Memoirs [Hardcover]

Andrei D. Sakharov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 1995

Personal, scientific and political memoirs by the Soviet scientist, Nobel Prize-winner and human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov. In 1986 Sakharov was in his sixth year of exile, when Gorbachev welcomed him back to Moscow and to an active role in perestroika.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Sakharov was at once the brilliant physicist who created the hydrogen bomb and the humanitarian who won the Nobel Peace Prize. With his death last December, these Memoirs become timely testimony to his life, particularly his development, his motivations, and the influences shaping his actions. His account of Soviet nuclear testing and life among the privileged but closeted nuclear research community is compelling. Once he'd witnessed the biological effects of radiation, Sakharov changed the course of his life, and he details his several decades as a champion of Soviet human rights and world peace. His memoirs conclude with his release from a lengthy exile in Gorky in 1986, but Sakharov lived beyond this to see many of his convictions sanctioned through glasnost. Recommended for all libraries.
- Rena Fowler, Northern Michigan Univ., Marquette
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Destined to take its place as one of the great testaments to human freedom in this or any age...a complex and brilliant blend of personal history, scientific insight,
and a lesson in uncommon moral development."--The San Francisco Chronicle


From the Trade Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (January 22, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517137658
• ISBN-13: 978-0517137659
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,664,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Black comedy, January 27, 2002

By 

Gary - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs (Hardcover)

This book bordered on the surreal due to Sakharov's irony free style. He would describe some craziness involving KGB interference in his life or Soviet life in general and then suddenly break off to describe theoretical quantum physics for three pages. This juxtaposition between the irrational and rational makes the book unexpectedly comic at times.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating but very disturbing, August 29, 2008

By 

Jonathan S. Watson (Belmont, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Memoirs (Paperback)

The history and personalities are fascinating.

The science is informative.

The horrors that the author describes were more than I could continue reading.

5.0 out of 5 stars Difficult but worthwhile, October 2, 2011

By 

a reader (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs (Paperback)

I read this book some time ago now, but the recent BBC adaptation of Grossman's Life and Fate (which I've not read yet) brought it back to mind.

I'm not a physicist but I worked in a non-scientific capacity at CERN for a couple of years, hence my interest.

The history that this book uncovers, and the dispassionate integrity of its author, makes it to my mind one of the most important books I have ever read. I knew almost nothing of Stalinism when I read it; so it shocked me to the core. It was like looking at an upside-down topsy-turvy world.

In his childhood the arts were seen as deeply threatening - playing a piano sonata could have you 'disappeared'. In adulthood, one of his sweetest moments was the simple act of toasting his wife with a glass of coca-cola.

It's interesting to read this book, and then lift one's eyes back to the Britain we live in today.... what do you see?