Customer Reviews

A Tale of Two Continents

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Abe Pais was in hiding during WWII in Holland (actually just across the street from where Anna Frank was hiding); but he was a few years older than Anna Frank, and he survived. While in hiding, he studied physics.
That part of the story reads like a thriller. But the narrative throughout is compelling, and honest.
After the war, through a sequence of small miracles, and a stunning intelligence, he ended up in Copenhagen to work with Niels Bohr, and then to the US, at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, where he became a Professor. And in fact, he became a leading and exceptionally successful nuclear physicist.
Throughout his career as a physicist, he knew Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein well, and a host of the other pioneers; and he worked with them too. He is fluent in at least 7 languages, and knows many more. All of this is part of his autobiography, which is also filled with charming observations about cultural differences, and observation of human affairs; including affairs of the heart.
His whole life was divided between two Continents, hence the title of the book. But Abe Pais's life was divided in several other ways too: The first half was science, and the second writing. Marriages further marked dividing lines.
He wrote a number of extremely well received biographies, the best one perhaps `Subtle is the Lord' about Albert Einstein (I have a weakness for biographies!); and his last was his autobiography! In fact, he finished it only a few years before he died. The last 10 years of his life was spent in Denmark; so in some sense closing the circle.
Review by Palle Jorgensen, November 2004.

This is probably the most honest autobiography I've read so far. And a good one.

The author is a world renown physicist who made great contribution to the theory of particle physicist. As other reviewers have mentioned, the book details his life in Europe that centers on WWII, and then in America that peaks in his life among many of the great physicists of the 20th century. The readers may find that the book is written with the help from many historical documents and personal diaries.

The reason that I feel this book is honest is that the author describes his various experiences in a personal perspective, which is based on close attention to details and careful analysis on human behaviors. Although not exactly scientific, his views are humane enough for us to understand and relate to. Also it helps that the author himself is successful and well respected, which makes his description of other great scientists (e.g. Einstein, Bohr, Dirac, and Oppenheimer) more vivid and closer to reality. I find this a great plus, because in general great people, especially great scientists, are painted as semi-gods who think and behave differently in every way, which is untrue.

Among many interesting things I learned from this book, a few really strike me as real insights. One is his first experience with deep thinking. It occurs when he was hiding from the Nazis in a small room. After extensive reading and thinking on physics, he got into this mode of not being aware of the surrounding physical world, while being immersed in ideas that related with the topics he was concentrated on. A second one is his stories on Dirac, a great British physicist. While Dirac is usually portrayed as the strangest man on earth, here you find that Dirac is actually funny in a very special way. He can be curious about very small things, but once he sets his mind to, he would study the subject to the very last detail, like his long lasting interest in Pais' having three sandwich as lunch. Overall, from his words on his own and many others' way of thinking, the book presents a coherent view on how real scientists live and work. More importantly, it reveals how great scientists think and live.

The book I received is in totally new condition.very excellent.