Chemical Education Today
Summer Reading Thinking ahead to the approaching summer and its promise of free time for reading, here are some suggestions from Ed Walsh (Book & Media Reviews Editor), Jeff Kovac (Book & Media Reviews Associate Editor), Hal Harris (Book Buyers Guide Editor), Dick Pagni (reviewer for Book & Media Reviews).
Ed Walsh recommends––– The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature, by Phillip Ball. Oxford University Press: New York, 1998. 287 pp. ISBN 019-8502443. $37.50.
Phillip Ball continues as an editor of Nature and this book, his latest, follows his Made to Measure, New Materials for the 21st Century, my summer reading choice last year. His first book, Designing the Molecular World, won the American Association of Publishers’ award for books on chemistry. In all three of these works he takes on some of the most challenging and most interesting aspects of nature and makes them come alive with elegant and lucid prose.
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Unlike most “popular science” writers he courageously and adroitly plunges into the depth of his subjects. The Self-Made Tapestry takes the complexities of pattern formation of sea shells, the zebra’s stripes, the lovely designs of butterflies’ wings, and even the spiraling patterns of the slime mold and shows us how the logic of them arises from fundamental and usually simple physical laws. If you want to know more about the blotches, stripes, and spots and why the “Koodoo grew darker with little white wavy grey lines” than what Rudyard Kipling has given us in The Just So Stories, then this is your book.
The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life , by Werner R. Loewenstein. Oxford University Press: New York, 1999. 368 pp. ISBN 0-19511828-6. $30.00.
The title of this work speaks to the overarching ambition of this book, which, for the most part, succeeds wonderfully. Loewenstein is the Director of the Laboratory of Cell Communication at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He is a biophysicist who works in the area of intercellular communication. This book looks at the very broadest consequences
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Chemical Education Today
of molecular communication. The Touchstone of Life is written for anyone with a scientific interest, but it demands much from the reader and its rewards are commensurate with that effort. There is an excellent review of this book by Jon C. Clardy in the March 1, 1999, C&E News from which I take this quote, “For a chemist, one of the charms of thinking about molecules and information is that chemistry offers the ability to test the freedom of molecular design under the constraints imposed by cellular information theory. To what extent could they be different? For example, information theory might dictate that effective information loops must have both an essentially linear and a complex three-dimensional form
of molecular information, but these forms may not need to be DNA and protein.” Hmmmnn. The Sacred Depths of Nature, by Ursula Wiltshire Goodenough. Oxford University Press: New York, 1998. 197 pp. ISBN 0-195-12613-6. $24.00.
This is an unusual little book, part expository and part reflective. There are twelve chapters that cover, among other things, the origin of life, how evolution works, biodiversity, sex and sexuality, multicellularity and death, and speciation. Goodenough treats all her topics in such a manner that any interested reader can, if not fully understand, at least appreciate the enormous charm of these
approaches to nature. At the end of each of the twelve chapters she offers a “meditation” or religious response based on the sense of mystery evoked in the topic. She is, by her own reckoning, a religious naturalist, and most of her reflections are deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Goodenough is quite effective at rendering the most complicated principles understandable, and I hope she does more popular science writing; but the unique charm of this small book is in the insights she gives us, which both challenge and instruct us. They challenge us to make more connections with our knowledge of science and they instruct us as to how we might use that knowledge as inspiration.
Jeff Kovac recommends––– Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion, by Edward J. Larson. Basic: New York, 1997. 336 pp. ISBN 0-46507509-6. Hardcover, $25.00. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, 1998 (reprint ed.). 336 pp. ISBN 0-67485429-2. Paper, $14.95.
Although the 1925 trial of John T. Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee, for violating a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution marked a watershed in the national discussion of science and religion, the popular view of the case is primarily based on the play and film Inherit the Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, which took enormous liberties with the historical facts to present a critique of McCarthyism. The real history of the Scopes Trial, brilliantly told in this book, is much more interesting than the myth presented in the play. Larson provides important insights into the essential issues in the real trial, which have resurfaced in the past several years: the struggle between individual liberty and majoritarian democracy and the relationship between science and religion. The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character, by Daniel J. Kevles. Norton: New York, 1998. 448 pp. ISBN 0-393-04103-4. $29.95.
The case involving Nobel Laureate David Baltimore and his colleague Thereza Imanishi-Kari is one of the most publicized and controversial incidents of alleged scientific
misconduct of the past fifteen years. This book by a leading historian of science is the complete story of this complex case. Anyone interested in scientific integrity and the relationship between government and science will find it fascinating. In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life, by Robert Kegan. Belknap Press of Harvard University: Cambridge, MA, 1995 (reprint ed.). ISBN 0-674-44588-0. $17.95.
Those of us who teach need to understand mental development. In this challenging and rewarding book, Robert Kegan, an adult developmental psychologist, outlines a theory of human consciousness that explores the relationship between the demands of modern life and the capacities of the human mind. In a fascinating chapter on “Learning”, Kegan connects his theory to the mental demands of education and provides insights that I have found useful in my teaching. On Dialogue: An Essay in Free Thought, by Robert Grudin. Houghton Mifflin: Boston, 1996. 228 pp. Hardcover, ISBN 0-395-77187-0. $23.95. Paper, ISBN 0-395-86495-X. $13.00.
Science can be conceived as a pair of dialogues, the dialogue between the scientist and nature and the dialogue among scientists. In this playful and insightful book Robert Grudin explores the concept of dialogue from a variety of perspectives, an example of what he calls “copious” thinking.
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Summer Reading Dick Pagni recommends––– The Measure of Reality, by Alfred W. Crosby. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 1997. 245 pp. ISBN 0-521-427-6. $29.95.
The First Moderns, by William R. Everdell. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1997. 501 pp. ISBN 0-22622480-5. $29.95.
How is it that Western Europe began its rise to dominance in the world after 1500? As Crosby impressively demonstrates in this small volume, part of the answer is due to a more quantitative mode of thought that developed during the period of 1200–1500.
In 22 lucid essays, Everdell describes the important individuals—and their pivotal contributions to science, mathematics, art, music, literature and thought—who made the present, almost completed century modern. If one wants to find out what distinguishes our way of looking at the world from that of earlier centuries, this book is a good place to find out. This is one of those rare books I wish I could have read at one sitting.
How the Mind Works , by Steven Pinker. Norton: New York, 1997. 660 pp. ISBN 0-393-04545-8. $29.95.
Pinker has combined the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, computing, and evolutionary biology to offer a picture of how the human mind in all its aspects functions. The author is an excellent, lively writer who presents often complex material not only with intelligence but also with a fine-tuned sense of humor. This book is a considerable achievement, especially in light of how difficult it has been to define mind and consciousness.
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, by Edward O. Wilson. Knopf: New York, 1998. 332 pp. ISBN 0-679-45077-7. $26.00.
Almost from its beginning a few centuries ago, modern science became fragmented and scientists became specialists in ever decreasing areas of knowledge. Today, it is often hard
Hal Harris recommends––– A Biography of Distinguished Scientist Gilbert Newton Lewis, by Edward S. Lewis. Edwin Mellen: Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter (Box 450, Lewiston, NY 14092-0450), 1998. ISBN 0-7734-8284-9. $69.95. (Hal has submitted a review of this book for the Journal—EJW)
An excellent argument can be made that G. N. Lewis is the most outstanding American scientist not to have won a Nobel Prize. In fact, the “American” adjective could be removed from that statement. Lewis contributed very significantly both to thermodynamics (the famous Pitzer and Brewer revision of Lewis and Randall’s Thermodynamics was the text from which I learned thermo) and to quantum chemistry, where he was the first to realize that chemical bonds ordinarily are formed by pairs of electrons. In this short biography by the chemist son of the pioneer, the professional and personal life of an extraordinary researcher, writer, and leader is chronicled. Edward Lewis writes clearly, without the drama that a professional writer would have given this story, but with the love and the personal touches that only a member of the family could provide, about life and science on the west coast, where G. N. Lewis built the chemistry department at Uni732
versity of California-Berkeley from obscurity to among the best in the world. Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, by Edward O. Wilson. Knopf: New York, 1998. 332 pp. Cloth. ISBN 0-67945077-7. $26.00. Random House: New York, 1999. 408 pp. Paper. ISBN 0-679-76867-X. $14.00.
This, the most recent book by the renowned Harvard entomologist E. O. Wilson is a confirmation by a perceptive and insightful scientist that the application of reason to the physical world will create an increasingly unified view of the universe. Further, Wilson argues that rational methods similar to those that have been so successful in the physical and biological sciences will also be applicable to social issues, humanities, and even art. In essence, he is saying that the promise of Enlightenment is finally at hand. Consilience is like a long luncheon conversation with a luminary of 20th-century science. You will enjoy the experience. What Remains to be Discovered: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe, the Origins of Life, and the Future of the Human Race, by John Maddox. Free Press: New York, 1998. 434 pp. ISBN 0-684-82292-X. $26.00.
A year ago, a book entitled The End of Science, by John Horgan, claimed that there was nothing of significance left for science to uncover. Now John Maddox, for 23 years the editor of Nature, has published a refutation of Horgan’s thesis. Maddox organizes his thoughts into three categories: Matter, Life, and Our World. In each of ten chapters, he describes what he sees to be the outstanding problems and the likely means by which they might be attacked. I particularly enjoyed the clarity of his descriptions of the current status of the science involved, not surprising, considering his responsibilities at Nature. The future will likely prove his predictions wrong, but I don’t think it will disprove his larger point, that science has a promising future. This should be an inspirational book for students of science. Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen, by Clifford A. Pickover. Plenum: New York and London, 1998. 350 pp. ISBN 0-306-45784-9. $28.95.
Some of the most incendiary minds of science have also verged on pathology; a few of these people clearly have been mentally ill. Cliff Pickover describes the quirks and eccentric behav-
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for a scientist to see the big picture or even to imagine that there is one. Wilson, a distinguished biologist and prizewinning author, attempts to show in this new book that all knowledge is connected by a few guiding principles. Whether you are convinced by Wilson’s thesis or not, you will enjoy this audacious, learned, thought-provoking book. Belief in God in an Age of Science, by John Polkinghorne. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, 1998. 133 pp. ISBN 0-300-07294-5. $18.00.
Science and theology, once closely linked, have gone their separate ways since the advent of the modern age. Polkinghorne, who is both an Anglican priest and a theoretical physicist, argues eloquently that these disciplines still have much in common as they both seek the nature of reality. The author shows how the scientific view of the universe can illuminate a religious view of the universe. Scientists with interests in philosophy or religion will enjoy this beautifully written book.
The Self-Made Tapestr y: Pattern Formation in Nature • The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life • The Sacred Depths of Nature • Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion • The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character • In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life • On Dialogue: An Essay in Free Thought • The Measure of Reality • How the Mind Works • The First Moderns • Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge • Belief in God in an Age of Science • A Biography of Distinguished Scientist Gilbert Newton Lewis • Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge • What Remains to be Discovered: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe, the Origins of Life, and the Future of the Human Race • Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen • Women in Chemistr y: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century • Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Everyday Life • To Light Such a Candle: Chapters in the History of Science and Technology • The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature • The Touchstone of Life: Molecular Information, Cell Communication, and the Foundations of Life • The Sacred Depths of Nature • Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion • The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science, and Character • In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life • On Dialogue: An Essay in Free Thought • The Measure of Reality • How the Mind Works • The First Moderns • Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge • Belief in God in an Age of Science • A Biography of Distinguished Scientist Gilbert Newton Lewis • Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge • What Remains to be Discovered: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe, the Origins of Life, and the Future of the Human Race • Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen • Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century • Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Ever yday Life • To Light Such a Candle: Chapters in the Histor y of Science and Technology
iors of some of them, including Nikola Tesla (Chapter 1!), Oliver Heaviside, Richard Kirwan, Henry Cavendish, Francis Galton, and Theodore Kaczynski, among others. Secret Lives also includes discussion of some of the disorders that these people suffered: obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and others. This is a fascinating book that will enrich my teaching about the contributions of these strange men with their (sometimes) wonderful ideas. Check out Clifford Pickover’s Web page (http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/ home.htm) to see the contributions of a true polymath.
to dig very deeply indeed. For that reason, most of the names in this book (Laura Linton, Jane Marcet, Rachel Lloyd, for example) will be unfamiliar. It is amazing to me that the authors have been able to uncover so many stories of women who struggled to do science despite the obstacles. They do an excellent job, not only with the biographies but also of describing the historical context in which these women worked.
Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the MidTwentieth Century , by Marelene and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham. Chemical Heritage Society and the American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998. ISBN 0-8412-3522-8. $34.95.
book will be appearing shortly—EJW)
(Marjorie Caserio has recently submitted a review of this book for the Journal—EJW)
Until relatively recently, chemistry was a career from which women were discouraged or excluded entirely. Therefore, in sieving through history for evidence of their contributions, Marelene and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham have had
Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Everyday Life, by John Emsley. Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, and Melbourne, 1998. 272 pp. ISBN 0-19-850266-4. $25.00. (Conrad Stanitsky’s review of this
John Emsley writes about chemistry for the lay person, but manages to bring to light facts and anecdotes that will delight chemists and chemical educators. What is “the worst smell in the world”?— and how is it used to protect us? What radioactive element is used in smoke detectors? What’s the secret of Coca Cola? What chemical turns men on? Teachers of chemistry will find the names on many of the bottles in their storerooms in the fine index in Molecules at an Exhibition. This is a fun book to read!
To Light Such a Candle: Chapters in the History of Science and Technology , by Keith J. Laidler. Oxford University P ress: Oxford, New York, and Melbourne, 1998. 400 pp. ISBN 0-190850056-4. $50.00. (This was reviewed by Hal Harris in the March 1999 issue of the Journal, page 323—EJW)
The modern world is filled with wondrous products of science. Physical chemist Keith Laidler describes the history of many of the most important ones, and the familiar names with which they are associated: Watt and thermodynamics, Daguerre and photography, Faraday and electric power, Maxwell and radio, Thompson and electronics, Bragg and crystallography, Planck and Einstein for quantum mechanics and relativity. Naturally, Laidler describes the contributions (and the controversies) involving the other great names of science as well. This is a terrific book for those of us who teach and learn chemistry, especially of the physical variety. It includes a great deal of history that is familiar to those who have done some reading in the area, but almost anyone would find interesting new facts and perspectives.
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