1 comments about Thomas Huxley: Making the 'Man of Science' (Cambridge Science Biographies).

1. I will come back and give a more thorough review the next time I visit the site, but in the absence of any other commments I will quickly throw down some of my observations.
   
   First: This book is less of a pleasure read as it is an academic History of Science read. It feels as though this is White's dissertation papers (or perhaps his dissertation). To that extent, while it is a very thoughtful piece, it feels as though White is trying to bend history so as to create a problem that academic scrutiny can solve.
   
   Second: There is invaluable interpretation of Thomas Huxley as an idea (if not an ideologue) and as a visionary who intended to
   
   Third: This may sound like a repetition of the first point, but passages of this book feel forced. Believe me, I read this as part of honors coursework and even incorporated it into my final paper and I felt as though I was forcing things when I was referencing it (although the professor apparently did not think that my interpretation was forced and gave me an 'A' on that paper).
   
   
   That said, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in turning points in the History of Science.

5 comments about Charles Darwin: The Naturalist Who Started a Scientific Revolution.

1. Aydon's book provides a relatively short account of Darwin's life. I found the prose easy and accessible. The writing is direct and packed with the facts; this is a good place to get a "birds eye view" of Darwin's life. While the autobiography provides the first person view, it is difficult to see many of the outside influences which greatly affected Darwin's life. Aydon does a good job of bringing these to the forefront.
   
   One of these outside factors which I didn't really pick up on so much while reading the autobiography was the wealth Darwin was born into and all the things this afforded him. Without this safety net, it is debatable whether Charles would have had many of the opportunities which influenced him on his scientific journey. One of these was the ability for him to try out medical school and studying theology before finding himself unhappy in both these endeavors. Another, and possibly the most important factor, which this wealth afforded was his Beagle trip. Not everyone had the wealth to take a 5 year journey sailing around the world, but luckily, Darwin did.
   
   Another big factor which I didn't quite pick up on in the autobiography was the extent to which Darwin's illnesses affected him. His sicknesses were very pervasive throughout his life and always seemed to be hindering his work. Who knows how much more he could have accomplished had he not had to rest so frequently.
   
   Aydon does a good job of bringing to the forefront large factors like these, which Darwin didn't put too much emphasis on in his autobiography. This book is a good for those who want an easy, interesting read and want to know the major factors surrounding Darwin's life.



2. Aydon's biography is a lively look at Darwin and the development of his theory of natural selection. Examining Darwin's character and work is timely as Darwin continues to be inseparable from the debate about evolution's implications.
   
   Read as a companion to Darwin's autobiography, Aydon provides detail and context for the events that Darwin recounts. Just as Darwin comes alive in his autobiography, Darwin's world comes to life in Aydon's biography through descriptions of episodes in Darwin's life like his tedious documentation of barnacles, the personalities of his family and friends, or the debate between Huxley and Wilberforce.
   
   Aydon's discussion of the people who influenced Darwin's life was especially helpful. These people include his father, Captain Fitzroy of the Beagle, his wife Emma and their children, and his loyal friends Hooker, Huxley, and Lyell. Seen in terms of his relationships with these influential people, Darwin is far more humble and far less singular than he might seem on his own.
   
   According to Aydon, evolution was in the air during Darwin's lifetime; had Darwin not articulated his theory on the origin of the species, it seems likely that someone else would have. However, Aydon's Charles Darwin makes the argument that no other person had the resources, the experiences, and the force of personality to deliver the theory of evolution nearly as well as Darwin did. I think Aydon is right.



3. For those interested in the life and thought of Charles Darwin, this is the perfect place to start. There are several other biographies of Darwin in print, some of them quite lengthy and quite technical. But if you are interested in a relatively short (ca. 300 pages) but very substantial treatment that is elegantly and engagingly written, Aydon's contribution delivers. The hardcover edition is beatifully printed and bound, with very clear type and the most generous line-spacing I've ever seen, making Aydon's tightly focused and well paced narrative a pleasure to read. There are sixteen pages of black-and-white photographic plates that are sharp and clear, plus four maps and one table. Reading this book is a very satisfying experience and makes one eager to move on to Darwin's own writings and to more in-depth biographies. Bravo and many thanks to author Cyril Aydon!



4. To read the biographies of great men has always been a fascination. Great men of sciences, technology, philosophy, politics, Charles Darwin features prominently among them, both personally to me, and in the annals of history. The biography by Aydon is a very simple yet charming story of the man who "created a scientific revolution".

   Aydon presents the story of Charles Darwin in a chronological way, a standard fare in biographies, but with chapters to add the thematic approaches for the book. The author uses personal letters sent by Darwin to his friends and mentors as `personal touches' to this biography. They add to the overall charm of the book and reveal a lot about the man and his thinking. Most helpful is a map of the Beagle's voyage, which I not infrequently referred to when reading the chapters on the round the world trip of the famous Beagle.

   I personally analysed two points, which the author have emphasised throughout the book. Firstly, Darwin was helped in his success by the wealth and support of his father. There are many references in the book, to the pecuniary benefits accrued to Darwin by his father. This facilitated his rise as a devoted naturalist, who had no care and worries for material pursuits and with such wealth and support, he was able to network and make gains otherwise not possible for a poorer Darwin. Secondly, was his fortuitous inclusion in the Beagle's voyage. Had it not been for the 5-year voyage, Darwin would not have been able to realise his childhood dreams of collecting and observing specimens and most importantly, Darwin would have ended up as a clergyman.

   The later part of the book, after detailing his voyage and subsequent settling down, revolves around his industry to complete his "big book" and his moral and intellectual dilemma. Not insignificant is the loving support given by Emma, Darwin's beloved wife.

   Having read this book, I feel that Darwin's life was full of lucky breaks and that he was one of the sickliest scientists around. However, the industry and power he brought to his book, "The Origin of Species" made him a revolutionary scientist. This book is recommended for the neutral reader, who simply wants a good story about a giant scientist. I have a further feeling that to satisfy my curiosity about this man, a more detailed biography is essential.




5. Biographer Cyril Aydon drew upon a lifetime's interest in Charles Darwin and his work to write Charles Darwin: The Naturalist Who Started A Scientific Revolution. The result is a fascinating and informative biography of the famed author of "The Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man". It was Charles Darwin whose theories of evolution (and whose proposal that the descendants of primordial primates could, over thousands or millions of years, eventually become men through the process of natural selection) would change forever how human beings think of themselves and understand their own genesis. This accurate and engagingly written biographical account blends an overview of natural science with the events of Darwin's life before, during, and after the publication of his trailblazing scientific treatises. Charles Darwin is a very highly recommended study of a truly great man whose trailblazing contribution to biological science is still a substantial part of public debate and controversy today between religious creationists who deny, and the scientific community which supports, Darwin's concept of human evolutionary development.

No comments about Climbing the Mountain: The Scientific Biography of Julian Schwinger.

No comments about Latitude and the Magnetic Earth (Revolutions in Science).

No comments about Thomas Harriot.

1 comments about Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir.

1. Muir was a naturalist, a wanderer, making his home in the wilderness throughout much of the U.S. and parts of the world. He brought the need for conservation to a consensus, not only hear but around the world. When he was a boy his family moved from Scotland and settled in Wisconsin near the Fox River, a few miles from Portage. In his early years he built a number of ingenious inventions. His schooling came from the UW Madison, where finally his academics led to geology. His main interest was the study of glaciation. He also became a gifted writer. He was complex, and somewhat of a misanthrope.
   
   Well written, Wolfe makes it interesting, especially Muir's travel exploits. She uses quotes from him and information taken from his journals. Muir was an amazing man, a rugged individualist, a natural man of the wilderness, with a passion to save the great forests from destruction. He awakened the masses with his conservation methods. He also helped initiate the National Parks, and went beyond to be charitable. He played a strong role in starting the Sierra Club, but it was nothing like the political and radical organization it is today. This is the authors' conception of Muir in the Preface: "who with all his planes and contrasts was a strongly individualized, consistent human being.......far from being a effeminate plaster saint, all sweetness and light.......he was in truth red-blooded and intensely masculine; a mystic, yet a realist with his feet on the ground; frugal in supplying his own needs, but lavishly generous to others.......".
   
   Muir was raised Christian by an overly strict father, only later to rebel. We discover Muir mixed spiritualism and naturalism. He developed a tension----a dilemma----where his philosophy of the world is actually irrational. I believe he was a true conservationist, though a bit of an anti-capitalist. I don't believe he would have accepted the environmentalism of today. I also find it interesting: Muir described the thinning out of glaciers as early as the late 19th century. I don't think government owned and run land is the answer; what starts out as a good thing ends in mismanagement, and making certain areas off limits to the populace.
   
   Wish you well
   Scott

4 comments about Powering Apollo: James E. Webb of NASA (New Series in NASA History).

1. Our nation was indeed fortunate to have a NASA Administrator of the skills and insights of James Webb. His apparent push for the Industry-University-Government axis has served the United States well to this very day! I equate his vision of the Industry-University-Government axis as the forerunner of what sociologists today refer as "The Tripple Helix." Let us hope that future NASA administrators might wield the influence in the Oval Office and the Halls of Congress for humans to Return to the Moon in the 21st Century. If the James Webb Telescope has the vision of its name sake, well ... fasten your seat belts!



2. This is an excellent biography of James E. Webb (1906-1992), NASA administrator between 1961 and 1968, the critical period in which Project Apollo was underway. During his tenure NASA developed the modern techniques necessary to coordinate and direct the most unique and complex technological enterprise in human history, the sending of human beings to the Moon and bringing them safely back to the Earth.

   Political scientist W. Henry Lambright focuses here on the biography of a stellar public administrator. He finds that Webb, a North Carolinian with a thick southern accent that charmed all and helped to hide a steel trap mind, was well-prepared for guiding NASA during this critical era because of his place as a Federal government insider well-versed in the bobs and weaves, ins and outs of New Deal Washington and the highest echelons of the Democratic Party.

   Coming to Washington in 1932, Webb served as secretary to Representative Edward W. Pou of the 4th North Carolina District and Chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee until 1934. He then went to work in the law office of O. Max Gardner, attorney and former Governor of South Carolina, in Washington, D.C., between 1934 and 1936. He then moved to the private sector, eventually rising to vice president of the Sperry Gyroscope Company, before entering the U.S. Marine Corps in 1944. After World War II, Webb returned to Washington and served as Executive Assistant to Max Gardner, by then Under Secretary of the Treasury, before being named as Director of the Bureau of the Budget in the Executive Office of the President, a position he held until 1949. President Harry S Truman then asked Webb to serve as Under Secretary of State. When the Truman administration ended early in 1953, Webb left Washington for a position in the Kerr-McGee Oil Corp. in Oklahoma.

   James Webb returned to Washington on February 14, 1961, when he accepted the position of administrator of NASA. Webb's long experience in Washington paid handsomely during his years at NASA, where he lobbied for federal support for the space program and dealt with competing interests on Capitol Hill and in the White House. His career changed fundamentally after May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would commit itself to landing an American on the Moon before the end of the decade. For seven years after Kennedy's 1961 lunar landing announcement, through October 1968, James Webb politicked, coaxed, cajoled, and maneuvered for NASA in Washington. The longtime Washington insider proved a master at bureaucratic politics. In the end, through a variety of methods Administrator Webb built a seamless web of political liaisons that brought continued support for and resources to accomplish the Apollo Moon landing on the schedule Kennedy had announced. He left NASA in October 1968, just as Apollo was nearing a successful completion.

   All of this is detailed in Lambright's excellent book. Once reading it, everyone will understand the book's title, "Powering Apollo," which Webb did with brilliant political leadership.

   Lambright deals extensively with the most difficult challenge faced by Webb, the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967 that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. As shock gripped the nation during the days that followed, Webb told the media, "We've always known that something like this was going to happen sooner or later....who would have thought that the first tragedy would be on the ground?"

   Webb took the brunt of public criticism for the accident, and went before various congressional committees and took a personal grilling every time. His answers were sometimes evasive and always defensive. The New York Times said that under Webb NASA stood for "Never a Straight Answer." While the ordeal was personally taxing, whether by happenstance or design Webb deflected much of the backlash over the fire from both NASA as an agency and from the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. While he was personally tarred with the disaster, the space agency's image and popular support were largely undamaged. Webb himself never recovered from the stigma of the fire, Lambright notes, and when he left NASA in October 1968, even as Apollo was nearing a successful completion, few mourned his departure.

   In all, this is an outstanding administrative biography of Jim Webb, still by far NASA's most significant administrator, although some-Daniel S. Goldin and James M. Fletcher (when his two appointments are counted together)-have served longer. "Powering Apollo" is must reading for anyone seeking to understand the Apollo program.




3. So Many books have been written about what it took technologically to put a man on the moon. What this book does is give the reader insight into what it took to get the resources to buy the technology. James Webb proved to be an expert when it came to serving many masters. The President(s), Key members of Congress and the NASA team. Would we have landed a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960's without Jim Webb? Probably Not.



4. A nice book about the second NASA administrator who able to guide NASA from the early days of the Mercury program to right up to the first journey to the moon (Apollo 8) when Webb was forced to leave as the Nixon Administration took over.

   The book is divided into two parts. The first third of the book describes Webb's early years including his employment with the State Department, the Bureau of the Budget and Republic Supply, a division of Kerr-McGee. The remainder of the book focuses on Webb's involvement in the development of the NASA management system and the problems he overcame to get Apollo to the Moon.

   In general, I found the book quite interesting. There are many descriptions of the personal battles he had to fight with contractors, the congress and his own top-level employees, how set up the NASA management system, his involvement with the academic world and in how upper management viewed various disasters and triumphs. The management system which he developed for the largest engineering and research effort mankind has ever undertaken, carried on well after he left NASA. For example, the Apollo 11 moon landing took place when it was suppose to even the there was a new Nixon appointed leader. This management system carried on well into the Space Shuttle and Space Station programs. I also found it refreshing that Jim Webb felt a sense of personal responsibility for the loss of the Apollo 1 crew. Compare that to the finger pointing associated with the Challenger explosion and the majority of today's politicians.

   After finishing the book, I came away with the feeling that Jim Webb was truly believed in the dream that mankind should explore space and made every effort to make this dream a reality.

No comments about The Young Charles Darwin.

5 comments about Reluctant Return: A Survivor's Journey to an Austrian Town (Jewish Literature and Culture).

1. "Reluctant Return" by David Weiss presents the intricate emotional landscape of a Holocaust survivor compelled by the sincerity and heart of a new Christian sect to return to his Austrian hometown of Wiener Neustadt on a mission of reconciliation. Ichthyus, a new Christian sect devoted to repairing the deep wounds caused by Christian anti-Judaism and anti-semitism, begins from the dreams and visions of a minister's wife, Uli Eiwen, who feels led by God to uncover the truth of 1000 years of Jew-hatred in her hometown, and to work to forge a reconciliation. Uli's visionary experiences lead her to the belief that God has abandoned Christianity because of two thousand years of Christian anti-Judaism. Recognizing her God as the God of the Jews, she feels that God's covenant with Abraham speaks directly about Christians in particular in the statement, "your enemies shall be my enemies." She convinces her husband, Helmuth, of the power of her beliefs after a chilling vision of the Nazi swastika during a mass he leads drives her from church screaming. He discovers the horrible history of Lutheran complicity with the SS in his hometown, resigns his ministry, and starts Ichthyus. Weiss and other Jews from Wiener Neustadt are convinced to return by the simplicity and honesty of the Eiwens, much to their own surprise. Weiss's mapping of the intricate and complex emotions he feels during his return has much to say about the destructiveness of prejudice and hatred, and the difficulty and beauty of forgiveness. Weiss writes with a pained lyricism in this profoundly moving book. I have used this recently in a course on religious autobiography (college level), and it has been a powerful source of knowledge and reflection for my students. Very highly recommended.



2. This is an astonishing work -- deeply revealing, personal, and yet universal in its message. David Weiss uses language with precision, describing complex emotions and internal conflicts with grace and originality. This book, regardless of our associations to the Holocaust, is one that we can all learn from. It reminds us that each human being must be judged as an individual, even when circumstances make it difficult for us to do so. For those of us who search within to overcome old biases and hatred, this book can be an epiphany. For any thoughtful person, it can illuminate a black period in history and inform our responses to it.



3. David Weiss opened his heart and soul with "Reluctant Return" and I was drawn into his life and experience so deeply that I finished the book in one sitting (with a dinner break). We all have our ghosts and parts of our past we have buried or refuse to acknowledge and we live our lives fully, successfully and quite happily. David Weiss lived like that until he was forced to take another look at his feelings about Austrians and growing up in antisemitic Austria. He shares his own survival experiences during the 1930-45 period and his feelings about pre- and postwar Germany, Germans, Austria and Austrians. He points out that Germany and many German people have openly acknowledged their role in the holocaust whereas Austria and the Austrian people are barely beginning this process. He describes his experiences and deepest feelings when he is returned to the town of his youth. Then how he shared his life and these feelings with groups of Austrian school children whose history books have deliberately omitted their country's role in the holocaust. The children start to realize and accept that their elders committed terrible crimes against other humans whose only error was to try to live peacefully in this small town in Austria.

   If this book were published by a BIG NAME publisher, it would be an instant best seller. I believe that "Reluctant Return" will take a path similar to "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "The Perfect Storm" and grow to be a classic.




4. David Weiss has written a profound memoir of a difficult encounter with people and his past. It is eloquent, brilliant, deeply moving and eminently readable.



5. This is the sad story of the Jewish community in wartime Nazi Austria and the return of surviving victims to Wiener Neustadt. A gripping tale told by the son of the former chief Rabbi of the town.

3 comments about Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography (Mildred Wyatt-Wold Series in Ornithology).

1. The subject of this biography, Roger Tory Peterson, is very interesting, but the biography is not particularly well written.
   The narrative flow and the use of language is such that only the content retains the interest.
   Oh, I would still have bought the book, but the above short-comings detract from the enjoyment I had anticipated.
   Douglas Carlson might be a former professor of English, but his writing style is staid, sadly. He obviously hasn't caught on to the creative writing rule of 'show, - don't tell!'
   
   But it is still a good gift idea to anyone interested in birds and birdwatching.



2. Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography (Mildred Wyatt-Wold Series in Ornithology) (Hardcover)by Douglas Carlson, University of Texas Press, October 1, 2007, ISBN-10: 029271680X, # ISBN-13: 978-0292716803 is a surprisingly enjoyable read for someone like myself whose knowledge of the natural flying world is limited to appreciating that birds have feathers and bugs do not. Carlson's subject, that of a famous ornithologist's life's work, is not for birders only. No, Carlson's biography of the field guide guru is an especially enlightening read for those of an awakening mind, for shining through Carlson's study of the professional Peterson are the universal themes, love, genius, art, joy, freedom and peace. Carlson's studied account of Peterson's life makes articulate for the philosophically-inclined what these abstractions mean, and for this naming treasure Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography is a treat to read. To articulate, love is the movement toward knowing what is, which is to say love is infinite. Genius is the acute awareness of what is. Art is the representation of what is. Joy is the surrender to what is. Freedom is the expression of what is. Peace is the reflection of what is.
   
   Roger Tory Peterson loved birds because, he imagined as a boy full of romantic notions, birds were the ultimate expression of freedom (Carlson, 8). Peterson's idealization recalls the famous claim by the Christian guru of freedom, Jesus of Nazareth: "Behold the fowls of the air" who do not sow nor reap; neither do they store for tomorrow and yet they have enough food to eat, Matthew 6:26. Peterson, who as a child was brought up, baptized and confirmed Lutheran, his mother a Sunday school teacher, (Carlson, 4) was no doubt influenced by this of all lies. This of all lies: birds are not carefree. Birds are bound, rather, by their need to gather the resources to live, theirs being a subsistence existence. And yet for young Peterson birds represented "the physical freedom to go anywhere they wanted" (Carlson, 260).
   
   Peterson eventually discovered that birds did not satisfy as a symbol of freedom because they are "captives of environmental factors and genetically encoded behaviors" (Carlson, 18), which is ironic because so was Peterson bound--bound by cultural expectations of man as provider. Like the birds he studied, thought about, wrote about, and painted, Peterson himself was confined first to earn a living for the clothing, feeding and nesting of his family, and finally to establish his legacy. Publishing revised editions of what became for him his "dreaded" Field Guide, Peterson was not free. Freedom to him was to luxuriate in his studio with paint brush and bird subject (Carlson, 233), but he had little time to let loose the floodgates of his vision with the demands of his life's work, the work that brought him fame and a modest fortune, pressing down upon him. He was, to put it bluntly, no more free than the fowls of the air. Carlson's biography of Roger Tory Peterson builds brilliantly the tragic irony of Peterson's life. And for this too, a cautionary tale equal to the opening scenes of The Bhagavad Gita in which the warrior, Arjuna, because of his attachment, cannot see reality, Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography is an eye-opening read.



3. Roger Tory Peterson devoted his life to the study of birds. In a 1996 speech delivered in Houston shortly before his death, he said, "Birds have occupied my daily thoughts, filled my dreams, dominated my reading."
   
   He traced his love for birds to his boyhood and a day when he came upon a flicker with its head tucked under one wing. It was exhausted from migration, but Peterson thought the bird was dead and reached out to stroke its back. The bird exploded with life, and took off with a golden flash of wing, leaving the boy filled with wonder at its resurrection, its freedom and ability to fly.
   
   Peterson began as an artist and by his early twenties had added his love of birds and nature to his art. A close associate suggested he write a field guide. Peterson took the idea a step further, incorporating his trademark identification arrows and descriptive text describing song, flight patterns, and nesting habits.
   
   The first Peterson's guide almost didn't find a publisher. The country was in the grip of the Depression; publishers thought people had more to worry about than learning how to identify birds. Finally Houghton Mifflin took a chance with a small first printing, and in 1934 "A Field Guide to the Birds" was published. To everyone's amazement, the book sold out almost immediately. The Field Guides have continued to be a bestsellers ever since.
   
   Peterson was one of the first to recognize the importance of environmental awareness, and was instrumental in getting the 1972 ban on DDT implemented. Additionally, he brought the world's attention to the decimation of the penguin from oil spills, and to the destruction of the bird-rich rain forests of Central America.
   
   Painter, educator, photographer, writer, and environmentalist, Peterson lived to the age of 88. He chose as the epitaph on his tombstone: "Birds are the most vivid expression of life."
   
   Douglas Carlson's skillful and absorbing biography brings this passionate, energetic man back to life, and celebrates his great gifts to the world of nature.