5 comments about Genie: a Scientific Tragedy.

1. This is not only a scientific tragedy, but a human one as well. It's not easy to read about Genie's unimaginable childhood torture, nor her early progress being shunted by being shuffled from abusive foster home to foster home.
   
   This year, I believe next month (April), Genie turns 50. Now that her mother has died, hopefully some of the people who worked and cared so much for her (Susan Curtiss, the Riglers et al.) will finally be able to make contact again. Somehow perhaps, in middle age, Genie can finally find some peace and happiness.



2. I read this book in a day and a half. It was an unusual way to approach a book about scientific research, because it really reads like a novel. I am fascinated with this story, and I would reccommend anyone interested read it.



3. What do you do when you find a girl as abused and isolated as Genie? When a girl has been locked away in solitude for so terrifyingly long - the only life she'd known since birth? When she is physically disabled as a result of her abuse? When she is disturbed beyond comprehension?......Why, make her the subject of linguistic research of course.
   
   I'm a linguist (specialising in children's language and language acquisition) and I've been haunted by Genie since I studied her myself from film footage, Curtis' dissertation, other books, and now Rymer`s book. I will never get over seeing Genie on film. Till the day I die. She was as unfamiliar to human life as an extra terrestrial, a beautiful ghost, `there' but not really `there`.
   
   I felt some strong emotions - I wanted to (and still do) fly to America and look after Genie myself. I wanted to take her away from the research, the tests. I was angry with Curtis for even making research a part of Genie's life - sure Lenneberg, Chomsky and Piaget's theories need exploring, but in a case as extreme as this, who really gives a **** about linguistics? I was angry with Jean Butler for putting her own interests ahead of Genie's and I was furious that Genie had been abused in the first place. As with many people at the time and since, I have been massively affected by her story, and I wasn't even born when she was rescued.
   
   In my `struggle' to deal with my emotions on the subject of Genie, I thought Rymer's book might help me, teach me more about her, give me more detail on her since the 70s, more about her and those around her as PEOPLE.......and help me to grieve.
   
   Sadly, as some linguists did back in the 70s, Rymer doesn't distinguish between Genie's life and linguistic study. You get 4 or 5 chapters on theories and studies which make me sick to the stomach. I'll read those elsewhere, but isn't this supposed to be Genie's story? Isn't that why it's called `Genie' - I don't need chapters on `Victor' from 1800.
   
   You can get most of this information from other sources anyway - there was little revelation in Rymers book for me. There is just so much missing. I have read it twice now and I still have a thousand questions.
   
   And Rymer's experiences are almost as second-hand as mine.
   
   This is a page-turner, but Genie's story is.....



4. Although this is one of the saddest books I've ever read, it's also one of the finest. Genie comes alive as an individual despite the fact that she has no language; the author portrays a unique spirit and yet does a brilliant job of demonstrating how captive that spirit is without expression. The scientific theories at work are well-described, intelligent and thorough without being difficult for the lay reader.



5. This is a must read for anyone interested in linguistics or child development; however, it is sufficiently interesting and readable for the general population. The tragedy the title refers to is that Genie was a child exploited by the scientific world as she was treated as a case study of language acquisition rather than an abused child desperately in need of supportive therapy. Genie never got the help she needed, and ended up with "soul sickness" in a home for mentally retarded adults. This is a very moving story that will make you think about morality in research and science.

3 comments about The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement (New Narratives in American History).

1. Mr. Lytle has written a very compelling biography of the gentle subversive. I was drawn to read this well-written biography of Rachel Carson from the title alone! I didn't know anything about her, except that she was the author of Silent Spring, which I have not read.
   
   Controversies aside, I imagine she must have been an amazing person to know. That she was able to support her family, as well as nurse them through their illnesses until their deaths--with no outside help, throughout her career, AND also battle cancer along with the side effects of radiation, is heroic in and of itself. I admire that Carson managed to marry her passions of writing and nature in her lifetime, publishing several books despite the ceaseless personal obstacles around every corner. Even more impressive is the fact that she stood her ground on issues important to her, in a time when women were few in the sciences--let alone the working world, and that she wasn't afraid to face the powers that be in industry and government.
   
   Rachel Carson was a thinking woman who wanted the public to be aware of the beauty around them, as well as the damage that could be done by injudicious use of chemicals.
   
   This was truly enjoyable, informative and short!



2. Rachel Carson's careless criticism of DDT killed millions of people, mostly poor children, a point that deserved better coverage in this book. Even today, decades later, there is still no good alternative to DDT for fighting malaria.
   
   Carson was correct to point out that DDT has very bad side effects, but as it turns out, banning DDT has had much worse side effects. Science eventually determined that very small amounts of DDT would have been effective against malaria-carrying mosquitos and safe for the environment-- but Carson's rush to judgement prevented the scientific facts from being adequately investigated and considered.
   
   She and her followers in the environmentalist movement refused to consider the full consequences of their actions, and millions of people have paid the price for that refusal.
   
   . png



3. 
   Mark Lytle does fine justice to the legacy of Rachel Carson in this well researched summary of her early life, upbringing, education, professional experiences, evolution of her writing and publishing culminating with the struggles to write and publish her most potent and last book, "Silent Spring", a dire warning of how deadly pesticide and herbicide assaults were damaging the health of ecosystems and non-targeted life forms including humans and which many proffer, launched the modern age of environmentalism.
   
   Lytle continues Carson's beautiful legacy in his "Epilogue" and "Afterword".
   
   Packed with an abundance of notes, citations and bibliography, this little book gives one a huge sense of awe and admiration for Carson's perseverance and dedication to educate the world about the interconnectedness and beauty of Nature and to cultivate a sense of responsibility and good stewardship.

4 comments about Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography.

1. This is not another conventional biography of Alexander von Humboldt but a "life of lives", a metabiography. In a fascinating way it demonstrates how Humboldt's life was configured and reconfigured according to the prepossessions of successive generations of German biographers. As Harvard's Steven Shapin has commented in his review in Nature (18 May 2006, p. 286) the book draws attention to the fact that shifting biographical traditions make one person have many lives. The book was a pleasure to read.



2. This is an important work of historiography. It demonstrates that we make and remake past lives to suit our present purposes. Rupke's metabiography helps us appreciate the instability of any scientific life, not just Humboldt's, but also Darwin's and many others'. The story is effectively organized and flows naturally from epoch to epoch. With this book on the market, Humboldt studies will not be the same again.



3. This is an exceptional and pioneering book, showing where historical scholarship is (or should be) headed. Rupke has succeeded in condensing an enormous amount of material into a short and readable account and as such his "Humboldt Metabiography" is rather British. In another way, the book is not British at all, in the sense that it undercuts the empiricist belief in the "definitive biography" and in fact destabilizes biography as a genre by convincingly showing that all biographical portraits of Humboldt are attributable to collectives of authors, each of which was part of the memory culture of a particular period of German political history. To have produced this cultural chiasma is an intellectual accomplishment that can only delight and impress the reader. Striking to me are the very different "Humboldts" of the Third Reich and of the GDR. The end of the book is also strong, where Rupke historicizes his own approach. This is what Germans call "souverän" and reminds of the "Souveränität" of a Max Weber who always did this, too. The book is an intellectual tour de force that calls for similar metabiographical studies of Darwin and other "greats" of the history of science.



4. This is a detailed, well-researched and organized review of previous biographies of Alexander von Humboldt. However, despite the somewhat grandiose title the book presents little new or thought-provoking material. Granted, every period high-lights different aspects of complex personalities, but this we did know already, and examples abound. What is lacking in this book is the new methodological approach and without that it remains a somewhat tedious review of other people's work.

5 comments about The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley.

1. Robert Noyce had all of the significant traits of ADD. Any parent devastated by their child's diagnosis should read this to see what one can accomplish when one uses one's strengths. This book shows the positive side of ADD.
   
   The book gets a bit detailed in some spots, and is overly repetitive in others, but overall is an interesting read.



2. The author uses a lot of first hand material still available from people close to Bob Noyce. You will eat it fast, because you can get the "life mood" from well synthesized private life and public life smartly chosen events. The story of a guy that did put the moral value driven face of America high, from the cubicle to the world stage. The explanations around the new "silicon valley" management style are also very didactic, and has more value in it than most of expensive seminars. You can get the essence of it.
   ... In some places , it is close to hagiography, probably the beyond the grave aura of Bob Noyce ...and you can get contaminated...



3. The book has a fascinating subject and is well written. It fully captures and holds your attention. The author is very deft in handling arguments or controversies Noyce was involved in, presenting facts without bias. The book is even-handed and intelligent.
   
   From a literary point of view, I think the book raises the bar in terms of biograpical research. I've read a lot of biographies, and I've never seen one as well documented as this. Almost every sentenced can be traced back to its source. In addition, it has original research. I believe the author is responsible for discovering that Noyce's NDR diode was at least coincident with Esaki's Noble-prize winning work. Overall, an excellent read.



4. I've spent 30 plus years in this and related industries. As a partial introduction to IC's and their "market successful" agents, it is OK. As entertainment it is good, just don't forget you are being entertained! As a biography of Noyce it is only partial. That the rest of the story with Jack Kilby, Texas Instuments, and non-Noyce IC industry and players is missing makes it very bad history. That the patent fight history and the rules for patents, mainly that continuous work on ideas must be shown or it's "abandoned", are not covered makes it very much a dis-eduational offering. The big truth, stated deep in the book, that "Credit floats up.", almost makes the reading good, but not quite!



5. Berlin has performed an amazing amount of detailed research into Noyce's life. She takes us back to the years when the semiconductor industry was born, and shows us how Noyce helped make it flourish in Silicon Valley.
   
   A striking passage describes how Noyce anticipated the observation of negative differential resistance in a tunnel diode. Some 18 months before Leo Esaki in Tokyo discovered it. Esaki would win the Nobel in Physics for his work. In one of these what-ifs, Noyce could easily have taken that for himself.
   
   By the way, the book's explanation of negative resistance is a trifle awkward. The quantum mechanical phenomenon cannot be easily explained to a general audience. (As a grad student, I had the same problem of discussing this about my research, to laymen.) But if it puzzles you, remember that it also eluded a lot of people in the 1950s.
   
   You might already be familiar with the broad outlines of how Noyce, Moore and others worked for Robert Shockley, and then left en masse in disgust at his management style. But Berlin furnishes here far more detail than is commonly known. About how Noyce agonised and reluctantly left Shockley.
   
   Likewise, with the later tale of Fairchild Semiconductor and how Noyce and Moore would in turn leave that. This time to found Intel (with Grove). Berlin gives much more detail on this broad outline, that explains the motivations of Noyce and his associates.
   
   Some readers might be amused to see that the CEO of Fairchild resisted handing out stock options to employees, in the grounds that this was "creeping socialism". Which played no small part in the exodus of its best people.
   
   The book describes a Silicon Valley that has vanished.

5 comments about The Sky Is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist.

1. Astronomy is every physicist's first infatuation; which makes "The Sky Is Not the Limit" by Neil deGrasse Tyson somewhat of a love story. But this book is more about him than the object of his affection. It is a rewarding read because it is both general and specific. It provides insight into how all physicists think, while revealing much that is unique to the author. Like him, we physicists usually knew what we wanted at an early age and we share many of his youthful experiences (monthly pilgrimages to the Hayden Planetarium, high school nights spent with a six inch telescope). Despite our high coefficient of nerdiness, we were pretty average kids. The author, however, is not your average scientist. He writes and speaks much better than most of us. He is more famous than most of us. And, he is blacker than most of us. His reflections on being a highly educated minority in a world uncomfortable with both characteristics could constitute another fascinating book.
   
   Dr. Tyson is a worthy successor to the late Carl Sagan who was both a public educator and an advisor to the government on technical issues. The book discusses the author's experiences in both these roles. It also includes his heartbreaking account of witnessing, and inadvertently participating in, the 9/11 tragedy.
   
   Dr. Tyson relates how one can become totally absorbed in pages of equations. Indeed, if astronomy is a physicist's first infatuation, Maxwell's equations are their first true love. The author clearly wants to communicate to his readers the beauty and majesty of these equations, but wistfully acknowledges that impossibility.
   
   After a just-for-fun chapter on the fate of the universe, the book ends with his views on religion, where he succinctly, and thoroughly, covers a topic that has generated countless tomes.



2. I've been a fan of Dr.Tyson for a long time. I expected to enjoy this book and was not disappointed. Particularly enjoyable was his recap of his experience as a prospective juror. He was removed from the jury pool for being, well, too intelligent. It seems like the lawyer was concerned he might be too objective. My only quibble with the book is that he whines too much about racism. Notwithstanding this, I highly recommend The Sky is Not the Limit.



3. I ordered this book after reading Tyson's wonderful "Death by Black Hole" without knowing it was an autobiography.
   
   Overall, I enjoyed learning about Tyson's life path from a childhood interest in astronomy to becoming an acclaimed astrophysicist. Included are tales of how being black adversely influenced several life experiences. Fair enough. On the flip side, I wouldn't be too surprised if some of his extraordinary opportunities were due in part to his ethnicity. That said, Tyson is a true original, and his books are well worth reading.



4. The sky is not the limit is a novel that goes deep into the heart of the author, Neil de Grasse Tyson, who started out at a young age shooting for his dream to become an astrophysicist. This book gives the reader a mental view of the objects surrounding us both in space and on earth. Throughout Neil's life he has worked hard pursuing his passion in astrophysics.
   I enjoyed this book because it is scientific and also teaches lessons of life that you may not otherwise encounter. I also enjoyed the comedy in his statements. I have learned that if I want to become a scientist like Neil, then I must start training at a young age. This book has opened up my eyes to become aware of many things that I did not notice before.



5. Neil de Grasse Tyson's writing style is unpretentious and reads like a letter from a good friend. It reaches a wide audience from the high school student interested in astronomy to the astrophysist. It is easy to understand and appreciate, even if you don't have a degree in astrophysics. Upon completion of this book you will have gained a wealth of knowledge and a basic understanding of astronomy. This book is a great find for anyone intersted in learning about the how's and why's of the stars, solar system and the universe. The book is jam packed with interesting information presented to you as an autobiography rather than a text book, which makes it very easy to read and very enjoyable. I would give it more stars if I could.

5 comments about The Essential John Nash.

1. If you have an interest in John Nash AND know mathematics, this is an interesting collection. The main body of the book consists of eight papers in mathematics and his Phd Thesis in uncut form, accompanied by a small introduction. Apart from that there is a general introduction from his friend Kuhn, a short biography from his biographer Nasar, a 7-page autobiography, the statement of the Nobel-prize committee, a collection of photos of Nash in various phases of his career, and a short explanation to the game of Hex that Nash invented when he arrived in Princeton.
   
   Being an economist I was only interested in the thesis with the existence proof of the Nash equilibrium, and I am sure I would not have understood an alpha of any of the other papers. You really need to be a mathematician to appreciate this bundle. For those who want to know about Nash the man, I would recommend his autobiography "A beautiful mind" or the film with the same title.



2. 
   In case you have been captivated by "A beautiful mind", and be disposed to know more about the controversial existence of John Nash, pick up this book, that surely will catch your entire attention.



3. I only rate books that I really enjoy reading. While this one has some techy chapters, readers without a strong math background can still enjoy it.

   Professor Nash's story was brought to life by the movie, this book shows why. One day his manifold theory will rule! ;)




4. Personally, I found this book to be very interestring. The proofs and ideas are presented in clear and non-rigomorphic fashion. One is able to read the works of Nash in the way he himself presented them, and hopefully appropriate some mental strategies used by this genius. There is much that goes on behind the scene of creation of proofs. I think mathematicians of today would greatly benefit from availability of larger number of books which would contain the mathematical works in the way they were originally presented. This is certainly a major step in that direction.



5. I can't begin to express how deeply satisfying it was to peruse these papers by John Nash. You almost felt you were right there at his side, as he penned them.

   There is even something in the book for non-mathematical types: Sylvia Nasar's Introduction and the autobiographical essay (Chapter Two). But for me the greatest interest resided in the remaining chapters: 4-11.

   Of these, I particularly enjoyed reading the original presentation of Nash's Thesis on 'Non-Cooperative Games' (Chapter 6), and was fascinated not only with the air-tight logic of his proofs, but the use of hand written-in symbols.

   Of course, Chapter 7 is just the re-hashing of Ch. 6, but in proper type-set form, rather than Nash's original script. But - give me the former any day! Reading the original form and format almost made me feel like Nash's Thesis aupervisor, including the same excitement of a new discovery!

   Chapter 8 'Two person Cooperative Games' nicely extends the mathematical basis to cover this species of interaction.(And in many ways, people will find the cooperative game model easier to understand than the non-cooperative).

   Chapter 9 is important because it delves into the issue of parallel control, and logical functions such as used in high speed digital computers. This chapter was of much interest to me since particular aspects of parallel control figured in my own model of consciousness - recently presented in Chapter Five of my book, 'The Atheist's Handbook to Modern Materialism'. Astute readers who read both books will quickly see the analog between the Schematic of Logical Unit Function (p. 122) and my own Figure 5-13 ('Development of Neural Assemblies', p. 156).

   I enjoyed Chapter 10, 'Real Algebraic Manifolds' because of my ongoing interest in Algebraic Topology, and especially homology and homotopy theory. In his chapter, Nash presents a cornucopia of methods for representation, which I am still playing with for different manifolds.

   Chapter 11, 'The Imbedding Problem for Riemannian Manifolds', is a delight for anyone familiar with Einstein's General Relativity, or even differential geometry. When you read through this chapter, you also will understand why Nash is still very interested (and involved) in research to do with general relativity and cosmology. Particularly fun for me was his section on 'Smoothing of Tensors' (p. 163) and 'Derivative Size Concept for Tensors' (p. 164).

   Chapter 12, 'Continuity of Solutions of Parabolic and Elliptic Equations' is like 'dessert' for anyone who is intensely interested (as I am) in modular functions, which themselves are related intimately to elliptic equations.

   In short, I think this book has something for both mathematicians and non-math types alike. Obviously, the former are likely to get more out of it, so the question the latter group must ask is whether the purchase is worth satiating their curiosity about Nash.

   I know how I would answer, even if I couldn't tell a derivative from a differential. However, this book can be read on all kinds of levels, and that's the beauty of it.

5 comments about Thread Of The Silkworm.

1. This is about the review that a guy named "S.Shueh" wrote below. As an example of ridiculous expressions, his sentence: "When someone who is not perfect speaks with authority at such young age...he is bound to place himself above others" is absolutely dumb. That's because no one is perfect, and anyone who speaks with authority regardless of age is always placing himself above others because that's the nature of speaking with authority, duh! If this guy believes that there exists someone who is perfect and can speak with authority without placing himself above others, then he would not be the first such fool speaking such nonsense.
   
   Secondly, this S.Shueh guy also says that others have gone through "identical ordeals" as what Tsien went through. So this person doesn't realize that individual experiences are unique and the simple fact that no two persons can have identical experiences because experience is a subjective manifestation of seemingly external events. So it seems that the speaker is someone who grew up in a regimented family and society that cannot tolerate the uniqueness of individuals. Thus, his is only capable of rigid and naive thoughts. This is just my observation of a simpleton of a specific type that I have encountered many many times. So I felt the need to mention it here.



2. It is sad to note that Iris Chang has ended her life in a tragic self-inflicted bipolar conflict recently. This explains her unique writing style in several of her books. I am not a direct student or fan of Prof. Tsien. However, I am acquinted with surviving classmates and relatives of him. His early technical work has flaws in some classical work and did not get challenged or corrected. When someone who is not perfect speaks with authority at such young age he is likely to put himself above others as he has done. This is mentioned in the book several times by Iris during WW2 and later. He did so so in practical matters at MIT, or as a practicing railroad engineer in China. Had he returned to China after his studies in the US, he would be remembered as a scholar at most. As for his contribution with the red missile program it is hard to say what he was directly put in charge but people gave him credit for organizing a Russian trained team and obtained the necessary funding. Yes, he went through a lot during FBI investigation. One must not forget many scholars, ordinary citizens whether born in the US or Europe went through the identical ordeal. I find it is interesting that Chang mentioned Prof. Tsien was indirectly involved in the Great Leap forward resulting in 20 million deaths. Only someone controversial like him would chase birds and promote the destruction of a balanced eco-system in the name of Mao's wish (p238). All in all, Iris did a wonderful job talking and researching sources in a well done book.



3. Thread of the Silkworm was not quite what I expected in terms of a biography about Tsien Hsue-shen. It is a simple and attractive narrative that may have been targeted toward readers that like their reading without overstocked footnotes. It appears that Chang took her research from Tsien's surviving friends, colleagues, and Tsien himself. In addition, her style of writing is somewhat intimate and personal, and she appears to write in a way where she really put much effort in getting to know her subject. Througout the book she made Tsien looked like a hard-nosed and self-centered professor that could careless about his students. But at other times, there are passages in the book where his work overtook him. In addition, it appeared like Chang empathized with what Tsien was going through when he was forced to abandon his research and duties at CalTech.
   
   Nevertheless, Chang does a good job at capturing the period in which Tsien studied, worked, and lived. She attempts to provide detail during World War II, and how Tsien contributed to US rocket technology. However, it appears disturbing of how his life took a turn during the Communist-feared 1950s, and how he became blacklisted and excluded from a society that welcomed his knowledge and participation in the world of science and technology. Indeed, he became a US citizen, but because of unfortunate circumstances at time when ideology knew no boundaries, his talents were transfered overseas.
   
   Thread of the Silkworm was an easy read that will enhance your knowledge about immigration and what occurred during the 1950s. I recommend this book for those interested in biographies, a dab of science, and as Chinese/Asian-American history as well.



4. I bought this book many years ago before Wen Ho Lee and James Yee and even though I found it difficult to read, I kept it as a reminder that being of Chinese origin adversely affects your comfort level and safety in this country. This book was very hard to read because the writing style was not the best for my style of reading so I didn't get her Nanking book which I know was also criticized for the writing style. If you didn't like the Nanking book, buy this book anyway because unlike the Nanking book, there aren't a lot of books about him out there and it's about a Chinese man who was not confused about what was happening. Regardless of whether he was right or wrong, smart or stupid, he was himself undiluted. I use the past tense but he's still alive though bedridden. He was on Chinese tv when China sent their first man into space. He watched a video of it and smiled.



5. I must admit a bias - HS Tsien is my grandfather's cousin. As such, this book is for me the family history that noone would tell me. For other readers, I would say that most history books concentrate on the rise of the USSR as a power, and then *poof!* there's China...how did that happen? Chang's book reveals how China's emergence on the world stage as a military power resulted from the US's own stupidity and xenophobia. My one real complaint about the book is that Chang's writing seems to drive the book to a climax at the point of Tsien's return to China, and then peeters out while she recounts China's race to the ICBM. This inconsistancy makes one feel that Chang herself had lost interest in the story, which is unfortunate. This story is fascinating enough (for anyone interested in history, not just me) to wish that the entire book had been treated with the care that Chang shows Tsien's US phase. Anyways, one leaves the story with feelings of respect and regret for what could have been. Please note that HS Tsien is still a bogeyman for the US intelligence community - he was mentioned, as Qian Xuesen, in the 1999 Cox report during the Los Alamos spy scandal. As far as I know, HS Tsien is still alive.

2 comments about Doomsday Men: The Real Dr. Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon.

1. In Brecht's "1940," the "latest inventions of the professors" probably didn't include the atomic bomb. Poison gas and rockets meant to kill civilians were horrific enough. But one of the surprising things (to me, at least) that P. D. Smith's Doomsday Men shows is how newspapers and popular science writing in Europe and America described atomic bombs and atomic power plants in detail decades before Hiroshima.
   
   Another interesting thing in Doomsday Men is how fiction writers and scientists inspired each other. Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895 and the next year H. G. Wells used "Roentgen vibrations" as the rationale for the Invisible Man's experiments. (Wells was the first to use the expression "atomic bomb.")
   
   American science fiction magazines published stories about atomic energy years before Pearl Harbor.
   
   In Germany Zukunftsromane ("future novels") and Weltuntergangsromane ("end-of-the-world stories") were popular. These stories influenced German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and Hungarian physicists Leo Szilard and Edward Teller, two of the "Hungarian Quartet" that Doomsday Men is primarily about. Most of the best nuclear scientists in Berlin were Jewish and left Germany in the 1930s for Britain or the United States.
   
   Fritz Haber, was an ultra-patriotic German-Jewish scientist who developed poison gas during World War I without any qualms. (After the Nazis took power, when Haber was a refuge in England, Ernest Rutherford refused to meet Haber, saying " 'he did not want to shake hands with the inventor of poison gas warfare.' ") Many of Haber's family were killed by Zyklon B gas at Auschwitz.
   
   As the truth about the effects of atomic bombs and atomic testing became known, a new kind of story replaced the old pro-technology-at-any-cost stories in American science fiction magazines (where you rarely read about a Faust or a Frankenstein). Actually, it was a return to an older type of story.
   
   Movies like Godzilla, Them!, The Amazing Colossal Man, and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms were a return to the "deadly utopian dream" of turn-of-the-century fiction like H. G. Wells's The World Set Free or The War of the Worlds.
   
   By the time of the modern era of ICBMs and hotlines, the tragic figure of Goethe's Faust had become Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, an amalgam of von Braun, Edward Teller, and others, who could only be comprehended as a joke, even though the joke was we're doomed.
   
   
   



2. Doomsday Men is an impressively creative examination of how literature and philosophy influenced the development of superweapons, and how knowledge of their ghastly potential shaped, in turn, the cultural icons of the 20th century. It shows how those involved in the Manhattan Project differed greatly in their temperments and outlooks, and reached drastically different conclusions about the role of nuclear weapons after the Second World War was over. While some scientists, such as Leo Szilard, rallied for arms control, others, such as Herman Kahn, argued that the west should be prepared to accept massive casualties. Kahn's remarks, taken to their terrifying extreme, were incorporated into Kubrick's classic dark comedy, Dr. Strangelove, a film that occupies a central place in this book. Through colorful anecdotes and fascinating connections with popular culture, Smith helps bring the turbulent history of those frightening times to life. Doomsday Men offers a vital and intruging account of the mentality and culture of the Cold War.

1 comments about Darwin: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

1. I think the extent of knowledge most people know about Darwin is about evolution and even that is spotty. I just wanted to get a broad idea about the man and his theories and this book fit the bill. I feel like I can now speak about Darwin and actually know what I am talking about rather than make off handed commments with out fully realizing what I am talking about. I recommend this book to Atheists and people of faith since each of us could benefit from understanding what Darwin is about and the context of his theories.

5 comments about Einstein's German World.

1. 
   Fritz Stern has filled an important void around those times in which the promising figure of Albert Einstein has to face against that opprobrious regime; through a progressive cracking of the noble values which reigned in Germany, as well as all that state of things that surrounded, permeated and allowed the unthinkable happened.
   
   A revealing, poignant and incisive portrait.



2. The book's cover shows a photo of a happy Albert Einstein on board the German ship Deutschland, as he heads home for Germany from a trip abroad. On the back cover it is entitled "Heimreise nach Deutschland," meaning the journey home to Germany. The last essay of the book concludes with Professor Stern--who is German by birth--explaining how it feels to be "heimatlos," meaning to be without a home. The word "Heimat," carries a special meaning of warmth and comfort associated with one's homeland. It requires a good insight into German culture to understand the emotions it evokes for Germans who find themselves away from home.

   Between "Heimreise" and "heimatlos," lies the book's theme that recounts the poignant experiences of several world renown German scientists, who were Jews. This is not a book about scientists and their accomplishments, but about accomplished Germans who were ostracized by their country for being Jews.

   Contrary to some recent writings, these men and their families were well integrated and accepted by their colleagues and German society. They were Germans who could trace their ancestry in Germany for many generations. They were patriots just as any other German. Like any other German they contributed to the war effort during WW1. They distinguished themselves as soldiers. They prospered and enjoyed their German culture and lifestyle. They commanded respect and were held in esteem for their accomplishments. Then came the Nazis.

   The common theme of the biographical sketches of each of the personalities is a reflection on the sense of loss, the profound disillusionment, which these men felt as they came to accept the stark reality that their country of birth, their beloved fatherland, was turning against them. It is hard to imagine the deep sense of betrayal these men, and others like them, must have felt when the Nazis deprived them of their citizenship and drove them out of their "Heimat." The book tells a sad story, not of death and destruction, not of material dispossession, but of the loss of civil rights, disillusionment, and of the bitter sense of rejection felt by some of Germany's best and finest.

   Other than that, Fritz Stern's style makes the book a real joy to read.




3. This book commands interest at several points, but in the end doesn't come together as an integrated whole. It is a collection of former essays loosely linked by overlapping content, specifically the experience and achievement of German Jewish intellectuals and scientists during the first part of the century. The centerpiece is a description of the friendship between Albert Einstein and Fritz Haber, and the manner in which each attempted to come to terms with the rise of fascism in Germany. Also interesting are Stern's essay on the experience since reunification of former residents of East Germany, and the fate of Max Planck under the Nazis. Worth reading if you're a specialist, but in the end not biographical or focused enough.



4. The title of the review applies more clearly to the first part of the book: chapters 1-4 and, especially, chapter 3--the centerpiece and gem of the book--where the fascinating discussion of Einstein is central. The essays in the second part of the book are well done but less interesting. The book's title says a great deal about what one finds in the first four chapters, and one learns a lot about Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whether the focus is on science, culture, religion, the politics and economics of science, or the intricate ties that bound government, business, the universities, and both the applied and theoretical scientists. All of these strands are discussed in a writing style that can only be described as masterful. I remember a class wth Fritz Stern many years ago where, among many things, two virtues in particular stood out: clarity and honesty. Some things do not change.



5. This book provides some good background information on some of the key people who went into making modern chemistry and physics from the 1870 German unification to just before WWII. It is similar (although much weaker than) the background provided by Michael White in "Issac Newton, the Last Sorcerer" - for the times in which Newton lived. While Fritz Stern is well qualified to comment on how German scientists conducted themselves in response to WWI and Hitler, (unlike White's treatment of Issac Newton's era) Stern never really seems to impart enough of a multi dimensional background so we can better understand the views and driving forces of "Einsteins German World".

   Max Planck comes out as a decent German, doing the best for his Jewish colleagues -- but upon reading Stern's account you get the impression that the whole Hitler atmosphere can be explained by anti-semitism leveraged to advance Dilbert-style rampant careerism.

   Stern takes pains to state that Goldhagen's book (on ordinary Germans under Hitler, which covers much the same era) is a gross simplification, and he advances high level arguments against Goldhagen's view that there was a ubiquitous inherent German anti-semitism at work. While Stern mentions (things such as) German Catholic-Protestant disharmony being equal German Jewish-Christian disharmony around WWI, he does not elaborate.

   Stern was there (or at least knew the people personally) -- and given this, he could have done a better job describing "Einstein's German World". You never come to understand anything beyond top German Jewish scientists working hard, struggling against a view of their work as being somehow Jewish (Stern never mentions how Freud was viewed in this regard - which was too bad), and that eliminating Jewish colleagues was a way of advancing one's career up a competitive government scientist ladder under Hitler.