A thoughtful and informative account of a scientific giant.
A biography focuses on one of the American physicists who confirmed the existence of neutrinos.
In 1956, Fred Reines and Clyde Cowan collaboratively made a discovery that changed the landscape of modern physics. They proved the existence of the neutrino, a subatomic particle so elusive Reines called it “ghostly.” The search for the neutrino was born out of the problem of understanding the decay of neutrons in the nuclei of radioactive atoms. How can a neutron, which has no electrical charge, get converted into an electron and proton, both of which are charged? Some speculated there must be an undetected particle in the mix that has no charge itself and no (or very low) mass. Reines and Cowan devised a way to demonstrate the existence of such particles, which are paradoxically everywhere but all but invisible. For this groundbreaking achievement, Reines would eventually share the Nobel Prize in physics with Martin L. Perl in 1995. (Cowan died in 1974.) Cole chronicles Reines’ extraordinary accomplishment in all its iterations. At one point, Reines thought a nuclear explosion could expose the hidden neutrino, a brilliant, if impractical, hypothesis. The author also charts Reines’ early life (Growing up in a “household environment in which erudition and accomplishment were so highly prized might have intimidated some youngsters”) and an eventfully distinguished career that included working on the Manhattan Project. Cole deftly produces a “mixture of memoir and biography”—he is the younger cousin of the physicist—and, as a result, the entire work is infused with a spirit of loving admiration. Fully accounting for Reines’ brilliance requires a deep dive into some prohibitively technical subject matter, but the author manages it with remarkably accessible lucidity. In addition, he paints a full, rich portrait of Reines’ life that is not merely a catalog of professional achievements, chronicling his musical interests, his evolving thoughts on his own Jewish identity, and his admirable dedication to teaching. For all of his analytic rigor, Reines was at heart an idealist, a feature Cole vividly highlights: “Fred’s belief that science could eventually reveal the underpinnings of all physical mysteries is truly a matter of faith. His idealization of science was rooted in his teenage supposition nearly 40 years earlier that science could also end discrimination and injustice.”
A thoughtful and informative account of a scientific giant.Pub Date: April 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-981-12-3105-6
Page Count: 300
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Co
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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