5 comments about Lindbergh.

1. ~Lindbergh~ is an astute an well-written biography by acclaimed writer A. Scott Berg. Berg captures the life of this most fascinating character. What unfolds is an amazing tale of the aviator turned adventurer turned statesmen turned war hero.
   
   Aviator Charles Lindbergh, gained acclaim for the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight across Long Island, New York to Paris, France in 1927 in the famed "Spirit of St. Louis." Not long after, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. At the time, Lindbergh was seen as a man of seemingly impeccable character. He became an American hero overnight.
   
   A. Scott Berg casts light on Charles' complex marriage to Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the daughter of the famed J.P. Morgan investment banker. His marriage had its ups and downs due to his indiscretions, and it was not a fairy-tale marriage by any stretch of the imagination. Though, public perception certainly believed the marriage as a storybook romance in 1927. Berg also illustrates how tragedy hit the Lindbergh family and the whole nation in 1932 with sensitivity.
   
   Lindbergh, being an acclaimed aviator, was invited to Germany in the 1930s, where he subsequently received a medal. It was an opportunity that intrigued him, for the Germans were renowned for their innovation in aeronautics. With the approval of Nazi chieftains Hermann Goering and Ernst Udet, Lindbergh was permitted to inspect and tour German Luftwaffe facilities, and view some of their latest innovations such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Junkers Ju 88. He became enamored of German aviation technology not coincidentally thereafter. He believed that German aviation was superior to that of the Americans and British. Why? Probably, because it was. His trip to Germany, however, soon soiled his reputation, particularly after 1939, despite the fact that Lindbergh returned the commendation awarded by the German government. When misguided historians like Max Wallace present Lindbergh as a Nazi sycophant, he conveniently forgets, either out of ignorance or obfuscation, that Lindbergh came to Germany at the urgent request of the U.S. military attaché at the American embassy in Berlin. The military attaché was charged with learning everything possible about Germany's new warplanes. In other words, Lindbergh was covertly providing U.S. intelligence, and playing off of his reputation as an aviator of international fame to gain a warm reception by the Germans. He might not have brought back stolen 1:6 scale airplane models from the hangar offices and secret James Bond snapshot pictures, but he was doing his country a service nonetheless.
   
   His political odyssey took some strange turns, and it put him at the helm of the American First Committee which pressed the case for keeping the United States neutral and out of World War II with Germany. While his patriotism and motives have been brought into question, Berg gives us a few reasons not to question Lindbergh's sincerity. When the war began, Lindbergh was quick to uphold his honor, and be a part of the Army Air Corps unofficially. Unfortunately, being the bitter partisan, President FDR, stripped him of his opportunity to fly in dress ranks, and he flew unofficially as a contractor. But Lindbergh earned much success dogfighting against Japanese over the Pacific. He was denied his deserved commendations because of politics.
   
   This book is a marvelous journey into the life of aviator Charles Lindbergh. Berg sculptures a sensitive and astutely written account of the life of this acclaimed American. If read, in tandem with Lindbergh's on autobiographical journal "The Spirit of St. Louis," one can certainly get a fascinating picture of his life. The superb prose is matched by the fascinating insights of the author who had direct access to the Lindbergh family's personal archives.



2. This book is extremely readable, which is why everyone gives it 5 stars. But it fails to mention the fact that Lindbergh fathered at least 3 illegitimate children in Germany in the late 50's-60's. In 2003, 3 German siblings took a DNA test vs. one of Lindbergh's legitimate grandchildren and paternity was proved. Lindbergh kept their mother as a '2d family,' and he possibly fathered others. This book was extremely well-researched, so I can't see how Scott Berg can continue to sell this book without an update that talks about this.



3. If you want the most complete look at the life of Charles Lindbergh,then read this book.There are many glowing reviews on [...],about this book.Yet,the section about the famous kidnapping is NOT the full story.You are just getting a good historical account of Colonel Lindbergh,however,from an outsider looking in.I have yet to read a Lindbergh biography that comes as close as to the truth as this book does.Scott Berg did not research enough about the kidnapping,and as well as millions of other biographical book-readers.They just accepted the Bruno Hauptmann guilty verdict. World War Two is long over.And the Anti-German hysteria is mostly forgotten,by modern Americans. Lindbergh accepted Hauptmann's guilt because Bruno was a former Berlin communist,who helped kidnapp the Berlin burgermeister's infant son.And for ransom.When Hauptmann jumped off the 'Friedrich der Grosse',he swam to shore.He married Anna Schuffeler,who worked at Frederiksen's Bakery.Hauptmann invested heavily in the stock market,during the 1920s.And reaped the benefits,of the easy profits.Then Wall Street laid on egg,and Hauptmann's goose was cooked.Hauptmann's business partner ,Isidore Fish,also lost everything.These former left-wing radikals turned American capitalists may have discussed Lindbergh's fortune. Fish may have hatched the plan to kidnapp America's number one eaglet,the Lindbergh Baby. Fish died of TB ,a short time after the March 1st,1932 kidnapping.Hauptmann alone faced the electric chair.His only guilt was that of association with Isidore Fish.Updated-12.Jan.2007.=If the decomposed child's remains had a DNA link to Charles Lindbergh,there may be some truth, to the corpse being an illegitimate child of his.Elizabeth Morrow was believed to be a jealous sister-in-law of his.Did they have an unwanted child that Colonel Lindbergh sadly refused to accept?Lindbergh did have three German children from a secret affair.The mistress was a Bavarian milliner. If Dr.Bill Bass of the Knoxville 'Body Farm', does not have any DNA proof,then he is a "Quack".The story thickens.+Updated=June/10/2007 There is another guy that has been claiming he is the real Charles Jr.His website is 'Charleslindberghjr.com' and he was on the coasttocoastam.com show.He may be the real deal and Harold Olson may be the real son of Charles Sr. and Elizabeth Morrow.The direct Lindbergh children,Jon and Reeve, have refused to do DNA testing for him.The story continues.



4. Excellent. I enjoyed this book because of the ease of reading it. It was very informative and interesting.



5. Found this today at the annual library sale for $1 and now that I have read the reviews on Amazon I am anxious to read it.

4 comments about Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century.

1. Zachary deserves great credit for writing a book that offers many virtues and lessons of lasting relevance. Because the author's commitment is worthy of his subject, this book should have timeless value. The roles for science and technology and how best to harness them for prosperity and for security to enable the preservation of peace are questions which transcend any particular time.
   
   The subtitle, Engineer of the American Century, is justified. Bush contributed to American society in many ways. He was a fecund, tireless inventor, helping launch Raytheon Corporation. He was dedicated to boosting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and thereby strengthening society through teaching and seeking practical knowledge. He was a pioneer and convenor of advances in computing.
   
   Clear-mindedly appreciating the gathering evil of Nazi Germany, Bush decided to do something, as typical. He left MIT and got to Washington as head of the Carnegie Institution. Though a Republican, he persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt that those who were technically educated needed to be harnessed within a National Defense Research Committee, in service to their nation's needs. By helping harness the extraordinary abilities of civilian and academic technologists to serve their nation in meeting the challenges of World War II, Bush helped unleash a cornucopia of inventions and advances in thinking, with extraordinary economic legacies (computing, electronics, medicine, radar).
   
   A few words from Zachary:
   --Bush's "was a life not of looking back, but of charging ahead."
   --He had a "commitment to excellence and integrity that reinforced his belief in the power of one person to make a difference."
   --"Bush shared Eisenhower's unease about the alliance between academia, the military, and industry"
   --"The proliferation of nuclear weapons, the rise of environmental hazards, and the evident political partisanship of many scientists - all combined to engender a cynicism in the public about the aims and evidence of science."
   
   Several other books of possible interest in relation to the contributions of technologists:
   Philip Taubman, Secret Empire (2003)
   James Phinney Baxter, Scientists Against Time (1946)
   Biographies of Edwin Land
   James Killian, Sputniks, Scientists, and Eisenhower (1977). Killian was a 1950s Bush, down to earth and his book is movingly endowed with wisdom.



2. More than one person has written on this page that Vannevar Bush is "little known", "forgotten", etc. I am only 54 years old, but I remember seeing Bush's name in print many, many times while growing up. He was always described as crucial to American military and technological supremacy since 1943 or so. A few of his accomplishments: He mobilized American science and engineering during WWII. His leadership was crucial to the Manhattan project. His differential analyzer led to MIT's Lincoln Labs playing an important role in the rise of information technology. He was Claude Shannon's teacher.



3. This is a very well written and entertaining book about a scientific administrator who played a major effort in organizing the technical responses required to anticipate and successfully meet the challenges of WWII. His skillful analysis, technical comprehension and political astuteness not only provided outstanding leadership at the time but shaped the intractions of goverment, industry and the academic community in such a fashion as to remain intact to this time. One comes awawy with an enormous respect for Dr. Bush. He must have been one tough character and difficult to deal with but he got the jobs done. It is a pity that his battles with Admiral Ernest King have, to my knowledge, never been documented. The issues they disagreed about were not trivial and their interactions must have been awesome. I read this book shortly after completing Tycho's Island and the similarity between the two men and the administrative issues they dealt with is both striking and illuminating.

   Good men are hard to find and good books about them deserve our attention.




4. A very interesting and thorough biography of Vannevar Bush, who more than any other individual is responsible (for good or for ill) for the shape of today's scientific establishment. Well-written and engaging, with lots of interesting historical tidbits and good insight on the personalities involved. Excellent!

2 comments about The Discovery of Anti-Matter: The Autobiography of Carl David Anderson, the Youngest Man to Win the Nobel Prize (Series in Popular Science , Vol 2).

1. I'm a bit biased because my grandfather was Carl Anderson's first cousin and never knew about him. I was pleased to find this book and learn more about one of my more famous relatives.
   
   For what would be called a geek today, Carl Anderson's life was quite interesting. The discussion of physics is minimal so the title shouldn't scare the casual reader away. But this is a simple autobiography of a man who just happened to be a great scientist. He faced all the basic problems we all face. For example, what do you do when you get the telegram that you've won the Nobel Prize but you don't have enough cash to get to Stockholm to pick it up?
   
   It's a fast and enjoyable read. I'm sure my 85 year old mother will enjoy it as much as I did. Then it's into the hands of my high school junior son who wants to be a physicist. It's a good peek into what a physicist actually does.



2. I am the daughter-in-law of Carl Anderson. Per my request, Carl wrote his memoirs for our children. He wrote it in a way that everyone of all ages will be able to understand the meaning of physics. It is a personal story of his life from childhood to his discovery and beyond. The book is inspiring to young and old alike. It is a story of determination and perservance in a era when young scientists had to develop and create experiments using very primitive means. This book allows the reader to better understand the world and mind of a famous scientist.

5 comments about Magnificent Failure: Free Fall from the Edge of Space.

1. I picked this book up at a local Dollar Tree for, what else, one dollar. I'm not completely sure on how that reflects on the book itself. No matter where I purchased it, the story of Nick Piantanida and the Strato-Jump project is just incredible. I am not a baloonist, parachutist, or anything even remotely related, but Nick's story is inspiring no matter who you are. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. No matter where you find this book, pick it up! Also, the photographs are great! Highly recommended.



2. As a collector of books written by or about former astronauts as well as balloonist I can honestly say that this is one of the finest written accounts I have read. This book truly captures both the technical side of this endeavor and the man behind the dream.
   
   As a 3rd grade student of St. Bernard's Grade School in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1965 I distinctly recall being on the school playground and watching a small dot in the sky that we knew was a ballon. I recall at that time knowing the difference between gas and hot air ballons. The buzz on the playground was that someone was going to parachute from the balloon. I am not sure how I knew that but I was captivated by this event as I have been since by aeronautical events of all kinds.
   
   Thanks Craig Ryan.....this is a very cool book!
   
   EZ



3. On the morning of February 2, 1966, a gigantic weather balloon rose from the South Dakota prairie and soared straight into the Stratosphere. In the small aluminum gondola beneath the massive helium filled envelope, parachutist Nick Piantanida prepared to set a world's record. At 120,000 feet, he would jump out of the gondola, free fall for tens of thousands of feet - reaching a speed perhaps greater than Mach 1.0 in the process - and then glide to safety beneath a modified Para-Commander.

   It wasn't meant to be. When he reached jump altitude, a horrified Piantanida discovered the quick-release on his oxygen hose had hopelessly jammed. He had no choice but to cut the gondola loose, and fall back to earth with the aid of its cargo parachute. Three months later he would make another attempt. Unfortunately for this brave and dauntless American, that jump would end in disaster, and cost him his life.

   Author Craig Ryan, whose fascinating chronicle of military balloon flights and parachute tests The Pre-Astronauts briefly described Piantanida's Project Strato-Jump, revisits the topic in great detail in Magnificent Failure. While Strato-Jump has sometimes been denigrated as a haphazard effort undertaken by an amateur, Ryan makes clear that characterization is far from the truth. Piantanida was an extremely experienced parachutist, and a cadre of professionals from the civilian, contractor, and military world supported his effort. In reality, Strato-Jump was one of the boldest civilian efforts of its era, and it might well have succeeded had not the disconnect fitting jammed.

   Where Piantanida's final, fatal flight is concerned, Ryan presents a great deal of new information and develops a credible scenario concerning what went awry. For years, this topic has been the subject of speculation and rumor. It is now clear that Piantanida was doomed from the moment he took off.

   Yet while it does chronicle a debacle, Magnificent Failure is not merely a somber record of a botched endeavor. Rather, it is an entertaining and readable portrait of a larger-than-life figure who dreamed of glory and worked terrifically hard and against all odds to obtain it. Thanks to Ryan's research effort, technical insight, and journalism skills, the book is remarkably insightful, full of detail and pulse-pounding drama. In an era when civilian teams are once again striving to reach not just the upper atmosphere but space itself -- the X-Prize contenders come to mind -- Magnificent Failure delivers a message of inspiration, while at the same time reminding us that glory sometimes eludes even the bravest of men.




4. I am Vern Piantanida, Nick Piantanida's brother. I already submitted a review for the book. I did this using my son-in-law's system so it picked up my review as being from him - James Keenan. Of course, this caused confusion as people think James is another brother to Nick. Nick had only one sibling - me. Sorry for the confusion.



5. As the manager of the Lakewood Parachuting Center in the 1960's I met and jumped with Nick from his first jump on. Craig Ryan understood what we were doing back then and wrote a wonderful story about what really happened.

5 comments about A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table.

1. It's difficult to 'grade' a book that refused to stay on what the intended topic (as presented to the reader). When I ordered the book, I thought the picture of Mendeleev was a rather haunting one, that looked like so many of the great minds like Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and other minds from the slightly earlier time of the Enlightenment. This was a man who started his life in the time of horse and carriage, of gas lights, of sloppy science in Russia, and ended in the next century when his country was beset by revolution...one of the very things this authoritarian abhored.
   
   Grodin wrote a fascinating and difficult book to read. He starts out with the information Mendeleev is most known for...the periodic table. Yet, a lot of the information here in this part of the book is almost 'circumstantial' and did not add much more than what I already knew.
   
   However, the following chapters demonstrated that Mendeleev applied his organizational skills to many other areas in both science and social life in Russia, and though it was not expected by the reader, the information is emmensely interesting. Russia was the backwards part of Europe, just as the South was the backwards part of the United States. Mendeleev worked to bring that same organization used in chemistry to make sense of the elements to such diverse areas of need in Russia such as her economic life and the deeply engrained superstition that became so fashionable in both Russia and the U.S. and Britain at the turn of the century. All thesee countries dabbled in seances or otherworldly things in the guest to understand one of the least knowable things: death and the afterlife. Mendeleev had not patience with this kind of chicanery and strenously tried to disprove it's existence with science.
   
   Grodin's choice for a title could only be determined through reading the book as a whole. The greatest achievement of Mendeleev shadowed his much larger life as a diplomat, as a world-class scientist trying to bring his country into a new century. Not an easy book to read, but definitely a worth-while one!
   
   Karen Sadler
   Chemistry
   
   
   
   



2. Chapters 1-3 of this book were exactly what I expected with the history of Mendeleev and the periodic table. However, the author mentions at the end of chapter three that Medeleev did not work on the periodic table from that point on to the end of his life.
   
   My primary reason for reading the book was to learn about the history of the periodic table. I stopped reading in the middle of chapter four when Mendeleev was pursuing other interests.
   
   The first three chapters are excellent if you are interested in the periodic table, and the rest of the book may be of great interest to a reader interested in other facets of Mendeleev's life. I encourage anyone to buy this book, but I don't believe the last half of the book will be of interest to me.



3. +++++
   
   When I studied chemistry in high school, I was taught that Mendeleev (pronounced Men-de-LAY-ev) was, due to his "Periodic Law," the inspiration behind the periodic table of chemical elements, perhaps "the most widely recognized talisman of modern science." And that was it! Nothing more was said. Thus, I thought that Mendeleev was only of importance due to his association with the periodic table. I thought this until I picked up this book and learned how wrong I was!
   
   This extremely well researched book (that won the Basic Prize in the History of Science) by Assistant Professor of History Michael Gordin is about Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834 to 1907) and the Russian Empire.
   
   This is not your typical (boring) biography that runs from Mendeleev's birth to his death. Gordin explains: "I concentrate on Mendeleev and the Russian Empire from [the] Emancipation [of the Serfs in 1861] to the [Russian] Revolution of 1905, the epoch of Mendeleev's greatest chemical achievements and of Russia's greatest hope for a reformed liberal state. I have selected seven major episodes from Mendeleev's life not because they were...the `most important'...but because each emphasizes a different feature of the cultural life of both Imperial [Russia] and nineteenth-century science."
   
   You'll learn from this book that Mendeleev was more than just a chemist. His other credentials include father, author, economist, bureaucrat & public servant, meteorologist, and aviator to name just a few. Gordin elaborates: "[I]t is hard to conceive that one person occupied all the roles this man played." The author continues: "[H]is life illustrates what it was like to live and work in [Russia]." As a consequence the reader will learn much about Russia in general and about St. Petersburg (the city where Mendeleev worked) in particular during the period 1860 to 1905.
   
   This book contains almost ten black and white illustrations and ten black and white frontispiece images. My favorite illustration is "Short-form periodic system from [an]...1870 article [written by Mendeleev]." A couple of the illustrations are too
   dark.
   
   Although not absolutely necessary, I would know some basics of general chemistry and a bit about the history of Russia during the time period concerned in order to fully enjoy this book. The author does do a good job in explaining basic chemical terms.
   
   My only minor quibble with the book is that it gives the impression that Mendeleev was the only one that made a table of the elements. This is not quite true. However, his was the first one that was scientifically useful. Also, it would have been instructive to include in this book a modern periodic table to illustrate the modification that atomic numbers are now used instead of atomic weights (which Mendeleev used) to order the elements.
   
   Finally, I was surprised that there was no mention of the chemical element named after Mendeleev. It's called Mendelevium (symbol Md).
   
   In conclusion, until this book came out, Dmitrii Mendeleev's life was "shrouded in [a] historical fog." Read this book to learn why "he remains the most recognized Russian scientific name both at home and abroad!!"
   
   (first published 2004; note to the reader; preface; introductory chapter; 7 chapters; concluding chapter; main narrative of 250 pages; acknowledgements; extensive notes; extensive bibliography; index)
   
   +++++



4. When young Dmitrii Mendeleev drafted the Periodic Table of Elements as a guide for his chemistry students, he was already dreaming of building a scientific empire in his home of Russia - with himself at its center. His Periodic Table predicted the existence of three unknown elements and helped foster the entire science of chemistry, so it's sad to learn the name of Dmitrii Mendeleev himself has been relatively lost in relation to his creation. Micahel D. Gordon's A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table resolves this neglect, providing an excellent review of both the Table's importance and Mendeleev's stormy relationship with his Russian background. An exciting, enlightening survey evolves.



5. I've heard a part of story of Mendeleev directly from Michael Gordin during the dinners in the Harvard Society of Fellows, and the discussions with Michael were always extremely insightful as well as entertaining.

   One of the main reasons is that Michael knows a lot, and he is interested in everything. My feeling is that he knows more about Russian history than those who are specialized in humanities. Think about any two people whom you know and who lived in the 19th century or the early 20th century (two Russian writers, for example), and Michael will be able to tell you what was the relationship between these two people, when they met, and why it was important. What you read in this book about Mendeleev is just a fraction of what Michael could tell you about the 19th century.

   Moreover, he also understands the important technical points of chemistry - in fact, not just chemistry: physics, mathematics, and other sciences are his cup of tea, too. Therefore his presentation is not superficial: you will learn the right things about the right ideas and their evolution, about the wrong ideas as well as about the influence of politics and ghosts.

   Michael Gordin's Russian is very good and it helped him to understand all the relevant events and links between the contemporaries of Mendeleev as he studied the archives in St Petersburg (and perhaps also Moscow). Incidentally, he also learned Czech - which is my first language - because at some moment he decided that it is helpful to follow some old letters about chemistry.

   Anyone who is interested in chemistry, history of science, or Russian history should immediately buy this book because Michael Gordin was the right person to write it, and you will certainly learn a lot about all these issues. Moreover, Mendeleev might be the most famous chemist ever and his life was rich enough to keep you excited as you read through these 300+ pages of a superb text.

5 comments about Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin's Lost Notebooks.

1. This is a tale of Darwin's becoming a true naturalist. Haupt believes that this happened sometime during the five years he spent with the survey ship Beagle, mostly ashore. Darwin was intent on absorbing and recording everything as the ship ranged up and down both sides of South America. He wanted to learn the geology, the fossils, the animals and the plants wherever he went. Occasionally, Darwin even looked up from his studies and described the human inhabitants.
   
   By "true naturalist" Haupt means something more than a mere busybody, recording observations and collecting samples. She has used Darwin's notebooks of the Voyage (rather than his polished published account) to follow the changes in his attitudes from dutiful outside observer to a state that sometimes seemed to be a mind-meld with his subjects -- or really, by now, his fellow participants in life. Nothing was too small or ordinary to catch and hold Darwin's fascinated gaze. Perhaps, even as a young man still steeped in the traditional Chain of Being and the Christian doctrine of special creation, he tacitly believed that everything was important, everything held a clue to...what? Later, when he came to reflect philosophically on the Species Question, this great mass of detail, lightly and lovingly held, indeed served him well.
   
   Haupt is an excellent writer and, herself a bird expert, uses Darwin's awakening to the birds of South America to locate his transformation to Naturalist. This is a book of natural history, biography, and philosophical observation that makes no pretense to be definitive. Our author is really using Darwin as an exemplar of a certain type that she admires: someone who loves Nature in all her messy particularity. As a result we get to read more about that endlessly charming man and about nature, and we get Haupt's interesting and often pointed reflections on it all. I was afraid, at the start, that my rather low level of natural history ability would hamper my understanding. Not so: anyone who cares about nature or is just curious about Darwin can enjoy this book.



2. Both casual readers and high school to college level students of natural history and science will relish the beautifully written PILGRIM ON THE GREAT BIRD CONTINENT: THE IMPORTANCE OF EVERYTHING AND OTHER LESSONS FROM DARWIN'S LOST NOTEBOOKS. It's a different portrait which covers not just his works but the image of a naturalist who trusted his observations more than the political influences of his times or the research before him. Darwin was a bumbling amateur naturalist when he boarded the Beagle in 1831 to journey through the Galapagos. The young Darwin and his observations come to life in a survey rich with first-person reflections by the author, on her own wildlife observations.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. This is an amazing book. I am a biologist and a follower of Darwin, so I ordered this book right away when I saw it reviewed in the paper. Whether your interest is in Darwin or in science and nature more generally, this book is a stand-out. The author has a solid background in philosophy of science, but she's a creative nonfiction writer. Her prose and use of language are definitely a cut above the norm for these subjects. Haupt's focus on birds and her knowledge of ornithology will please any bird-lover. In addition to offering a unique, and endearing portrait of Darwin, this book is really about a way of seeing and understanding the human relationship to the natural world. It is a reminder, as Haupt says, that "we too are animals,connected to life, past and present...that nothing in the natural world is beneath our notice." A beautiful book that will give you fresh eyes.



4. A short review of this book in the 4-8-06 issue of `Science News' prompted me to order it. I'm interested in the genesis of radical new ways of viewing our world to see how it might apply to my book's proto-theism concept.
   
   Haupt, by studying Darwin's lesser known writings, surmises his growth as a rich-kid college drop-out from both medicine and the clergy in favor of dabbling with bugs. For an adventure, he signed on to the `Beagle' as the expedition's amateur naturalist for a two-year voyage which lasted nearly five-years. Haupt pictures him gradually finding his own style of observing, collecting and pondering as he gains confidence and learns to respect and love his subjects and nature. She focuses mostly on his birds perhaps more than necessary but that's her field. She debunks the legend that, toward the end of the voyage while in the Galapagos, Darwin's seminal insight flashed on him. Instead, it slowly dawned of him back in London with the help of a skilled taxonomist and in spite of his sloppy labeling of the Galapagos' specimens.
   
   She also depicts the two decades after the voyage as he cautiously built his arguments for the "Origin of Species", then she goes on to describe his later years ensconced at Down House. Perhaps she does a little too much of her own philosophizing but I wasn't put-off by it. I'd give her book five stars except for the omission of an index (altho' Amazon's `Search inside the book' is an alternative). All in all, it's a pleasant and enlightening, well-made little book.



5. I greatly enjoyed Haupt's first book "Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds" and ordered this one not knowing much about it. It was wonderful too! Haupt's warm, lyrical prose is well matched to her topic, which is to mine Darwin's little-known pocket notebooks for new insights. She paints a compelling story of him circumnavigating South America as a humble and patient observer, though as she puts it, "This book is not in any way meant to pose as a biography; it is a gleaning of those instances in Darwin's life and work that inspire a renewed vision of the relationship between the human and natural worlds." So... what meaning does Darwin's vision hold for us today? Haupt reminds us that there are lessons in Darwin's story, and especially in his approach, to inspire all of us - even those of us who had never read anything about him before!

5 comments about Stealing God's Thunder: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod and the Invention of America.

1. One of the best books I have ever read and I recommend it. The book came out clean and prompt. Thanks!



2. 
   A recently published book may be of some interest to the intellectual property community. "Stealing God's Thunder" details the history of Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod, and goes on to sketch Ben's role in the invention of the United States' system of government.
   
   In a few places, the book touches on subjects which are of particular interest to the intellectual property professional.
   
   Eschewing a patent, Franklin published a complete description of his lightning rod invention in "Poor Richard's Almanac" in November 1753. Much to our delight, the author includes the entire text of the article in his book, on page 91. The Poor Richard article is entitled, "How to Secure Houses, etc., from Lightning."
   
   In his "Epilogue," the author makes the following statement:
   "Benjamin Franklin's refusal to patent his `instrument so new' likely contributed to the competitive free-for-all that began to characterize lightening rod design, manufacture, and sales within a few decades of his death."
   This is so wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. Dray seems to say that because Franklin did not obtain a patent on his invention, the market forces did not apply to Franklin's invention. Why is this the case? Also, why "a few decades" when a patent's term was generally limited at the time to 14 years. And what does his death have do with it when the rod was published in 1753 and Franklin lived until 1790?
   
   However, Dray does not confine himself to the lightning rod. He also discusses the invention of the famous "Franklin stove." In discussing the stove the author describes Franklin's philosophy toward patents: "As he would with all his inventions, Franklin, although he stood to profit from the sales of the stove, did not apply for a patent. He believed that products of the human imagination belonged to no one person, and should be shared by all."
   
   In this we are reminded of the comments of Rosalyn Yalow, a physicist who, together with Soloman A. Berson, a physician, developed radioimmunassay (RIA). On receiving the Nobel Prize, Yalow said, "In my day scientists did not always think of things as being patentable. We made a scientific discovery. Once it was published it was open to the world." Fortunately, today's scientists may take advantage of the statutory invention
   Registration (SIR). For further details, see, "Rosalyn Yalow's Patent and H.R. 1127" in "The Law Works," January, 1996, at page 17 (the predecessor to the present publication.)
   
   Page 1
   
   
   
   One further aspect of the book may be of particular interest to the intellectual property community, and that is the aspect of the patents of the colonies and the States. Remember, Franklin's rod was published in 1753 and the United States Constitution was not ratified until 1789 and the first federal patent law was not enacted until 1790. As Dray notes about Franklin's refusal to patent his inventions, on page 37 "Besides its commendable altruism, this philosophy probably saved him from a tremendous amount of aggravation. Anyone seeking to patent a new mechanical innovation in the New World would need to secure it in each colony individually..."
   
   This is further complicated by the fact that after the Revolution and before the adoption of the Constitution the government took the form of the Confederation, turning the colonies into States. A number of patents were issued both by the colonies and the States. Some examples of these appear in the Twelfth Census of the United States in 1900 Vol. X, Part IV, page 75 and is quoted in Deller's Walker on Patent's 2nd Ed at pages 53 through 58:
   
   
   Year Inventor Invention Term
   
   CONNECTICUT
   1717 Edward Hinman Making molasses from cornstalks 10 years
   1783 Benjamin Hanks Self-winding clock 14 years
   
   NEW YORK
   1787 John Fitch Steam Boat
   
   NEW HAMPSHIRE
   1786 Benj. Dearborn Printing Press 14 years
   1789 Oliver Evans Elevator 7 years
   
   PENNSYLVANIA
   1717 Thomas Masters Cleaning, curing, and refining Indian corn 14 years
   
   MARYLAND
   1787 Oliver Evans Steam Carriage 14 years
   
   
   In conclusion, "Stealing God's Thunder" is an interesting light read for the technically and historically minded intellectual property professional.



3. Stealing God's Thunder by Philip Dray is extremely well-written. Unlike many biographies of Franklin, it focuses on his science first and his role as a founding father second. This way of characterizing Franklin's life was more interesting than writing about him as a politician first and scientist second. What is most interesting is the influence that Franklin's science had on his politics and on his philosophy. Dray wrote about complex subjects without ever becoming too wordy and overall the book was extremely readable.
   Some of Franklin's most interesting work was put into small inventions rather than large ideas. Franklin said that the armonica, a device that spun glass to make music, was his favorite invention. Although Franklin did important work linking lightning and electricity, and as a proponent of lightning rods, his small inventions were extremely interesting as well. Franklin learned a great deal about electricity during his life and this allowed the next generation of scientists to build on his discoveries. He also challenged the views of Christianity, while still believing in God and remaining religious throughout his life. Franklin believed in the power of reason and he thought that this did not conflict with belief in God. Franklin is one of the most interesting characters of the American Revolution and the Enlightenment.



4. I am a registered patent agent and a retired patent attorney, so this review is slanted from the view of the patent professional. "Stealing God's Thunder" details the history of Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod, and goes on to sketch Ben's role in the invention of the United States' system of government.
   
   In a few places, the book touches on subjects which are of particular interest to the intellectual property professional.
   
   Eschewing a patent, Franklin published a complete description of his lightning rod invention in "Poor Richard's Almanac" in November 1753. Much to our delight, the author includes the entire text of the article in his book, on page 91. The Poor Richard article is entitled, "How to Secure Houses, etc., from Lightning."
   
   Further, in his "Epilogue," the author makes the following statement: "Benjamin Franklin's refusal to patent his `instrument so new' likely contributed to the competitive free-for-all that began to characterize lightening rod design, manufacture, and sales within a few decades of his death."
   This is so wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. Dray seems to say that because Franklin did not obtain a patent on his invention, the market forces did not apply to Franklin's invention. Why is this the case? Also, why "a few decades" when a patent's term was generally limited at the time to 14 years. You will see evidence of this later on in the review. And what does his death have do with it when the rod was published in 1753 and Franklin lived until 1790?
   
   However, Dray does not confine himself to the lightning rod. He also discusses the invention of the famous "Franklin stove," inter alia. In discussing the stove the author describes Franklin's philosophy toward patents: "As he would with all his inventions, Franklin, although he stood to profit from the sales of the stove, did not apply for a patent. He believed that products of the human imagination belonged to no one person, and should be shared by all."
   
   In this we are reminded of the comments of Rosalyn Yalow, a physicist who, together with Soloman A. Berson, a physician, developed radioimmunassay (RIA). On receiving the Nobel Prize, Yalow said, "In my day scientists did not always think of things as being patentable. We made a scientific discovery. Once it was published it was open to the world." Fortunately, today's scientists may take advantage of the Statutory Invention
   Registration (SIR). For further details, see, "Rosalyn Yalow's Patent and H.R. 1127" in "The Law Works," January, 1996, at page 17.
   One further aspect of the book may be of particular interest to the intellectual property community, and that is the aspect of the patents of the colonies and the States. Remember, Franklin's rod was published in 1753 and the United States Constitution was not ratified until 1789 and the first federal patent law was not enacted until 1790. As Dray notes about Franklin's refusal to patent his inventions, on page 37 "Besides its commendable altruism, this philosophy probably saved him from a tremendous amount of aggravation. Anyone seeking to patent a new mechanical innovation in the New World would need to secure it in each colony individually..."
   
   This is further complicated by the fact that after the Revolution and before the adoption of the Constitution the government took the form of the Confederation, turning the colonies into States. A number of patents were issued both by the colonies and the States. Some examples of these appear in the Twelfth Census of the United States in 1900 Vol. X, Part IV, page 75 and is quoted in Deller's Walker on Patent's 2nd Ed at pages 53 through 58:
   
   
   Year Inventor Invention Term
   
   CONNECTICUT
   1717 Edward Hinman Making molasses from cornstalks 10 years
   1783 Benjamin Hanks Self-winding clock 14 years
   
   NEW YORK
   1787 John Fitch Steam Boat
   
   NEW HAMPSHIRE
   1786 Benj. Dearborn Printing Press 14 years
   1789 Oliver Evans Elevator 7 years
   
   PENNSYLVANIA
   1717 Thomas Masters Cleaning, curing, and refining Indian corn 14 years
   
   MARYLAND
   1787 Oliver Evans Steam Carriage 14 years
   
   
   In conclusion, "Stealing God's Thunder" is an interesting light read for the technically and historically minded intellectual property professional.



5. From 1760 to 1766, Ben Franklin lived in England as a gentleman scholar with his son, William, who studied law. While there, he invented "a homespun musical instrument" he called 'armonica.' which he always claimed to be his favorite invention. It was a stand-alone contraption in which glass disks were turned in a treadle and rubbed gently with the performer's fingers, which he kept moistened with a damp sponge. "The musical method of rubbing fingers on the rims of glasses or bowls filled with water appeared in Europe in the late Middle Ages; Galileo, himself the son of a musician, experimented with it."
   
   This era also produced the piano. The armonica could be the primitive precursor to the organ (a drawing of which is shown in this book); it had such soft, subtle tones it could not compete with the piano and was never used in an orchestra. "Its haunting tone and deep sustain did have a numbing effect on listeners, so much so that it was later used by Franz Mesmer and other healers to put patients into a trance." Mozart wrote an armonica composition called "Adagio for Glass Harmonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola and Cello' which he even performed in Vienna, playing the Viola. Franklin wrote one musical composition, "Quartet in F Major" (also known as "The Open String Quarter") for the violin.
   
   He was a music enthusiast with a music room at his Philadelphia home which held his daughter's harpsichord. "He and Sally played duets [he on the armonica], some classical pieces, but mostly the Scottish folk ballads Franklin liked." Thousands of armonicas were built and sold, but its popularity was of brief duration. Thomas Penn, one of William Penn's sons who had control over the state of Pennsylvania at that time, was heard to complain that Franklin was wasting his time on "philosophical matters and musical performances on glasses."
   
   Not only was he famous for his "revolutionary scientific work, especially his experiments with lightning rods and electricity," he stirred up a controvrsy about evolution. "In Franklin's time, the study of the earth's oldest living things, later known as paleontology, was just emerging as an area of scientific inquiry" when he became involved in 1764 concerning a salt marsh called Big Bone Lick on the Ohio River, forty miles south of present-day Cincinnati. Bones were found there of "mastodons, elephant-like creatures with heavy coats and huge upward-curving tusks that are said to have appeared anywhere between about 20 million and 3.5 million years ago, and survived until as recently as 10,000 years ago." This new curiosity raised the question of extinction, "the most disturbing discovery which upset even the "Newtonian universe."
   
   He explains the legacy of the mythical creatures, the cyclops and the unicorn. 'The cyclops' solitary eye was suggested by the gaping proboscis cavity of extinct dwarf elephants; the unicorn legend arose from the fossilized tusks of elephants and rhinoceroses, which, prized for their magical and medicinal virtues, were traded both by the ancients and in medieval Europe."
   
   Franklin was involved in this scientific debate "that was one of the most stimulating of the Enlightenment" the question of the age of earth and of living things, including man. Like the arguments about lightning rods "presumption," this inquiry challenged long-received ideas about the relationship between God and man, and went so far as to call into question the biblical version of Genesis and Creation." Extinction was a heavy concept "and to pursue it brought one square against not only prevailing views of God's kingdom but the accepted wisdom about the age of earth itself."
   
   Franklin published in his 'Poor Richard's Almanac' "some excerpts from a popular chronology of the history of commerce that dated the [Biblical] Flood at 2348 B.C.,...likely reprinted the material chiefly for its comical fastidiousness about a number of pseudo-momentous dates in human history, such as the invention of playing cards (1391) and the first silk stockings worn by a king (1547).
   
   In 1712, Cotton Mather reported to the Royal Society that a tooth weighing more than four pounds and a thigh bone seventeen feet in length had been unearthed near Albany, New York; he asssumed that the remains were those of a giant man who had perished in the Great Flood. African slaves in America were likely the first to point out that the bones unearthed at sites in New York and Virginia resembled those of the elephant." In the nineteenth century Georges Cuvier would lay the formal groundwork for paleontology, and Charles Darwin's therories of evolution and natural selection. "America's first museum of fossils and paleontological curiosities, including mastodon relics, would be operated by the Philadelphia artist Charles Willson Peale, in conjunction with the American Philosophical Society."
   
   In 1774, Franklin was publicly accused of revealing to his contacts in Boston that "Britain would likely need to dispatch troops to North America" and was stripped of his office of postmaster general of the colonies. His reputation tarnished, and his usefulness in London, now weakened, he sailed home in March 1775.
   
   In 1806, Thomas Jefferson (then President of the United States), "upon the return of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from exploring the Louisiana Territory ...dispatched Clark to Big Bone Lick to collect additional relics, which he then stored in the East Room of the White House."
   
   Philip Dray previously wrote the multi-award winning AT THE HANDS OF PERSONS UNKNOWN: THE LYNCHING OF BLACK AMERICA which also was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

1 comments about Explorer of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale (History of Modern Physics and Astronomy).

1. The number of influential astronomers whose last names begin with "h" is truly amazing. Hipparchus, Halley, Herschel (the elder and junior), Humason, and Hubble. Not as well known, though no less important in his many contributions to the science, is the subject of Helen Wright's admirable biography, George Ellery Hale.

   Hale is perhaps justifiably he is remembered as the builder of giant telescopes. He built three of the greatest of all time, and spearheaded a fourth - the Palomar 200 inch - though he did not live to see it completed and named in his honor. However, Hale's considerable life's work goes much further. He was a groundbreaking solar astronomer, inventing new instruments and methods of studying the sun's activity. His invention of the spectroheliograph and subsequent discovery of the magnetic field lines of sunspots nearly earned him a Nobel prize (Hale was nominated for the Nobel prize in physics by many other recipients of that award - including Millikan. Wright repeats the story that Alfred Nobel did not like astronomers and wanted no astronomer to win that award, a bias which was not overcome until the 1970's). The Nobel Prize was the only major scientific honor that eluded Hale. He won the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London, the Janssen Medal of the Paris Academy of Sciences (twice), the Rumford Medal, the Gold Medal of the RAS, the Draper Medal of the NAS, the Bruce Medal, the list goes on.

   Wright's work is organized by project rather than strictly chronologically. She details the founding of the Astrophysical Journal; his central role in the formation of the International Astronomical Union and the American Astronomical Society. Another chapter is devoted to his vision for the transformation of the Throop Institute of Pasadena into the venerable California Institute of Technology and attracting top-notch talent to its teaching and research staff. She spends considerable time detailing his network of friends and colleagues around the formation of the the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council. One comes away with the distinct impression that Hale was a central and essential figure in burgeoning scientific establishment of the first half of the century.

   The degree to which he was esteemed by his colleagues is clear from the fact that he was offered the presidency of MIT and the position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He turned down both. He also eventually resigned as director of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, both for health reasons and to allow him time to return to his own solar observatory.

   Though her work is perhaps slanted toward Hale's organizational and building activities, she also makes it clear throughout that his true love always remained that of plumbing the depths of stellar evolution, and he was always anxious to return to his own solar research.

   Though Wright does not explicitly point it out, it is implicit that Hale's greatest achievement was bridging the gap between the observational astronomy of the 19th century (and before) to the 20th century study of physics and physical phenomenon. More than any other individual, Hale recognized that astronomy and physics made the perfect marriage, and he pioneered methods to bring the physical laboratory and the astronomer's telescope together.

   As good as it is, and Wright's is one of the best scientific biographies available, she does stand guilty of starting a terrible misconception about Hale's mental state. It is generally well known that Hale suffered from nervous breakdowns that were at times completely incapacitating. Wright gets the credit for starting the story about Hale's supposed little "elf" that visited and talked to him, and who has come to represent his illness. Historians William Sheehan and Donald Osterbrock trace it to a misunderstanding of one of Hale's letters to a friend and note that the "'demon' (the word he actually used) was a metaphor, referring either to his conscience or to his depressed mood (like Winston Churchill's 'black dog'), and certainly not an apparition." ...This book easily earns its five-star rating. It is simply one of the best scientific biographies available.

5 comments about The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug.

1. A fascinating history of the discovery of the sulfa drugs. A bit of chemistry or science background makes the book all the more interesting.



2. Very informative. An easy read. Once I started, I couldn't stop. Definitely an item to be in any medical history collection.



3. Within the first fifty pages this book took it's place in my top ten non-fiction works. It includes history, science, biography and business wrapped together in a fast-paced and clear manner. It's a shock to see some of the often fatal diseases our grandparents faced that today have been all but forgotten. A world where a boil, insect bite, or cut finger could result in an ugly death. The author states that this is a book about "antibiotics," he includes the sulfa drugs to be part of this class, rather than just the traditional antibiotics derived from molds. With his description the author is being a bit disingenuous, I suspect to help market his book. The book is about the sulfa drugs which were the first effective and industrially manufactured family of drugs. This entire class of drugs have been all but forgotten. The details of the discovery and use of traditional "antibiotics" is well documented. I personally might have skipped a book subtitled "The Story of the Sulfa Drugs". I am very happy to have been slightly mislead and directed to this excellent history.



4. It's not mentioned in the book, but it is marketed as AVC Cream, most commonly placed on gauze and packed into the [...] after hysterectomy. Other dosage forms are long obsolete, but this one is still in use and probably always will be.
   
   We hear all the time about antibiotic resistance, but most of us don't even think about what life was like before the drugs even existed. This is why home births really were safer prior to World War II, due to all the germs floating around in hospitals and NOTHING that could be done if infection struck. People, especially children like Hildegard Domagk, died from diseases we hardly bat an eye at now, and the drug got the ball rolling. I'm guessing we don't hear about it like we do with penicillin because it's not in general use any more.
   
   This book is mostly the history of sulfanilamide, the first really effective systemic antibacterial drug. The drug had some really weird side effects, so it probably wouldn't be considered safe by modern standards. It also addresses political and business issues surrounding the drug and is a mini-bio of its discoverer, Dr. Gerhard Domagk. Who's Hildegard? His daughter, who got a deadly infection after being poked with a needle and was one of the first people who life was saved by this drug. Last I heard, she was still living and would be in her late 70s.
   
   I purchased the book because of the chapter on the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster of 1937, a very dark chapter in American medical history that has largely been forgotten to the point where I have never conversed with a fellow pharmacist who has ever heard of it. We associate the Massengill corporation with douches (LOL) but yes, that's who made it, and no, nobody tested the concoction to see if it was safe for human consumption before sending it out on the market, where it could be sold without a prescription. Sulfanilamide does not dissolve readily in alcohol or water, but it does dissolve in diethylene glycol (antifreeze) so that's what was used, causing the deaths of 107 of the 353 people known to have taken it. The History Channel did a program on this a few years ago called "Elixir of Death"; the author who was working on a book of this title who was prominently featured in the program died in a car accident shortly before it aired in 2003.
   
   I also had the privilege of seeing Thomas Hager read from his book on C-Span II's Book TV. This was quite interesting to hear perspectives straight from the author.



5. What a wonderful sweep through a seemingly simple but world changing set of discoveries. How scary the world was before antibiotics! How much the discovery detailed in this book not only changed the world of pharmacy, it impacted who becomes an M.D. and how they do their job, and so one. I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life..

1. If you want to enrich your picture of where the theory of evolution came from, how men saw it emerge "on the ground," rather than in specimen jars and private laboratories, this is a great complement to any life of Darwin. Wallace was a much wider and woollier adventurer than Darwin. As a professional collector he had to be, and he lived in strange parts of the world rather than just drop by on cruise as Darwin had the luxury to do. I was especially moved by the story about Wallace's experience adopting and trying to sustain the life of an infant orangutan in Borneo or thereabouts. Wallace must have been a much more restless man than Darwin, more of the brew of industrial revolution and 19th century culture in turmoil.Take Me With You When You Go



2. As the great scientist Newton said " I see further for I stand on the shoulders of giants". Wallace may have seen further than Darwin when he suggested that we have souls that make us human. Ofcourse these kinds of things are hard to emperically observe by scientists that is the reason why they are skeptical but not everything has to be observed. It is true that "observation is the key to knowledge" but Einstein said that "imagination is much more important than knowledge". Probably Wallace knew that not everything could be explained by science because not everything could be observed. So even though Darwin was right about his observations of the process of evolution, Wallace saw further when he imagined that most probably we have souls that make us not only the highest form of animal but the only animals that has a soul, a human. Science cannot observe everything....there are things meant to be imagined along with our observations, that is how we could see further.



3. an elegant and fascinating account of a true pioneer of natural history and evolution. One must really be curious and patient to get into this book, as there are innumerable details given on not just this man's life but his actual work. The book proves to be an illuminating academic biography that deserves its place among other excellent biographies in your collection.



4. Victorian Britain was a time of exploration, industrial advance, social and political experiments and scientific speculation. Although many key figures appeared, few covered so many elements of this dynamic as did Alfred Russell Wallace. From almost desparately poor beginnings, Wallace became a dedicated explorer and specimen collector. Raby's sympathetic portrayal of this complex character is a good introduction. Wallace travelled and collected far more widely than did his contemporary Charles Darwin. That both developed the same concept, evolution of species by natural selection, was the result of keen powers of observation. Wallace's wide-spread interests took his attention into areas Darwin either ignored or avoided. Unlike the retiring Darwin, Wallace was at the forefront of many issues, speaking and writing on many issues. Some of these, as Raby carefully recounts, led him into difficulties, both financial and intellectual.

   Raby traces the development of a man who almost beggars analysis. Wallace's life was dogged by near penury due to family commitments and lack of regular employment. His decision to explore the upper Amazon basin was almost an act of desparation, but it led to a lifelong interest in nature and "primitive" people. Overcoming the loss of four years of exploration and study, he recovered deftly with a long-term examination of the East Indies archipelago. Early flirtations with socialist ideals gave him a more sympathetic view of indigenous people than the average Victorian Briton. He adopted a strong sense of independence from authoritarian measures, leading him to oppose land enclosures and vaccination, which he saw as doing more harm than good. The great issue in his later years was spiritualism. This last proved a stumbling block to his scientific ambitions. Although many authors disparage this interest as demeaning, in Raby's view it is simply another aspect of Wallace's probing intellect.

   The primary concern with Wallace remains his co-authorship of evolution by natural selection. Darwin's insight occupied his thinking for two decades while he considered evidence. Wallace had been considering the issue for several years, finally synthesising his ideas during confinement from a malarial attack. Wallace never disputed Darwin's priority nor his superiority as a scientific genius, although recent historians have taken up his "cause" in an attempt to erode Darwin's reputation. Raby examines these claims in some detail, either refuting them or questioning the validity of the evidence. Wallace diverged from Darwin's version of natural selection in some details, most notably over human evolution. In line with his spiritualism, Wallace insisted the human mind could not be an adaptation and must be the result of influence by a "higher power". He wasn't alone in that view either then or now.

   Raby's examination of the life of another "tormented evolutionist" is an engaging read and fluent introduction to this charismatic figure. With his long life encompassing an era of many new ideas, Wallace doesn't stand out in the history of science nearly as much as is his due. This book goes far in restoring his image. Raby's prose style is clear and expressive without descending into unnecessary adulation of his subject. The greatest lack is in his failure to place Wallace more fully in the context of his times. Since that would cover the whole of the Victorian era and beyond, we may forgive this curtailment. There are, after all, numerous works providing that overview. A valuable summary for the reader interested in exploration, natural science and Victorian personalities. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]




5. Bronowski's Ascent of Man acquainted me with the main facts of Wallace's life. Frankly, that sufficed... Raby did not delve deeply enough into aspects of Wallace's character or contributions. The value of Raby's detailed biography lies not in learning more about Wallace's travels or seances, but in his careful, evenhanded examination of the relation between Darwin and Wallace.

   Anybody pondering accusations of conspiracy would be well advised to read this book. The ending is particularly well done.