5 comments about Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo.

1. Dr. Galdikas study and care of the orangutans of Borneo is greatly appreciated. My friends and myself enjoyed this book a great deal. Long live Dr. Galdikas and the magnificant orangutans of Borneo!



2. The next best thing to living in an Indonesian rain forest with these creatures is reading this account. The animals are of course, her main focus but the daily life and the reality of bringing a child into this forest are all examined and told with the same voice. The rain forest, sights, sounds and smells come to life through her vivid descriptions. I have reread this book along with all of Goodall's and the Fossey books and this is a necessary addition to the knowledge of great apes.



3. If you are inspired by dedicated peoplewith vision and or conservation this is a must read. Professor Galdikas is an amazing woman and is part of the Leakey sisterhood ie Fossey, Goodall and Galdikas, who have made life time studies of apes.



4. Wonderful book! Galdikas brings us from her very beginnings as a young woman studing Orangutans to a true scientist breaking new ground as Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey did. The information and descriptions she passes along to the readers is endearing, educational, and brings you to another world. Read this yourself, you will be enchanted, you will cry, you will be happy you experienced this book. Thank you Birute!



5. Having spent time volunteering at Tanjung Puting, I felt this book was wonderfully written. Although The Professor (Birute) is not an open person, she willingly shared her personal feelings in this book. She tells us in a wonderful fashion about the difficulties of establishing Camp Leakey in Kalimantan. She discloses much about marriage and divorce from Rod, and raising Binti. Her account of Rod's efforts during 7 1/2 years at Tanjung Puting are wonderful in that she credited him with so much. I appreciate her assimilation into Indonesian and Dayak culture. At first glance it may be difficult for us to understand how she could marry Pak Bohap, a native Dayak who even admits to having eaten orangutans. But her writing about this relationship is so understandable. Overall, this is a wonderful book by a woman entirely devoted to the conservation of one of the world's great apes. The story of her life in Borneo is fascinating. A great read about one of Louis Leakey's proteges!

5 comments about No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman.

1. Don't be iontimidated by thinking there may be too much math or physics in this book. This is not a scientific biography as much as it is a fun trip through some of the things that made Richard Feynman so loved by all who knew him.
   
   I admire the author's choice to have Feynman's colleagues contribute their knowledge of the incidents discussed. In many cases Feynman himself is cited to help understand the situation extant.
   
   Whether you know Feynman's life well or not, this book is a fun read.



2. If you know of Richard Feynman's life and work, this is a great book, full of pictures and anecdotes from other emminent physicist w/ whom he worked (and sometimes clashed).
   
   Very easy and pleasing to read. Nothing too in-depth e.g. Feynman's disdain for written fiction, "...I read 'Madame Bovary' once and it was NIFTY!". No more analysis beyond that. Enough said if you know something of the person.



3. Excellent book for anyone looking for a pictorial representation of Feynman.



4. My reading of "Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman" was surely "forced" me to read the life of Richard Feynman furthermore: NO ORDINARY GENIUS is a GREAT BOOK. Family, friends and colleagues of Feynman share their views regarding the genius (with bump's-language-style) Feynman. The photos are great and can make a good spot on his life. Truly inspiring especially when he stated that he's an irresponsible man! And also, he couldnt stop to do physics until several days before his death: he's still doing the physics in 70. Feynman also brought the tiny-state named TOUVA to the world: even a geographic teacher wouldn't know bout this region! Buy this book, okay?



5. This book made me laughed and it made me cry but most importantly it taught me a lot, not just about feynman but a lot more other stuff like science, life, having fun and reminded me why I got into science in the first place. It was very inpirational as well as fun.

   If you want to know a little about what feynman was like, then you must read this book. I said
   "little" because there is no way you will ever get to know this man just by reading a book. This book was really good at taking out the really good stuff from other books and integrating it.

   I like what his friends and family had to say about him and adventures they had, as much as when Feynman was quoted. It is
   really interesting and gives you a really deep insight on stuff he may not had put into his other books.

   Even if you don't like to read biographies, or care about feynman, you could read this book like a novel. Its little
   stories are so interesting funny (sometimes sad) that you forget that you are reading a biography. I say this because
   reading biogrphies usually gets me bored. Not this one however, its and adventure!

   After I read this book I felt like I lost a friend and mentor--it was that good or perhaps feyman's life was that interesting--I actually missed a guy I never met before! It sounds flaky, but I guessed Feynman would had liked it that way!

   Alex Lee
   ...

4 comments about Brilliant!: Shuji Nakamura And the Revolution in Lighting Technology.

1. Shuji Nakamura worked virtually alone at a small Japanese company in 1992 when he developed the bright blue light-emitting diode, or LED, that may supplant the electric light bulb in home and commercial applications. He was employed by Nichia Chemical Industries in Anan on Japan's southern island of Shikoku. Nichia invested over $1 million in Nakamura's research on indium-gallium-nitride, a compound-semiconductor alloy most other researchers had dismissed as useless for LED manufacturing because of its many defects.
   
   Nakamura modified standard chemical vapor-deposition equipment to achieve the uniform, nanometers-thin layers needed to emit copious blue light. As Johnstone writes: "100 times brighter than commercial silicon-carbide blue LEDs, bright enough to be seen in broad daylight." (Thus, Brilliant!)
   
   Nakamura became a celebrity in Japan. Cree Research, Durham, N.C., the market leader in silicon-carbide blue LEDs, tried to make an alliance with Nichia. When it was rebuffed by Nichia, it tried to hire Nakamura. Nakamura remained loyal to Nichia, and turned out ever brighter and more versatile diodes. By increasing the indium content, for example, he achieved bright green LEDs, and in 1996 he announced the first blue-violet laser diode.
   
   The blue emitting diode is essential to generate bright white light. Red and green light combined in the proper proportions with blue light yields white light. The red and green can come either from other LEDs or from the blue LED itself, using phosphors to convert part of its output to lower-frequency light. LEDs have surpassed incandescent and halogen bulbs in lumens per watt, and reached the levels that only the best fluorescent tubes can attain. Their lifetimes run from 50,000 to 100,000 hours. In widespread use, they could achieve enormous cost savings. A shift to solid-state lighting would also enormously reduce production of greenhouse gases.
   
   Johnstone describes some of the key players in a solid-state lighting industry that grosses $4 billion a year, and promises to grow quickly. Nichia, Cree, Color Kinetics of Boston, Permlight Products of Tustin, Calif., and Carmanah Technologies Corp., in Victoria, B.C., Canada, may be significant players. Johnstone doesn't discuss Royal Philips Electronics, in Amsterdam, which has great researchers, and enormous marketing and manufacturing capabilities.
   
   Johnstone closes the book with Nakamura in 1999 when Nakamura accepts a tenured position as the Cree Professor of Solid State Lighting and Display at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Before he can start his reseraches, Nichia sued him for leaking trade secrets to Cree. Nakamura counter-sued for profits; the case was heard at Japan's highest court amid wide-spread publicity; and it was settled in the early 2005.
   
   Nakamura won the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize and Johnstone suggests that Nakamura may ultimately win a Nobel Prize for his work. Johnstone is a true believer; he thinks that solid state lighting is the most important advance in lighting since Edison. "Nakamura changed the world," claims Johnstone. Writing in "Scientific American", Glenn Zorpette agrees: "Nakamura put together a string of achievements that for genius and sheer improbability is as impressive as any other accomplishment in the history of semiconductor research."
   
   As a general reader, I found this a fascinating, albeit sometimes difficult and confusing, account of that advance.



2. BRILLIANT! SHUJI NAKAMURA AND THE REVOLUTION IN LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY tells of the evolution of LED technology and how it was stalled over making an LED that would emit the bright blue light needed to make useful white light LEDs - until researcher Shuji Nakamura's key invention which single-handedly created the industry of solid-state lighting. Author Bob Johnstone is the first Western journalist to meet and interview Nakamura, and here provides a powerful blend of science and biography to show how the inventor made his ground-breaking discovery and how LEDs are revolutionizing the world. Any science library strong in invention history needs BRILLIANT!
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. I heartily recommend this book for people who are interested in innovation, business, science, technology, etc. The book tells the fascinating story of Nakamura and the impact LEDs are having on the lighting industry.
   
   Part One of the book tells the story of how Nakamura invented the first commercially successful GaN LED. Part Three explains how Nakamura became unwanted at Nichia and how he decided to move to UCSB. Parts Two and Four talk about some of the companies that are using LEDs to make exciting new products. I'll be a nit picker and say the book should be titled "Shuji Nakamura and the *Coming* revolution in Lighting Technology" because the revolution is just starting.
   
   Although LEDs have been around for about four decades and everyone already owns products that incororate them, very few people understand the potential of LEDs and the impact that they will have on lighting over the next few years. The conversion to white LEDs for general lighting is underway. People will want to understand more about this phenomenon as they recognize the impact that LEDs are having on the lighting industry and energy consumption. The good news is that this book will serve as a tutorial for people who want to learn about LEDs.



4. Brilliant!!! Refreshing!!! Bob Johnstone is correct in espousing Shuji Nakamura as the leader of the LED revolution. Shuji's list of patents and accomplishments in his field far outshine all of his peers put together. Definitely a Nobel Prize in the works for Mr. Nakamura and hopefully a Pulitzer for Mr. Johnstone for his ability to explain this complex subject to the average reader in a true tale of high intrigue! The LED scientific community is still rather small. The competition for the holy grail (replacing the everyday lightbulb) is phenomenal. Bob and Shuji have this unusual, provocative combination that tells the story of this new high tech race. Bob spends quite a few chapters explaining the unusual and life changing ramifications of LED development worlwide. A must read for any investor or those with eco-green concerns!!!

3 comments about Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking.

1. This is an excellent book. Cropper must have put an enormous effort into researching and writing this 500 page, large format paperback, which has been nicely printed on white paper. At its current price of $12.97 an incredible bargain.
   
   At first glance this book appears to be sort of a strange hybrid of biography and science, but the combo works. Cropper generally starts a chapter on a scientist with a few page biographical sketch followed by a longer, clearly written, physics section. I would estimate that the book is about 70% physics and about 30% biographical. The biographical sections are well done and interesting, but the book really shines in its overview of the physics.
   
   Cropper covers 30 scientists with many of them in thermodynamics and atomic physics. Reading these sections you not only get a good overview of the science at a moderate technical level (a notch or two above the usual popular science writing level since Cropper is not afraid of using equations), but also you get an historical understanding of who did what and how their contributions fit together. Another plus is that Cropper will often describe in some detail how a key experiment has been done.
   
   As a technical person (like a previous reviewer, I am an engineer), not only did I learn a lot from this book about how many of the secrets of this world have been discovered, but some of the gaps in my physics knowledge were filled in. Cropper set himself a big task to write an overview of much of physics, but he has pulled it off with style.



2. This is the best book I have read about the human side of physicists. Although, I have a Masters degree in physics, you don't need to be a practicing scientist to throughly enjoy the contents of this wonderful work. Cropper did an outstanding writing job.



3. I've picked up many books over the years telling the stories of great scientists, but this is the only book of this type that I couldn't put down. I am a degreed engineer, now working in computers, with physics as a hobby. The coverage of Thermodynamics, which I have studied extensively, was fascinatingly rich and accessible. The complexity of other topics, such as nuclear physics, of which I know little, was surprizingly clear.

   My curiosity attracts me to picking up compilations such as this, but I usually find them disjunct and uninteresting. Mr. Cooper has done an amazing job of weaving a coherent story of the lives of these fascinating characters spanning a history of 400 years.

5 comments about Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age.

1. The winners write the history, and the history of Silicon Valley is no exception. Until this book William Shockley, if he was known at all, was thought of as the eccentric Nobel Prize winner who became an intellectual outcast because of his eugenics beliefs and as the bad manager whose employees quit and founded Fairchild and Intel.
   
   For those who know a bit more about the history of Silicon Valley technology, William Shockley is known as the founder of the Valley's first semiconductor company. Shockley recruited and assembled the seminal team that was the progenitor of every other semiconductor company in Silicon Valley. His instincts for talent-spotting were phenomenal, but they were matched by a massive lack of judgment about how to build products customers would buy and a complete lack of the insights necessary to motivate and manage an entrepreneurial company.
   
   Joel Shurkin does a good job in telling the story of not just Schokley Semiconductor, but the interesting life surrounding it all- the rise and fall - of William Schockley. A great read.



2. Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age
   
   Compliment to the writer who made the life of William Shockley so much more interesting than it really was. Shockley's inventions in technology is profound however, Shockley's life is really not that interesting. In essence, Shockley was a smart man, went to top schools, recruited by top people and top corporations, invented a lot to help our country (during the wars) and invented a lot to help the world (especially in his transistor and silicon invention), married twice, made some babies, toward the later part of his life, he got into study of genes and racial profiling in IQ and then he died at 80. If you are curios about what Shockley's inventions were, you would be fascinated by this documentation and litany of items listed. If you want to know the history of IQ controversy or whether blacks' IQ are truly inferior to whites, you will see lurid details on this. However, if you are like me, reading this book looking for fascinating human stories (ala Huge Hefner of the Playboy enterprise or Rupert Murdoch of the News Corps or even Mao Tze Tung of Communist China), you may be disappointed. In reality, Shockley lived a typical American suburbia life (the most exciting part of his life may be going to Norway to obtain his Nobel). You don't see him hanging out at the Playboy mansion at 70s with the hottest super models like Huge Hefner or flying to China to close a major media deal like Rupert Murdoch. Shockley's life was boring. May be he had bad relations with his kids (but then who does not?) and he was also not good at being nice in dealing with people but most engineers are like that, nothing new here. So, full credit to the writer who successfully made William Shockley's life so much more interesting than it really was - by applying an approach of story telling to add context and flavor - for example, in the story of his first company and the departure of the 11 original scientists Shockley hired, the writer discussed how Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore left and started their own company. This made the whole story more interesting. Now we know Gordon Moore was rated by Shockley's IQ tests as "not a good manager". Making dull topic interesting, one win for the author.
   
   Five Stars to the author for making a dull topic interesting.
   Three Stars to the content (the life of William Shockley - boring stuff). A reminder that we should go out and truly have fun in life. Go to a night club, fool around with some girls, go to a foreign country and do some bumgy jumping. Don't live life like Shockley.



3. William Shockley generated some mild controversy as a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for the transistor, and a firestorm of controversy as an investigator of supposed linkages between race and intelligence. Mr. Shurkin sheds considerable light on both disputes, as well as on those facets of Shockley's personality which occasionally drifted from merely difficult into the scarier modes of overbearing and compulsive. The author's own attitude toward his subject leans, quite understandably, toward an uneasy blend of admiration and exasperation.
   
   The transistor Nobel was awarded in 1954 to Shockley and his Bell Labs colleagues John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. A problematic aspect of the choice to honor all three was that although Shockley nominally led the research group, his direct involvement in the original (point contact) transistor invention was minimal. He did, however, have a legitimate conceptual claim to the later junction-type device, which became the practical transistor we know today. Shurkin's description of the contentious priority issues involved, and the human interactions among the principals, is fascinating.
   
   One might say it's ironically fitting that a self-assured, iconoclastic, socially tone-deaf character like Shockley would blunder into the potential minefield of race/intelligence studies. On top of that, he chose the most politically radioactive combination possible -- white vs. black. The spectrum of opinion on that topic was (and is) bracketed at one end by bigots who just knew there must be an intelligence gap, and at the other end by knee-jerk egalitarians who just knew there couldn't possibly be one. The bigots embarrassed Shockley with unwanted support, and the egalitarians excoriated him for even looking at the question. The most recent and reasonable consensus seems to be that racial differences, genomically speaking, are too trivial to account for intelligence variations beyond the normal and expected spread due to both intra- and interracial gene mixing.
   
   The biography is well-written and consistently interesting, but there are too many glitches to ignore. For example, "Schrodinger's atoms" on page 25 should be electrons, and the claim that Shockley wrote "the first textbook of the electronic age" (p.122) sounds preposterous to anyone who remembers vacuum tubes. Perhaps the author meant solid-state electronic age. For a similar reason, the book's subtitle needs revision. On page 105, the translation of 0.04 centimeter to 0.16 inch is too high by a factor of 10. The name of the strength program a youthful Shockley modeled for is spelled "Trelor" three times on page 18, but the ad reproduced on the same page conspicuously says "Treloar."



4. I am an engineer with particular interest in William Shockley because I was once barred from hearing him speak. This book presents an excellent recap of Shockley's entire life, concluding with the events that led to his downfall among the general public. I found the coverage to be generally fair and unbiased. Although the book provides the expected analysis of Shockley's later years, ample coverage is provided of his most productive years which, even under close scrutiny, show him to have indeed been a genius in several technical fields.



5. Shockley worked at Bell Labs for many years. I, too, worked there and had no idea why we did what we did, why we had the philosophies we did, etc... Almost 35 years later, I still saw the footprints of Shockley's world. That, to me, was very interesting. His life was extraordinary and a huge lesson in something. I'm not sure what that something is yet but after this all soaks in, maybe I can make heads or tails of it. It was all so strange. A brilliant mind is all so strange and the author did such a superb job of letting us into the secret. Thanks Joel!

5 comments about Unlocking the Sky: Glenn Hammond Curtiss and the Race to Invent the Airplane.

1. This book is well researched and lets any objective reader know who really "unlocked the sky" for future generations, and it was not the Wright brothers. They may have flown first (with the help of a major crane machine to get them airborne) but they would rather have put a lock on the sky than share their knowledge. This despite the fact that they asked for and were freely given much knowledge and data by others that enable their success. Glenn Hammond Curtiss kept going, conquering the hurdles the Wright brothers threw his way for years, and in the end was unstoppable. Most veriable firsts are his. And he shared it all. Much of today's aviation success can be traced directly to him. This book was excellent and anyone interested in aviation history should read it. Besides, it is fun to read!



2. Seth Shulman is a writer who specializes in science, technology, and the environment. Orville and Wilbur Wright launched their flying machine in December 1903 and are honored as the inventors of the airplane. There were plenty of rivals at home and abroad. This book provides the reasons to place Glenn Hammond Curtiss of Hammondsport NY as an important inventor in spite of the court decisions that gave rights to the Wright brothers. The 'Prologue' tells of Samuel Pierpont Langley's attempt to launch a flying machine on Dec. 08, 1903. It failed, and the Wright brothers succeeded. Shulman implicitly criticizes Langley's expensive effort.
   
   Chapter 2 explains the reason for a broad patent on airplanes: powerful financiers backed the Wright brothers (p.44). The Wrights had solved the difficult problem of stabilizing the flight of an aircraft ("wing warping"). The Wrights did everything to keep their success secret in order to retain control of their invention (pp.50-51). Sir George Cayley, a British nobleman, was the first to envision a practical airplane design with fixed wings, a tail, and a propulsion system in the early 19th century (pp.95-96). Octave Chanute's 1894 book recorded the state of aviation (p.98). Glenn Curtiss made the first publicly witnessed flight on July 4, 1908 (Chapter 6). Curtiss won the test at Rheims, France (Chapter 7). Politically appointed Judge John Hazel ruled that the Wrights' patent should be "broadly construed" (p.182); this favored the Wall Street investors who owned the Wrights' patent. Curtiss flew from Albany to Manhattan to win a prize (Chapter 9).
   
   Chapter 10 tells of the legal fights between the Wrights' corporation and other pioneers besides Curtiss. Judge Hazel seems to have been in the pocket of the Wrights. Curtiss produced many inventions (p.207). The Curtiss JN was one of the most popular and successful airplanes of that era (p.208). Curtis is credited with 500 aeronautical inventions (p.209), like the aileron (p.210). The 'Epilogue' said Curtiss built the best airplanes of that day (p.224). Curtiss' seaplane 'America' was bought by Britain to patrol the Channel and attack U-boats (p.225).
   
   America could not provide a fighter or pursuit airplane for WW I. The Curtiss company built the P-40 for the Army and the SB2C for the Navy in WW II. The Wrights were first to fly. Langley's mismanagement caused his failure (a defective structure). Langley squandered money on a houseboat for show instead of using flat land (like the Wrights or Curtiss). Curtiss was right to concentrate on a better product (like Henry Ford) rather than legal battles over patents (but patents are important). This book provides an argument against overly broad patent rights. Squashing competition was the aim of the trusts of that day (the Selden patents). This book is well-written and fast paced, but could be better organized. I think this book would be better if it told about the other developers in the early 20th century and did not overemphasize the squabbles over patent rights. It does not cover the decades after WW I.



3. Mr. Shulman's revisionist history presents Glenn Hammond Curtiss, early aviation pioneer and inventor, as a series of opposites. He alternately describes the man as shy, sheepish, and unassuming, and then as a master public relations man, always taking time to entertain the press reporters to keep them hanging around his "shop." He regularly describes him as the beloved son of Hammondsport, NY, while telling how frightened and angered the townsfolk were with his exploits of racing motorcycles around town at breakneck speed or testing noisy contraptions. He describes him as an honest and upstanding citizen who started a commercial company selling airplanes in violation of patent laws for the "greater good" of mankind (ignoring that Curtiss got his information from Augustus Herring, who betrayed the Wrights and first tried unsuccessfully to sell the knowledge to the more ethical Langley). He describes him as an inventor of nearly everything important to modern aviation while explaining that until 1904 he considered anyone attempting flight as a "crank." Yes, the man is a conundrum, a paradox, a riddle.
   
   Unfortunately, he remains so after forcing myself to keep reading this book. If you're looking for an interesting and informative biography, this isn't it. If you're looking for criticism that seldom lets up on attacking the Wright brothers (constantly referring to them as "bicycle mechanics"), or that embarrassingly idolizes Glenn Curtiss, this is the book for you! Other reviews here have documented many of the inaccuracies in this book undermining the author's credibility (I took the time to verify only some of them). Shulman downplays the 64 modifications required to get the Langley machine to fly, describing them as "minor" and "inconsequential," in an obvious and shameful attempt to discredit the Wrights (for which the Smithsonian later apologized). He also ignores that the Curtiss engine used on Baldwin's dirigible at the St. Louis World Fair was far inferior to the one constructed by the Wrights, instead trumpeting it as an enormous accomplishment and victory over the Wrights. And the constant name-dropping of Curtiss' list of associates and acquaintances (no matter how remote) is ridiculous. Also, the lack of any logical timeline is annoying, starting out with Langley's failed 1903 attempt, then bouncing to 1914, then 1906, then 1904, then 1907...
   
   There's no doubt that the Wright Brothers were publicly stiff and perhaps even odd, and that their legal attempts to protect their rights were counter-productive to developing an aviation industry in the US. There's also little doubt that Curtiss was a colorful and interesting personality, even if his personal ethics were a bit wanting. But that's the Curtiss that would have been fun to learn about. Instead of trying to present an objective history or biography and his many contributions to aviation, Shulman's addition is little more than a shrill and error-filled condemnation of the Wrights, seemingly taking it as a personal affront that they tried to profit from their labors. There's little to learn from this book, if you can force yourself through it.



4. This version of the 'history' of the battle between the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss can be summarized as follows:
   The Wright Brothers... (boo, hiss...) were mean and spiteful, but OUR HERO Glenn Curtiss was intelligent and kind... (yay, hurray!)
   
   Yes, the tone and writing style are nearly that simplistic and one-sided.
   
   The author shows a surprising lack of understanding of patent law, and makes a mess of the whole affair. He attacks the Wrights for doing what any patent holder normally does -- defend the patent. He implies that the patent would have somehow been invalid since Curtiss and others would soon have discovered the same knowledge anyway. And he argues that if the matter were decided by public opinion, then Curtiss would have won. All of which are irrelevant. The Wrights were first; they demonstrated a powered flying machine that a man could fly; they documented their discovery, built a machine that worked and described the methods for its use; and, they filed a patent with broad enough claims to protect their ideas from copycats like Curtiss.
   
   The author praises Curtiss for patenting over 500 inventions but never prosecuting anyone over patent infringement. Which begs the question, why even bother filing a patent? It would have been cheaper and more 'altruistic' to publish his ideas in magazines and place them in the public domain.
   
   The author states that none of the Wrights' ideas are still in use. The author should have known that the common air-screw propeller, the wind tunnel, the yaw-pitch-roll control method of flying and the basic plan-form of the airplane were all Wright ideas and inventions and remain as key elements of aeronautics a century after the Wrights first flew.



5. I enjoyed reading about the efforts of Curtiss and colleagues. He was obviously an amazing inventor and did a great deal for the future of aviation. The constant bashing of the Wright Brothers was very tiresome and actually detracted from what was interesting reading about Curtiss. It took Shulman 90% of the book to give the Wright Brothers credit for what they had accomplished. Prior to that, I was waiting for Shulman to suggest that the Wright Brothers were not even present at Kitty Hawk.

5 comments about Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us.

1. 'Listening to Whales' was a touching story of how a women's life was enchanted through her passion for marine life. We follow the author, Alexandra Morton, through her life and career- which often go hand in hand- as she evolved as a marine scientist and a woman devoted to her love: the orcas. We are taken from her first job as an acoustics expert in Marineland to her more profound passion which is to examine the killer whales in their natural habitat; the open ocean. This book was not only captivating, but as I read through it I learned so many fun facts about orcas and dolphins and the life of a marine enthusiast.
   My favorite aspect of the book was the way she explained how her extreme passion for orcas came to be. I loved learning about how her love for marine life evolved from her love of frogs and grew from there. I find it so fascinating that as a small child something like loving frogs has evolved for decades and turned into her fulltime career. It proved how dedicated she has been to her work for so long and how there is constantly so much more to learn. I loved how she dedicated her young life to follow her dream, and this story showed how far you can come if you are persistent and dedicated.
   There wasn't any specific part of the book I didn't like. It was a story of this brilliant woman's dreams and stories, I don't think anyone is to say there was something wrong with it; it's an unedited, unchangeable story of her life. I think she had a good balance of her life-stories and experiences and her knowledge and history of her life with the whales. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in marine life or anyone who has a passion that they want to persue. It's a very inspiring story, which makes the book good for almost anyone.



2. Alexandra Morton's book, "Listening to Whales" is a fantastic story of how she came to study and love dolphins and killer whales. Morton grabs the reader's attention from the beginning by telling of her childhood and how she came to love animals and research. She was first intrerested in frogs, then snakes, then moved onto dolphins and eventually to killer whales. Morton's story of how she started her career was fascinating, and all about meeting the right people at the right times. She started slow but her passion willingness to learn kept her going. After years of tedious work, Morton finally landed a job at Marineland where her first job was to study the sounds that dolphins make. By using a hydrophone, Morton was able to listen to the dolphins, but there were many problems in her studies. One problem was that the dolphins were too fast for her to write cooresponding notes, and also, she wasn't able to figure out which dolphin was making which noise. Two killer whales that also happened to be in Marineland started Morton's true interest on killer whales.
   Morton's career has let her listen to these killer whales, witness a birth, and uncover habits of these creatures that no one at first believed. Morton then goes into the wild to listen to and observe these beauties in their natural habitats. Morton continues to study killer whales in the wild and learns a lot from listening to these whales communicate.
   I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was interesting that Morton gave a lot of information on her personal life and background and told the readers of how she started her career. I thought the way she opened the book got the reader's attention from the start and built up her ethos. The only weakness to the book I'd say is that it is a little slow at the beginning. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about killer whales, or anyone who wants to hear the story of how a young, animal loving girl, grew up to be a wonderful scientist. This is story is one of "following your dreams". Morton did what she loved and knew she wanted to do, even when discouraged by others. Aspiring scientists and whale lovers would love this book.



3. The novel "Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us" tells Alexandra Morton's story of how she dedicated her life to studying marine mammals, in particular killer whales, in captivity and in the wild. In addition, it describes the struggles she encountered along the way, such as caring for her young son on her own. After finishing this novel, the reader feels like she is an expert on killer whales, due to the clear descriptions Morton gives on the lifestyle, habits, and traits of the species. I felt that for the parts of the novel when Morton described her life aside from the whales, though, that she skipped over details, making it seem like events occurring over a long period of time were instead occurring over a matter of a few days. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone interested in learning about killer whales and how important it is for people to protect their species.



4. The book, Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us, is a spellbinding story of a woman's stuggle through life as she relentlessly studies killer whales. She brings us with her through her life's work of note taking and photo identification of the whales as she raises children, survives as a single mom in the wilderness, and falls in love. Alexandra Morton also teaches us of our human errors and our insensitive treatment of nature, as we do whatever is needed to fill our own pockets with more money, acting naive to how it is affecting the world around us. I especially enjoyed the peace and serenity of the novel. The setting and the whales themselves calms the nerves. I think it makes us all somewhat jealous of life outside of busy streets and many people. However, like with all autobiographies, the author can not control what has already happened, which makes the story move slow at the times when not a lot happened in the author's life. I would definitely recommend this novel, especially to anyone wishing to learn about whales and to anyone who loves reading about the serene and complexity of nature.



5. Listening to Whales is a wonderful story of a woman's life in the wild and the beautiful creatures she has devoted her life to. This auto-biography of the life of Alex Morten follows her journey through studying dolphin noises to captive dolphins to captive orcas and finally spending 25 years in the wilderness off the western coast of Canada studying killer whales in the wild. This story is so powerful and definitely shows us how important and intelligent these creatures are. Aside from retelling the moving story of how the whales thrived in those empty waters to completely leaving the same land with the coming of fish farms, this novel teaches the reader so much about this whale species, their culture and their environment. This is a must read for anyone interested in the preservation of the once pristine waters that are home to the killer whales and other marine animals--such as dolphins, porpoises, salmon, seals and otters--and for anyone who finds these beautiful and smart animals at all intriguing. Morton will make any reader fall in love with orcas as she takes the readers out on the waters in her boat, watching the whales live, play, love, and die. The end of the novel becomes more of a commentary on the industries--fish farming in particular--that destroy natural ecosystems. Morton leaves the touching story of her whales as they leave the once peaceful waters near her home, and throws a lot of political jargon at the reader. Though what she has to say is quite shocking, and definitely will leave the reader understanding the terrible effects of such an industry, the constant barrage of numbers and statistics that Morton uses to get her point across can become quite tiresome. However, it makes the final beautiful pages of this novel all the more emotionally touching. This book is amazing, and will definitely leave any reader feeling the same love that Morton does towards killer whales.

1 comments about Sigmund Freud.

1. I read this book many years ago. Good info about Frued . Read it and bought it because you cant go wrong with Ralph Steadman.Outstanding drawings asif I had to tell you that.

No comments about They Changed the World: People of the Manhattan Project.

5 comments about King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry.

1. I am very happy to have received this book as a gift from a former math professor when I began teaching high school geometry last year. Initially during the year, it was difficult to get the students excited; I found that having them read excerpts from this book really helped! The narrative way the book is written allowed students to follow along, and they began to understand some of the joy that can come from mathematics.
   I hope this book inspires a new generation of geometers!



2. 
   If you enjoy Mathematics and particularly Recreational Mathematics;you'll find this book a real treasure trove. This book touches on so many interests I've had over the years,that I was mesmerized how one thing after another kept popping up.I have been interested in Recreational Mathematics,Puzzles and a wide range of things these pursuits lead to. I have over 500 books in my library connected to these interests in one way or another,but this book really shines in that it covers so much and over such a long period.
   Starting off with the author's name. It's pronounced "she-von" and is the Irish form of Joan,a name which was introduced into Ireland by the Anglo-Normans.It has been anglisiced as Judith and Julia.
   I have also developed an interest in the concept of "connections" and as one goes through the fascinating journey of Coxeter's life ,connections endlessly come up. I started getting interested in puzzles in school during the early 50's and have never ceased to be drawn to them.
   It's amazing how one encounters things without really trying.Two years ago ,while Birding at Pointe Peele,another obsession;things were quiet one evening,and I was doing some Sudoku puzzles when a young lad came by. I got him interested,and his uncle also came by. He told me that if I liked puzzles,I should meet his friend who constructs amazing stick and ball models.I took him up on it and met a retired engineer ,like myself,and for a whole afternoon,he showed me a number of models he had constructed.They were fascinating polyhedra,similar to those being held by Coxeter on the cover of this book. One big difference though;he used wooden balls,about 3/4" diam. and sticks about 1/8" diam. to construct his models. He painted the balls different colors to emphasize their positions in the structure. This approach allows the internal structure of the model to be seen. They remind me of the way chemistry uses similar balls and sticks to display molecular structures.This man told me about Coxeter and that he discussed his models with him and how he actually built a computer to determine what stellations of models were or were not possible to construct.At a later visit to his home,he showed me dozens of other models he had constructed and even a machine he had built to drill the holes in the balls. By that time I had turned up "Polyhedron Models" by Magnus Wenninger and my friend told me he also discussed these models with him.He gave me one of his models and it is one of my prized possessions.
   Later on I found Wenninger's website,and if you'd like to see his wonderful models,visit it.
   So, naturally,when I got Robert,s book,I knew it would be of great interest.
   Although I had purchased Rouse Ball's "Mathematical Recreations" in 1960,and had even constructed a Rotating Ring of tetrahedra,I hadn't noticed that Coxeter had done the revision.
   I recently read "The Universal Book of Mathematics" by David Darling,(see my review on June 22,2007)and found it a very handy reference as I read this book.
   There is so much covered in this book ,one hardly knows where to start in writing a review. I has us meeting so many people in Coxeters world;Einstein ,Buckminister Fuller,M.C.Escher,Martin Gardner,Paul Erdos,and on and on.You will meet their families ,students,likes and passions. There great minds are the people who have been in the forefront of Mahematics during the 20th Century and all who took over and expanded the horizons if the great Mathematicians who paved the way.
   Like in the world of music there are the great composers and great players,but even though most of us can never really enter their worlds or minds,we can thankfully still enjoy and appreciate their work. Such is the same with mathematics.
   I was glad to read where M.C.Echer couldn't begin to follow Coxeter when he tried to explain math to him.It just confirms that one does not necessarily have to understand something to enjoy it. Even Coxeter understood that, and felt likewise about many areas of math and science.
   If there is anything that this book really brought home to me is that it shows why I have enjoyed my pursuits in Recreational Mathematics and Puzzles so much over the years.
   On top of being a wonderful biography on the life of Donald Coxeter and his associates and friends;it is a goldmine of a reference. 63 pages of Endnotes provide endless resource information;coupled with 13 pages of Bibliography and an extremly well compiled Index;makes this a major reference source that I will turn to often.



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   King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry
   King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry (Hardcover)
   by Siobhan Roberts (Author)
   
   I learned arithmetics using my mother's measuring tape. Thereza, my mom, noticed my curiosity and decided to take advantage of the opportuntity to teach me about numbers as much as she could using the measuring tape. With my mom's help and using a simple measuring tape I learned to add, subtract, multiply and divide. From there on and until later in college, numbers, and later mathematics, were an integral part of my life. As time went on, my love for mathematics waned. Eventually I embraced a career in software engineering. Although I never lost my love and passion for it, I have not been able to connect with it all these years.
   
   Around one year ago, a friend of mine mentioned this book during a casual conversation. I bought it and let it sit on my books to read pile for almost one year. I packed it as I prepared for a trip to India. Half way through the trip I finish whatever I was reading and started on it. Starting on page one, I was totally enthralled. It took me a while to understand. Now that I finished it I know.
   
   Geometry got me going. Slowly but surely it was replaced by Algebra, which was the focus of my studies during my college days. The New Math of the sixties and ealy seventies was the ultimate expression of this movement. I remember a scene in college where an Algebra teacher told me I had no future in mathematics after I asked me to explain to me the practical applications of some complicated theorem she had just completed to demonstrate. That was the turning point. It became clear to me that, regardless of my love and passion for Mathematics, I had to go. And go I did! So have gone millions of kids who are born bubbling with the desire to learn the world about them, are endowed with the geometric instincts to do so, but are also robbed of this opportunity by the austerity of the analitycal thinking imposed on them by the dry algebra based mathematial curriculum of nowadays.
   
   Coxeter biography brought it all together for me. In addition to chronicling the life on an imensily interesting man, it also provided me with an incisive look at what happened with Geometry in the early part of the twentieth century and how the analitical reasoning required for Algebra replaced the intuitive thinking required for Geometry on our curriculum. My poor Algebra teacher had been a victim and with her a number of students that need an intuitive perspective to comprehend the complex Algebra before us.
   
   Coxeter lived to prove her wrong and to rekindle my passions. This biography is well written, anyone with a modic level o interest can enjoy it. Those with lingering and unspent passions will feel compelled to learn more about his works and contributions to Mathematics and society.
   
   I have a very hard time to finishing reading certain biographies. Coxeter's was one of them. No matter how great the life, it has to come to an end, and I struggled with it for quite some time. Coxeter will be with me for the rest of my life.



4. Siobhan Roberts first book is a gem. This is up there with Hofstadter's books in terms of the content. I was very impressed with the depth the author went to in describing mathematical objects. I was introduced to interesting characters such as George Odom, a life long fan of Coxeter.
   
   This is a book all fans of math beyond the textbook must read!



5. As I very rarely read biographies and almost never books about math, this book, recommended to me my father, a geometry and coxeter enthusiast, came both as a pleasant surprise and a nice change in my reading habits. First of all, I must admit that it upsets some of the stereotypes we may have about mathematicians being rigid minded reasoners, inclined to reduce reality to barren numbers and calculations. This, as we are shown, is not the case for Coxeter.
   
   In King of Infinite Space, Siobhan Roberts depicts Coxeter as a veritable artist: driven by esthetic impulses and indifferent to scientific utility, we are shown Coxeter's geometry as being inspired overall by a sense of beauty . Roberts also shows how Coxeter's work, in spite of all this, has a significant place in the history of mathematics, as well as its current developments, and how it has found practical applications in many scientific fields.
   
   Avoiding tedious technical descriptions that could weigh down the book and providing adequate clarification when needed (usually indexed), the writing is accessible and engaging; it is written in an intelligent yet unacademic style which is inviting to all types readers, mathematicians and biography enthusiasts alike .
   
   One thing I especially enjoyed about this book is that we are given an image of the artistic, imaginative side of mathematics much different from the pencil and paper problems and encumbering calculations that many of us are put off by. Coxeter's mathematical world is replete with dynamic, rotating shapes and multi-dimensional figures, kaleidoscopes and mirrors, honeycombs and reflections; all of these are of interest not for their scientific utility or practical purposes but rather because they satisfy Coxeter's penchant for symmetry, harmony, and beauty. No matter how indifferent you may be to the math, what comes across in this book is something undeniably appealing in Coxeter's romantic quest for higher spaces and heroic in his attempt to 'save geometry'. Really, what is there not to like about an aloof mathematician whose primary tools are folding mirrors, kaleidoscopes, and escher paintings?
   
   In the end, we can make no claims of understanding Coxeter's math or individual work, a special privilege afforded only to geometers, career specialists, or die-hard enthusiasts (my father); however, what we can appreciate is the spirit and nature of his thought, its scope and importance, his esthetic approach to the subject and his humble outlook regarding his own work. This book, written for a popular audience, excels at informing us of just that.