healers.
A briskly surgical removal of the harmful nodes of legend infesting medical science.
Nuland continues, in this study of the body’s major organs, the myth-busting rejection of magical higher powers that inspired his National Book Award-winning How We Die (1993) and The Wisdom of the Body (1997). His hysteria-ectomy cuts away millennia of superstition about the humors, elements, and so on, while recalling medical history’s progress from belief in the unseen to belief only in the seeable: "Since Western medicine's origins in ancient Greece some twenty-five hundred years ago, the perspective of its researchers and practitioners has been that the processes of both normal and diseased physiology must be visualizable in order to be understood in any realistic way." Nuland seasons the journey from the ancients' insistence on metaphysical theories of cosmic unity to Francis Bacon's verifiable "scientific method" (still ignored by holistic medicine) with his personal experiences in treating organ disorders. When the left lateral lobe of a patient's liver improbably regenerated, Nuland ascribes it simply to "dumb luck." He is moved, however, by the joy of a spouse to whom he gave an overly optimistic prognosis. The skeptical author feels that religion has an honorable place in the hospital, but only at bedside. Many readers will agree that the stomach is not the seat of the soul, that the spleen does not produce melancholy nor the uterus hysteria. On the other hand, the surgeon's scalpel may be too quick to scrape away mysterious but verifiable data on topics like astrology and prayer's effect on health. And while it’s true that no one should identify the heart with the locus of feelings, it’s equally true that ancient writers never used the term for that four-chambered pump in the thorax as a synonym for the throbbing, trembling berth of emotions. Mysteries shmysteries! Just let articulate atheists and miraculous doctors like Nuland keep on extending the lives of the faith
healers.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2000
ISBN: 0-684-85486-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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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