Customer Reviews

Beam: The Race to Make the Laser

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought that Jeff Hecht's "City of Light" was a better book but the race became better and better when you get further into it. The writing was casual, informative and descriptive and the technical information slowly evolved (not overbearing) as progress was made by the various principals. Yes, it was a science telenovela. However, I think he should have written a Chapter 20 to give a Wikipedia-like roundup or summation of laser theory and applications. I think the author was persuasive on his remarks on Maiman missing out of the Nobel.

The story is narrated from a neutral point of view and gives a clear picture of the laser research across the various labs ( Bell, TRG, Hughes, IBM, Varian ).
This overview was previously unavailable, given that the other laser books were written by some of the actors ( Townes, Maiman ) and are not neutral.
The technical aspects are explained quite simply and the writing style keeps you entertained with the right amount of trivia.
After finishing the book I decided to home build a laser device in my basement ( probably a CO2 or He-Ne laser ) and discovered there are a lot of laser fans out there.
Well done Mr Hecht.

I appreciate the effort it took to tell this story. I was on the edge of my seat at times. There were some really special people doing some rather fantastic science. "Pushing the envelope" is the polite translation of what my dad would say. I was also told this is the most accurate version he had read.