3 comments about The Father of Forensics: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, and the Beginnings of ModernCSI.

1. Evans' writing is very compelling and pushes you easily along the dateline of modern forensic techniques. His storytelling skills are marvelous and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I am only part way through and find myself trying to savor every page by reading only a little at a time. I don't want this book to end!



2. Colin Evans has written a number of excellent books on forensics and this one is just as much of an edge-of-your-seat page-turner as the others, if not more so. The book's focus is on a subset of the many cases in which Britain's Sir Bernard Spilsbury was involved as the much revered, indeed legendary, forensic pathologist. The main highlights of Spilsbury's life are also included. The author's writing style is as witty as it is engaging, often tongue-in-cheek. The words that he uses to describing these many cases seem to be very carefully selected and put together. But it is much more likely that this excellent style of writing simply comes naturally to this most gifted author; I cannot praise it enough. This book will be indispensable to anyone who enjoys reading well-crafted true crime stories in which forensics plays an important role. Very highly recommended!



3. I've read accounts of other forensic pathologists at the turn of the century, but this one is easiest to digest. It has a smooth reading style, lays out the crimes in sufficient detail that you can follow the 'plot' and then shows how Spilsbury and his associates helped lay the forensic groundwork for conviction. Cases include such well-known murders as "The Brides in the Bath," among others.
   
   Besides the fascination at watching the growth of forensics at the hands of the pioneers (Spilsbury doesn't get all the kudos in this book) you also catch a glimpse of the personal toll exacted by the long hours and hideous conditions.
   
   For readers keen to see a glimpse of early forensic technique and the men behind the emerging technology, I highly recommend Evan's informative book.

5 comments about Light This Candle: The Life & Times of Alan Shepard--America's First Spaceman.

1. Not much about Al Shepard that isn't already in other books
   and movies. And just plain wrong on obvious things like
   Grissom's pickup --which is on tape. How do you screw
   something like that up? Short on technical details
   and a lot of rehash on the Glen rivalry.
   
   The constant repetitive mentioning of Al's sexual business is a bit weird.
   Especially since only two real instances are mentioned in the book,
   and neither of them involved sex. The supposed suppressed T.J. scandal
   (John Glenn saves the day) is total horsecrap too, never happened.



2. Surprise of surprises. Amid the clutter of hastily-written self-serving memoirs from the early days of the space program, finally there appears something akin to solid history and literary proficiency. Neal Thompson was a Baltimore reporter when Alan Shepard died in 1998 of leukemia. Assigned to write an obituary, Thompson discovered that no first rate biography of the United State's first spaceman was then in print. Sensing an opportunity, Thompson, a free lance writer, began a six-year research project and produced a highly respectable treatment of a very private man. What had been known about Shepard were primarily his great successes and his notable shortcomings. Johnson tackles the great middle--and the puzzle that was Alan Shepard now begins to make sense.
   
   In truth, there is probably misunderstanding about all of the early astronaut heroes, as if each was assigned a role in a bigger cosmic drama. Scotty Carpenter will always be the house philosopher, Gordo Cooper the hotdog, Gus Grissom the curmudgeon. Shepard's role was to be first, the best, the winner of a grueling marathon to ride the Redstone rocket--tiny by today's standards--for fifteen minutes on May 5, 1961. Given the unpredictability of the rockets of that era, the greater risk to the astronaut was on the ground than in space. This fact was appreciated in 1961, and being chosen number one was a statement from his superiors about his fortitude as much as his mastery of flying and technology.
   
   Alan Shepard was born in 1923 in Derry, NH, to a somewhat removed, demanding father. Young Shepard inherited a fierce competitiveness and an independence that allowed him to pursue personal goals with little concern about his impression on others. This latter quality, to his advantage, is what set him apart from his archrival John Glenn, who did worry about public relations. Shepard was one of those rare men who had his cake and ate it, too: he achieved remarkable career goals while entertaining himself along the way with what can only be called oppositional defiance. In a strange twist of history, he actually pulled off the mischief that has always been attached to others like Gordon Cooper.
   
   In this regard Thompson studies Shepard's military misbehavior and his philandering. The author's account of the future astronaut's brushes with military authority is detailed and rather surprising. One comes away with a sense that the New Hampshire flyboy's skills as a naval test pilot must have been noteworthy, outweighing numerous dangerous incidents of "flat-hatting" or strafing civilians on the ground. His cheating on his virtuous and devoted wife Louise--a spouse of the Lady Bird Johnson mold--is a blotch that time will probably not erase. Thompson does observe that Shepard's amorous sorties off the reservation were adolescent in nature; the astronaut apparently never engaged in any sort of long term relationship in which Louise was displaced.
   
   Although there is in this work a lot about Shepard to dislike, the author clearly strove for a balanced presentation. Shepard appears to have made his peace with Glenn at the time of the Freedom Seven flight. After retirement he demonstrated a better than average interest in philanthropy and seems to have worked harder in his later years to enrich his marriage with Louise. Perhaps best known is his decade long battle with Meniere's Disease, and later with a form of leukemia. In some ways the Meniere's was more of a psychological jolt, coming as it did at the beginning of the Gemini, and ultimately, the Apollo Programs. Whatever his colleagues felt about him, Shepard was widely respected in the NASA management circle for outstanding cape com work in the troubled Carpenter and Cooper flights. With Glenn, his chief rival, out of the picture due to a head injury and political considerations, Shepard was the logical choice to command the maiden voyages of these new craft--and by implication become the first man to walk on the moon.
   
   But this was not to be. For nearly a decade Shepard lost his license to fly any type of aircraft due to balance impairment [and other less known medical problems brought to light by the author.] Did he take this forced grounding graciously? Admittedly not. But the author assesses this period of Shepard's career with more depth than other commentators. He notes, for example, that Shepard had burned his bridges with the Navy by joining NASA and could not return to what seemed to be a straight road to admiralty status. While the Navy was no longer an option, Shepard was proving himself to be a better than average business man and becoming independently wealthy. Freed of aviator-astronaut responsibilities, he could have lived a highly lucrative lifestyle.
   
   But he stayed with NASA, a nasty Don Quixote. Only a man in similar straits like Deke Slayton, himself medically grounded from space travel, could have understood and tolerated his subaltern's angry depression which alienated other astronauts in the program and at times rendered him a public relations nightmare. What sustained him through his bureaucratic Siberia was the desire to return to active status, but perhaps more strongly a desire to conquer his own medical problem. Shepard would admit that his selection for the first Mercury flight was the professional highlight of his career. Reinstatement to flight status for Apollo was for him a personal triumph of a different sort,
   
   Shepard was due for some luck. Experimental surgery put him on line for Apollo 13, but management bumped him to 14 to absorb training and thus he avoided the near catastrophic events of unlucky 13. Shepard seemed grateful to be back--choosing for his Apollo 14 crew Stu Roosa, who had defined the art of avoiding Shepard in company hallways. Apollo 14 survived at least three mission-threatening crises on its way to the world's most famous tee shot. What the author shares about the moon landing mission is one of its least known achievements: it brought its commander to tears.



3. I am a "space nut". I have read numerous books, seen numerous vhs and dvd stories of everything from the start of the space age to the shuttle flights. I have never had a more inspiring feeling than upon finishing "Light this candle". It started a little slow with all the early life details of Shepard but, helped later in the book with how & why he reacted to many (and I mean many) tough situations that he faced in his unbelievable life. Being a space nut, I was happy to see little details explained in the book that are lacking in other books I have read. Such things as Shepard talking about laying in the LEM following an EVA on Apollo 14. He and Mitchell were supposed to be sleeping but Shepard talked about the "eerie silence" and hearing the A/C unit click on and off. Also, feeling like they were going to tilt over and falling out of the bunk when he thought the LEM was sliding down the edge of the crater. All of these things made it a "tough to put down" book that I would HIGHLY recommend.
   I used to think of Al Shepard as an egotistical, bi-polar, spoiled fly-boy that I wanted no part in learning more about. I would have rather stuck to anyone of the other 6 Mercury astronauts. BOY WAS I WRONG! This book might have turned me to thinking that Al Shepard is the most interesting of the original 7.



4. I had been meaning to read this long-overdue biography of Alan Shepard, and I happened to pick it up in a cruise ship library. As I read it I was surprised at the number of factual inaccuracies--there is at least one glaring non-technical error per chapter, which calls into question almost everything else between the covers. Numerous reviews here mention more problems with technical aspects of the book that I was unaware of, but which do not surprise me given the apparent lack of proofreading and fact-checking.
   
   An example: upon finding the book, I leafed through it and found the section on Apollo 14. There it mentioned that John Glenn had "almost killed himself when he lost control of the pace car at the Daytona 500 and slammed into a flatbed trailer crowded with journalists." This sentence boggled my mind, for it contained two errors: the pace car was at the Indianapolis 500, and John Glenn was a passenger while a local Dodge dealership owner was the driver. The book is just full of examples of this kind of sloppy reporting.
   
   Edit: I see that at least the paperback edition correctly says Indianapolis 500, but it still incorrectly implies that Glenn was driving the pace car.



5. I missed an opportunity to go to a book-signing where Alan Shepard was signing copies of "Moon Shot". I figured I would have another chance but then before long he was gone. What a thrill it would have been to have shook the hand of the first American in space.
   
   Nostalgia aside, this book is a capsule of the life of the man. True, it is littered with inaccuracies in spots, and seems to delve far too deeply at moments on the personal life of one of the most important men in the last 50 years. But then again, how many JFK biographers have tried to delve into the hush-hush side of the man?
   
   This book will give you a clear picture of the over-achieving, success-driven, consumate test pilot who one day became an important symbol to many Americans, who were afraid their world was about to be consumed by communism. At times wistful, sometimes aggrandizing, other times pointedly candid, this biography attempt to reveal the Alan Shepard even the man himself wanted no one to see.
   
   You will be amazed at the story.

5 comments about The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity.

1. I enjoyed reading the book very much. In general, any book about numbers, and its development in human history amazes me. The story of Mr. Aczel is not an exception. The struggle of Georg Cantor is clearly elaborated in details in this book. How he goes mad to prove the cardinality of the real numbers. How many are there really? The book also makes a good job in demonstrating the early studies of Jewish mystics to explore the infinity and God. Yet one thing that looked weak to me is the connection between infinite numbers, God and Kabbalah. I wish the author used more examples to give the message that he is trying to make. I am personally very interested in Sufism (a sister trend or movement) so for me reading the book was definitely informative and inspiring to a certain degree. Yet I expect similar books from Mr. Aczel and especially a follow-up sequel to this book to make things clear.



2. Very interesting history of the development of mathematical ideas,especially the existence of irrational numbers,and the idea infinity can be approached and used but never reached.....



3. I started reading this book on the plane that took me to my new home in New Jersey. I finished it about a month later. I am a slow reader and I also was very busy getting settled into my new job. As I prepared to write my review for Amazon I looked at the many other reviews that had already been written and I found that they were quite mixed. Some raved about it and some hated it. There were many good points on both sides.
   I hope my review adds something new for potential readers to think about.
   
   I am a mathematician by training. I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics and also a masters degree. In my university education I learned about algebra and analysis and did have some acquaintance with the results of Cantor on transfinite numbers. I also knew some things about the axiom of choice, the continuum hypothesis and the Hahn-Banach theorem. I got this education in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In the mid 1970s I went on to Stanford where I studied Operations Research and Statistics eventually leading me to a career as a statistician. I had not given much thought to these mathematical ideas in a long time.
   
   While at Stanford, I did hear about Paul Cohen who was then considered to be a star in the Mathematics Department because of his great discoveries in set theory and logic at an early age.
   
   This book provided me with an interesting reminder of my past education and cleared up a few ideas in logic that had been puzzling to me.
   
   At first I thought I was going to hear about the life story of Georg Cantor, the father of transfinite numbers. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the book develops ideas about infinity and infinite numbers going back to the time of the Greeks and the discovery of irrational numbers by the Pythagorean school.
   
   Aczel also discusses the lives of Galileo and Bolzano and their contributions to mathematics. I was aware of the one-to-one correspondence between the integers and the square of the integers. The fact that the discovery goes back to Galileo was news to me. While I knew of Galileo for his invention of useful telescopes and his contributions to astronomy, I had no idea that he had made such a fundamental contribution to mathematics.
   
   As with some of the other reviewers, I find the discussion of the Kabbalah somewhat weak and perhaps misplaced. I also think there is a mathematical error in this chapter. Aczel states that there are 10 permutations of the arrangement of the Hebrew name for God, YHVH, and he places importance on the number 10. He enumerates the permutations to be YHVH, YVHH, VYHH, VHYH, HVYH, HYVH, HVHY, HYHV, HHYV AND HHVY. This puzzled me. As I thought about my combinatorial mathematics I thought the correct answer should be 12. I tried a complete enumeration myself and found 12. It seems that Aczel missed YHHV and VHHY.
   
   Aside from this, the discussion of mathematics is generally good. It is not detailed and is written in a popular style to be readible to a general audience. The heart of the book is the life of Georg Cantor. Cantor aided by the work of Galileo and Bolzano and his teacher Karl Weierstrass made the breakthroughs that led to the development of transfinite numbers and modern set theory. He worked mostly in isolation at Halle University and was frustrated by never being granted an appointment at University in Berlin where most of the famous mathematicians of the time resided. His conflict with Kronecker is discussed and the support he got from Mittag-Leffler is also covered.
   
   Aczel provides background to varying degrees on all the mathematicians that he discusses and we feel that we understand their personalities and the underlying reasons for the positions that they took. Cantor's bouts with insanity are also described. Although it could be simply that he was suffering from manic depression (a disorder that was not understood at the time), Aczel attributes Cantor's insanity to the frustration of his efforts to cope with infinity. Certainly there must have been frustration over his inability to prove the continuum hypothesis (later determined to be unprovable) and the lack of universal acceptance of his ideas in the mathematical community.
   
   However, I agree with some of the other reviewers who think that Aczel's thesis, that doing mathematical research on infinity might induce insanity, is a bit farfetched. In covering the life of Kurt Godel, a important successor to Cantor, Aczel points to Godel's bouts with insanity to try to reinforce this thesis. Godel did not have the same issues in his life history that Cantor had. Still, other mathematicians that worked in this area including Russell and Cohen never had similar bouts.
   
   Coverage of the work of Godel and Cohen brings the reader up to the current state of knowledge about transfinite numbers and set theory. For the mathematically inclined there is an appendix at the end that provides statements of Zermelo's axioms that are the basis of modern set theory. It is within this system that the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis are both consistent and independent and therefore can neither be proven to be true or false.
   
   If you like reading about the history of mathematics and the personalities of important mathematicians you will enjoy this book inspite of a few flaws.



4. First, the good news. Aczel's book -- part biography, part history of infinity, part primer of some of the more challenging concepts in mathematics -- is engaging and well written. Much better written, in fact, than many similar books on the history of or on topics in mathematics that I've read. He has a lively style that keeps you turning the pages, and he is generally very good at simplifying complex axioms and proofs for the layperson. The short précis of the concepts of infinity among the ancient Greeks and Jews is pretty captivating subject matter, too. And the short biographies of the key mathematicians chasing the infinite are all sound and worthwhile.
   
   Now, the bad news. Considering that the subtitle of the book invokes the Kabbalah, Aczel gives it rather short shrift. He endeavors to summarize the subject, particularly in relation to things infinite, but does so too carelessly. I wanted more elaboration on that. Then he attempts to bring the Kabbalah back from time to time, as with Cantor's debatably Jewish heritage and with the diaspora of the Jews during World War II, but these connections are only hinted at. They feel superficial and without the persuasive weight to justify their inclusion. Also, I feel Aczel is a bit too baldly assertive in blaming Cantor and Gödel's mental problems on their struggles with the Continuum Hypothesis. Might it not have been the other way around, latent mental instability leading these two men to that particular compulsive struggle? I understand that pointing a finger at Infinity and shouting "j'accuse!" makes for more dramatic nonfiction, but it comes at a cost in accracy, doesn't it?
   
   Still, despite these complaints, I can marginally recommend the book as an interesting read on the history of the notion of infinity. Or at least parts of that history.



5. Aczel offers an interesting book on Georg Cantor, the "father" of set theory (a branch of mathematics). The book covers a number of interesting topics, including a unique overview of infinity, a description of the inception of a new branch of mathematics and a mini-biography of Georg Cantor.
   
   I recommend this book to readers interested in mathematics and mathematicians.

5 comments about Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman.

1. Michelle Feynman has provided an important service in collecting the letters of her father in "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations." I was especially interested in the letters concerning his award of the Nobel prize. Despite receiving the most prestigious award in science, Feynman refused to take himself (or anything else) too seriously. My favorite exchange (pp. 163-164) begins with a letter from Sandra Chester who writes "Hail the Nobel Prize Committee for its recognition of your unsurpassed achievement in the field of bongo artistry." True to form, Feynman responded "I was delighted too when I heard about the Nobel Prize, thinking as you did that my bongo playing was at last recognized. Imagine my chagrin when I realized that there had been some mistake-they cited some marks I made on paper some 15 years ago-and not one word about percussion technique. I know you share in my disappointment." His fans even extended to students who had failed his courses: one named his female Siamese cat "Richard P." in his honor, to which Feynman responded "Some measure fame by just a Nobel Prize but I have had a cat named after me! Thank you for such a distinguished and subtle honor." (He even agreed to become "a knight of the Order of the ever Smiling and Jumping Frogs" to celebrate his status as a Nobel Laureate.)
   
   A character trait I greatly admire about Feynman is his utter intolerance of pomposity and his demand of clarity in communication (perhaps best explained in a discussion of "new math" textbooks in Appendix V), as well as a general disdain for self-importance. My favorite example appears on p. 323. Mr R. Wayne Oler had written Feynman a letter deriding the practice of teachers selling unsolicited desk copies of textbooks sent to them for personal profit. I cannot imagine a better reply than the last line from Feynman's response: "Previously I have always returned, unopened, unsolicited books from publishers (I dislike advertising). But now you have given me a better idea."
   
   The book also contains numerous letters between Feynman and the greats of twentieth century physics, as well as more personal glimpses into his character afforded by letters to his wives (particularly his first wife, Arline, who died of tuberculosis at a young age). The book also allows the reader to see changing of opinions or changed nuance of certain positions over time (I was especially interested in his appraisals of "new math" textbooks, which I generally loathe [in most cases Feynman agreed], the discussion of which is largely on pp. 218-220 and in Appendix V.)
   
   Michelle Feynman has done a wonderful job organizing these letters, making just the right comments when needed for interpretation or comprehension. I highly recommend "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations" and thank Michelle Feynman for all the effort that went into producing this important volume.



2. If you are familiar with feynman this is just what you would expect from this great man. This is him uncut and uncensord. When ever i feel like smiling and gain some inspiration i pick this book up and flip to a random page, it works everytime.



3. My main motivation for reading "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations" was to gain further insight into Feynman's personality and value system by the direct and reliable method of studying verbatim his interactions with other people. He has been so thoroughly enshrined (perhaps not unwillingly) as a brilliant, difficult, puckish character that I couldn't help being a bit puzzled about what he was "really" like.
   
   In assembling this volume, Feynman's daughter Michelle has selected a variety of correspondence ranging from professional relations with colleagues to private exchanges with friends and, occasionally, complete strangers. I think it is in the latter case that we learn the most about Feynman. He was willing to pay close attention not only to people who admired him, but also to those who offered crazy ideas, or unfair criticism, or even ad-hominem invective. Well after becoming a Nobel prize winner, he continued to compose detailed explanations for, and invite replies from, people who could try anyone's patience. As an experienced debater-by-correspondence, he had a talent for cutting to the quick of a dispute and, while remaining perfectly courteous, nudging the contender into a corner from which escape was impossible short of offering something new or conceding the point. Whether arguing scientifically, graciously acknowledging praise, or simply trying to shake off a persistent bore, Feynman never failed to be insightful and thought-provoking.
   
   The early part of the book covers Feynman's relationship with his first wife Arline, who died of tuberculosis in an Albuquerque sanatorium while he worked on the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos. His decision to marry Arline, regardless of her uncertain health and against the advice of friends and relatives, speaks to the strength and depth of his commitment. Many extremely personal letters are included which illuminate the couple's mutual devotion as well as his loving acceptance of the frustration and uncertainty forced on both of them by the relentlessly worsening disease.
   
   Feynman's attitude toward religion is revealed in several places, particularly during a 1959 television interview. In addition to critiquing the widespread notion that morality is tied to piety, he says quite succinctly that "The religious theory of the world ...doesn't fit with what you see."
   
   In a number of letters Feynman explains the prickly positions on academic conventions and courtesies that helped to make him a legendary outsider. A representative example was his refusal to provide evaluations of former students and colleagues when they were already at the requesting institution. He essentially said: Look here, this person is working right under your nose and you know more about him or her than I do, so decide for yourself!
   
   There are a few instances where an alert editor could have caught misreadings, for example "Serbeis" for the [Robert] Serbers on page 76, and "1023" for ten to the 23rd power on page 174. All in all, this collection constitutes a fascinating and skillfully-produced window into one of the world's most intriguing minds.



4. If there was one intellect that dominated the latter half of the 20th century, it would be Dr. Richard Feynman. Yet, despite winning a Nobel prize and his early work on the Manhattan project and his years of original yet simple and creative approaches to complex problems, his humility and true affection for other people never waivered. He was one of those rare people who could touch our hearts as effectively, possibly even more, than he could touch our minds. He was one who gave new meaning to the idea of thinking outside the box and who never passed up a chance to remind us all of what is really important in life.
   
   Some of his letters will make you cry with the emotion he could express to those he loved. Others will strike you for their humility displayed in teaching without condescending or apologies to those he feared he had offended. A truly great man with a great intellect and great ability to communicate his thoughts. This is the human side of one who had been named "the world's smartest man" by Omni magazine. And we are all fortunate to know him through this collection.



5. Having read "Surely you're joking, Mr Feynmann", I had wondered about his relationship with his first wife, because she was hardly mentioned.
   
   This book sets that right, with some fascinating and personal letters. In particular, the letter he wrote a year after her death hit me very hard, and I don't consider myself sentimental.
   
   And that's just the first part of the book...if you like Feynmann, this is a must have.

4 comments about Charles Darwin: The Man and his Influence (Cambridge Science Biographies).

1. Charles Darwin obviously played a major role in the development of modern scientific thought and has become a multi-faceted mythical figure in terms of modern culture, competing with Christopher Columbus in the minds of many for the title of Dead White European Male who most contributed to the decline of Western Civilization in general and the American continent in particular. In "Charles Darwin: The Man and His Influence," Peter J. Bowler, who has written several books on the history of evolutionary theory including "Theories of Human Evolution" and "The Victorians and the Past," makes it clear that Darwin was not the first person to publish evolutionary ideas (not even in his own family) and emphasizes that his theory of natural selection was not generally accepted by his contemporaries. The publication of "The Origin of Species" not only stirred controversy and debate among both the scientific community and the general public, but it also reinforced the Victorian concept of progress. When Darwin died in 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey as a national hero of scientific discovery Victorian culture had undergone a major transformation.

   Bowler's look at Darwin's life and influence tries to explain how his contemporaries were unable to appreciate those aspects of this theories that are the ones we consider most important today. Ultimately, Darwin is seen as not only a product of his time but a person who transcended it by creating an idea that is still being explored by 21st-century scientists and intellectuals with beliefs and values very different from his own. Bowler shows us not only how Darwin reacted to contemporary ideas, at a time when science and the humanities were not seen as "two cultures," as well as how his ideas were received and adapated. Consequently, in addition to being a biography of a great man of science, it is also an examation of cultural history, which is perhaps the more important part of the effort. I had no problem following the scientific aspects and I never even took biology in high school, so I would think pretty much anybody can understand the arguments as well.

   The contents of "Charles Darwin: The Man and his Influence" is as follows: (1) The Problem of Interpretation, which looks at both the man and the myths that has arisen about him as well as the new perspectives on the rise of evolutionism; (2) Evolution before the "Origin of Species" looks at both radical evolutionism and the opponents of transmutation that defined the scientific debate at that time; (3) The Young Darwin covers his family and university life; (4) The Voyage of the "Beagle" details his famous trip to South America and across teh Pacific; (5) The Crucial Years: London, 1837-1842 is when Darwin developed his theory of natural selection; (6) The Years of Development at Down House is when Darwin was able to develop his theory in relative security; (7) Going Public presents the argument of the "Origin of Species"; (8) The Emergence of Darwinism deals less with Darwin than those that picked up his cause such as Alfred Russel Wallace and Thomas Henry Huxley; (9) The Opponents of Darwinism covers the response of those who espoused theistic evolutionism and the rise of Lamarckism; (10) Human Origins is about the "Descent of Man" and the idea of social evolutionism; and (11) Darwin and the Modern World looks at the death of Darwin and the rebirth of Darwinism after that point. The book is illustrated with photograph, cartoons and caricatures, and diagrams from Darwin's notebooks.

   The Cambridge Science Biographies are written by prominent international authorities in the history of science and are intended to be readily accessible to the general reader and student. While society depends upon science what scientists actually do remains a mystery to many people. Despite science usually being presetned dispassionately and impersonally, editor David Knight points out that "science is a human activity, and the personalities of those who practice it are integral to its process." Other volumes in this series are devoted to Galileo, Isaac Newton, Humphry Davy, Henry More, Antoine Lavoisier, and Andre-Marie Ampere. These scientists were chosen for their eminence and these biographies are intended to both illuminate the scientific process and to place the scientists in the social and intellectual context of their age.




2. In his biography of Charles Darwin, Peter Bowler dispels many of the misconceptions surrounding Darwin's immediate influence on the scientific world. Bowler argues that Darwin's theory did not spark a scientific revolution which caused a majority of scientists to abandon their former views on natural history. Bowler explains that Darwin was not the first naturalist to advance a theory of evolution. Most importantly, Bowler reveals that Darwin's theory was not accepted blindly by the scientific community. In fact, many of Darwin's most faithful supporters found scientific weaknesses in his theory. As Bowler states, "Darwin's greatest achievement was to force the majority of his contemporaries to reconsider their attitudes towards the basic idea of evolution" (p. 128).
   
   Bowler's book was the first biography I have read of Darwin, and I found it very enjoyable. It is one of the college books that I have kept. I definitely recommend it to any reader interested in Darwin's work and influence.



3. Peter Bowler presents a synopsis of Charles Darwin's contributions to science, history, and culture. This book tries to provide a quick summary of the important periods in Darwin's life, touching briefly on each significant aspect.

   Much of the book is written in a somewhat technical way and is a bit too wordy. I had a difficult time maintaining my interest while I was reading some of the chapters. Certain areas deserved more coverage, like the reaction when Darwin went public with his theories.

   On the positive side, this book does give some good insight on Darwin's relationships with the other prominent scientists of his time and there are some moments where the slowness of the book becomes more interesting, like the section that covers Darwin's voyage of discovery aboard the Beagle. Overall, however, Bowler does not really present anything new or profound that we haven't heard before.




4. While you may not come away from this book feeling you would've called him Charlie, you will have derived a more than nodding acquaintance with an exceptional person. In the beginning -of the book- there seems to be an overemphasis on theological & philosophical issues but that is a clever construction that skillfully leads you to a profound grasp of Darwin's iconoclastic interpretations of mundane phenomena from which his theories grew. In the end, you regret even more never having met the man.

No comments about Einstein for the 21st Century: His Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture.

5 comments about Adventures of a Mathematician.

1. this is one of the few books i've read twice. i'm fascinated by brilliant minds like ulam, oppenheimer, feynman, and von neumann. it's one of the best science biographies/autobiographies and is very easy to read. lots of time is spent on the atomic and hydrogen bomb projects and the great minds/peculiar personalities involved. it's been 15 years since i read it, but now that i've found it again, i'll reacquaint myself with these great and interesting minds. it's not a math book by any means, but a book about brilliant men that do math. they definitely listen to a different drummer.



2. Before I start, let me say that, for me at least, this is one of the most fascinating and entertaining books I've ever read. But I'm a special case, as you'll see...

   Stan Ulam was head of the math department at U. of Colo., Boulder, where I was a doctoral candidate circa 1970. I hardly knew him to speak to, but heard about his participation in the Manhattan Project, and that many of those connected with it considered him to be the "father of the H-bomb" rather than Edward Teller. Having already been put off by the dryness and lack of application of a great deal of the math I'd studied, I was intrigued on hearing that a pure mathematician could have played such a central part in that effort. That, and the book's title, convinced me to buy it, even though I was an impoverished grad student.

   There are many reasons why I love this story, but I think foremost is the picture of a gregarious, open, and sometimes mischievous man who was also bright enough to hold his own with the leading scientific minds of the 20th century. The sketches of the many famous people he worked with are priceless -- for example, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, George Gamov. And especially John von Neumann, possibly the most brilliant mathematician of that time, certainly the most diverse and prolific (he practically invented the computer industry that I now work in). Having tried to read his work on game theory, it's especially comforting to me to hear Ulam refer to him as "Johnny".

   My struggles with some of the math mentioned in the book give it special meaning to me, but this is not a technical book at all, and I hope that aspect won't be off-putting to non-mathematicians. Ulam was simply trying to give an honest picture, through the lens of his own experiences and friendships, of how people become mathematicians, of how essential group efforts are to progress in science and math, and of the staggering accomplishments that can result when people push the limits of thought. This book is about history and humankind, by one of the brightest and most thoughtful individuals who ever lived.




3. Monte Carlo simulation was discovered by Stanislaus Ulam and today is used by millions in all walks of life. It is the basis for planning and decision making in for corporations and in all issues of public and private life.

   Ulam says "The idea...occurred to me when I was playing solitaire during my illness. I noticed that it may be much more practical to get an idea of the probability of the successful outcome of a solitary game...by laying down the cards, or experimenting with the process merely noticing what proportion comes out successfully..."

   The advent of computers removed the need for "hiring several hundred Chinese from Taiwan" and made the progress of rational thought ubiquitous.

   It is the most striking example of the triumph of mathematics in real life.

   Andrew Vazsonyi, Real-life mathematician




4. For its greatest part, the book is about Ulam's encounter with other scientists. It's thus a must-have for all historian of science, with great details about the three important Ulam's acquaintances: Banach, Von Neumann and Fermi. However, it's not what is making this book an invaluable document.

   Ulam was a pure mathematician, like Banach or ErdÆs, not like Dirac or Einstein. Yet he had the ability to escape from formal abstract considerations to think about how other sciences could show him a path to new mathematical considerations. In this regard, the Monte Carlo method and all his proposals to non-linear systems and usage of computers for exploring them may be are his greatest achievements (his H-bomb papers are classified, and I like to think Monte Carlo is still more useful).

   For that matter, this book is of the greatest interest for he who wish to deepen his understanding of links between mathematics and physics, that are usually discussed by physicists often having very poor idea of what mathematics really are about. The chapter "random reflections" is a jewel which by itself makes worth buying the book, explaining for instance how practical problems can lead to new mathematical concepts, how mathematic theories link altogether, or advocating the use of computers to help mathematicians view new spaces of new objects. Many aside jokes or peculiar reflections--like how mathematics change according to what language one is exploring them with (English, Russian, French, German...)--make the book very entertaining, seldom boring. This "mathematician's mathematician"'s overview of this century's science (he also had some contributions to biology) is thus highly recommended.

   (caution to purists: the book has been edited by Ulam's wife from recorded tapes, he didn't write it.)




5. The very first time I heared from Stanislaw Ulam was reading a book by Otto Robert Frisch (What little I remember). In this book he said that a polish mathematician called Ulam was doing mathematics for the Hydrogen Bomb but his maths were deviating so much from abstract that he even used numbers with decimals in his formulas. This funny comment opened my curiosity to know more about this guy doing maths. Well, years later I bought this book and surprisingly he mentioned the comment by O.R Frisch. What a coincidence! I liked the book. He details his life and other genius lives: John von Neuman, Paul Erdos, Fermi, etc. No necessity to know maths. No formula within the book. Easy to read. Stan Ulam was co-father of the Hydrogen Bomb but everybody knows Edward Teller but not him. He makes especial emphasis in Alamos times (Ulamos times). Enjoyable book.

5 comments about 747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation.

1. Joe Sutter rose to lead the 747 program through hard work, preparation, and a little bit of luck. As an aspiring Boeing worker, I hope to do the same one day. All of the lessons learned from decades ago are still relevant today. Joe tells his story from all angles: professionally and personally. This is a highly engaging book, and if you are interested in the aerospace industry it is highly recommended.



2. 747 is simply a must for anyone in the aerospace design industry, or for people who are just interested in how the 747 was built. Joe Sutter, the airplane's director of engineering and the one most responsible for its actual design, has written a trim, quick, and enjoyable to read history of the 747 program encased in a semi-autobiography.
   
   After a few chapters exploring the author's early life, including his college time and Navy life, the book spends its bulk on a 50,000 foot overview of what was going on with the 747 development program from its inception until its most recent incarnation to fly in the form of the 747-400 family of derivatives. The final chapters sweep the remainder of the author's professional career including his service on the Challenger Disaster commission. Joe (and after reading the book you definitely get the feeling he would prefer to be called that then Mr. Sutter) has certainly led a very interesting life, and has had the privilege of experiencing a truly gilded age of aviation from the peaks of its ambitions and the lows of its difficulties and uncertainty. But the star of the book is truly the magnificent 747 aircraft and even his more autobiographical chapters tie into the aircraft and its design.
   
   Much of the author's life exerted an inexorable influence on the design philosophy he brought to the plane. As an early child he grew up in Seattle and watched, literally from his neighborhood, as Boeing would roll out new aircraft through the twenties and thirties and try to push aviaiton forward and make the world a smaller place. Caught up in the majesty of flight Joe wanted very badly to design airplanes, but as WWII dawned when he was in college that would have to wait for more important world events to be sorted out. Joining the Navy he became a deck officer on a destroyer escort in the Atlantic, where he had a formative experience. Returning to Boston Harbor his ship started to become glazed with rapidly growing layers of thick ice in the midst of a storm, making the ship dangerously top heavy. With no anti-icing system and no ability to get people out on deck to hack off the ice the crew had to just ride out the storm praying they wouldn't die. From this moment on the author decided safety would be a primary criteria of anything he designed.
   
   The legacy of the 747 is one of carrying on Boeing's legacy of leading the pack in aviation with an unparalleled record of safety, thanks to smart design and brute force quadruple redundancy. (Brute force is by no means meant perjoratively here!) The 747 came about during an amazing time in aviation history. It was the first wide body airliner (against the initial full double decker narrow body wishes of its launch customer), the first turbofan (or fanjet as they are sometimes called) powered airliner, and it was designed by a slimmed down workforce in the shadow of the ill fated 2707 SST, while the 727 and 737 were also absorbing significant company resources, and while Lockheed's L-1011 and Douglas' DC-10 provided competition. The story of how this giant came about and triumphed in spite of the decidely low expectations Boeing clearly had for it at the begining is a truly fascinating one, filled with such aviation luminaries as Juan Trippe, Bill Allen and Charles Lindbergh. Joe's life on the program is also filled with equally amazing events including state department sponsored dinners with the Soviets in Paris at the height of the Cold War (in the spirit of "Detente"), and trips all over the world ranging from the expected places like Japan and New York, to Baghdad.
   
   In addition to being a great story well told, there are real gems here for aviation program managers and aircraft designers about how to make a successful airplane. Absolutely worth reading, and would be something I would like to see as a textbook for aeronautical engineers, perhaps in an aerospace history course, to give them some real world perspective that is so often lacking in modern engineering degrees.
   
   An outstanding book, highly recommended!



3. Joe Sutter helped accomplish what was probably the most challenging engineering feat in history prior to 1970 by designing the largest jet aircraft in the world. His book touches briefly on the life journey leading up to his employment at Boeing and taking on some major assignments there, including running the 747 program. Joe's book shows he was an engineer first, and a manager second. While downplaying his own ability to understand company politics and business dealings, you see that Joe really felt a strong sense of importance about each and every engineering assignment he had at Boeing. From the 707 to the 727 to the 747, Joe talks about each Jet as if they were his.
   
   He shows how Boeing bet the whole farm on 747, and how that is typical of Boeing and a key factor to understanding the character of the Boeing Company. He discusses how he played a pivotal role both in the design and risk management process of 747. He shares some of the backroom strategy meetings where he convinced Boeing's top leadership to build a single deck airplane versus the customer proposed double-decker, and offers insights as to why a double-decker is so much more expensive to build than a single deck aircraft. Insisting on a single deck configuration for 747, according to Joe was probably the most valuable contribution he made at Boeing, though he risked loosing his job and Boeing almost lost the support of their biggest Customer, Pan-Am by going with his approach.
   
   Joe shared some other specific job experiences that helped groom him to run the 747 program, the lessons he learned, and the lessons he wish he had learned.
   
   Joe wanted this book to inspire the younger generation of engineers, and he definitely does. Joe is a story teller at heart and his book is easy reading like some of the emails you might get from an 85 year old war veteran with inspiring and straight talk. I couldn't put it down till it was done and recommend all my engineer buddy's to pick up a copy.



4. History was made in Everett, WA 40 years ago when the "Queen of the Skies" was developed and built. It was Boeing's Jumbo Jet, a double-deck airplane. Everyone has interviewed Joe Sutter, the "father of the 747",Chief Engineer on the project, and now he's written his own account.
   It's his personal story as well as the making of history in aviation. Juan Trippe of Pan Am was a driver behind the development of this airplane.
   The book gives one insight to the struggles of developing a new airplane.
   You can take guided tours of the assembly plant in Everett, where they assemble the twin-aisle airplanes, including 747 and 787.



5. As a project manager/engineer and aviation enthusiast, I knew I had to read this book. It did not disappoint. Joe Sutter seemed at first like a typical engineer thrust (no pun intended) into a dream job--designing and building a new aircraft that most couldn't even imagine. By the end of this book, however, he'd discussed not only the technical challenges he faced, but the political roadblocks he encountered along the way. The story is compelling and interesting and taught me a few lessons on dealing with angry higher-ups and demanding customers.
   
   I especially liked how Joe weaved in a few details about his personal life and his background, without detracting from the story of designing the 747.
   
   This was a fascinating read and one that I may have to revisit. Thank you, Mr. Sutter, for sharing this story with the newest generation of engineers.

No comments about The Man Who Saved Sea Turtles: Archie Carr and the Origins of Conservation Biology.

5 comments about Hilbert.

1. Constance Reid is a non-mathematician author, so she is the best person who can explain the 'abstract' modern math to the curious non-mathematicians. By following the book on the Greatest mathematician in 20th AD, the readers can understand the major development of Modern Math evolved around Hilbert and all the world's top mathematicians gathered in Gottingen before WWII.
   Most of us learn abstract math without knowing the background from which these abstract concepts were derived. In this book (chapter VI: Changes) I learn from Reid the simple yet revealing explanation of 'Ideals' being born out of conflict of 'Algebraic Number Field' with the 'Fundamental Law of Arithmetics', and Kummer's Ideal Number, Kronecker and Dedekind's complicated 'Ideal Primes', and finaly David Hilbert's great contribution in the 'Ideal Primes' theory.



2. A excellent biography of the German mathematician David Hilbert. Particularly poignant is the loss of Minknowski and the decline of mathematics at Gottingen following the Nazi prosecutions.



3. David Hilbert was arguably one of the greatest mathematicians
   ever!. He contributed to several branches of mathematics,
   including functional analysis, mathematical physics,
   calculus of variations, and algebraic number theory.
   (Everyone knows what a Hilbert space is right!)

   At the turn of the 20th century, Hilbert enumerated
   23 unsolved problems of mathematics that he considered worthy
   of further investigation. To this day, very few of these, including
   the 10th problem, on the finite solvability of Diophantine
   equations, have been resolved! (thanks to
   Yuri Matiyasevich, Martin Davis and Julia Robinson!).
   Besides, Hilbert was also a character (read the section
   when Norbert Weiner of cybernetics fame, came to give
   a talk at Gottingen, and .... :-)).

   Incidentally the author Constance Reid is the sister of
   Julia Robinson (of Hilbert's 10th problem fame!),
   hence there can no one better to write about
   Hilbert!. Besides Constance Reid is a well known chronicler
   of mathematicians lives (this one is a tour de force and
   her best!).

   No one can can call himself/herself a mathematician without
   having Reid's book on his/her bookshelf. Strongly
   recommended!




4. David Hilbert was arguably one of the greatest mathematicians
   ever!. He contributed to several branches of mathematics,
   including functional analysis, mathematical physics,
   calculus of variations, and algebraic number theory.
   (Everyone knows what a Hilbert space is right!)

   At the turn of the 20th century, Hilbert enumerated
   23 unsolved problems of mathematics that he considered worthy
   of further investigation. To this day, very few of these, including
   the 10th problem, on the finite solvability of Diophantine
   equations, have been resolved! (thanks to
   Yuri Matiyasevich, Martin Davis and Julia Robinson!).
   Besides, Hilbert was also a character (read the section
   when Norbert Weiner of cybernetics fame, came to give
   a talk at Gottingen, and .... :-)).

   Incidentally the author Constance Reid is the sister of
   Julia Robinson (of Hilbert's 10th problem fame!),
   hence there can no one better to write about
   Hilbert!. Besides Constance Reid is a well known chronicler
   of mathematicians lives (this one is a tour de force and
   her best!).

   No one can can call himself/herself a mathematician without
   having Reid's book on his/her bookshelf. Strongly
   recommended!




5. "Hilbert" is justly famous as one of the best mathematical biographies around. Constance Reid, who also wrote a biography of Hilbert's student Courant, initially ran into some resistance from Hilbert's associates when she started work on this book. Max Born was not keen on the idea of a woman, who was neither German nor a mathematician, writing a study of Hilbert's life. Born was enthusiastic about the final product, however, and it has become a classic.

   Hilbert took over from Poincare the title of the most famous mathematician in the world. His mathematical achievements are numerous and varied; Reid does a good job of providing an overview of the impact Hilbert had on many different fields, and of his style; his strengths and weaknesses. There is a good deal of coverage of the famous twenty-three Hilbert problems, presented to the Second International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900, including a large section of the talk Hilbert gave.

   Reid paints a vivid picture of the mathematical circle at Gottingen, a luminous collection of talents. Minkowski and Hilbert were close friends; Klein was the director of the institute there; Emmy Noether was there; Hurwitz; Zermelo; Landau; the list is long and impressive. It's all the more sad to read about the way the Institute was destroyed by the Nazis in the name of racial purity. Almost without exception the leading mathematicians emigrated, one by one, to America. Hilbert, who had retired in 1930 (retirement at age 68 was mandatory) was forced to watch as the work of decades was dismantled. The last years, of age, fading memory and the privations of war, are mercifully given less than a dozen pages.

   Hilbert's life leads from the great days of the mid-nineteenth century to the Nazis and the atomic bomb. Reid has done a wonderful job of capturing the feel of Germany over his long life, and the mathematic impact and importance of his work. A compulsory book for those interested in modern mathematical history.