Book Description

The human brain may be the single most complex object in the universe, and one of the most difficult to access. But in the nineteenth century, ever-curious men of science set out to penetrate the dark mysteries of the mind, searching for answers to the question: What makes one man a genius and another a criminal? In short time, their search became a magnificent obsession.

In Postcards from the Brain Museum, author Brian Burrell traces the history of this fascination as he tells the incredible true story of science’s attempt to locate the anatomical signs of brilliance, madness, and cruelty. In elegant prose, Burrell focuses on the posthumous sagas of brains belonging to notorious criminals and to such luminary leaders and thinkers as Albert Einstein, Walt Whitman, and Vladimir Lenin, revealing the peculiar mania of the scientists who dissected the specimens and the sometimes cruel fates of the brains themselves.

As Burrell follows this quixotic trail of geniuses and madmen, traveling around the globe to visit the collections of brains now gathering dust in their jars, he struggles to locate the point at which science begins and obsession leaves off. In the process, he unearths a forgotten byway in the history of science—a mesmerizing tale of colorful eccentrics bent on laying bare the secrets of the human mind. The final result is an enlightening account that is sometimes ghoulish, often bizarre, and thoroughly compelling.

Book Description

Who dug those canals on Mars? What was the biblical Star of Bethlehem? Were the pyramids built by extraterrestrials?

From the ancients who charted the heavens to Star Trek, The X-Files, and Apollo 13, outer space has intrigued people through the ages. Yet most of us look up at the night sky and feel totally in the dark when it comes to the basic facts about the universe.

Kenneth C. Davis steps into that void with a lively and readable guide to the discoveries, theories, and real people who have shed light on the mysteries and wonders of the cosmos. Discover why Einstein was such a genius, the truth behind a blue moon or two, the amazing secrets of Stonehenge, and even how one great astronomer lost his nose.

With the fun question-and-answer format that has appealed to the millions of readers of his bestselling Don't Much About® series, you'll be taking off on an exciting armchair exploration of the solar system, the Milky Way, and beyond.

Reviews (11)

For the enthusiast
Did you sign up for Astronomy 101 in college, and drop it like a hot potato when you found out how much of it was physics and math? Were you just gung-ho to look at the stars and learn about the planets, and do you get a kick out of all those terms they're always mentioning on Star Trek -- the ones that are real? Then this is the book for you. It's not for the serious astronomer, nor for the in-depth student. It's just what the title promises: a book of facts and explanations for the person who gets a kick out of outer space, and always wanted to know more. Sure, there are some chapters that are a little dry, but it's all a matter of taste. Definitely recommended for both teen and adult space enthusiasts.

Good Introduction to the Universe
As in the other books in this series, Davis attempts to inform his readers about elements that we "never learned" in school. Whether it's history, geography, or the Bible, Davis always illuminates areas that people THINK they know about, but don't. This work is no exception. In his standard question and answer format, Davis covers 'The Universe' from the beginnings of astronomy, to the 'Big Bang' theory (not what most people think it is), to the question of 'are we alone' in the universe? He also includes scientific milestones, mostly of astronomy, that are enlightening - and at times humorous: Wan Hu attempted the first manned flight in 1500 by tying 47 rockets to a chair; "the device explodes, killing Wan Hu, who acted as pilot." (43) On a more serious note, Davis also outlines Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Bruno, and others who challenged the accepted 'everything revolves around us - literally' mentality, and sometimes paid for these challenges with excommunication, ridicule, and grievous bodily harm.
In terms of helpful information, Davis provides a planet-by-planet description of our solar system. In the light of recent unmanned journeys to Mars, it's interesting to compare the theories of life on the 'red planet' with what current events may bring. The insertion of cartoons depicting the space race, space travel, and other related issues is another good historical context for the book's information, as well as breaking up the sometimes dense scientific material. For a non-expert, this book is a great introduction to 'The Universe', and is second, in my opinion, to Davis' best work in this genre, his original 'Don't Know Much About History'. Well worth reading.

Davis Earns Gold Star for Space "Don't Know Much" Book
The extreme numbers measuring temperature, distance, and light years are incomprehensible after awhile (Everett Dirksen's quote about billions adding up to real money is adapted here effectively). Several passages need rereading to understand fully, not from Ken Davis' writing (which remains concise despite some shoehorned pop culture references) as from the subject of an ever-expanding, changing universe being difficult to get your arms around to start with. Moreover, a book describing awe-inspiring star and planet activity could provide better illustrations and photos than some old New Yorker cartoons.

That said, Ken Davis' "Don't Know Much" template has allowed him to write a best-selling series of books introducing and explaining everything from geography to the Bible to the Civil War, plus a separate children's book series and popular Web site. "Don't Know Much About The Universe" continued his successful series. Davis allows you to see and understand the universe's wonder while detailing the human drama it often inspired.

In doing so, Davis knows when to express opinion (giving his on John Glenn's 1997 return to space and the hidden agenda in 1986's Challenger tragedy) and when to stand back while offering many.(His final chapter, "The Old One's Secrets," deftly describes theories surrounding how the universe began while continuing to consider Creator involvement. He also however, drops in references to "Oklahoma!" and Gertrude Stein.)

As with his other books, Davis tells his story as a series of answered questions covering everything from life on distant planets to new understandings of scientific icons (Galileo, Werner von Braun, Albert Einstein). Throughout "Don't Know Much," Davis effectively describes opposition these and other astronomy heroes faced from government (investigated Einstein, forced accused war criminal Arthur Rudolph from the country), Roman Catholicism (which cleared Gallileo 10 years ago for writings nearly 400 years before) and even rivalry within its own ranks (Issac Newton's story here is particularly instructive.) Davis also charts a timeline of astronomy's historic events and provides a lengthy bibliography and list of recommended magazines and Web sites.

Somehow amidst the star-struck name dropping (plentiful but which, to be fair, lightened and even explained more difficult concepts), Davis somehow missed a quote from the rock band the Eagles: "Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky/you can see the stars but still not see the light." For anyone looking at the stars inspired to know more of their origins and activity, "Don't Know Much" provides a illuminating, compact look at an ever expanding subject.

Good, But Not Great
Overall, I liked this book more than many of the other reviewers. Sure, there are some factual errors (enough to drop my rating down to 4 stars), but Davis gets his facts right 9 times out of 10. The material is broken up in a very logical manner, and the questions Davis chooses to pose, then answer, form a cohesive overview of the subject.

I think anyone with enough interest in the subject to consider reading this book will come away fairly satisfied with what is delivered. Recommended.

Good Starter
Enough said. It's a good start to learning about the universe. It doesn't tell you everything you might want to know but it makes it easy to understand, while giving you a overview of the history of astronomy, how the calenders came to be and the basics of the cosmos. It should give you enough information to move on to something more involved on the subject. Overall, this is the book for those who didn't ever care about physics, and most likely never will. But will give you enough information, that you can learn and remember. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a lively and compact biography of P. M. S. Blackett, one of the most brilliant and controversial physicists of the twentieth century. Nobel laureate, leader of operational research during the Second World War, scientific advisor to the British government, President of the Royal Society, member of the House of Lords, Blackett was also denounced as a Stalinist apologist for opposing American and British development of atomic weapons, subjected to FBI surveillance, and named as a fellow traveler on George Orwell's infamous list.

His service as a British Royal Navy officer in the First World War prepared Blackett to take a scientific advisory role on military matters in the mid-1930s. An international leader in the experimental techniques of the cloud chamber, he was a pioneer in the application of magnetic evidence for the geophysical theory of continental drift. But his strong political stands made him a polarizing influence, and the decisions he made capture the complexity of living a prominent twentieth-century scientific life.

Book Description

Amazon.com

Were Victorian explorers tools of imperialism? Accomplices in conquest and genocide? Well,perhaps, and even probably. The 19th-century English explorers who sought the origins of the Nile and theheights of the Himalayas saw themselves as agents of excellence, paragons of Victorian values, and theywere well aware that they opened the door for compatriots who traveled not for knowledge but for wealth.Peter Raby examines the lives and work of the great Victorian peripatetic scientists, defending them fromtheir modern detractors and highlighting the accomplishments of those who climbed mountains in search oftea and crossed jungles in quest of orangutans and cities of gold. Some were hapless, like the snakebitHenry Walter Bates; others were fearless, like Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, the archetype ofadventure. All were interesting, and Raby does a fine job of presenting them to us. ... Read more

Book Description

InDiscovering Birds, Paul Lawrence Farber rejects the view that eighteenth-century natural history disappeared with the rise of nineteenth-century biology. In this penetrating case study of the history of ornithology, Farber demonstrates interesting continuities: as natural history evolved into individual sciences (botany, geology, and zoology) and specialties (entomology and ichthyology), the study of birds emerged as a distinct scientific discipline that remained observational and taxonomic. Ornithologists continued to see one of their primary tasks as classification, and they found no need to alter their approach.

Their efforts were greatly aided at the end of the eighteenth century as colonization and exploration brought new dataa plethora of exotic and previously unknown birds. By the mid-nineteenth century, ornithology had become a scientific discipline with international experts, a large empirical base, and a rigorous methodology of watching and cataloging.

Book Description

From Galileo's analysis of motion to the theories of evolution and relativity, Charles Gillispie takes us on a masterly tour of the world of scientific ideas. The history of modern science is portrayed here as the development of objectivity through the study of nature.

Book Description

On February 1, 2003, the unthinkable happened. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated 37 miles above Texas, seven brave astronauts were killed and America's space program, always an eyeblink from disaster, suffered its second catastrophic in-flight failure. Unlike the Challenger disaster 17 years earlier, Columbia's destruction left the nation one failure away from the potential abandonment of human space exploration. Media coverage in the immediate aftermath focused on the possible cause of the disaster, and on the nation's grief.But the full human story, and the shocking details of NASA's crucial mistakes, have never been told -- until now.

Based on dozens of exclusive interviews, never-before-published documents and recordings of key meetings obtained by the authors, Comm Check takes the reader inside the conference rooms and offices where NASA's best and brightest managed the nation's multi-billion-dollar shuttle program -- and where they failed to recognize the signs of an impending disaster. It is the story of a space program pushed to the brink of failure by relentless political pressure, shrinking budgets and flawed decision making. The independent investigation into the disaster uncovered why Columbia broke apart in the sky above Texas. Comm Check brings that story to life with the human drama behind the tragedy.

Michael Cabbage and William Harwood, two of America's most respected space journalists, are veterans of all but a handful of NASA's 113 shuttle missions. Tapping a network of sources and bringing a combined three decades of experience to bear, the authors provide a rare glimpse into NASA's inner circles, chronicling the agency's most devastating failure and the challenges that face NASA as it struggles to return America to space. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Very enlightening
I have no reservations in recommending this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Columbia disaster. This book isn't "technical," in the sense of giving lots of equations etc. Rather it gives a thorough non-technical, managerial, and cultural description of events.

All of this book's sections are well written, and fit into a cohesive whole. There's the required section describing how things unfolded on that awful morning. The authors also describe the doomed members of Columbia's crew, and the unusually long period of training and delays they had to go through to get to space in the first place. This gives a glimpse into the space station and shuttle politics within NASA, and also gives a real human touch to the tragedy. Esp. with details such as Rick Husband's decision to make Kalpana Chawla the flight engineer, helping her to redeem her career as an astronaut after an earlier mistake.

There's background from previous flights to set the stage, esp. the near-catastrophic foam strike on Atlantis, 2 flights before Columbia. This section shows NASA's inadequate response on a past flight, which then leads into the description of the debris assessment team's work during Columbia's mission. I found this section particularly enlightening, and I could relate very much to it, working in a large organization myself. All too understandable, and thus even more frustrating.

The work of the CAIB is described more in broad-brush strokes, since it took place over a much longer period. But its points are well taken. NASA's organization repeated the mistakes of Challenger, despite some very good work on some other safety concerns with the shuttle. The author's give a blow-by-blow account of how Columbia came apart in this section, which is gripping reading.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a great deal, esp. the sections on the work of the debris assessment team, and the account of how Columbia came apart. The authors' epilogue on the need for a vision at NASA is also well taken. Thoroughly recommended.

"No, not again! It can't be!"
A great first telling of the Columbia disaster. The authors interviewed a score of persons involved at some point with the shuttle program, and seemingly spared no one's feelings, regardless of the access they were given. We share the sinking dread of the junior engineers as they watch the foam strike, and are then denied photos of the orbiter by senior management from military surveillance vehicles. And then comes the awful moment, to observers across the country, in Houston, and at NASA, when disaster strikes...

The final report of the investigative board saw little hope for NASA to effectively manage the shuttle program at the levels of quality control that the program required. So the macro problem was not a case of sub-par people doing sub-par work, but of normal people doing normal work. For the most complex machine ever invented, normal wasn't good enough. Bureaucratic inertia would build up over time, trumping any system of feedback and cross-checks. People in any organization eventually come to see what they expect to see, swamping the efforts of those individuals who strive to "pound a problem flat."

Ultimately of course, if everyone is to blame then no one is to blame. Every snowflake in an avalanche can plead "not guilty". That, plus the creeping obsolescence of the shuttle design and components led the investigative board to recommend replacing the shuttle altogether. Does this mean the end of manned space flight from America? I personally hope so. We've learned so much more from projects like Voyager, Hubble, Chandra, and the like than from using the shuttle to put some elementary school's bean sprout dixie cup gardens into orbit. But I suspect that the general public will not support the space program unless they have live astronauts to cheer for. So, who knows what will come next. For now, this book is a thorough, and thought-provoking account of what everyone hopes will be the final shuttle disaster.

SpaceFan
I just finished reading Comm Check and while I found little new beyond the news reports, I thought it was an excellent narrative about the Columbia accident. I admit I was skeptical about a book written by news reporters because they have a tendency to sensationalize things to the point that it is no longer factually accurate. However this was not the case with Cabbage and Harwood, a pleasant surprise. I would highly recommend this book.

Well written fact-based book
"Comm Check" does an excellent job of telling the Columbia accident by pulling from many sources. The story covers from the initial idea to send an Israeli into orbit to Congress cutting NASA's 2004 budget shortly after the accident report was released. The authors save their opinions on the space program and its future for the ten-page epilogue.

NASA's conflicting mandate
I thought the most important revelation in this book was the space industry's inability to design a replacement for the shuttle that can reach space cheaply and routinely. It sounds like we might simply lack the technology at this point in history.

As the book points out, the shuttle is a dangerous, expensive, experimental vehicle. To build and operate a space station we need a cheap, reliable "space truck". Otherwise, inevitable delays for vehicle repairs will fatally disrupt the station's construction and operation schedules. That is exactly what NASA was trying to avoid when they decided to continue launching after a nearly disastrous foam strike (during the October 2002 launch of Atlantis). Continuing to launch RISKED a major setback, but stopping the program to deal with a technical glitch that had already proved all but insoluble GUARANTEED a major setback. Not an easy choice.

We, the public, give NASA a conflicting mandate. We want the space program to accomplish something, and we also want it to be safe. The reality seems to be that we humans are still struggling just to reach space, and to insist that something more meaningful be done there requires compromising safety. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

A symbol for what is not there, an emptiness that increases any number it's added to, an inexhaustible and indispensable paradox. As we enter the year 2000, zero is once again making its presence felt. Nothing itself, it makes possible a myriad of calculations. Indeed, without zero mathematics as we know it would not exist. And without mathematics our understanding of the universe would be vastly impoverished. But where did this nothing, this hollow circle, come from? Who created it? And what, exactly, does it mean?

Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero begins as a mystery story, taking us back to Sumerian times, and then to Greece and India, piecing together the way the idea of a symbol for nothing evolved. Kaplan shows us just how handicapped our ancestors were in trying to figure large sums without the aid of the zero. (Try multiplying CLXIV by XXIV). Remarkably, even the Greeks, mathematically brilliant as they were, didn't have a zero--or did they? We follow the trail to the East where, a millennium or two ago, Indian mathematicians took another crucial step. By treating zero for the first time like any other number, instead of a unique symbol, they allowed huge new leaps forward in computation, and also in our understanding of how mathematics itself works.

In the Middle Ages, this mathematical knowledge swept across western Europe via Arab traders. At first it was called "dangerous Saracen magic" and considered the Devil's work, but it wasn't long before merchants and bankers saw how handy this magic was, and used it to develop tools like double-entry bookkeeping. Zero quickly became an essential part of increasingly sophisticated equations, and with the invention of calculus, one could say it was a linchpin of the scientific revolution. And now even deeper layers of this thing that is nothing are coming to light: our computers speak only in zeros and ones, and modern mathematics shows that zero alone can be made to generate everything.

Robert Kaplan serves up all this history with immense zest and humor; his writing is full of anecdotes and asides, and quotations from Shakespeare to Wallace Stevens extend the book's context far beyond the scope of scientific specialists.For Kaplan, the history of zero is a lens for looking not only into the evolution of mathematics but into very nature of human thought. He points out how the history of mathematics is a process of recursive abstraction: how once a symbol is created to represent an idea, that symbol itself gives rise to new operations that in turn lead to new ideas.The beauty of mathematics is that even though we invent it, we seem to be discovering something that already exists.

The joy of that discovery shines from Kaplan's pages, as he ranges from Archimedes to Einstein, making fascinating connections between mathematical insights from every age and culture.A tour de force of science history, The Nothing That Is takes us through the hollow circle that leads to infinity. ... Read more

Reviews (38)

Tour de force
Kaplan's book is a tour de force. Bridging philosophy, history and, oh yes, mathematics, he takes us through a romp of human intellectual history. He makes the argument, that zero, like death, is at the base of a culture's understanding of the world. At the beginning of the book's journey, such a claim would seem outlandish, but by the end, we have returned home throughly convinced and pleased to have made the trip. It is a pleasure to read a creative mind at play.

A history of a difficult idea we take for granted
This is the sort of book I like to take with me on a long airplane trip. It's easy to read in the airport, or the plane, it's small, it's paperback, and it's got enough intellectual validity to it that I don't feel like I'm vegetating or wasting my time.

Before reading this book, pay close attention to the subtitle: "A natural history of zero." That's important in understanding what this book is about. I hadn't looked closely enough when I picked it up. I'd expected it to be more along the lines of Paul J. Nahin's book "An imaginary tale: the story of root -1." A quick flip through the book was enough to show it didn't have Nahin's load of equations, but still, I was expecting more of a math book than a history book.

This is mostly a history book. It contains several different chapters that describe how ancient people first came to conceptualize the concept of zero, or nothing. This idea was wrapped up in many different cultural/religious customs/superstitions/traditions that resulted in some cultures embracing the idea, while others shunned it and only accepted it later. Often, those who rejected, and then accepted the notion of zero did so out of shear practicality because of the numerical utility of the concept in keeping track of the sale and distribution of goods. Often this was accompanied by the gradual reinterpretation of religious notions.

This process of accepting zero as a number was often an evolutionary one. As Kaplan says: "despite its power to extend the empire of numbers, we have yet to see zero treated as a number itself. It evolved from a punctuation mark and long kept its supernumerary character - no more a number than a comma is a letter."

This is an excellent book for anyone who might take our system of numbers and counting for granted. Kaplan includes several examples of ancient counting systems - without zero - and shows how painfully difficult those systems were for solving even simple problems. For example, "Roman-style counting confused the issue, since there was no year zero between 1 BC and 1 AD; hence millennialists had to reckon then - as they do now - with the difficulty that years ending in zero were the last of their decade, century, or millennium, not the first of the next..."

The book isn't just history. There are lots of practical and interesting discussions about zero as they apply to mathematics, too. There are some fun and interesting graphical examples pertaining to concepts from calculus toward the books end.

Not exactly light reading, and not too heavy, either. But definitely interesting reading, I very much enjoyed this book, and recommend it enthusiastically.

What is nothing?
It may be hard see the problem now, but the concept of zero was a tough one for people to accept. How can I do anything with something that is, by definition, not something?

This is a history of zero, the mathematical concept. As with most great ideas, it had no real beginning. Instead, Kaplan presents a patchwork where parts of the concept appeared, traveled, vanished, merged, and re-emerged many times. Persia, India, Greece - all have some claim to some part of zero's heritage. Europe was the latecomer, accepting zero only after declaring it the work of the devil or the devil himself!

There is no, or almost no math here. That shows remarkable restraint on Kaplan's part, since he clearly knows the mathematical history at least as well as the social history presented here. The low-math style keep the tone light, and makes it easy to appreciate Kaplan's far-ranging and amusing style. In fact, a few of the very last chapters are so far-ranging and draw so many distant analogies that they contain near-zero amounts of zero itself. That isn't a problem, though, since Kaplan's whirlwind tour of history, astronomy, literature, theology, and more is entertaining by itself.

It's a fun read and full of amusing facts, but comes across a bit 'lite'. Kaplan is explicit: weaving a whole historical cloth from these many threads would be demanding enough to kill the pleasure of the story. Academic rigor is clearly a choice open to Kaplan, and he declined.

This is a good beach book for anyone, but especially if your tan usually comes from the glow of a CRT.

Zero is more than meets the eye
A concise but definitive history of zero through the ages. A concept that to us seems so natural and necessary, has been anything but that in past ages and civilizations. When you think about it, though, a symbol designating nothing is a rather abstract concept. The idea of a "placeholder", of course, needs the concept of "places" and that is even a more advanced concept. I found the book very well written and entertaining.

The story of Zero
Two books discuss the concept of zero. They are "The nothing that Is: A Natural History of Zero" by Robert Kaplan (1999) and "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seiff (2000). The books tackle the same subject but are significantly different in their approach.

Both books recognize the difficulties zero caused to the Greeks and their successors. Kaplan emphasizes the mysticism of zero. His book describes the confusion and avoidance of "nothing" throughout civilized history. While there is a smattering of mathematical concepts, the book is mostly an essay revolving about nihilism. This seems somewhat strange as Robert Kaplan has "taught mathematics to people from six to sixty. He is the co-founder of The Math Circle, a program open to the public for the enjoyment of pure mathematics."

Seiff's story also includes descriptions of mankind's concern over "nothing" but emphasizes the solutions reached by mathematicians. The book is full of mathematical and physical concepts related to zero.

If one is interested in philosophy, read Kaplan. If Math is the desired area, read Seiff. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good book, good translation, questionable interpretation
Giordan Bruno is still today a controversial philosopher. In this book he exposes his philosophical/cosmological ideas and, in doing so, he uses the new Copernican theory as the basis for a new, daring vision of the universe.
Anybody who would like to familiarize him/herself with the work of Bruno, or is interested in the development of Western ideas will find this book extremely challenging. However I would like to say a few words on the interpretation that the translators give of Bruno's ideas. The translators appear to follow completely an interpretation of Bruno based on the theory of the english scolar Frances Yates. According to this theory Bruno was an exponent of the (then popular) Hermetic movement.
It is imperative to underscore that Yates theory is not universally accepted. While it is known that Hermetic influences can be traced in Bruno, to reduce his whole cosmology and his understanding of Copernican theory to a "hieroglyphic" is misleading if not plainly wrong.
Bruno was not a scientist, but he was the first to intuitively realize the revolutionary consequences of Copernican theory (not only for science) and to bring that theory to its logical conclusions: an infinite universe with infinite earth-like worlds. This vision can not be reconciled with the world of the hermetic "Magus". The whole purpose of the hermetic Magus was to ascend the material world to the world of the perfect spheres. In Bruno's universe there is nothing to ascend to. The universe is composed of a thin air where an infinity of worlds and stars are suspended and move following universal (animistic) principles. The other worlds are corruptible as much as the earth and may be inhabited by earth-like people. The very base of the hermetic doctrine is missing. I would therefore encourage the interested reader not to stop the investigation of Bruno's ideas to the hermetic interpretation, but to also read different points of view (for example Yates interpretation of Bruno's use of images has recently been challenged with very solid arguments by the finding of italian scholars). In particular I found the book of Hillary Gatti "Giordano Bruno and the renaissance science" extremely interesting and complete.

Superb translation and penetrating interpretation
Giordano Bruno stands at the cusp between the Renaissance and the modern world. His unique attempts to extract philosophical and theological meaning from Copernicus's forward-looking work provide us with striking insights into the Weltanschauung of his troubled times. Gosselin and Lerner have brilliantly translated Bruno's elegant but involuted Renaissance Italian into clear modern English that nevertheless preserves the spirit of the original. Their thoughtful notes bring comprehensibility to previously misunderstood passages, and the linkage they establish between Bruno's travails and Galileo's later troubles is highly convincing. A must-read for the scientist as well as the philosopher ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Very complete...
Most books about past visions of the future deal with cities of the future, robots of the future and houses (or should I say kitchens) of the future. And this book DOES deal with those subjects and MORE. Between the covers of this book are plans for atomic powered cars, tanks, and bombers, the promises found within hobby magazines, chapters on the movies and radio shows that showed us the future, the designs for bomb proof cities and homes, hopes for the flying car, the idea for death rays, flying tanks and much, much more.
Having been first published in 1984 it even hints at what visions we still believed in that would appear in our future, from the space shuttle to real laser weapons. Kind of fun but also kind of sad.

They once built towers to the sky.....
Yesterday's Tomorrows is a great, evocative book.

Stemming from a traveling exhibit sponsored in Michigan by the Michigan Humanities Council, its retro-future images (comprised of period memorabilia, car designs, advertisements, and architectural wonders) are bountiful, crisply reproduced and accompanied by text that adds context to the visual journey.

And what a journey! Travel back to an anticipated future when modernism and futurism were part of the manifest destiny of humankind.

Employing an added bit of retrospective frisson, in the post 9/11 world, this mid-80s work now serves as a window on a future that would never be realized, of a time when people still dreamed of building towers to the sky. Thankfully, its unabashed message of near-limitless possibilities is conveyed utterly without irony.

This volume can be enjoyed on so many levels. Delight in the visual salience of images gathered from dozens of rare sources. Lavish your attention on the many literary influences and how these images would inspire a whole genre of science fiction and futurist works, from Buckminster Fuller to Gene Roddenberry to Alvin Toffler.

In this "shape of things to come," the future, our present, is always a golden destiny of exotic creative and technological evocations and innovations - even when the future is more dystopian than utopian.

It is a reminder that hope and vision, art and science, are intrinsic to the human condition and surely the salvation for our own, as yet unwritten, future.

What a fun book!
The pictures are what I loved the most. The text explaining the museum exhibit give insight and history that lend the photos and illustrations more weight out of context. I enjoyed this book, as have people I've lent it to.

The future isn't what it used to be....
Even though this book was produced to accompany a 1984 Smithsonian exhibition, it truly holds up as a worthy work in its own right. I can't recall seeing the subject of past speculation on the future handled better. It is done in a manner that is both scholarly and interesting. You get a balance of both the popular fictional conception of the future, as well as, more "official" versions from government and corporate think tanks.

The real strength of the book is it's vast number of both color and black and white illustrations. You have everything from ink engravings from 19th century illustrated newspapers and penny dreadfuls, to the glorious 4 color covers of 1930's pulp magazines, to film stills of the "modern era" (Star Wars, Blade Runner, and Road Warrior.)

I found the ideas in the insightful text most interesting. It is pointed out that the popular image of the past changes and evolves through time. The Victorians and Edwardians seem to assumed that the future would be much like their heirarchical and elite present, just with bigger buildings and more complex machines. The first half of the 20th century was driven largely by an utopian, often socialist, vision of a better future for all. However, the vision that seems to dominate the later half of the century is a grim, corporate, cyberpunk nightmare.

As Arthur C. Clark points out in the text, the future isn't what it used to be.

Past Visions of the American Future
Enormous skyscrapers will house residents and workers who happily go "for weeks" without setting foot on the ground. Streamlined, "hurricane-proof" houses will pivot on their foundations like weather vanes. The family car will turn into an airplane so easily that "a woman can do it in five minutes." Our wars will be fought by robots. And our living room furniture--waterproof, of course--will clean up with a squirt from the garden hose. In Yesterday's Tomorrows Joseph J. Corn and Brian Horrigan explore the future as Americans earlier in this century expected it to happen. Filled with vivid color images and lively text, the book is eloquent testimony to the confidence--and, at times, the naive faith--Americans have had in science and technology. The future that emerges here, the authors conclude, is one in which technology changes, but society and politics usually do not.The authors draw on a wide variety of sources--popular-science magazines, science fiction, world fair exhibits, films, advertisements, and plans for things only dreamed of. From Jules Verne to the Jetsons, from a 500-passenger flying wing to an anti-aircraft flying buzz-saw, the vision of the future as seen through the eyes of the past demonstrates the play of the American imagination on the canvas of the future. ... Read more

Book Description

Evolution's Captain is the story of a visionary but now forgotten English naval officer but for whom the "Darwinian Revolution" would never have occurred. When Captain Robert FitzRoy, the twenty-six-year-old captain of the H.M.S. Beagle, set out for Tierra del Fuego in the fall of 1831, he invited a young naturalist to accompany him. That twenty-two-year-old gentleman was Charles Darwin, and perhaps no single voyage in history had a greater impact on how we would come to understand the world -- in both religious and scientific terms.

When the Beagle's first captain committed suicide while at sea in 1828, he was replaced by a young naval officer of a new mold. Robert FitzRoy was the most brilliant and scientific sea captain of his age. He used the Beagle, a survey vessel, as a laboratory for the new field of the natural sciences. But his plan to bring four "savages" home to England to civilize them as Christian gentlefolk backfired when scandal loomed over their sexual misbehavior at the Walthamstow Infants School. FitzRoy needed to get them out of England fast, and thus was born the second and most famous voyage of the Beagle.

FitzRoy feared the loneliness of another long voyage -- with madness in his own family, he was haunted by the fate of the Beagle's previous captain -- so for company he took with him the young amateur naturalist Charles Darwin. Like FitzRoy, Darwin believed, at the beginning of the voyage, in the absolute word of the Bible and the story of man's creation. The two men spent five years circling the globe together, but by the end of their voyage they had reached startlingly different conclusions about the origins of the natural world.

In naval terms, the voyage was a stunning scientific success. But FitzRoy, a fanatical Christian, was horrified by the heretical theories Darwin began to develop. As these began to influence the profoundest levels of religious and scientific thinking in the nineteenth century, FitzRoy's knowledge that he had provided Darwin with the vehicle for his sacrilegious ideas propelled him down an irrevocable path to suicide.

This true story -- part biography, part sea drama, and a subtle study of one of the defining moments in the history of science -- reads like the finest historical fiction. It is a chronicle of the remarkable chain of events without which Darwin would most likely have lived and died an obscure English country parson with a fondness for collecting beetles.

Reviews (4)

Simply Fabulous
I can hardly imagine a more enjoyable book, some how miraculously delving the reader into the annals of Victorian English society. The book is a much a testament to the epic voyage which ultimatly brought Darwin his fame, as a tale of the culture which bred such a remarkable theory.

A fascinating historical portrait
Charting a path through the Americas, Captain Robert FitzRoy crosses paths with a young Charles Darwin, an event that affects the direction of scientific study. In 1829, Capt. FitzRoy, of the HMS Beagle, sails with Capt. Phillip Parker, of the HMS Adventure, on a survey that will enable Great Britain's complete dominance of world trade. FitzRoy has his first sighting of natives in Tierra del Fuego; he finds their primitive appearance repulsive. On their return home, FitzRoy carries four natives back to England, his specimens. It is his intention to "save" the savages, baptize them as Christians and expose them to the advantages a civilization defined by its Godliness.

By 1831, the savages are the source of constant embarrassment and it is necessary to return them to Tierra de Fuego. Finagling a commission, ostensibly to finish the survey of the Americas, FitzRoy releases the natives to their homeland. This new commission involves an extended voyage navigating the globe and FitzRoy is concerned about the years of isolation, not one to mix with those of lesser rank. The prospect of such solitude is daunting to the young captain, haunted by the history of insanity in his family.

Charles Darwin is a naturalist, the perfect choice as FitzRoy's companion. Both possess astute minds and spend hours discoursing on scientific principles. While FitzRoy surveys the rugged coastline of Tierra del Fuego, Darwin roams the countryside, gathering specimens. The trip almost flounders when the overstressed FitzRoy loses his focus, but he rallies, able to continue. By the time they reach the Falklands, Darwin is writing voluminous notes on the aberrations observed on various islands, particularly the Galapagos Islands.

Returning home, the two scientists prepare for publication. Their work is published in three volumes: King's, FitzRoy's and Darwin's. Darwin's most important work is published twenty-two years later, but in 1837, he avoids an argument with accepted theology. At this point the two friends drift apart philosophically, Darwin committed to a scientific definition of the world and FitzRoy ever more avidly Creationist.

As Nichols chronicles the men's lives, the once friendly scientists finally become adversarial. FitzRoy has noble aspirations, albeit fettered by his English prejudices. He never imagined his name written on the pages of history as "the man who took Darwin around the world" on his momentous adventure. FitzRoy makes important contributions as a weather forecaster, but is never appreciated in his time; his fate is sealed when he chooses the traveling companion for this fated voyage. Nichols offers a fascinating view of a remarkable voyage; he brings the seafaring world to life, the dangers, curiosities and courage of an undertaking that will dramatically alter the scientific world. Luan Gaines/2004.

Evolution's captain
Fitzroy and Darwin. How these brave men were marked by adventure and discovery. A fascinating story of the unknown territories and the isolation they suffered on their travels. Nichols describes their solitude and madness, tangled with beautiful narrative. Very entretaining.

"The only thing that bothered Fitzroy was Darwin's face."
Poor Robert Fitzroy has been relegated to the footnotes section of history....oh yes, wasn't he the captain of "The Beagle"? Yes he was, but he was much more. He was also a member of Parliament, a governor of New Zealand, and he founded the British government's Meteorological Office. The downside of Peter Nichols' book is he gives rather short shrift to these generally unknown aspects of Fitzroy's career. But, when Mr. Nichols is on his home turf (the ocean, if that isn't a non sequitur!), he sparkles. He is clearly most happy when discussing Fitzroy the "boy wonder" captain and surveyor. (Fitzroy was in his mid-twenties when he squired young Mr. Darwin around the world.) We can feel the ocean spray and smell the salt air. Not only that, but we really feel that we get to know Fitzroy. He was an excellent and brave captain. He cared about his men. He was also intelligent and charming. On the less pleasant side, he had a very thin skin, a bad temper, and was subject to bouts of depression. During five long years at sea Darwin got to see every facet of Fitzroy. Mr. Nichols is also fascinating when he writes about the four Fuegians that Fitzroy brought back to England...hoping to "civilize" them and bring them back to further spread British culture along the southern tip of South America. The second voyage of "The Beagle" with Fitzroy as captain was the voyage where Fitzroy brought the natives back home, and it was also the voyage with Darwin on board as naturalist. Fitzroy was a strong believer in phrenology, and initially had doubts about Darwin because of Darwin's "hooded brow and large, spatulate nose." Fortunately for science, Fitzroy was won over by Darwin's intelligence and genial personality. Both men started the journey with a great deal of scientific curiosity and with orthodox religious beliefs. Darwin's theories led him to atheism. Fitzroy remained very religious all his life. If it hadn't been for Fitzroy, Darwin likely never would have come up with his theory of evolution by natural selection. The irony of this wasn't lost on Fitzroy. Again, all this is well, even brilliantly, told by Mr. Nichols. The book loses steam when we read about the later developments in Fitzroy's life, but the rest of this book is so good that we can forgive Mr. Nichols for not being able to maintain the high level of writing throughout. The definitive biography of Robert Fitzroy remains to be written, but this book goes a long way in bringing him off the bottom of the page. ... Read more

Book Description

For everyone whose life has been touched by cancer, One Renegade Cell tells the story of the search for the ultimate causes of this dreaded disease.

"One Renegade Cell…offers a breathtaking picture, both wonderful and frightening, of the fantastic intricacy of aberrant cellular functioning."-New York Times

"Part primer, part history and part meditation. [One Renegade Cell] succeeds on all counts."-Wall Street Journal

One of the leading cancer researchers in the world, Robert A. Weinberg is perfectly suited to describe the search for cancer's origins from the early days of this century to the present. Presuming little knowledge of biology, he tells how a cancer-causing virus was first discovered in 1909, how the correlation was made between chemical carcinogens and cancer, and how oncogenes (the genes that can turn a cell malignant) work. He explains clearly how malignant cells send messages to one another and also block the messages of normal cells. Finally, Weinberg predicts that cancer prevention may depend on our ability to understand the mysterious chemical clock that regulates our cells' most basic functions. One Renegade Cell offers a concise, accessible route into the complex and often daunting world of cancer and cancer research. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

"Cancer 101"
When my mother was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, I frantically read everything I could lay my hands on to try to understand what was happening to her. As a former English major and flunker-of-high-school science classes, educating myself about the disease was a daunting task. "One Renegade Cell" explains in intelligent but clear language the theories that currently best explain how the disease begins and spreads.

In my search for knowledge, I have found many books that explain cancer as though to the Village Idiot. And I have found others that explain it as though to a PhD in Biology. I am truly thankful that Weinberg wrote this rare book that can be enjoyed and understood by the rest of us.

Cancer, we shall conquer thee!
What we know about cancer has increased dramatically in the past 20 years, and the author has played a part in many of the major discoveries that have occurred. Weinberg goes through the path of discovery in a largely chronological order, showing the initial theories on the workings of cancer, and then bringing in the revisions to these theories, revealing aspects of cell biology at the appropriate times, so that the reader does not become overwhelmed by excess information at the start of the book, a fault that seems to be common in many popular science books.

Overall, I feel that this is one of the best books in the Science Masters series, and a must read for anyone interested in cancer. I feel that it would also make valuable reading for anyone whose work relates to the health sciences in any way, since after reading this book, you have a rather thorough understanding of cancer in a general sense, without all of the technical details which would only be of interest to a researcher or doctor specialising in cancer. There is also the possibility that this book would be of value to a cancer sufferer, since understanding an illness can often help a person to better cope with it, and this book would really let the patient understand what was happening in their body, and why, and understand why various treatments work for some types of cancer, but not others.

Excelent entry to cancer biology
There are very few books out that give the reader an overview modern cancer biology. This short book gives a clear picture of a complex and current subject. It uses historical perspective on scientific discovery to enliven the reading. It's well organized and readable without background in biology, but with enough depth to interest biologists in other fields. I also reccomend Robert Weinberg's "Genes and the Biology of Cancer", written with Harold Varmus, which covers the same material in a little more depth.

Valuable information!
Extremely informative, written in interesting form like a scientific novel, a systematic mini-survey of the molecular biology of cancer. Takes you through 30 years of discovery, explaining how false expectations were replaced by the discovery in laboratories of right pathways. Among the useful pieces of information you'll pick up: cancer cells are not destroyed by chemo and radiation, only some DNA damage occurs. Unless the p53 gene is little enough damaged, then the tumor is not stopped, and Weinberg explains why. He fully describes the 6 mutations that are required, over time, to produce a metastasizing tumor. My wish: that Weinberg would next write a book about cancer treatments.

I end with an aside for those who are in love with the red herring called "holism", and imagine that "reductionism" is dead and of little or no use in the elucidation of complexity. The entire field of genetic and cancer discoveries, all of microbiology, is nothing but plain ol' reductionism applied to very long molecules, molecules so long and often disordered in shape that new techniques of chemical analysis had to be invented (like PCR). This book and any standard text on molecular biology provides full evidence for the truth of my assertion.

Must have: great intro and overview of current research
No prior knowledge of cell biology or genetics is required. I have gained an appreciation for the complexity of cancer research thanks to the book. I highly recommend it. You also learn a fair amount of the history of the development of cancer research. And don't think you need to read through hundreds of introductory pages to accomplish this. The book is under 200 pages.

Once again: What I found great about the book is it explains very clearly the current thories on how cancer starts and spreads without requiring any prior knowledge in the field.

For the scientifically oriented who are interested in the details, it has a big reference and endnote section. 5 stars for sure. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The Oxford Companion to the Year is one of those splendid volumes that should have a permanent place in every personal reference library, next to a well-thumbed Brewer's.

The main body of the book gives a huge amount of historical and folkloric information on every day of the year (including, yes, February 30, which has happened three times); the days of the week, months and seasons; and the major feast days and festivals in a wide variety of different cultures. This is the section that most readers will find the most fascinating; its 658 pages provide endless browsing.

The second part concentrates on the making of calendars over the centuries: how our own complex calendar evolved with its irregular month lengths and its rules for when leap years occur, plus details of the calendars of many other cultures--Chinese, Hindu, Muslim, and many more--all trying to find a regular system that can cope with the fact that the roughly 29-and-one-half-day lunar month and the roughly 365-and-one-quarter-day solar year simply can't be meshed.

Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens must be congratulated on the huge amount of work this book must have taken, and on such splendid results. --David V. Barrett, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The most thorough calender reference available
This 937 page reference work of calendar customs and time-reckoning is a modern day version of Robert Chambers's "Book of Days" (1864), and is now surely THE definitive reference work on the subject. For every day of the year (including February 30, which has been observed three times in past calendars, once in Sweden and twice in the Soviet Union), there is a listing of the date (e.g., 25 Abril), the Roman date (e.g., a.d. VII Kalendas Maias), a list of Holidays and Anniversaries (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga: ANZAC Day) or Holy Days (e.g., Mark the Evangelist) or perhaps something from Ancient Rome (e.g., "On this day was held the ceremony for keeping rust off crops, the Robigalia,"). Moreover, there are usually one or two paragraphs given to explain the origins of various holidays or as biographical background. Sometimes poems or literary excerpts are inserted to further enliven the entry. Additionally, a generous amount of humor and bonhomie are sprinkled throughout the text.

Other calendar customs such as the moveable feasts of the western church year, days of the week, Red-Letter days, Dog Days, terms at Oxford or Cambridge, Handsel Monday, Thanksgiving, or the Lord Mayor's Show each have their own entries and explanations. Part II follows, with investigation into calendars and chronology. Here the international scope of the book receives greater exposure, with discussion of the Roman Calendar, Chinese Calendar, Egyptian Calendar, Greek Calendar, Hindu Calendar, Jewish Calendar, Muslim Calendar, Anglo-Saxon Calendar, or Celtic Calendar being some of the many discussed. Explanations of the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, calculating the date of Easter, use of symbolic calendars, as well as many other topics round out a thoroughly researched section.

My only demurring remark about this excellent book is that sometimes the academic writing can be a little dry and murky, drifting into the pedantic, so that at times I found myself nodding off to sleep. This style of presentation also led to occasional difficulties when trying to understand the discussion at hand. Nevertheless, on the whole, the book is most interesting. A great deal of research obviously went into this wonderfully thorough and accurate reference work. It may be used either as a source for information, or alternatively its daily entries may be read throughout the year as a short daily entertainment. To sum, it is a book well worth obtaining.

An absolute treasure chest!
More than just a scholarly reference, this mind-bogglingly comprehensive book is masterfully written and offers something for everyone. From the historical significance and traditions of each day of the year to the calendars and time-reckoning systems used all over the world throughout history, the Oxford Companion to the Year is chock-full of obscure bits of history, poems, quotations, and illustrations. Absolutely fascinating reading--a must-have for the new millennium! ... Read more

Amazon.com

James Burke, author and public television star, returns with anotherquirky look at the way history works. In Twin Tracks, Burkeconnects "trigger events" with unexpected outcomes. For instance, theinvention of the lens-grinding lathe leads to hairdressing, and thedebut of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaroconnects to development of thestealth fighter jet. These events are tied together via two tracks, onewritten along the book's left-hand pages, and one along the right. Thenarratives meet up in the end, giving readers a clear idea that thelines of history can be quite subjective. Some of the examples even runbackward, as when Burke explains the connections between smallpox andthe Big Bang. While Burke is justifiably famous for linking historicalevents, the paths he takes, especially those involving lots ofunfamiliar names, can be tricky to follow:

In 1710 the art collection was sold to Philip, regent ofFrance, in a deal brokered by Benedetto Luti, the best painter in Romeat the time.... That year Luti took on an assistant.... By 1714 WilliamKent was painting originals.... His patron in all this was thetrillionaire Earl of Burlington.

The best way to read Twin Tracks, as with any of Burke's lovelybooks, is one chapter at a time, taking thinking breaks in between so asnot to become overwhelmed by detail. The networks he describes form amore accurate, if more challenging, picture of history's motion than anylinear sequence. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Six degrees between ANY two events
The unexpected origins of the modern world. If you've ever played the game of "Six degrees from Kevin Bacon" you'll at least understand this book. Whether you enjoy it or not depends on how much you can focus your attention because this is one hop, skip, and jump book. The author takes an event and shows how it is connected to another event much later in time by a series of meetings, mentors, friends, coincidences, etc. Then another such series is also described with the same start and end point. Wow! Isn't that amazing! And he does this again and again and again. Like "six degrees" you find that almost anything in this world is related to almost anything if you draw our the relationships thin enough. After the third or fourth thread I was exhausted at trying to follow the bouncing ball and gave up on the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Are we alone in the Universe? From the furor over Percival Lowell's claim of canals on Mars at the beginning of the century to the more recent controversial rock from Mars and the sophisticated Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), the prospect of otherworldly life has often titillated and occasionally consumed science and the public. The search for planetary systems, the quest to explain UFOs, and inquiries into the origin of life have fueled an abundance of popular and scientific literature. They have also provided Hollywood with fodder for some of the most popular films of our time, including ET, Aliens, Independence Day, and Contact.Lucid and accessible, Life on Other Worlds chronicles the history of the twentieth-century extraterrestrial debate. Putting the latest findings and heated controversies into a broader historical context, Steven Dick documents how the concept of extraterrestrial intelligence is a world view of its own--a "biophysical cosmology" that seeks confirmation no less than physical views of the Universe.The debate rests at the very limits of science, and attempts at confirmation only illuminate the nature of science itself. Dick shows that appreciating the history of the debate enables a better understanding of the nature of science, and is central to any forward-looking view of religion and philosophy. For anyone interested in a look over the edge of scientific discovery, Life on Other Worlds provides the exciting tale behind the greatest debate in the twentieth century.Dr. Steven J. Dick is an astronomer and historian of science at the U.S. Naval Observatory.He is the author of Plurality of Worlds:The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant (Cambridge, 1982) and Biological Universe (Cambridge, 1996). ... Read more

Reviews (5)

An investigation of what is the most important question
Life, what makes it different from other matter and how it began on Earth are the major questions that have faced humans since we evolved the ability to ask questions. Given recent studies that indicate it arose very early on Earth and it is extremely tenacious once it exists, there is nothing to suggest that it would not arise on other planets, if they exist. Astronomers have pushed the envelope and there is now conclusive evidence that there are planets revolving around many other stars. Therefore, current thinking is that there is no evidence contrary to the likelihood of microbial life on many other planets. Of course, while the discovery of microbes on other worlds would be one of the biggest discoveries ever, the real point of interest is the presence of intelligent life. Conclusive evidence, particularly physical contact, would forever change every aspect of how humans approach all facets of religious, ethical and social behavior.
As I read this book and followed the arguments about the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, I was profoundly affected by what I read. To me, the most amazing fact is how quickly life arose on Earth after it cooled to a temperature that would allow it. The oldest known fossils are 3.7 billion years old. Given that this is at most 500 million years after it was possible, this indicates that life may arise quickly. Contrast this with the 3.7 billion years it took for intelligence to evolve and you cannot help but be impressed. Following the stated arguments about the remote probability of life spontaneously developing and you are left with three possibilities: the probabilities are wrong and life arises easily; there was some form of intervention in the creation of life on Earth or the nearly impossible random miracle occurred. Of these possibilities, the third is the least convincing and the first two both strongly indicate the presence of life on other worlds.
However, the topics are not restricted to the scientific study of extraterrestrial life. One chapter is devoted to the presence of extraterrestrials in literature and another to the extraterrestrial explanation for UFOs. The idea of life on other worlds has been around for some time, although religious doctrines made it very dangerous to speak of it until after the power of the Catholic church was weakened. It is interesting to read of many scientists arguing, although indirectly, that life can exist elsewhere. The chapter on UFOs was quite interesting. While the extraterrestrial hypothesis is rightly dismissed out of hand, it is acknowledged that some represent events that science cannot currently explain and for that reason, should be the object of serious study.
There is a major investigation currently under way that unitizes software that anyone can download to their machines. It runs as a screen saver and sifts through captured radio data looking for signals from another civilization. The web site is http://setiathome.berkeley.edu and I am proud to say that my current ranking is in the top ten percent based on the amount of data analyzed. I encourage you to join the effort and hopefully make the consequences of a successful search described in chapters seven and eight a reality.
This is a book that explores some of the deepest questions that humans try to answer. In many ways, answers one way or another would be equivalent to a spiritual awakening.

A fine introduction to the ET debate and its implications
Steven Dick have given the general reader a first rate overview of the contemporary debate over extraterrestrial life. The book is an academic contribution, but is accessible to the non-specialist.

He may be at his best in describing what he calls "the biophysical cosmology," which has functioned as a wide-ranging worldview for many of its advocates. The book combines f