1 comments about Wandering in the Gardens of the Mind: Peter Mitchell and the Making of Glynn.

1. I picked up this book because I had some familiarity with the subject matter having worked in that field of biochemistry in the late '60s. That is probably the main reason I read the whole thing and enjoyed it.
   This is very much a scientific biography. It's an interesting story of the evolution a scientific idea (The Chemiosmotic Theory) and how that idea came to be accepted by the scientific community. The originator of the idea, the imaginative, ambitious, passionate Peter Mitchell, had to fight for many years to see his theory finally accepted.
   I was disappointed, however, that the book did not paint a fuller picture of Mitchell who had many interests outside of science which are (frustratingly) alluded to - music, architecture, farming, family - but never explored. For example, the authors state that family life was very important to Mitchell but give no examples of how a highly motivated scientist/entrepreneur managed to fit it in. Nor is there any sense of what domestic life was like living in an isolated research institute/manor/farm. In my opinion, if these aspects of his life had been more developed, the book would appeal to a wider audience and the reader would come away with a fuller appreciation of the man.
   Technically, it is rather a choppy book. Each chapter is divided into subchapters, which detracts from its cohesiveness. Repetition of some points also gives the sense that the book was pieced together.
   However, I did read the whole thing and found it an interesting study of how 20th century science works - or works imperfectly.

No comments about Peter Mark Roget: The Man Who Became a Book.

2 comments about The Scientific 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present (100).

1. I had to put off reading this book until the summer because under normal conditions a person would pick this book up and look for a specific scientist, or science, and then get the wanted information on those specifics. This is not one of those books that you just pick up and read straight through. Most scientists are interested in a limited area of science. For example, Marie Curie was a chemist, a physicist, and interested in other sciences and the math that were involved in those sciences. Very rarely, if ever, did she wander into the domain of biological sciences (if she had, she may have been a bit more careful with the radium she and her husband were 'pocketing' on a daily basis)!
   
   There are always a few men and women out there who remain curious about the entire world. Men like Leonardo de Vinci, Linus Pauling, even those outside of the world of science such as Thomas Jefferson. But the fact remains that this book would be used as a starting point or a reference by teachers and students to gain information about specific scientists and the fields they investigated; whether it be chemistry, physics, biology, or linguistics.
   
   This is an excellent reference book. I can highly recommend it for use by teachers in gathering information about these famous men without going into so much detail about their scientific interests that the teachers who have not been trained in these areas, get lost. I especially recommend it for highschool and college level reference. If teachers of lower grades plan to use this book, I highly suggest they read carefully the information on specific scientists first rather than just handing the book over to a student. I am a little leery of recommending books that I have not read, or of teachers who recommend books that they have not read. The reason for this hesitation is that Simmons puts a small amount of personal information concerning these men and their families, especially their wives, in the chapters...and some of this information is not only not pertinent to their lives in science, but is actually slightly more detailed about their sex lives than a seventh grader needs to know. This is the only reason I gave the book a 4 star rating rather than a 5 star rating.
   
   Otherwise, I enjoyed reading about so many interesting men and women (again, there is a limit on the amount of women and minorities in the book but that is in large part due to historical prejudices which were not overcome until the last century). There are definitely several scientists I am going to read more information on because of this book raising my interest in them.
   
   Again, a highly informative reference book for science, math, and libraries.
   
   Karen Sadler,
   Science Education



2. The Scientific 100: A Racnking of the Most Influential Scientists is an interesting book that provided many life facts about 100 interesting scientists. Anyone interested in science should definitely buy this book. It is packed with facts about the 100 most influential scientists in Science.

5 comments about Fossils, Finches, and Fuegians: Darwin's Adventures and Discoveries on the Beagle.

1. This book was an incredibly fast and easy read for its 400 pages. For those who have read Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, this may seem a bit redundant at times, but I actually found it to be a great compliment. Richard Darwin Keynes (Charles Darwin's great grand-son) does a beautiful job weaving together a narrative of Darwin's long journey aboard the HMS Beagle between 1832 and 1836. Bits and pieces of Darwin's commonplace journal, his field notes, and letters home are very well incorporated into the overall narrative, adding authenticity to Keynes' interpretation of his great-grandfather's time aboard the Beagle. There are also several very nice watercolor plates and many gorgeous maps and engravings that really add to the reader's experience.
   
   The chapters are very short (8-12 pages) and each one deals with a specific region visited along the journey (except maybe the first and last two). This style is very effective, and keeps the reader interested and on track. Keynes' also adds important and relevant historical background that is not present in Voyage of the Beagle and provides the reader with a great deal of insight into Darwin's life and his relationships with other people, such as Captain Robert FitzRoy. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in Darwin, evolution, the history of science, or Latin America.



2. I never gave this book a good chance when I started reading it the first time and so I put it back on my shelf for a few months.
   
   I started out reading it very slowly, each word, trying to savor the images of a bygone time and of the words and adventures of an incredible man. After a while I noticed I was trying to skip through as fast as possible just to finish it. Then when I left it on the shelf a few months it dawned on me... this book should be treated respectfully, and read for enjoyment, not just to be finished but to feel and be enveloped by, and so I picked it up a second time and my impression of it is what lead me to give it 5 stars.
   
   The incredible abundance of drawings by those very artists that were there with Darwin, seeing what he saw, eating with him, journeying with him, and Darwin himself, his words, what his thoughts were, what he saw and touched... the descriptions coupled with the drawings of the places visited made me want to step back in time and visit each place the way it used to be... sadly those jewels are now replaced with superhighways as Keynes points out... man has a natural inclination and penchant to change usually irreversibly by destroying beauty... and what has been lost is truly sad...
   
   What has been left is this wonderful, moving account of Charles Darwin as so wonderfully presented by Keynes. So don't do as I first did, try to plough your way through this book just to finish it, but even worse, don't just put it down to never read it because you will have truly lost out on reading a fascinating journey, an adventure of people, places, names, faces and life you just don't find these days in todays reading...
   
   The pictures of the Feugians, unbelievable! These were the actual people that Darwin met along the journey and to see these pictures and see what these people looked like, what they wore, their face painting, everything is truly remarkable. A book like this, with this much value, pictures, detailed descriptions and accounts should be worth much much more than it sells for compared to some of the garbage churned out by lesser authors.
   
   And you know what... I plan on reading it all over again, slowly, deliberately, and with wonder and amazement filling my mind and heart.



3. An enjoyable recount of Darwin's voyage around the world in the early 1830s. Rather than argue for or against any version of Darwins theories, Keynes describes the adventure of 2 English gentlemen setting out to create a better map of the world. Aside from providing an enjoyable and picturesque travel guide, we get to know the way each inspired the other.

   The reader will be surprised to read about the daring young Darwin's adventures. He ends up dodging warriors prowling the Argentinian praries, trusting his life to murderous Fuegian cowboys, getting drunk with Chilean gold miners, intervening in a Brazilian civil war and tasting potentially halucenogenic South American plants.

   Keynes seems particularly interested in showing Darwin as Captain FitzRoy's agent and artist. In some ways, Keynes makes a case that Darwin was hired to write the story FitzRoy dictated. Like the artists brought along by Captain FitzRoy, Darwin was invited to embellishFitzRoy's maps. FitzRoy, a flawed character of exceptional energy and intuition, knew well his limitations: depression and a violent temper. To achieve what he knows is possible he drags young English gentlemen off to the ends of the world and sets them on their path to celebrity and fame.

   Left to itself, this action story and tragedy (FitzRoy commits suicide in the last narrative chapter) could have stood alone. The author feels compelled to trouble us with a search for the exact moment that Darwin's diary records the inspiration for 'evolutionary theory'. It detracts a bit, but only in a minor way. Unexplored is the relationship between map making and evolutionary trees, an obvious paradigm which would have fit the story better.




4. Mr. Keynes (great-grandson of Charles Darwin) re-plays the voyage of the Beagle, with some interesting back-up material. We read of Darwin's early life and his family connections, and the Beagle's Capt. FitzRoy's interest in returning to Tierra del Fuego. Included are plenty of extracts from others' letters and logs, plus many original drawings & paintings. And there is a nice touch; at the top of each page is the month and year, so you are continually reminded of just how much time has passed.

   Having read and enjoyed Darwin's 'Voyage of the Beagle', I was not expecting much in the way of startling new evidence re his discoveries & theories. And there is not; but what IS there, is more focus on his time in Patagonia, which surprisingly covered 2 years - nearly half the 5 year trip ... which is not apparent in the 'Voyage' (in my faulty memory) ... And the Beagle only spent 5 weeks in the Galapagos, but that short stay provided most of the hard evidence which fuelled Darwin's later theorising.

   Further visits to N.Z., Australia and Tasmania showed the devastation to the indiginous wildlife caused by introduced species, which prompted more thoughts on survival. Had more time been available in Mauritius or Madagascar, his theorising might have been more concentrated and conclusions derived earlier (but of course, 20/20 hindsight always provides the best view!).

   Mr. Keynes provides a modern perspective on the scientific method of the young (23) Darwin, especially in his noting exactly which strata fossils were found, and his meticulously accurate un-biased descriptions of specimens (not a predominant trait in the scientific community at that time!). Particular focus is placed on his geological and fossil studies - largely glossed over by Darwin himself - revealing some deep background thinking which was formative in constructing his Theory of Evolution. The penultimste chapter reveals how Darwin spent the 20-odd years leading up to the publication of 'Origin'; how his Father and reading Malthus simulated his imagination; how his friendship with Lyell and Wallace proved crucial in the book's publication. It also underlines the idea that luck, having independant means (something denied to Wallace), and being in the right place at the right time (like Capt. Cook) probably had more to do with his success than his brilliance did.
   In a touching final chapter we feel the love and friendship that grew between FitzRoy and Darwin during those 5 years on board, FitzRoy's subsequent jobs, then his final descent into depression and suicide..

   Not an easy read; Mr. Keynes' writing style is not as fluid or easy on the eye as some other writers in the popular science arena, and some of the attached letters are hard going. I found myself frequently re-reading passages to ensure that I had the correct gist of the text.
   However, that apart, this is an illuminating, fresh look at what was probably the most important voyage - ever - for philosophical science.****




5. Mr. Keynes (great-grandson of Charles Darwin) re-plays the voyage of the Beagle, with some interesting back-up material. We read of Darwin's early life and his family connections, and the Beagle's Capt. FitzRoy's interest in returning to Tierra del Fuego. Included are plenty of extracts from others' letters and logs, plus many original drawings & paintings. And there is a nice touch; at the top of each page is the month and year, so you are continually reminded of just how much time has passed.

   Having read and enjoyed Darwin's 'Voyage of the Beagle', I was not expecting much in the way of startling new evidence re his discoveries & theories. And there is not; but what IS there, is more focus on his time in Patagonia, which surprisingly covered 2 years - nearly half the 5 year trip ... which is not apparent in the 'Voyage' (in my faulty memory) ... And the Beagle only spent 5 weeks in the Galapagos, but that short stay provided most of the hard evidence which fuelled Darwin's later theorising.

   Further visits to N.Z., Australia and Tasmania showed the devastation to the indiginous wildlife caused by introduced species, which prompted more thoughts on survival. Had more time been available in Mauritius or Madagascar, his theorising might have been more concentrated and conclusions derived earlier (but of course, 20/20 hindsight always provides the best view!).

   Mr. Keynes provides a modern perspective on the scientific method of the young (23) Darwin, especially in his noting exactly which strata fossils were found, and his meticulously accurate un-biased descriptions of specimens (not a predominant trait in the scientific community at that time!). Particular focus is placed on his geological and fossil studies - largely glossed over by Darwin himself - revealing some deep background thinking which was formative in constructing his Theory of Evolution. The penultimste chapter reveals how Darwin spent the 20-odd years leading up to the publication of 'Origin'; how his Father and reading Malthus simulated his imagination; how his friendship with Lyell and Wallace proved crucial in the book's publication. It also underlines the idea that luck, having independant means (something denied to Wallace), and being in the right place at the right time (like Capt. Cook) probably had more to do with his success than his brilliance did.
   In a touching final chapter we feel the love and friendship that grew between FitzRoy and Darwin during those 5 years on board, FitzRoy's subsequent jobs, then his final descent into depression and suicide..

   Not an easy read; Mr. Keynes' writing style is not as fluid or easy on the eye as some other writers in the popular science arena, and some of the attached letters are hard going. I found myself frequently re-reading passages to ensure that I had the correct gist of the text.
   However, that apart, this is an illuminating, fresh look at what was probably the most important voyage - ever - for philosophical science.

No comments about Cyborg Lives?: Women's Technobiographies.

1 comments about The Metamorphosis of a Geophysicist : An Autobiography.

1. John Herman takes the reader from the moment of his birth, through his mix of public and private schooling, military service, college days, family life, and scientific and business careers, finishing with a peek at his current life in retirement in Florida. John's early life was difficult. His father was killed when he was just four years old, and his mother had few skills to earn a living. As she bounced from job to job, place to place, man to man, John was often shuffled off to live with relatives or at private schools, until his mother failed to send money to pay for food and clothes, or to cover the tuition and board. As many young men have done, he joined the Navy, with the hopes of changing his fortune. His superiors recognized his exceptional intelligence, but were not pleased with his frequent fighting, nor his absences without leave. As unlikely at it might seem with today's liberal treatment of offenders, he was punished by confinement, with a daily ration of bread and water! He probably is the only member of the National Academy of Sciences that can claim that experience. Herman left the military service and used the G.I. Bill to help him make it through college, then found a civil service job, as a civilian employee of the Navy. Before long he moved to private industry, and later, even started his own company (more than once). His research focused on problems that mostly concerned government agencies, including the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). He made significant contributions to such important scientific and military problems as global communications - particularly to the disruption of radio communications by nuclear detonations and solar storms. He co-authored the book 'Sun, Weather, and Climate,' which was first published by NASA, then reprinted by Dover Press, and was even translated into Russian and Chinese. Most readers will find the physics of Herman's research a bit over their heads, but he does a good job of explaining the applications, which were important to the nation. The quality of John Herman's scientific work was ultimately recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences. 'The Metamorphosis of a Geophysicist' is an entertaining and inspiring book. The conversational style of Herman's writing makes the reader comfortable, as one might be in talking with a life long friend, whether he is sharing his exhilaration in making a scientific discovery or the emotional devastation associated with the suicide of his son. While it is paperback, it is well bound, there are only a few typographical errors, and it contains a number of interesting photographs. I highly recommend it. Bill Carter, Co-author of 'Latitude,How American Astronomers Solved the Mystery of Variation'

No comments about Nightmare Uncovering the Strange 56 Personalities of Nancy Lynn Gooch.

No comments about Fine Wines and Fish Oil: The Life of Hugh Macdonald Sinclair.

No comments about A to Z of Women in Science and Math (A to Z of Women).

1 comments about R. L. Moore: Mathematician & Teacher (Spectrum Series).

1. The name of R. L. Moore appears throughout the mathematical literature, primarily for the Moore method of teaching, secondarily for the achievements of his mathematical progeny and thirdly for his mathematical output. Since his output was considerable, this order says something for the significance of the first two. The Moore method of instruction involved no textbooks, no lectures and no conferring between the students. The naïve person would argue that it is inappropriate to refer to it as a method of teaching. However, it did involve a great deal of instructor involvement, largely directing the students by asking appropriate questions and critiquing student work. As would be expected with any unusual teaching strategy, the students who succeeded praised it and those who didn't generally have a negative opinion. The best way to evaluate it is to examine how well his students did in their profession, and in that area, he has no peer. Three of his students served as president of the American Mathematical Society and three others were vice-president. Five of his students served as president of the Mathematical Association of America, which makes him the equivalent of the founder of a political dynasty.
   While Moore was indeed brilliant in his work, he was also very cantankerous. He had strong opinions on many things outside of mathematics, and he did not hesitate to make them known when he felt it necessary. Being a man of the south, he was opposed to many of the liberal trends of the late fifties and sixties, putting his arguments forward in a states rights context. The story of his last years as a professor and how the administration tried to remove him is amazing. There was point/counterpoint, devious manipulation and some of the most obfuscated doubletalk that has ever appeared in an academic setting. Moore was also in the middle of many of the internal political battles that took place at the University of Texas, and some of them had national ramifications.
   R. L. Moore was a powerful figure in the American mathematical community of the twentieth century. He is arguably the most powerful that was not imported, and he was involved in research, training high quality mathematicians and fought many political battles against anyone who disagreed with him. This biography is an honest appraisal of the man and the many ways he impacted the mathematical profession.
   
   Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.