by Edward Edelson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1998
This latest addition to the Portraits in Science series is somewhat disjointed and unfocused. Edelson attempts to cover the lives of two extraordinary scientists from very different backgrounds who came together for a brief period of time (three years) and were considered the first to describe the structure of DNA in 1953. James Watson, an American biochemist from Chicago, met Francis Crick, an older British physicist, at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University in England in 1951. Both brilliant, their genius was in their collaboration in “determining the structure of the molecule that made up human genes, deoxyribonucleic acid, abbreviated as DNA.” The tone of the book is both direct and complex, e.g., “Now Watson and Crick had their model: two DNA chains, coiled as alpha helixes 20 angstrom units in diameter, making a complete turn every 34 angstrom units, with the bases in each chain 3.4 angstrom units apart.” An already complicated portrait of Watson and Crick is further diffused by sidebars on the topics of Mendelian genetics, the Waring Blendor, solving the Sickle-cell puzzle and the first cloned mammals. Well-versed scientists may find this volume interesting; however, others will find it just too difficult. (b&w photos and drawings, chronology, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-19-511451-5
Page Count: 110
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998
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by Susan Goldman Rubin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1999
This oversized, handsome book is an excellent introduction to one of America’s great photographers and her work, which influenced generations of others who followed her craft. Rubin (Toilets, Toasters, and Telephones, 1998, etc.) covers Bourke- White’s life chronologically, from her youth, when she wanted nothing more than to be a herpetologist, through her college years, when she first took a photography class, to her subsequent struggle to find her place in a largely male-dominated profession, photojournalism. By the time she was 30, Bourke-White had made her mark, and was able to earn a handsome living as she traveled the world, not only consorting with presidents and princes, but photographing some of the planet’s most wretched places, including concentration camps. Some of her most powerful photographs illustrate the book, and also give an insight into era in which she earned her place as an artist. Rubin makes clear that Bourke-White’s reputation continues to grow, providing researchers and browsers alike with a warm, admiring glimpse of a woman and her times. (notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8109-4381-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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by Susan Goldman Rubin ; illustrated by Richie Pope
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by Livia Bitton-Jackson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999
In a sequel to the well-received I Have Lived a Thousand Years (1997, not reviewed), Bitton-Jackson writes of her life as Elli Friedmann in 1945, when she, her brother, and mother were liberated from Auschwitz and sent back to their former home in Czechoslovakia. Finding only a shell of the place they had known, they struggled to rebuild some semblance of life and waited for the return of Elli’s father. When they realized he was gone for good, their only hope through all their efforts was the prospect of obtaining papers that would allow them to emigrate to America. Through the long years that they waited, Elli found work teaching, and helping other Jews escape to Palestine, a dangerous and illegal undertaking. When they finally arrived in New York City, relatives welcomed them; an epilogue collapses most of the author’s adult life into a few paragraphs so readers will know the directions her life took. Interesting and inspiring, this story makes painfully clear how the fight to survive extended well beyond the war years; the discomforts and obstacles the author faced and articulates in such riveting detail will make readers squirm at the security and ease of their own lives. (Memoir. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-82026-7
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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