2 comments about Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg--Chester Carlson and the Birth of Xerox.

1. I was fascinated by this book! The subject matter is intriguing on its own, and it's been beautifully enhanced by the presentation. Author knew exactly how to tell the story for best effect--when to give a history lesson, when to introduce characters, and just how much of each was appropriate. Also explained the complicated science behind xerography (the generic term for what a Xerox machine does) in a way a layman can understand. Extremely well done. I'm glad I happened across this book!



2. This book gives an excellent account of the processes and hurdles needed to bring a complex product to the marketplace. It will be especially enjoyable for anyone who was involved in the copying/duplicating business during the 60's and 70's.
   The author mentions many of the early companies -- and many of the current companies -- that are significant "players" in this business. Also, many of the key inventors who are known only as "publication or patent names" are given life by the author. The reader can get behing the scenes and see the victories, struggles, and tensions facing the researchers and their companies.
   This book is a good read -- difficult to put down -- especially for those in corporate research and development.

4 comments about Prometheans in the Lab.

1. This accessible but rewarding history of applied chemistry ranks among the best books I have read in years. It does the basic job: providing information, but its prose is transparent and unobstrusive, its exposition uniformly consistent and intelligible, and the narrative even builds to moments of drama; finally, it demonstrates the tension between chemistry and environmental concerns, as well as that between science, capital and society. All this without taking a polemical stance. Who would have thought so drab a subject could be rendered this important and engaging? Anybody with an interest in business, finance, industry, environmentalism, science and applied research should read it. It wouldn't hurt for some book authors to study it as well as how to tranform coal-tar into mauve, so to speak.



2. If you enjoyed "A Beautiful Mind," you should check out "Prometheans in the Lab." Scientific genius and mental illness are clearly not rare combinations. Like John Nash, several of the nine chemists profiled so ably by science writer Sharon Bertsch McGrayne were odd ducks who struggled with intractable mental disorders while achieving society-changing breakthroughs in their labs. McGrayne's nine subjects invented processes and products that define modern life.
   Wallace Carothers, an American and the inventor of nylon in 1935, was apparently afflicted with bipolar disorder. Throughout his career he tried to contend with severe mood swings, along with other maladies. In the end, his illnesses overwhelmed him, and he dosed himself with cyanide.
   Fritz Haber, a German, invented modern nitrogen-based fertilizer in 1908 and helped end Europe's millennial-long fear of famine. As a young man, he was hospitalized for "neurasthenia," after suffering sleeplessness, excitability, and nervous tension.
   Unlike Nash and Carothers, Haber's illness did not progress to a chronic and profound mental disorder. But neither was his life a bed of roses. His wife's depression ended with her suicide. And while Haber's prodigious scientific accomplishments brought him fame, they also brought him infamy. In World War I, he initiated and organized chemical warfare for Germany, through the use of chlorine gas. He argued that poison gas would save lives by shortening the war. (Not all of Germany's enemies were outraged; it turned out that some influential Americans agreed with him.)
   Most of the brilliant researchers McGrayne covers did not have mental illnesses. Many of them suffered from a much more prosaic and more ubiquitous "problem"- the inability to really foresee untoward consequences of their inventions. Paul Hermann Muller, a Swiss, invented DDT and in 1948 won a Nobel Prize for medicine. McGrayne's chapter on Muller includes a look at the huge plusses and minuses of the use of DDT. On the one hand, DDT saved millions of people from death from malaria and typhus. On the other side, the substance devastated wildlife, particularly bird populations, wherever it was used in any quantity. Muller apparently had a premonition that DDT was not an unmitigated good, but he didn't vigorously investigate its deleterious properties.
   McGrayne is an outstanding contributor to the genre of well-researched, readable books on scientists and science for everyday people. You don't need a science background to enjoy her book; you just need to be curious about some very unusual people and where all sorts of everyday stuff-nylon, fertilizer, soap, DDT, synthetic colors, leaded gasoline and even clean water--came from.



3. I picked up this book because a ...review said, "On your next trip to the bookstore bypass the action adventure thrillers and seek out Prometheans in the Lab... It is one of those `story behind the story' books that are often written about celebrities and politicians [but it's about] the chemists responsible for the major chemical processes that undergird modern living.... I wish it were twice its length."
   The reviewer was right. The book tells science stories you definitely didn't learn in high school. But it also dramatizes the tangled relationship between technology's benefits and drawbacks and the public's conflicting desires for new products and environmental purity. Great stories, and a great read. *****



4. I was intrigued by the title and thought I would try it...this is an amazing book that puts into perspective life before refridgeration, soap, safe drinking water, sugar, dye, and more. This book makes a clear link between scientific discovery and the subsequent ripples in society -- as well as how those discoveries impact the lives of the scientists. Prometheans also shows how complicated science can be - for every discovery that changed modern society, it brought with it a host of new issues, ills, and irrevocable changes. A great example is Thomas Midgley, the man who created Freon and tetraethyl lead. Without him we would have no fridges, freezers, cheap gas (or a hole in the ozone layer). In his chapter, you discover that the early factory workers working with lead went insane from the fumes and ended up killing each other in psychotic rages; plus the high levels of lead were polluting the environment. This led to workplace reform and an overhaul of factory safety regulations. Then there's Wallace Carothers, who invented Nylon. He suffered from depression for years, and being around potent lab chemicals and fumes didn't help his outlook any; he killed himself with a cyanide pill he'd carried around for 15 years. I am not a scientist but interested in general scientific discovery. This book was great because each scenario is presented in a historical context, each side is shown and not portrayed in an extreme negative or positive light. It's very balanced, and didn't overwhelm me with incomprehensible explanations of the hard-core science behind the science. This is great & would make a great TV series.

No comments about In Albert's Shadow: The Life and Letters of Mileva Maric, Einstein's First Wife.

No comments about The Life of James Clerk Maxwell: With Selections from His Correspondence and Occasional Writings.

3 comments about Courant.

1. This is a book that would interest people who enjoy reading books about the history of mathematics, particularly about the communities and and institutions of mathematics. The period covered is from the late 19th Century. Courant was student and later, a colleague of the famous mathematician Hilbert at Gottingen. Courant is obviously not as famous as Hilbert and the book does not focus on his achievements in mathematics. Instead, it discusses more about how he relates to other mathematicians, and his tireless efforts in trying to establish and nurture two centers of excellence in mathematics - the Mathematical Institute at Gottingen and the Courant Institute of Mathematics at New York.



2. This is a book that would interest people who enjoy reading books about the history of mathematics, particularly about the communities and and institutions of mathematics. The period covered is from the late 19th Century. Courant was student and later, a colleague of the famous mathematician Hilbert at Gottingen. Courant is obviously not as famous as Hilbert and the book does not focus on his achievements in mathematics. Instead, it discusses more about how he relates to other mathematicians, and his tireless efforts in trying to establish and nurture two centers of excellence in mathematics - the Mathematical Institute at Gottingen and the Courant Institute of Mathematics at New York.



3. If you are interested in mathematics and are/aren't a mathematician, if you are interested in American/German jewish history of the 20th century, if you are interested in science during WW2, you will love this book - I did!

3 comments about The Autobiography of Charles Darwin (Great Minds Series).

1. This reprint of Francis Darwin's edition of the Autobiography is not the full version, but is fascinating nonetheless. Francis omitted some passages in deference to his mother, Darwin's widow Emma, who marked passages that she did not want published. (Interested readers can go to Nora Barlow's 20th century edition of the Autobiography for the full text). Francis Darwin's reminiscences of his father's working habits and "everyday life" (chapter 4) are wonderful. Chapters 5-18 are largely chronologically arranged extracts from Darwin's letters with Francis's commentary.



2. Darwin's Autobiography serves as a good overview of his life and the major events that happened to him. While the actual autobiography itself is very short and lacks details, its a good starting point for someone wanting to learn more about Darwin. In this edition edited by his son Francis Darwin leaves out some passages about Darwin's family and married life, something one could argue as particularly telling or interesting information; if this bugs you, buy the later edition.
   
   One of the most interesting sections to me was Darwin's description of his boyhood and young adult years. It's comical to hear this scientist describe his obsession with the pastime of shooting things and his mediocre performance in school. A few things signal Darwin's observational powers or scientific inclination, such as his collection of beetles, but for the most part, he seems an ordinary young person.
   
   Also, the book continually references scientists and intellectuals of the time which Darwin comments on. Some of these people were close to Darwin, others he just mentions. Now knowing these people can be somewhat frustrating to the reading, as I can attest to. The book is very much written and directed at his children, who would be familiar with this social context.
   
   Even with these minor faults, Darwin does give insight into his own mind, something I'm sure anyone who's reading a book about Darwin is looking for. The introspection comes at the end of the book. Darwin speaks of his own reasoning capacities and ability to notice things which easily escape the observations of other men.
   
   This book is short and a I recommend it as a good place to start for getting a handle on the major events of Darwin's life and hearing Darwin's own perspective.



3. This book is definitely a really fun read for someone with some leisure time and an interest in Darwin. It's important to not take this book too seriously (perhaps) because Darwin doesn't really take it that seriously himself. The autobiography tells us a lot about Charles Darwin the man and the way that he felt about certain issues but it barely scratches the surface: he has a great sense of humor (like when he talks about his original plans for being in the clergy) and sometimes he talks about his own life seriously (like his regret for not reading more poetry), but when you come down to it, the book is sort of written in a really mechanical manner. He doesn't really share with us any of his deepest desires or secrets (nor do we really expect him to).
   
   Overall this autobiography is pretty fun to read and it's probably a good springboard from which we can then go and read his Origin of Species or Voyage of the Beagle.

No comments about Listen First: Focused Listening Tasks for Beginners Teacher's Book.

1 comments about The Everything Einstein Book: From Matter and Energy to Space and Time, All You Need to Understand the m an and His Theories (Everything Series).

1. This is a very readable and enjoyable book about the great physicist. The easy-going but informative style is reminiscent of the "Dummies" series books which I'm a great fan of for their ability to impart a great deal of information painlessly and enjoyably. I learned many interesting things about Einstein the scientist and Einstein the man that I didn't know before, and I've read several other bio's of the great physicist. After providing some historical background on the scientific events that led up to Einstein's great discoveries, discussing the ideas of Ernst Mach, Helmholtz, Hertz, Planck and so on, the authors launch into a discussion of his most important contributions, which were the paper on the photoelectric effect, the special theory of relativity, and the general theory of relativity.

   There is such a wealth of information and detail about both Einstein's scientific ideas and his public and personal life that it's difficult to summarize it all, but I'd like to mention a few of the more interesting things that I learned. Einstein's role as scientist, cultural icon, humanitarian, father, public speaker, and legendary and mythic genius are all discussed.

   One interesting thing is that the book explodes one myth about Einstein, which is that he did poorly in the German gymnasium in everything but math and science. Actually he excelled in Latin and languages too, so contrary to the popular myth, he wasn't a total failure in the public schools. He did run into trouble with the form-master at the gym and graduated without a diploma, and in high school he was even less happy and threw fits so he could be declared mentally unstable by the family doctor so he could stay home from school. Despite this Einstein was reading Kant's ideas about epistemology and logic by the time he was 13. This also enabled him to avoid required military service. In college Einstein routinely skipped classes although he got caught up using his friend Marcel Grossman's notes. But Einstein still graduated at the bottom of his class.

   Einstein's increasing discomfort with the conclusions of quantum theory such as the famous uncertainty principle led him to try to disprove it in a famous paper he authored with the younger David Bohm (who only recently passed away). His opposition to the theory despite all the evidence once led Oppenheimer to say, "Einstein is cuckoo."

   In addition to his more well-known contributions, I didn't know that Einstein had collaborated with fellow physicist Leo Szilard on the invention of a new refridgerator pump. The idea for the pump came from a famous but tragic incident in which an entire Berlin family was killed when the pump leaked toxic gases into their home. Einstein and Szilard set out to develop a safer pump using magnetic fields and coils and sold two of their designs to the Electrolux Co. Eventually they would hold 45 patents for three different models of the home refridgeration pump. Einstein developed a new type of compass, a hearing aid, and had a patent for an auto-exposure camera.

   Einstein had more romantic dalliances that one might expect for such a cerebral man, and in some ways the most interesting part of the book, since I was already familiar with his scientific ideas from other books, was the section on what happened to his children and grandchildren. Hans Albert Einstein, his oldest son, became a civil engineer and was professor of civil engineering at U.C. Berkeley when he retired. He was an expert on the transportation of sediment by water and the process he developed is still in use today. Unlike the older son, the younger brother wasn't especially talented at math and science and prefered the humanities, but he suffered from depression and even schizophrenia his entire life, and after being looked after by his mother until she passed away, was placed in a mental institution where he lived the rest of his life. Lieserl, the daughter, is thought to have been put up for adoption since she was born before Einstein and Mileva were married because of the stigma of illegitimacy in those days. Although no-one really knows, she is thought to have died in childhood but nothing is really known of her life.

   Of Einstein's two grandchildren by Hans, Bernard is a physicist and author and wrote a biography of his famous grandfather. The grandaughter Evelyn is a psychologist and cult-deprogrammer. Evelyn has another dubious distinction, which is that after Thomas Harvey autopsied Einstein's brain to see what was so special about it, she received a portion of it. Apparently, it was transported across country by automobile and resulted in a book entitled Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain, by Michael Paterniti. I don't know if the book is any good but with a title like that I'll have to look it up and see. But I can certainly recommend the present book for anyone interested in the life and ideas of the great physicist, and this would probably be the first book I'd recommend to someone who wanted to read up on Einstein.

1 comments about To See with a Better Eye.

1. I read "To See with a Better Eye" while doing background research for my undergraduate history thesis. This is an excellent look at not only the venerable Laennec but also at the early 19th century French school of medicine (especially when read in conjunction with Russell Maulitz's Morbid Appearances). In addition to its historical worth, it is a good piece of scholarship, which even my cursory read could detect. Duffin has done well with the short and often tortuous life of this great Frenchman, who died too soon and with little personal record, who is simultaneously revered (too much?) and forgotten (too often!).

No comments about Zig-Zag-and-Swirl: Alfred W. Lawson's Quest for Greatness.