Dyson (Physics/Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies; Weapons and Hope, 1984, etc.) cleans house with this stimulating collection of 35 articles, lectures, and essays on science and the future of humanity—less focused, by necessity, than his earlier works, but with something to satisfy every Dyson fan. The author's love of both science and literature has flourished during his long career—as evidenced by these compelling discussions of such wide-ranging topics as the underlying forces that guide scientific research; the future of physics; science education for children and adults; the ritualization of nuclear defense; the effects of increased globalization on human evolution; the interactive relationship between pollution and vegetation; and the value and potential of the emerging Gaia philosophy. Using as bookends his own first attempt at science fiction at the age of nine (inspired by the close approach near Earth in 1931 of the asteroid Eros), and a series of lectures on the ``ecology'' of scientific projects, Dyson re-creates bits and pieces of a six- decades-long train of thought on many of the important scientific discoveries of the 20th century; how the sort of research that leads to such discoveries is best encouraged; and how scientific breakthroughs can best benefit humanity. Much else is tossed in, from more technical articles written for Scientific American to book reviews, personal recollections, and predictions for the future. Nevertheless, no matter what the topic, Dyson's passion for humanity, his guarded hopes for the future, and his belief in the saving grace of the scientific pursuit of truth illuminate his writing. Together, these essays deliver the intellectual and moral punch that Dyson's readers expect, and offer an edifying wrap-up of an exceptional scientific and literary career.
Pub Date: July 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-679-41307-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not only the definitive life, but a tour de force by a master.
One of history’s most prolific inventors receives his due from one of the world’s greatest biographers.
Pulitzer and National Book Award winner Morris (This Living Hand and Other Essays, 2012, etc.), who died this year, agrees that Thomas Edison (1847-1931) almost certainly said, “genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,” and few readers of this outstanding biography will doubt that he was the quintessential workaholic. Raised in a middle-class Michigan family, Edison displayed an obsessive entrepreneurial spirit from childhood. As an adolescent, he ran a thriving business selling food and newspapers on a local railroad. Learning Morse code, he spent the Civil War as a telegrapher, impressing colleagues with his speed and superiors with his ability to improve the equipment. In 1870, he opened his own shop to produce inventions to order. By 1876, he had money to build a large laboratory in New Jersey, possibly the world’s first industrial research facility. Never a loner, Edison hired talented people to assist him. The dazzling results included the first commercially successful light bulb for which, Morris reminds readers, he invented the entire system: dynamo, wires, transformers, connections, and switches. Critics proclaim that Edison’s innovations (motion pictures, fluoroscope, rechargeable batteries, mimeograph, etc.) were merely improvements on others’ work, but this is mostly a matter of sour grapes. Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone was a clunky, short-range device until it added Edison’s carbon microphone. And his phonograph flabbergasted everyone. Humans had been making images long before Daguerre, but no one had ever reproduced sound. Morris rivetingly describes the personalities, business details, and practical uses of Edison’s inventions as well as the massive technical details of years of research and trial and error for both his triumphs and his failures. For no obvious reason, the author writes in reverse chronological order, beginning in 1920, with each of the seven following chapters backtracking a decade. It may not satisfy all readers, but it works.
Not only the definitive life, but a tour de force by a master.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8129-9311-0
Page Count: 800
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
A book that describes what kangaroos do and offers unusually beautiful pictures of them doing it. One old male bending forward while scratching his back looks like nothing else found in nature- -except maybe a curmudgeonly old baseball manager with arthritis in the late innings of another losing game (in fact, baseball players would appear to be the only animals who scratch themselves as much as kangaroos do—bellies, underarms, Iwago captures every permutation of scratching). At other times, they look preternaturally graceful and serene. Some of Iwago's (Mitsuaki Iwago's Whales, not reviewed) photographic compositions flirt with anthropomorphism and slyly play to our urge to see ourselves in the animals. But kangaroos are so singular that there's always something about the cant of a head or the drape of a limb that makes you think you flatter yourself that there is any kinship. They remain wondrously different.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8118-0785-1
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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