Proceed with caution—enjoy the folklore but beware the folly.
“No life form has had greater impact upon this planet than the human male,” claims Morris in this follow-up to The Naked Woman (2005, etc.)
The author begins with a discussion of the primeval male, who honed his skills, took risks and indulged his curiosity, eventually evolving into a “startlingly efficient prey-killer.” In this manner, females, “too valuable reproductively to be risked in the chase,” became specialized as “cautious, caring, maternally efficient individuals.” The man-the-hunter image still persists today, writes Morris, in competitive sports and games, muscle-building and collecting hobbies, along with the sexual strategies that allow for pair-bonding but also for sowing one’s seeds when opportunity knocks. Following this chapter on evolutionary processes, the author devotes much of the rest of the text to the specifics of male body parts. Here Morris covers body language, clothing styles and adornments that males have adopted to endow body parts with symbolic meaning and significance, much of it gender-associated. Some of this is intriguing (the contradictions that allow both baldness and hairiness to be signs of virility), some is minutiae (the free-type ear lobe is twice as common as the attached type), much is folklore (a precious metal earring would distract the devil from entering the body through the ear) and some is simply Morris’s penchant for Guinness-type records (who has the longest nose, pigtail, etc.) There are neat nuggets like “playing a hunch”—which refers to “making a play at the gaming tables after touching [a] hunchback [person]”—but there is also insufficient information. Weighing the pros and cons of male circumcision, for example, Morris makes no mention that the procedure can lower the odds of contracting HIV. Finally, the author advances the bizarre theory that homosexuality is the result of boys never outgrowing the middle childhood years when girls are shunned.
Proceed with caution—enjoy the folklore but beware the folly.Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-38530-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2009
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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