bought to spend the Holidays I bought I Asimov, and I did not expect too much since I thought that its fragmented structure, with different topics was kind of haphazard, and just a marketing plot to exploit the author`s fame postmortem.
   Boy I was wrong!, from all the books I read this past month, this really made an impression, it was like being in the same room with the man himself, and to hear his evaluation of his memories, and his outlook in what his final days would be.
   Since I was a teenager I enjoyed Asimov`s fiction and nofiction, but I can say that I enjoyed the most when he wrote about himself, and the world he inhabited, I highly appreciated his sincerity, humor, and authenticity.
   It always warmed me to read about how this boy from very humble origins got to get to the top of the the craft that he so much loved.
   This was a very emotional book to read, I laughed aloud many times, and shed a tear at some of the last essays.
   I highly recommend this to anyone who has or has not read Asimov in the past, as an account of a man`s life, his virtues, deffects, accomplishments, and the legacy he left for his family, readers and fellow human beings.
   Finally, I do not think that the Good Doctor had to worry about being forgotten any time soon, each new genaration that reads any of his books will keep his ideas and dreams alive.



4. The first biography that I ever read. It was written in the final year of Isaac Asimov's life. I found the book to be entertaining on many fronts. First of all, Asimov was a devout atheist all the way until the end, although he was technically Jewish. Secondly, it was interesting to find out that a man that wrote over 50 science fiction books and over 400 books in all, almost never left the city of New York...ever! Finally, what I liked most about the book was how flawed an individual Asimov appeared to be, especially in the characterization of his children. He obviously loved his daughter and despised his son, David, although he refused to say that in so many words. This book was clearly better than any science fiction novel that Asimov ever wrote.
   
   Isaac Asimov
   Wrote About Space and Time But
   He Never Left Home



5. The accomplishments of Isaac Asimov are very great indeed. He is probably the all- time best explainer of science to the layman that the world has ever known. His mastery and competence in most areas of scientific learning is a tribute to his great intelligence and persistence in learning. He is considered by those who know the field one of the premier writers of Science Fiction. He wrote something like four- hundred and seventy books, and provided to his readers a little library . His ideas, especially those on the ethical code for Robots are now part of the intellectual legacy of mankind.
   With all this he had his limitations which were in a sense the limitations of his virtues. His work on humanistic subjects on the Bible and on Shakespeare reveal the same kind of one- dimensional quantitative mind so suited to explaining science and so poor to comprehending humanities. Poetic complexity is simply not part of his make- up.
   This autobiogrphy has the same kind of flat surface and tone that Asimov's other writings do. It is possible to fault him on all the countings , all the self- serving business of trying to establish his own value by counting up the numbers of things he has done. It is possible too to fault him for his bad relation to key people in his life, including his first wife and son. It is possible also to see that his great scope in learning was achieved at a price in depth. Asimov is not a poetic, and not a religious and not a truly literary soul. But again he is a person who has contributed a tremendous amount to the broad public's understanding of Science.
   As I do not believe ' numbers can be the true measure ' of the worth of what is most important I have a quite reserved attitude toward Asimov. A unique and distinctive and in many ways remarkable figure but by no means a great writer.

1 comments about Max Perutz and the Secret of Life.

1. Max Perutz used to say that he was famous, but that few people knew what it was he was famous for. His name may not resonate with household familiarity, but he was a Nobel laureate for his work on the structure of hemoglobin and was enormously influential in organizing other scientists working in what was then a new field of molecular biology. He died in 2002, working up until his last days, and although he was an accomplished writer, he didn't get around to writing an autobiography because he consciously decided that his time was best spent researching instead. Now there is a fine biography that will help readers appreciate what he was famous for, _Max Perutz and the Secret of Life_ (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press) by Georgina Ferry. Ferry is one of our best science writers, and this admiring but unfawning biography not only tells the story of its protagonist, but also illustrates how science gets done as a cooperative and competitive enterprise.
   
   When he was 22 in 1936, Perutz and his family left his native Austria, but in Cambridge during the war he was arrested and shipped with Nazis to Canada merely because of his national origin. His work resumed upon his release and oath of allegiance to the King. It was ever after would based on x-ray crystallography, a field drawing from mathematics, chemistry, biology, and physics. The crystals Perutz used were not geologic samples, but crystallized versions of proteins, and he latched on to hemoglobin because it really was involved in the secrets of life; it was known that it carried oxygen throughout the body (he called it the "molecular lung"), but no one knew how it did so. Over decades of research he showed not only the structure, but how it flexed and turned in order to take on oxygen or give it off. Perutz was not the sort of brilliant scientist who had flashes of eureka moments. He got to his lab and worked hard until answers came. His answers were often wrong, shot down by others, and it is perhaps because he understood the nature of scientific research as a group endeavor that Perutz was brilliant in organizing others. He established the research unit in which Watson and Crick found DNA's structure, and as chairman of the Laboratory for Molecular Biology, he fostered an environment that on its own has produced more Nobel prizes than many developed countries.
   
   Perutz had more than his share of foibles. He had a passion for climbing mountains and skiing that could eclipse his interest in research or even in his family. Nonetheless, he was sickly most of his life, and had a peculiar diet that required him to eat bananas that had ripened to black. He had a naïve belief that scientific reasoning would overcome the flaws within politics and religion. His life as Ferry tells it, however, is full of wonderful lessons, like the one that a good brain is a boon, but hard work and perseverance are what make success. Another one is that scientific researchers work best in a chaotic environment with only partial controls upon it. Another one is that the best way to understand any physical object is to understand its internal structure. And finally, a maxim that was one of Perutz's favorites, "In science, truth always wins." Perutz left a legacy of his own research, and more importantly of effective organization of scientific teams, that will continue to foster the scientific victories he knew were coming.

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

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



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



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

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

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




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

5 comments about The Jesuit and the Skull: Teilhard de Chardin, Evolution, and the Search for Peking Man.

1. Aczel is a master craftsman and author who describes things in prose as if you might be there. I have read each of his books and recommend them all.
   
   'The Jesuit & The Skull cogently and saliently prvides well documented discourse of how the FOOLS Across The Tiber(Vatican's Curia) operate to this very day, and is 100% correct.
   
   This latest offering Aczel is a MUST READ!



2. I bought this book for my husband after we heard an interview with the author on NPR. He (my husband) loved it. Well written, intelligent.



3. This book gives a good historical background of Teilhard de Chardin's life and his struggle with the church's position and evolution.



4. I have always been fascinated by Teihard de Chardin. Pere Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest, geologist, palaeontologist, theologian, scholar and Christian mystic. This book is about him and the circumstances surrounding his discovery of the Peking man.
   
   Teihard de Chardin fascinates me because he tried very hard to reconcile science and religion. He felt a calling to the Church and joined the Jesuits or Society of Jesus at a very young age. In spite of his all conflicts and heartache with the Jesuits, he never did consider leaving the order. During his training as a priest, he spent 4 years as a stretcher bearer during the First World War. The horrors and inhumanity of war had a profound effect on him. He was ordained a Jesuit. Aside from a theological education, he also studied the science of geology and palaeontology. He received his PhD when he was 45 years old.
   
   Unlike many Christians, Teihard de Chardin did not find any conflicts between his belief in his Christian faith and science. He sees a convergence of both. His main thesis is that God is a God of change and all creation is in a constant flux of change until it all reaches a point of union with the One which he called the Omega Point. This means that human beings are also changing as we evolve to a higher level of consciousness. What this also means is that he embrace the theory of evolution as a theory of change. Not only do animals change or evolve but the earth itself evolves. This brings him to consider these changes as the evolution of the Noosphere.
   
   His acceptance and teaching of the theory of evolution came to the attention of the Jesuits and the Vatican. Teihard de Chardin was commanded to stop his teaching. However he was such an established scientist that the Church decided to send him as far away from civilisation as possible. They decided to send him to China! It is the greatest of irony that in China, Teihard de Chardin discovered the remains of the Peking man. The Peking man is considered scientific proof that human beings have evolved from earlier hominids. All these support evolution and are against creationism. Thus in sending him away to China, Teihard de Chardin was sent to a place to discover something the Church has wanted to avoid.
   
   Teihard de Chardin was censored by his order and not allowed to lecture and publish. Most of his books and writings are published after his death.
   
   An interesting and informative introduction to Teihard de Chardin, evolution and the Peking man.



5. Smoothly and informatively written, Amir Aczel traces the career of Teilhard de Chardin both as an academic and as a Jesuit priest. His difficulties with the Church are described but primarily at a superficial level. It is a major puzzle as to why Teilhard remained a Jesuit priest given his philosophy, the way the Church mistreated him and his complex relationships with Lucile Swan. Nor do we really get an insight into how Teilhard could reconcile his philosophy with the basic tenets of the Catholic Church, his practices as a priest and his vows of celibacy. Aczel recognizes these conundrums but he and we do not get close to any answers. Aczel spends a lot of time laying out Teilhard's friendship with Lucile, but little time detailing either Teilhard's specific scientific contributions or his actual philosophy beyond the omega point.
   The book revived my interest in Teilhard but without providing much by way of an explanation of this complex and talented scientist, priest and man.

5 comments about Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain.

1. This feels and reads like a book-length magazine article, and depends too much on interviews with Thomas Harvey, the man who 'possessed genius.' I'm not sure if this reliance on interviews with Harvey is because he is the central character of the story, or because the writer is a journalist writing a book-length magazine article!
   
   Not that its a bad book. The interesting thing is that the world has changed so much in just 50 years that such an event (a solitary, almost secret autopsy of such a monumental celebrity) would be impossible now.
   
   Perhaps the disposition of Einstein's brain at the end of Possessing Genius, as unideal as it seems, was the best that could have happened in the real world.



2. Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain by Carolyn Abraham and Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti both cover the same saga of Einstein's brain after his death. While Driving Mr. Albert is fun, Possessing Genius is fascinating.
   
   Einstein died in a Princeton, NJ hospital in 1955. Pathologist Dr. Thomas Harvey performed the autopsy and took the brain for his own use. For the next 40 plus years, Dr. Harvey went through three wives, a number of jobs and moved to various states. The only constant in his life was Einstein's brain. Abraham writes "even the basic facts of his story were so strange that supermarket tabloids would have been hard-pressed to invent them." While wanting to study this famous specimen, Dr. Harvey wasn't a trained neurologist and spent most of those four decades as a "curator."
   
   Interspersed throughout this story, Abraham delves into the physical side of the brain and the history of neurological research. While this topic might seem very technical, the author explains it in a way that is fascinating and easy to understand. She covers such topics as the debate between nature and nurture, differences in the brain based on age, gender, and sexual orientation, physical dimensions of the brain, the development of the brain and components of the brain (neurons, glial cells, etc.). She also includes lots of trivia. For instance, the US Amy convened a meeting in Washington, DC and invited Dr. Harvey. They presented him with their plans to study Einstein's brain. Harvey refused to hand over the brain of this famous pacifist to the military.
   
   Did any scientist discover the key to Einstein's genius by studying his brain? The jury is still deliberating this question. But no matter what, those who did come in contact with his brain describe the emotional high they experienced by handling "the organ that changed the way we viewed the universe." After reading Possessing Genius, I don't know about gaining a better appreciation for Einstein's brain, but I certainly have a better understanding and respect for the human brain in general.



3. Like many people, I'd seen the factoid that Einstein's brain was kept in a box in Kansas, and always wondered about the full story. Running across this book I was very happy to finally get that story, told in a way that was engaging and fairly honest about everyone's role in the story (to the extent that's possible).

   The only reason I'm giving the book four stars instead of five is that I found that my interest waned significantly over the last 50 to 75 pages. I think it had to do with the shift towards more science and less biography, though I'm not sure there was a way to write this book without the shift (it isn't huge, but it is noticable).

   I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Einstein, but perhaps even more to anyone who likes quirky history or biography.




4. Like many people, I'd seen the factoid that Einstein's brain was kept in a box in Kansas, and always wondered about the full story. Running across this book I was very happy to finally get that story, told in a way that was engaging and fairly honest about everyone's role in the story (to the extent that's possible).

   The only reason I'm giving the book four stars instead of five is that I found that my interest waned significantly over the last 50 to 75 pages. I think it had to do with the shift towards more science and less biography, though I'm not sure there was a way to write this book without the shift (it isn't huge, but it is noticable).

   I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Einstein, but perhaps even more to anyone who likes quirky history or biography.




5. This is a book with much to recommend it. Kudos to Carolyn Abraham for finding mind-blowing story and for doing such an effective job in teasing our a logical narrative structure. Two small complaints: 1) Abraham has a tendency to try to dramatize events, where it would be much more effective just to give the facts and let the reader draw his/her own conclusion; 2) Abraham seems determined to deify the protagonist, Thomas Hardy, in the eyes of her reader when the facts of his life so obviously undermine this effort. Otherwise, this book is a must read.

5 comments about The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor.

1. This is an excellent non-fiction quick read at just under 200 pages. It is a true story about a teenager, David Hahn, who ventured to build a nuclear breeder reactor with little protection from radioactivity. He used a potting shed as a laboratory and a few old college textbooks from his dad for knowledge on radioactive materials. David became increasingly secluded at school as he continued to experiment with dangerous chemistry. His grades dropped, and no one believed he could do anything to raise eyebrows. He ignored laws and cautions, obtaining many radioactive materials like beryllium, radium, polonium (210!), and americium to recreate the Curie couple's feats. He succeeded in creating a nuclear reactor but could not stop the increasing radioactivity, resulting in catastrophe. Finally, the federal government had to dismantle his reactor, as it was a great danger to people who lived near David.
   
   I think this book is a worthy read. It is a fascinating story with great description. The author, Ken Silverstein, was very good at highlighting facts and things that happened in David's life that were related to his inspiration of building a nuclear reactor. However, I think Silverstein put a little too much history of atomic energy into the book. He is also slightly biased against nuclear power.
   
   Overall, I think this book could have been written better, but still deserves a thumb up.



2. I was David's scoutmaster when he was preparing for his Eagle Scout Board of Review. I was to contact five registered adult Scout leaders, who would comprise the Board. One prospective adult told me he could not sit on the Board, because "something happened".
   
   I learned that David and some friends were stopped by the cavaliering Clinton Township (Michigan) Police, who were randomly stopping teens and searching their cars for stolen tires.
   
   David was not allowed to keep his experiments in his stepmother's home, so he kept everything in his car trunk. The cops found no tires, but saw his stuff and overreacted.
   
   Days later, David's father phoned and said that David would no longer pursue the Eagle Scout rank.
   
   A month or so later, a man claiming to be a reporter phoned my home, wanting to do a telephone interview about David. After a few moments, I refused. There was something negative about the line of questioning.
   
   As a Scout, David was always clean-cut, polite, and well-liked by the other boys. My take is that David had the scientific curiosity of a Tesla or Edison; not of an evil prankster.
   
   David's father, like so many divorced and re-married men, walked a tightrope between caring for his son and appeasing a new bride.
   
   As for Mr. Silverstein, he should keep his story factual, and keep his opinions about Scouting to the editorial pages.



3. There's something not quite serious about The Radioactive Boy Scout. The book jacket has a cartoonish design and each page has a little atomic symbol by the page number. It's a small book, almost like a children's reader. It seemed to me as if it would be a quick, fun read.
   Well, it was quick, all right. Author Ken Silverstein originally wrote this as an article for Harper's Magazine, according to the blurb. The article has been padded with several chapters on nuclear power, chemistry, and the history of the Boy Scouts. But The Radioactive Boy Scout is hardly a cartoon or a fun little story.
   
   Although this is a story about how one teenager nearly built a nuclear reactor in his back yard, Silverstein wants us to know it is more than that. He emphasizes how David Hahn, the teenager, was neglected by his parents and not taken seriously by his teachers. If only someone had taken the time to take this boy under his wing, perhaps a near-disaster could have been averted. Certainly the fact that there was no disaster takes the edge off the story, but we already know what can happen when teenagers don't get the attention they need.
   
   I enjoyed the main story as well as the chapters on science and the Boy Scouts. Silverstein describes how radium-based products were sold in the early 20th century as tonics, lotions, and even suppositories, to improve one's health. He recalls filmstrips (remember?) and pamphlets that cheerfully told us to "duck and cover" in the event of a nuclear explosion. He uses a hilarious passage from P.G. Wodehouse to illustrate a common view of the Boy Scouts in their early days.
   
   Although I share most of Silverstein's opinions on federal government, the nuclear power industry, the Boy Scouts, and inattentive parents, I think the story would have been more effective if he had left his editorial comments out. Describing David's father as "pathologically oblivious" is unnecessary. True, but unnecessary.



4. I found this book to be an enjoyable quick read. The science was well explained for those who don't know about nuclear physics and chemistry. There was a good progression of the story with interruptions that you wanted to read to get the background science information on what exactly David was doing. I think everyone should read this book to get a realistic view of how people can have an influence on one life. I will digress a great deal if I start to point out the many life lessons packed into this book so I'll just leave with a recommendation. Read not to get a balanced viewpoint for we all have our slants; read to get another viewpoint and figure out what you are going to do with that new perspective.



5. The *story* is very interesting, but the author repeatedly annoyed me. As others have said, if he had stuck to the story, the book would have been much, much shorter. There was some useful background information about nuclear history and research, but there was also absolutely useless information thrown in as well. [...].
   
   The author was also rather condescending toward David (the boy), his parents, and virtually anyone else who knew him, it seemed. I felt bad for David in particular. The author clearly interviewed him and got to know him somewhat, then he took quotations and used them in ways that David didn't intend for them to sound. And the general tone toward David seemed rather uncharitable. I think he realized this and tried to remedy it a bit in the epilogue, but it doesn't undo the rest of the book. I think that a better author could have conveyed the obvious, that David needed better direction, without the condescending tone.
   
   In the end, I'm definitely glad that I read the book, but I find the author distasteful. I would have preferred to have read the book from someone who left less of their own personality stamped on the story. I would definitely like to know what David is doing now. He should start a blog.

1 comments about The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition, and Science.

1. This interesting book provides a special view of quantum theory.
   It provides an insight into the origins of the theory based on the personal
   lives of its creators.
   
   The book treats scientific activity as any other cultural activity
   making clear that even the most "objective" of our mathematical theories
   (like the theories of mathematical physics) ought to be seen as cultural
   products within the social and political frame of their conception and
   (perhaps more importantly) within the professional and financial strains
   and aspirations of their creators. This is indeed the case from the beginning
   of abstract mathematical thought in ancient Greece to this day.
   
   There is no deep discussion of the mathematics/concepts of the theory and
   an expert in the theory would certainly not become any wiser as to its
   meaning. However, the greatest service provided by the text is a better
   understanding of the shaky foundations of the theory that was conceived
   as an effective model of reality as allowed by the mathematical capabilities
   of that time and not at all as a "fundamental" theory as understood today.
   The theory emerged as a recipe for understanding experiments with no
   intrinsic limits on its applicability or relevance to other situations.
   
   Young people interested in a realistic view of how real science is done
   rather than idealized, fairy-tale treatments would find this text interesting.
   Interesting but not captivating so four stars.

1 comments about Viktor Schauberger: A Life of Learning from Nature.

1. This man was so ahead of his time! He was innovative and original. Some of his ideas are hard to understand but this book makes it a bit easier by far! I hope someone carries out on his ideas. The world is changing and it's scary to think it might be too late to listen to this man's ideas and do something about them. He was a fantastic observer of Nature, we need more people who can do something in our time!

4 comments about Newton: Ackroyd's Brief Lives.

1. Eventually humans understood that there were physical laws that governed the universe, and that these laws could be made mathematically precise and could be verified. No one person enabled this understanding more than Isaac Newton, who obsessively tracked down laws of motion, gravity, optics, and pure mathematics. Since his death almost three hundred years ago, there have been many biographies attempting the impossible task of explaining Newton's unparalleled genius. In _Newton_ (Nan A. Talese), Peter Ackroyd has made no such attempt. For one thing, his book is part of his "Brief Lives" series (Chaucer and Turner have gone before), and it is a small volume. For another, Ackroyd has not described many of Newton's scientific achievements in detail; the account of his _Principia Mathematica_ is almost cursory. But the brevity of the volume is actually one of its strengths. We aren't going to understand genius, but we can understand some of the personality, and Ackroyd has done a wonderful job in describing what sort of a person Newton was. Of necessity, the portrait is unpleasant. Newton was among the most unlikeable of geniuses, but it might well be that if he had been less arrogant and selfish, he might have accomplished less.
   
   An uncle saved Newton from being a farmer, enabling him to continue schooling and go to Cambridge. Ironically, he became a professor at Trinity College, while his religious studies led him to abhor the concept of the Trinity. He was certain that the priests and bishops who preached a Trinity were practicing idolatry. He was particularly interested in biblical chronology and prophecy, working out a date for creation half a century later than the famous 2004 BC of Bishop Ussher, and attempting precise calculation of the date of Jesus's return to Earth. He knew from his studies of the Book of Revelation that the Catholic Church was the Antichrist therein. Newton's other secret study, also outlasting his physics and mathematics, was his alchemy. He had a huge library of occult alchemical texts and he spent days and nights in his lab, forgetting to sleep or eat as he fired up experiments that had to go for weeks at a time. Ackroyd is surely right, however, when he explains that in his obsessive digging into alchemical or scriptural matters, Newton was using the same frame of mind that stood him in good stead in the research that made him famous. The enormous idea that there were three laws of motion, for instance, and that they were universal and applied, as he wrote in 1687, "everywhere to immense distances" is still breathtaking. Likewise, the idea that an apple falls and that the Moon goes around the Earth, and both are expressions of one universal force, is so counterintuitive that it compels admiration for the mind that could unite the two. By the way, distrust the legend that an apple bonked him on the head and he had an immediate epiphany of how gravity worked. Newton himself instigated the story, but no one knows if it is true, because he told four separate versions to four separate people. It is clear, however, that whatever inspiration the apple gave him, there was a long period of contemplation and calculation before he established the universality of gravity.
   
   It was in only a few years of his mid-twenties that he explained gravity, demonstrated that white light was a blend of rainbow colors, invented the calculus, and made one of the first reflecting telescopes. The rest of his years he was doing his alchemy and scriptural researches, and more practically, he was Warden of the Royal Mint. He was in all his capacities an almost thoroughly dislikeable man. He was uninterested in art, literature, music, or women, and because of our times it must be specified that his sexual interest in men is mere undocumented speculation. As a founder of science, he knew the value of experimentation and was a genius at it, but he was furious if someone implied that another experiment had shown a contrary result. He was petty, ruthless, and vindictive. His famous catfight with Leibnitz over who invented calculus was childish (matched, it must be said, by childishness on Leibnitz's side), but it was representative of how he got along with anyone who crossed him. He had few friends, and when he presided over meetings of the Royal Society, anyone who attempted a witticism or who laughed was asked to leave the room. He seldom laughed himself; an assistant of years said Newton laughed exactly once, when he was asked what the use was of studying Euclid. Perhaps you just had to be there; Ackroyd writes, "The exact meaning of this laugh is not exactly clear." Newton was an astonishing figure, gigantic in his accomplishments and his follies, and Ackroyd's model biography shows both sides well.



2. Isaac Newton is someone I've been curious about since grade school when some teacher gave me the impression that he discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head. Even then, that didn't make much sense to me--people must have been aware of gravity since the first caveman dropped a rock on his foot--and I was pleased to learn through Peter Ackroyd's wonderful book that the apple incident probably never happened. What Newton did do through careful observation and applied mathematics was to prove the existence of universal gravity and show the laws which governed it. There is much more that Newton accomplished of course: His work on optics was seminal. His three laws of motion are still quoted in physics' classes. And his great book on the principles of mathematics was a wonder of his age.
   
   All of this, Ackroyd explains in a conversational style that even someone like myself who has trouble adding up a supermarket bill can understand. But Ackroyd does not neglect Newton's human side. He was not, in many ways, a very nice person: A control freak who was always ready to take disagreement personally, he had few real friends and often broke up with those he did have. His life-long passion for alchemy and his belief in the Arian heresy made this already secretive man even more secretive.
   
   Ackroyd's book is short, sweet and not annotated. It is surely not for scholars. But for those who want to pay a brief visit to a scientific genius in the company of a wise and entertaining guide could do far worse than to read this book.



3. This is a marvelous book. It both explains Newton's development as a human being and as one of the greatest scientific thinkers and experimenters of his or any era. Carefully and clearly written, it is a total success. I enjoyed it far more than James Gleick's NEWTON, perhaps because Ackroyd is so good at explaining what he knows how to explain and avoiding what he does not know how to explain. As he notes, neither Newton nor anyone else in his era could explain gravity -- but Newton was able to explain the laws governing gravity and thus provide a foundation for later scientists, notably Einstein, to go further and explain gravity. Ackroyd is also wonderfully skilled at explaining links between Newton's occult studies and his scientific studies. All in all, a must read for anyone who wants to understand a pivotal thinker.



4. This is the third in the series of "Brief Lives" written by Peter Ackroyd, the distinguished author of "London: The Biography" and "Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination." It is one of the new compact but thorough book treatments that have recently become popular (it runs a mere 170 small pages, not including index). I have marveled in past Amazon reviews at these concise books how much information a skilled and knowledgeable author can pack into a brief space, and this book is no exception. Ackroyd covers all of Newton's life (1642-1727). It is the perfect book for folks like me that have heard a lot about Newton, but are not inclined to want to read one of the longer biographies now available (e.g., that by James Gleick). The author wisely chooses not to probe too deeply into Sir Isaac's mathematical and scientific accomplishments, which is perfect for the general reader, but he offers enough insight so that the reader is aware generally of what Newton is up to and why he is such a giant in the history of science and enlightenment. His invention of calculus, study of optics, celestial mechanics, gravity and so much more are all concisely covered. One learns all sorts of interesting things about Newton, who certainly was not a conventional academic: his interests in alchemy; astrology; and arcane religious concepts to name just a few. Interestingly, Newton spent the bulk of his career not as an academic but as Warden of the Mint, which allowed him to amass quite an estate. If this be an example of "knowledge in a nutshell," let it be: it accomplishes it purpose superbly.

5 comments about Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey.

1. I am a confirmed Feynman fan and even met him a couple of times. I was eager to learn more about him and his travels. The subtitle promised details of his "last journey", which, it turns out, he never made. Instead, I was bored with insipid details of the author's attempts to arrange a trip to the USSR and other assorted junk. It did not even spend much time on Tuva itself, but on unrelated trivia. It was apparent that the author was immensely more interested in the trip than Feynman, and that even he wasn't interested enough to stay at it to fruition. The author trades on the Feynman name to shamelessly promote the book and con the reader into plodding through endless drivel. Don't bother.



2. It was all just accidental. I stumbled upon this book through a documentary that I rented, called Ganghis Blues. I like all types of music and thought "A documentary about Blues music, cool..." After realizing what a fortune of life I had found in this movie, I was drawn to everything TUVA. SO, to the book I go. The book of course came before the documentary, and obviously was an influence in the boys who produced it. When was the last time a book did something for your soul? This one touches your soul, your heart and your longing to achieve a goal or live out a dream. Aaaah. I loved it.



3. If you are a fan of Richard Feynman, the nuclear physicist that dreamed of going to Tuva, you will just love this video. If you know nothing of Mr. Feynman, you will still enjoy it. It tells the story of Paul Pena's visit to Tuva in a delightful way. You will like seeing the culture of these peaceful, music-loving people.



4. I would never had read this book had I not recently had the chance to see Huun Huur Tu, a throat-singing voice from Tuva. But now that I am fascinated by this little-known, remote area along the Russian-Mongolian border, I found this book very entertaining. It chronicles the enormous challege of trying to visit such a remote land in the days before Glasnost and a fascinating cast of characters at its heart.
   I think my only complaint is that the book loses steam at the end, which I guess is understandable, given the fate of its main protagonist. But overall, it is a wonderful testament to a group of brilliant folks, who spend years trying to follow through on a quest.



5. A peculiar book: Ralph Leighton's TUVA OR BUST isn't really about Richard Feynman, who, the more one reads about him, begins to seem a genius, yes, but more than a little insufferable. He does instigate this whimsical notion of visiting Tannu Tuva (which had become Tuvinskaya of the U.S.S.R. [the book takes place from the late 1970s to Feynman's death in 1989]), but the ball is picked up by Leighton, and Feynman is merely a supporting actor in the book.
   
   The quest carries itself through many frustrations, mostly having to do w/ the hermetic paranoia of the Soviet Union, which seems to work like an enormous rural county: If you know someone, then things can be smoothed out; if not, then the official channels will be little help.
   
   I'm not sure why anyone would read this book. There's no reason to if you're interested in Feynman, because, besides his concoctions to fit in at Esalen, amongst the New Age mumbo-jumbo, his mind is absent from the book. His personality & his drumming are there on occasion, but Feynman's thinking, no.
   
   Leighton is not intrinsically interesting, and though a fluent writer, gives little sense of character. All the foreigners are forgettable, so the index is very handy. When a name turns up on page 150, say, then one can look it up to see which person this is.
   
   As one reads, one begins to have the same thoughts about oneself that one has about Leighton's attempts to visit Tuva: Why am I going on?. Moreover, I think that one comes up with the same answer: Just to get through the damn thing. By the time that Leighton reaches Tuva (without Feynman, who died just a smidgen too soon), the appearance is anti-climactic, and the land is colorless: A Nevada trailer-park suburb, but with yurts instead of double-wides.
   
   TUVA OR BUST! becomes a critique of bureaucracy. The slow, spirit-killing, mind-numbing bureaucracy of the Soviet Union ensured that Feynman would die without reaching Tuva. Our world, in which stupid little men can control our lives, is death to the spirit, and is death to the spirit of Feynman, insufferable though he may be, and inexplicably kow-towed to by everyone (you get the feeling that Feynman never opens a door for anyone or shuts one for himself).
   
   TUVA OR BUST!, in its pedestrian prose, preaches, unwittingly, I think, for a freedom for whimsy, for the spirit, for the individual. At the same time, excepting the author and his male friends (his wife is also colorless), the book has no individuals. So, by the end, nothing: No Tuva to speak of, no more Feynman, nothing but an accomplishment to scratch off the list.