Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries) [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Barbara Goldsmith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2004

THE MYTH OF MARIE CURIE--the penniless Polish immigrant who, through genius and obsessive persistence, endured years of toil and deprivation to produce radium, a luminous panacea for all the world's ills including cancer--has obscured the remarkable truth behind her discoveries. Curie's shrewd though controversial insight was that radioactivity was an atomic properly that could be used to discover new elements. While her work won her two Nobel Prizes and transformed our world, it did not liberate her from the prejudices of either the male-dominated scientific community or society. Here is an all-too-human woman trying to balance science, love, and the family values that constitute her legacy. Using original research (diaries, letters, and family interviews) to peel away the layers of myth and reveal the woman behind the icon, the acclaimed author and historian Barbara Goldsmith offers a dazzling portrait of Curie, her amazing discoveries, and the price she paid for fame.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

So enduring is the reputation of Marie Curie that more than 100 years after she won her first Nobel Prize, for physics in 1903 (she won a second, for chemistry, in 1911), Curie (1867–1934) is still regarded by most as the pre-eminent woman scientist of the 20th century. Goldsmith's straightforward biography illuminates both the public Curie, a tireless scientist obsessed with work, and the private one, a woman who suffered bouts of severe depression, was distant from her children and scarred deeply by the accidental death of her scientist husband, Pierre, in 1906. Using long-sealed Curie family archives, Goldsmith offers a well-rounded view of her subject that makes good dramatic use of the considerable intrigue that surrounded Curie's scientific accomplishments and her private life. Goldsmith also reminds us, without belaboring the point, that Curie overcame obstacles, including pervasive sexism within the scientific community that almost cost her the Nobel. Goldsmith is also adept at demonstrating that for Curie the nexus of public accomplishments and private happiness was tenuous. Although Curie continued working after Pierre's death, Goldsmith says she never allowed his name to be spoken: "Never again would there be a sign of joy." Goldsmith, biographer of Gloria Vanderbilt and Victoria Woodhull, is weakest at explaining the theoretical basis for Curie's scientific breakthroughs, which set the stage for the exploration of the atom. B&w illus.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Best-selling historian Goldsmith incisively chronicles the intensely dramatic life of the first woman scientist to win the Nobel Prize, neatly explicating both scientific breakthroughs and complex personal and societal conflicts. Curie, born Marya Salomee Sklodowska, endured and triumphed over a tough childhood in Russian-occupied Poland as well as depression, sexism, and poverty. A brilliant and profoundly committed scientist who achieved many firsts, she found her soul mate in fellow scientist and maverick Pierre Curie, who helped her conduct the grueling experiments that enabled her to discover polonium, radium, and radioactivity, thus throwing "open the door to atomic science." A humanist who hoped that radiation would only be used for good, Marie Curie also invented a mobile X-ray unit that her courageous scientist daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, who also won a Nobel Prize, operated on the front lines. Marie, Pierre, and Irene were all made fatally ill by their work with radioactive substances, and decades later, the Curie papers that Goldsmith has made such superb use of were still "hot." Marie Curie's life, Goldsmith concludes, was "tragic and glorious." Her powerful portrait reveals a woman of great passion, genius, and pain who changed the world in ways she would have deplored. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• ISBN-10: 0393051374
• ASIN: B000FFJRIG
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,213,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Biography, November 28, 2004

By 

Wilkie Collins (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries) (Hardcover)

Obsessive Genius is an utterly fascinating portrait of a hallowed and difficult subject. If you are a fan of Goldsmith's work, (I am) you will immediately see that she is the perfect person to give Curie the complexity and dimension she deserves --as a scientist and as a woman. It's a short book which is by turns moving, informative, and intriguingly unexpected. I couldn't put it down.

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Literary Genuis!, November 29, 2004

By 

Matthew B. Ellis (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries) (Hardcover)

The author has discovered the truth of Marie curie's impoverished, Dickensian , childhood, has read papers sealed for 60 years (some radioactive!) to get this incredible story, the truth behind the legend. Every library should have this sensational and deeply inforrmative book and so should book clubs and anyone who wants a great read. A bestseller for sure. If there were more than five stars that's how I'd rate it.

A must read!!!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, December 23, 2004

By 

R. Boadway "HF Buff" (Flagsaff, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries) (Hardcover)

I learned of this book in the magazine section of my Sunday newspaper. I strongly doubted that a nonfiction book would be able to hold my interest for long as they can be so dry and tedious, but the topic sounded interesting, the review was promising and as I am a huge historical fiction reader I thought it might be worth a try. I am so grateful that I ran across that recommendation or I would have missed out on a real gem!

The story grabbed me in right from page one. I couldn't wait to find some free time to be able to get back to reading! While definitely written as nonfiction, the story at times reads like a simple novel with short dialogue, letter excerpts and diary entries. These personal touches add a wonderful element to the book. The scientific explanations were presented very simplistically and were easy enough to understand. They too, added a wonderful and important element to the story.

Marie Curie's life was fascinating: a woman of rare intelligence and genius, she was also plagued by severe depression (especially after the loss of her beloved Pierre) and faced the constant struggle to prove herself and receive her much deserved credit in what was a very male-dominated field. Yet despite these struggles, her devotion to science and her world-changing discoveries never diminished; they enveloped her very soul. I must admit that at times, when reading about her accomplishments and the ease at which science came to her, I felt alittle inadequate and less than intelligent. She was an inspiration!

I was very happy to discover the wonderful coincidence that while I was reading this book, the anniversary of Marie Curie's discovery of radium and radioactivity took place. I strongly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in science, history, women's rights, medicine or just plain life!