Add to the genre of books on the sociology of women in science this first-rate compendium of bios of women who got the Big One— and a few who came close. Some are familiar (Marie Curie, who got it twice) and some have been covered in recent books (Rita Levi- Montalcini—In Praise of Imperfection, 1988). What's gratifying is that Bertsch (physics writer-editor for the Encyclopaedia Brittanica) neither preaches nor screeches but allows the facts- -documented in interviews with and in records of the women—to speak for themselves. The stories begin in Europe with the Curies in France and with Lise Meitner and Emmy Noether (probably the most distinguished woman mathematician in history) in Germany, the latter two suffering the double blow of being Jews as well as women. Bertsch then reviews a second generation of greats, including Gerty Cori (enzymology), Irene Curie, Maria Goeppert-Mayer (nuclear shell theory), Dorothy Hodgkin (X-ray crystallography), Chien-Shiung Wu (nuclear physics), Levi-Montalcini, and Rosalyn Yallow (inventor of the radioimmunoassay). The younger generation is represented by Jocelyn Bell (pulsars), who, in contrast to the others, changed careers. The common struggles are with male prejudice; barriers prohibiting women from attending university; prohibitions against hiring, nepotism, whatever—conditions that left many of these women spending their lives as unpaid volunteers or lowly associates. But the other commonalities are passion, energy, a conviction of intellectual strength, and sheer joy in doing science. Many of the women were strongly encouraged by their fathers or by a strong belief in learning. And no stereotypes prevail: Female genius can be accompanied by good looks, gourmet tastes, and wealth—or by a single-minded devotion to science with not a care about appearance or worldly goods, just as with men. Gratifying reading for women of all ages—and would that men would read it as well. (Twelve pages of photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992
ISBN: 1-55972-146-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Birch Lane Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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