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Title: Strange Brains and Genius : The Secret Lives Of Eccentric Scientists And Madmen by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0-688-16894-9 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 02 June, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91 (32 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb!
Comment:
I came across a wonderful Publisher's Weekly weview of Strange Brains and Genius. Here is a brief excerpt:
"Filled with I200 years of eccentric geniuses, this delightful collection of profiles assemble an eclectic and fascinating sampling of scientists (as well as some artists and writers) with a far-ranging assortment of phobias, compulsions, odd belief systems and extraordinarily weird habits. Chief among the scientists is Nikola Tesla, father of alternating current and countless other electrical devices, who could be seen on New York City streets covered in pigeons, was obsessed with the number three, and repulsed by jewelry, particularly pearls. Then there is Oliver Heaviside, a Victorian mathematician and electrical researcher who painted his nails bright pink, signed his correspondence "W.O.R.M.", and cruelly kept the woman charged with his care a virtual prisoner in her own house, later driving her into catatonia. Also explored are the lives of Samuel Johnson, van Gough, and legendary mathematician Paul Erdos, among others. Pickover, a high-tech inventor and researcher at IBM and a prolific author (TIME -- A TRAVELER'S GUIDE, reviewed Apr 20) shows genuine fondness for his subjects and an appreciation of their accomplishments, which he explains clearly and succinctly. More than simply cataloging unusual traits, Pickover also speculates on causes and diagnoses, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and temporal lobe epilepsy. This is a lively and immensely enjoyable scientific history. Photos throughout." - Publisher's Weekly, May 25, 1998
Rating: 5
Summary: I love this book
Comment: Strange Brains and Genius shows that there is little separation between science and topics that provoke interesting conversations at parties. The topics in this unique book are interesting to scientists and nonscientists. The format is curious, too. The author starts each chapter with a "fact file," so you get an overview of the various people's lives in the book.
A few of my friends have read the book, and I found that no two people read the book in quite the same way. This book provides fascinating, though brief, accounts of the life of geniuses that sometimes read like a quirky novel. Enthralling.
Rating: 1
Summary: Sloppy Writing and Scholarship: An Insult to Great Figures
Comment: It is hard to imagine that a book with such promising and interesting subject matter could be executed in a poorer fashion. Pickover repeatedly blows his credibility with unsubstantiated speculations and personal comments. He writes the book in a first person sense with frequent interjections of "I think..." and "What interests me...". Within the first few pages, not only are his research methods and facts called into question, but one starts to wonder if even his personal credentials are legitimate.
The content of the book, kindly refered to in the editorial review as "eclectic", is a scattershot collection of Pickover's ramblings as muddled as the books front cover. Apparently, the title "Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen" was neither vague nor general enough for Pickover who, midway through the book, drifts off into such varied subjects as cryonics and UFO abduction.
The unforgivable disgrace of this book comes from Pickover's reduction of intellectual giants to "Strange Brains" as he revels in the dirty little details of great scientist's lives. Frequently the narrative takes the tone of mocking these men and women of history for their personal habits. Pickover writes in the schoolyard manner (and quality) of singling people out because of their differences and ridiculing them. This vice is then combined with a tabloid sense of sensationalism and sold behind a glossy cover.
If, after reading these reviews, you are still set on buying this book - more power to you. If you are interested in a more scholarly and objective examination of creativity and genius, however, consider "Creating Minds" by Howard Gardner
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Title: Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness (Kodansha Globe) by David Joseph Weeks, Jamie James, David Weeks ISBN: 1568361564 Publisher: Kodansha Globe Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash by Sylvia Nasar ISBN: 0743224574 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 27 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Paradox of God and the Science of Omniscience by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0312294115 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Calculus and Pizza: A Math Cookbook for the Hungry Mind by Clifford A. Pickover, Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0471269875 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 30 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0195157990 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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