SCENE OF CHANGE
By
A fruitless memoir by a mathematician turned organization scientist (30 years with the Rockefeller Foundation) who has attempted to combine an autobiography with a sweeping overview of all the scientific and technological change that has occured in his 75-year lifespan. Unfortunately, Dr. Weaver's reminiscences are quaintly -- but tooth-grindingly -- dull (""The first year of our marriage was as idyllic as the storybooks say it ought to be... We both hugely enjoyed the privilege of attending the luxurious Presbyterian Church... where we heard truly wonderful sermons."") And his survey of advances in science is too superficial (three paragraphs on chemistry, six on biology) to matter. What can be said of a writer who not only uses his birthdate as a watershed in the history of everything from astrophysics to zoopathology, but who also soberly notes that ""Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer was first brewed at Milwaukee when I Was one year old""? Only that as any math major knows, n(O) = O.