2 comments about Maria Mitchell: A Life in Journals and Letters.

1. Many people know of Nantucket Island. To some, it has the reputation of a beautiful seaport with well restored buildings, cobble stoned streets, very active tourism activity, and a particularly affluent summer colony. Others know of its rich history, particularly the prosperous whaling industy that existed in the 1800's. A visitor soon finds out that there's much more. You don't have to walk far from the ferry landing to be aware of the outstanding museums, one of which has the collection of he Maria Mitchell Association.
   The Mitchell family, William, Lydia, and their ten children, lived and were active in the prosperous whaling town, but had different interests. Maria, the third child, and her father became ardently interested in astronomy. Her mostly self education, particularly in science and mathematics, will amaze you as you read the Albers book. Few people know much of this extrordinary woman.
   The book, a collection of Miss Mitchell's letters, diaries and other related materials, was edited by the fifth director of he Vassar College Observatory, Dr. Albers. Maria Mitchell was the first. She organized the astronomy department of the then new college, Vassar, in 1865.
   Biiographies , and actually much non-fiction , do not have wide appeal to many readers. This book is truly refreshing and an enlightening read. In the background is the fascinating story of the island where she grew up and he status of women in 18th century America, although one doesn't have to be a history buff or a feminist to enjoy this book.



2. One doesn't have to be an astronomer to enjoy this book about an extremely gifted,intelligent and independent woman. This book is mostly from her own diaries and wonderfully edited and annotated. In order to pursue the interest in astronomy fostered by her father, she actually taught herself mathematics, including calculus. She spent clear nights, whatever the temperature on in the small observatory of her Nantucket home. At the age of 29 she became world-famous for discovering a comet, an accomplishment that brought her awards, recognition and even a gold medal awarded from the King of Denmark.
   Her world travels are fascinating as are the many famous people she met. There's a very amusing anecdote about a trip in Europe with Nathanial Hawthorne and his family.
   She became professor of astronomy at Vasser in 1865 and carried on a constant correspondence with the president and trustees of Vassar with her peppery, terse and
   assertive letters requesting equal salary equal to male professors - a struggle still experienced by today's women.
   Her contemporaries and friends were suffragists such as Julia Ward Howe and Elizabeth Cady, writers such as Emerson and Alcott and other famous people. It was a given that she would become President of the Association for the Advancement of Women and was in great demand as a speaker.
   A woman reader will be constantly amazed to find so much in comman with this 19th century woman. However, men,too, will enjoy her achievements, intelligence and travelogues.

5 comments about Kepler's Witch: An Astronomer's Discovery of Cosmic Order Amid Religious War, Political Intrigue, and the Heresy Trial of His Mother.

1. The last biography of Kepler I read was Koestler's _The Watershed_ and while it was fascinating it did not give me the background in the theology and the history of the period that Connor's book did. The strongest point of _Kepler's Witch_ is the insight into the religious motives behind Kepler's work and the difficulty Kepler had with the Lutheran religious authorities. Connor believes it was, in part, his refusal to take sides on the increasingly polarized religious positions of the Lutherans and Roman Catholics leading up to the Thirty Years War that led to the prosecution of his mother for witchcraft.
   
   Kepler lived in difficult times. Connor evokes this setting well. Amidst political and theological intrigue, diseases that killed half his children before adulthood, open warfare that forced him to move from city to city, and perpetual financial hardship he still believed in the harmony of the cosmos and that led him to his scientific discoveries.
   
   The other reviewers are correct though that the structure of the book is sometimes annoying. Each chapter opens with a long translation of a letter by Kepler. This is good. However in the chapter that follows we get the history leading up to and including events in the letter, so Connor often quotes parts of the letter back as if it was the first time the reader has heard of the events. Likewise the chapters cover chronologically overlapping material, so Connor sometime repeats verbatim descriptions of the events recounted in an earlier chapter though the context is different. The effect is jarring -- like watching a movie and you realize you are hearing the same dialogue twice. These were not major flaws, but one wonders if an editor ought to intervened and smoothed this out.
   
   Overall, the book does work despite some minor repetitiveness. It gave me a much better understanding of the times Kepler lived in and that alone makes the book essential reading.



2. In addition to being one of history's most influential scientists, Johannes Kepler was also a man of faith, and that is mostly the focus of this religiously focused biography. When Kepler was revolutionizing astronomy and mathematics, he also had to navigate through times of great religious strife in Europe. Here James Connor focuses on the challenges faced by Kepler as a devout Lutheran in a land of Catholics, while fighting to maintain his influence and connections during the upheavals of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. An associated story here (though you might think it was the main story because of the book's title) was the trial of Kepler's mother for witchcraft, and we learn more about how trumped-up and unjust charges of diabolical arts were used during those times to get rid of uppity or unpopular women. James Connor does a good all-around job of describing the political and religious history of the times in which Kepler lived.
   
   However, there are problems with the construction of this book, as Connor's pacing and coverage are very awkward. Connor's writing style, in which he applies different levels of importance to different events, results in historical coverage that is out of chronological order and occasionally repetitive. When Connor goes into historical explanations, Kepler himself disappears from sizeable chunks of the book, while the story of his mother's witchcraft trial feels tacked on and is not successfully integrated with the larger narrative. Meanwhile, Connor writes this book from a religious point of view, which brings a fresh new light to Kepler's life story, and Connor himself has a good eye for science. However, Connor's attempts to bring out the religious influences on Kepler's scientific achievements seem forced and even reactionary. To his credit, Connor is definitely not anti-science, but in this book it seems like he couldn't stop himself from writing for anti-intellectual religious adherents, leading to an awkward mix of faith and science. This damages the effectiveness of this particular biography of Johannes Kepler, who was both a theologian and a scientist, but was more noteworthy for the latter. [~doomsdayer520~]



3. The critic who says Conner is telling two stories at once is right: this is a "life and times" biography. That is, the author finds the life of Johannes Kepler and the polarized, tumultuous, superstitious, expanding world he lived in equally fascinating. He made both subjects interesting for me, too. And unlike some readers, I think he joined them in a well-written, sometimes impish, sometimes melancholy, and always intelligent story.
   
   Conner spices the narrative pot with pungent observations and quotes: "(Kepler's mother) was a little mad, but only a little, which was far more dangerous than being (like her rival) an abortionist and prostitute." "Kepler argued that astronomy is natural to humanity, as natural as singing is to songbirds."
   "The harmonies were arranged in phalanxes of ever more complicated patterns coalescing into a great cosmic symphony, a music so profound that it harrowed the heart and set fire to the soul." Kepler: "'It hurts my heart that these three great blocs have ripped at the truth so terribly that I am left collecting it piece by piece, wherever I can find them . . . God already has rewarded our warring Germany with lamentation.'"
   
   Kepler was born a Lutheran and a "catholic" Christian, and remained faithful all his life. Yet the Lutheran church excommunicated him, and the Catholics chased his family from town to town. The 16th Century being the time for witch trials as well as science (see Stark, For the Glory of God, for helpful ideas about how the various goings on in Kepler's time related to Christianity), Kepler's mother was tried as a witch, while he set science on a course to the stars. Conner tells both stories well and I think connects them well too.
   
   It is obvious Conner likes and respects his subject. Kepler was a scientific genius, and more, a kind and sensible Christian in a world where religious professionals forgot the virtue their Lord said was the soul of the Law and the Prophets. "My conscience commands me to love an enemy and not harm him . . . I ought to be an example of moderation and mildness for my enemy . . . then at last may God send us the dear desired peace." Growing up in a rather harsh and loveless home, a settled family life collateral damage to every new fad in social perversity, he managed to love God and man, and cultivate a cheerful curiosity at the world and our mysterious fellow-travelers that dance across the night sky. As Chesterton said of another Medieval figure (Francis?), Kepler lived in a small world, but a big cosmos.



4. I learned a lot of information about Kepler, Kepler's family, the thirty-years war, and the counter-reformation. The writer's prose was very readable; however, the book lacked cohesion. The book had very little information concerning with Kepler developing his scientific theories and his search for harmony. The author jumped off on bunny trails for scores of pages without mentioning Kepler. He would write about the thirty years war and the political machinations that led up to it. He would then return to the witch trial of Kepler's mother. He would then breifly spend a little time on Kepler developing his theories and how it relates to his faith. The book seemed repetitious at times. Maybe bacause the witch trial went on for so long, but the book returns again and again to that same topic and how worried and frantic Kepler was.
   
   I had a hard time finishing it. The book was a hard read. At the end, I had a hard time placing all the pieces together. The topic was fascinating and the author did provide some interesting tidbits, but the narrative thread was hard to follow.



5. This book is about intolerance, religious intolerance and how it led inevitably to war and small town petty intolerance and how it led to smear campaigns culminating in the witch trial of Kepler's mother. It's about good old boy networks and injustice. It's also a Hollywood movie script where a person with overwhelming odds against him does great things, but not without lots of personal tragedies all around him. It's also good history as I didn't know much about the 30 yr. war or the relationship of some scientific giants like Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Newton.

5 comments about Introducing Stephen Hawking, 3rd Edition (Introducing).

1. This book is impressive in the amount and complexity of physics it delivers in an understandable manner. It starts with the physics of Galileo and Newton, moves through relativity and then ends with quantum mechanics. The goal is of course to present the advances in physics made by Stephen Hawking and a combination of cartoons and text is used.
   The authors also do not make the major mistake of avoiding equations at all costs; they use them when necessary and explain them well. Combining this with the clear exposition of the very complicated principles of physics and this book is an outstanding contribution to the popular understanding of the life of Hawking and modern physics.



2. I read this book as a science work, not as a promotional biography.

   As popular writings of modern physics go this is a rather good account of modern cosmology. The author has a physics background thus making the science fairly honest. The writing is linear with ample asides to bring the reader up to speed on important concepts. The brevity of the writing bespeaks compatification, not loss.

   The problem is that Hawking wants to win the Nobel Prize something fierce. The author is out to lend his support to a fellow Britisher by publishing this unabashed Nobel promo (the closing pages give a summation of why Hawking should win the big one). As far as the cartoony format goes the caricatures seem to be directed at those physicists and religious figures (generally dead) the author wants to relegate to supporting roles to the great one. If you can get around these prejudices you will find a good read.




3. I was a bit reluctant to like this book when I first read it because of its abundance of cartoons that appeared to be quite cheaply drawn. It also belonged to part of a larger series of 'Introducing' books and I'm always reluctant to like those because they always seem to be directed towards making a profit rather than providing good information.

   Contrary to my first impressions, the book was actually fairly good and informative. It covers a good part of Stephen Hawking's life as well as some background in fundamentals of physics so you can grasp some of his ideas. Although soem cartoons are completely gratuitous others actually provide extra clarification on the ideas expressed.

   The book gives a very broad overview over Stephen Hawking's ideas. Specifically his theories concerning black hole radiation. Some stuff was a bit hard for me to grasp (atleast to understand all the little details was near impossible) but the book illustrates the general ideas very well :)




4. Cartoons, comic book style, sumo wrestlers - all these will from now on be associated with astronomy and quantum theory, thanks to this book. If like me you are just reading for general interest this book will explain it all, but without bogging it down with detail. A good read, and now I feel confident to read Hawkings book 'A brief history of time'.



5. This is a wonderful, short book about one of the most intelligent scientists of the time. Written in a biographical sense, Hawking's life is well documented as are his accomplishments and contributions to science.

No comments about Galileo Galilei - Biography of the Father of Science (Biography).

No comments about Alfred Nobel: A Biography.

3 comments about Discoveries: Einstein: Decoding the Universe (Discoveries (Abrams)).

1. Reading this book is a bit like feasting on potato chips rather than brussel's sprouts. Certainly there are many avenues to learning about Einstein the man and his scientific theories. One could choose from the 20-odd published books and collections of writings by Einstein himself or from the many dense works written by scholars. Any of these choices would likely prove edifying but would come at the cost of a serious investment of time and thought. On the other hand, the Discoveries series offers this fast-food alternative, quick and easy-to-digest but leaving the reader with a pang of guilt over the indulgence.

   The book is 136 pages long, but this is a misleading indicator of depth, as the pages of this slim volume are perhaps 4x6 inches and 126 of them include copious pictures and/or illustrations. While this does limit the word count and the depth of coverage, it does make for a visual treat. The pictures include, as one would expect, many of Einstein throughout his lifetime but also include some fascinating snippets such as a portion of his birth certificate, a newspaper advertisement placed by Einstein offering private tutoring and a page from his manuscript demonstrating through equations the general theory of relativity.

   The text moves chronologically from his childhood through his schooling, marriage, work at the Swiss Patent office, flurry of fame-producing discoveries, pacifism, long fruitless struggle for a unifying "theory of everything" and his death at the age of 76. The coverage of the science is fairly high level and certainly understandable without any physics or higher mathematics experience. Particularly interesting is a series of Einstein letters, including several to and from his wife that reveal a playful, tender side and an exchange with Sigmund Freud regarding the problem of war.

   This is not the choice if you're looking for the definitive account of Einstein's life or an in-depth discussion of his scientific genius. However, if you're looking for an entertaining and easy overview of the man, you will find this a very good option.




2. Einstein: Decoding the Universe is a short,nice little book about Einstein that can be read in a matter of hours. I found the book quite interesting but I admit that I have never read a book on Einstein prior to this one. Thus, I cannot accurately compare this book to another on him. Main details about his life are covered without going into an intricate life story. Over 20 pages in the back were devoted to letters he had written or others had written about him. I gave the book only 4 stars because I thought there could have been a little more mathematical jargon included. But, for the price and the brevity, I recommend this book as one to take and read while at an airport or what not.



3. The Abrams Discoveries series delivers another gorgeous book, with slick paper and beautiful photos and illustrations on every page. From drawings, graphs and pictures to Einstein's own scribblings-- even a Magritte painting and newspaper comics of the day-- the publishers have pulled out all the stops, giving the reader a kaleidoscopic visual treat. All of this brings to life the concepts in a punchy and and intriguing way. However, the text itself, translated from French physics professor Francoise Balibar's original, is insubstantial and only valuable as an overview and survey of Einstein's life and thought. While the author explores the political and scientific climate with sureness and ease, and illustrates particularly well Einstein's unique contributions-- vast as they are-- to 20th Century physics, the text never goes too deep into its subject.

   I'd recommend this book to someone wanting a painless summation, introductory or otherwise, of Einstein. For someone wanting to get deep into the ramifications of relativity theory or the disharmony between it and quantum physics, I'd recommend another book-- perhaps Brian Greene's _The Elegant Universe_ or a book by Einstein himself.

2 comments about A Matter of Choices: Memoirs of a Female Physicist (Lives of Women in Science).

1. Selove's memoir is short and sweet. I especially liked the style of writing, which seems to match and convey her nonchalant but passionate outlook on life. The book is short and to-the-point. It's honest and thought-provoking.
   
   The obstacles that she faced as a physicist may not be as pertinent today, but they still do exist. The book would provide an excellent read for male and female students and faculty members at major science institutions, especially physics departmental personnel.
   
   I recommend the book to anyone who has the chance to read it!



2. Fay Ajzenberg-Selove first proves herself extraordinary in her ability to talk her way past a Nazi in her escape from Germany. The remarkable force of her personality carried her past bad physics grades and blatant sexism into a successful academic & scientific career.

   The book is well-written and enjoyable.

5 comments about The First Scientist: A Life of Roger Bacon.

1. So little is known about the real life of Friar Bacon that the author is obliged to make up many details of his life, based on speculation and inference. The stories feel like they could be credible, but one is reminded that the subtitle of this book is "A Life of Roger Bacon" not "THE Life of Roger Bacon."
   
   In order to fill out a scanty bushel of facts the author delves into Medieval politics, alchemy, early church struggles et cetera, giving the reader a fairly good grounding in the times of Roger Bacon. Nevertheless, I think it would have been very possible to delve deeper into Bacon's five known works to dissect where he anticipated Renaissance science, where he hewed to Bible-based orthodoxy, and where he went off on flights of fancy. The analysis of his works -- which ARE known -- is a bit light in the loafers.



2. I really wanted to like this book: Mr. Clegg obviously has a deep respect for his subject and is eager to share it with the reader. Unfortunately, a combination of sometimes sloppy writing skills and a dearth of information add up to a mostly mediocre biography. When I say information is scarce, I mean it: very, very little is known about the specifics of Bacon's life; the vast majority of this book is conjecture. We know Bacon went from A to B to A to C, and that's more or less it--Clegg sees fit to fill in the details again and again. This would be okay if it weren't pure guesswork most of the time. On top of this, particularly toward the end, the writing style becomes strained and stretched out like a college term-paper. It's as if the author is grabbing at straws to convince you that Bacon was indeed the first scientist. It's a shame that these problems overshadow what is otherwise a very interesting book on a very interesting subject from a very interesting time period. I hope one day we'll see a major biography of this strange, precocious man with the proper research to back it up. Until then, The First Scientist will do, if you keep in mind its flaws.
   
   Although I really do love the book design.



3. This is an excellent work for historians and science buffs.
   It describes a friar who lived in the 13th century. Roger Bacon
   predicted horseless carriages and telescopes. He is one of the
   first scientists to link science with the experimental method.
   Early in life, he studied astronomy, grammar, mathematics,
   music, logic and rhetoric. He presented a fairly detailed
   earth map. The work describes his incarceration for teachings
   contrary to the orthodoxy of the day. This work would make
   a perfect class project for students in grammar or high school.



4. The great thing about this book is it's not over-academic like practically everything else I've seen about Bacon, but rather gives a real insight into the man and his times. If you are at all interested in science, where it comes from and the people who made it happen this book should be on your have-to-buy list!



5. I found Brian Clegg's biography of Roger Bacon to be a good introduction for anyone wishing to understand the great man's life and work, and the times in which he lived. However, this book seemed to me to be too focused on Bacon as a precursor of the Scientific Revolution, and at times I would question the depth (although not necessarilly the breadth) of Clegg's understanding of ancient and medieval science. Whilst the author has obviously done a lot of research, and his admiration for his subject shines through at every page, this is not a truly scholarly life of Bacon that would be of great use to academics. But, having said this, I would still recommend this book for anyone coming at Bacon for the first time.

2 comments about Extreme Measures: The Dark Visions and Bright Ideas of Francis Galton.

1. This book is quite quirky, about an individual largely forgotten today but whose innovations in statistics, data gathering techniques, and survival tips are still used today. The book paints a convincing picture of a man who sought a reputation as a man of science but who was (as all human beings are) filled with rather dark sides that showed in his snobbery and in his mania for collecting data. The book appears a bit too sympathetic to evolution and to the moral difficulties that follow from rejecting God's standards, seeking to condemn Galton for his Nazi-esque eugenic fantasies while not understanding the Darwinian root of such problems. Nonetheless, the book is a fine one about a compelling and unusual figure who will remain obscure to most of those who take advantage of his quirky innovations.



2. An enjoyable introduction to Sir Francis Galton, the brilliant Victorian who gave us weather maps, fingerprints, and (on a less positive note) eugenics. Galton loved to measure things; wherever he was, whatever he was doing, it seems that he found something in his surroundings to measure. His curiosity and enthusiasm for life and discovery make him a sympathetic character even considering his racism, sexism, and classism; he was, after all, a product of his upper-middle-class Victorian environment.
   
   This version of his life story is a good read; choose it instead of Gillham's version unless you want to get into the actual science of what he was doing. One major fault of the Brookes book: it doesn't have an index. Gillham's book has an extensive one.
   
   What would make a Galton biography one step better: more analysis of why Galton became who he was and perhaps a deeper look into his own writings, along with the impact that Galton has on science and psychology today.
   
   For more info on Galton, go to the website [...]

No comments about Internal Fire: The Internal-Combustion Engine 1673-1900.