The Voice Of Genius: Conversations With Nobel Scientists And Other Luminaries [Paperback]

Denis Brian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

In this unique book, celebrated biographer Denis Brian draws on some of the greatest scientific minds of the twentieth century, in pursuit of their distinct views on life, knowledge, and the cosmos. A provocative and revealing interviewer, Brian weaves together the insights and personal stories of a stellar cast of Nobel Prize winners and other luminaries, including Linus Pauling's ill-fated support of Vitamin C as a cure for cancer, Ashley Montagu's explanation of why the sex drive is not innate, and various personal recollections of the making of the atomic bomb, Heisenberg's role in Nazi Germany, and the spy case of Klaus Fuchs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Brian is an excellent interviewer ... well written, provocative, and full of interesting portraits of the leading thinkers of our age." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Master of the art of the interview, Brian gets his subjects conversing with a lively clarity." -- The New Yorker

About the Author

Denis Brian is an acclaimed biographer, journalist, novelist, and playwright. He is the author of twelve books, including Einstein: A Life, The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him Best, and the forthcoming Joseph Pulitzer and His "Indegoddampendent" World. He lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738204471
• ISBN-13: 978-0738204475
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting & informative, May 5, 2004

By 

Bibliophile - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Voice Of Genius: Conversations With Nobel Scientists And Other Luminaries (Paperback)

There are shortcomings in this book. I absolutely agree with the previous reviewer: First, the interviewer (the author) is untrained in even the basics of science, and some of his questions are silly. (The most hilarious example I can think of is when Brian asked Bethe how close do you have to get to the Sun, like in a spacecraft, before being pulled into it by its gravity. Bethe's answer: Long before that happens, you'll be burned to dust by the heat. He dryly added, "I never thought of such a question." Talk about stupidity.) The other fault is Brian's interest in the paranormal. Few of the scientists he interviewed share this, although Jastrow did say that really advanced beings on othernets might be able to communicate by means which we would classify as ESP. For this fascinating subject, Brian should have talked to Brian Josephson, the Nobel laureate in Physics who happens to be obsessed with the paranormal (surely the only Nobelist in the world with this unique distinction).

The most interesting parts of these interviews concern the scientists' religious views. And indeed this is the key strength of this book which in my opinion redeems its faults. This book is worth the reading for this alone if for nothing else.

If Brian thinks about a second edition, I'd strongly urge him to consider interviewing Steven Weinberg, Alan Guth, Brian Greene, Martin Rees, John Schwarz and Edward Witten.

Witten especially. There is almost universal consensus nowadays that Witten is the most influential physicist since Einstein, perhaps since Newton even. Indeed, in physics Witten is equal to Einstein and superior to Newton, while in mathematical contribution Witten is equal to Newton and superior to Einstein. Where Newton beats both Einstein and Witten, it would be in astronomy (neither Einstein nor Witten is an astronomer); and where Einstein beats Newton and Witten, it would be in his impact as a philosopher. Einstein was a philosopher not only in his knowledge of philosophy but also for the huge effect relativity has on philosophy itself - a point not lost on Bertrand Russell and other professional philosophers. As a theoretical physicist, Witten is perhaps "purer" than both Newton and Einstein because he is no philosopher, unlike Einstein, and because he doesn't waste his time on dumb things like alchemy and chronology (making prophecies from a literal and careful study of the Old Tesatment & other scriptures), which cost Newton more time than physics, math, and astronomy combined. Witten's religious and philosophical views are of great interest. Since no one seems to have found these out and written about them, it would be a great scoop for any journalist to do so. (Witten once refused giving "personal details" to a writer from Scientific American - not even what his college major was at Brandeis! - but with growing fame and honors he might have mellowed a bit. Let's hope so, or else Witten would have another thing in common with Newton (but not with Einstein): a prickly and difficult personality.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a mixed bag, May 2, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Voice Of Genius: Conversations With Nobel Scientists And Other Luminaries (Paperback)

This book starts out with a great chapter on Linus Pauling, and four or five more fairly compelling interviews. However, the author seems to have some strange fixations that damaged the reading for me. He'll be interviewing a world-class cosmologist and will suddenly start asking very mundane questions about Mars that any reader could inquire about in text books or from myriad other sources. The author does a great job talking about God, religion, and philosophy with these scientists, but then will diverge into some bizarre topics, like ESP and hypnosis. I mean, are ESP and hypnosis really that interesting? It seems these issues are brought up in almost every interview. It's quite distracting after a while.

I might rate it a 3.5 stars. There are some truly excellent passages with profoundly interesting conversation. If you are doing serious research on any of the subjects, it's probably worth reading at least that chapter.