A mixed bag of essays on 12 great scientists, derived from a series
of radio shows hosted by the author. Brags (The Sword and the
Miracle, 1997, etc.), host of the British program Start the Week,
combines a lot of direct dialogue from his radio series with
background material and chronologies of the lives of his esteemed
scientists. The book assembles its list of greats in chronological
order, beginning with Archimedes and ending with Francis Crick and
James Watson, the researchers who uncovered the double-helix
structure of DNA. Each essay begins with a few of the author's
thoughts, followed in short order by sound bites from the guests on
his show - themselves leading contemporary scientists such as
Richard Dawkins, Paul Davies, and Roger Penrose. Their insights
range from the philosophical (if Einstein had not lived, would
someone else have discovered relativity?) to the apocryphal
(Archimedes shouting "Eureka? and jumping from the bath). At times
in the expository material, Brags likes to dramatize, pointing out
for example that " . . . if you get [your hypothesis] wrong, the
fate of intellectuals in China is pretty gruesome. Lots of
castration, lots of people being killed. . . ." One guest recounts
Newton performing some vision experiments by sticking things into
his own eye. While describing the driven nature of Marie Curie,
Brags also points out the deep love she had for her husband. After
Pierre Curie was run over by a horse-drawn carriage, a devastated
Marie wrote that "he is gone for ever, leaving me nothing but
desolation and despair." And Einstein, according to one of the
radio show's guests, deliberately played upon his image as an
eccentric scientist. In the end, Brags and his guests examine, with
diametrically opposing viewpoints, whether all the fundamental
discoveries in science have already happened. A series of
meandering discussions of great scientists that is two parts
Charlie Rose to one part Bill Maher. (Kirkus Reviews)
The fascinating story of science unfolds in this account of the
lives and extraordinary discoveries of twelve of its greatest
figures - Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Lavoisier, Faraday, Darwin,
Poincare, Freud, Einstein, Marie Curie and Crick and Watson.
Exploring their impact and legacy with leading scientists of today
including Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, Lewis Wolpert, Susan
Greenfield, Roger Penrose and Richard Dawkins, Melvyn Bragg
illuminates the core issues of science past and present, and
conveys the excitement and importance of the scientific quest.
General
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