I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier: Essays on Science, Scientists and Humanity - Hardcover

Perutz, M. F.

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9780879695248: I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier: Essays on Science, Scientists and Humanity

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879695242 ISBN 13: 9780879695248

Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,U.S., 1998

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Science is no quiet life. Imagination, creativity, ambition, and conflict are as vital and abundant in science as in artistic endeavors. In this collection of essays, the Nobel Prize-winning protein chemist Max Perutz writes about the pursuit of scientific knowledge, which he sees as an enterprise providing not just new facts but cause for reflection and revelation, as in a poem or painting. Max Perutz's essays explore a remarkable range of scientific topics with the lucidity and precision Perutz brought to his own pioneering work in protein crystallography. He has been hailed as an author who "makes difficult subjects intelligible and writes with the warmth, humanity, and broad culture which has always characterized the great men of science." Of his previous collection of essays, a reviewer said "They turn the world of science and medicine into a marvelous land of adventure which I was thrilled to explore in the company of this wise and human [writer]." Readers of this volume can journey to the same land, with the same delight. Max Perutz (1914-2002) was a brilliant scientist, a visionary of molecular biology, and a writer of elegant essays infused with humanity and wisdom. This expanded paperback edition of his very successful book I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier contains nine additional essays, and a warmly evocative portrait of Max by his friend and professional colleague Sir John Meurig Thomas. The original hardcover edition of this book was co-published with Oxford University Press. A paperback edition is also available from Oxford University Press. The expanded paperback edition is only available from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

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Review:

Max Perutz is an extraordinary scientist. After training in chemistry at the University of Vienna during the 1930s, he went to Cambridge and became fascinated by biochemistry just as that discipline was becoming ripe for conquest by scientific heroes. He knew and worked with many of them--William Bragg, J D Bernal, Crick and Watson--and became one himself, through his discovery of the structure of haemoglobin, which led to his Nobel Prize in 1962.

Such are the credentials Perutz brings to this wonderful collection of essays; credentials which he uses always to illuminate, never to dominate. In prose that rolls by like countryside seen from the window of a train, Perutz takes the reader travelling through his own life and that of many other leading scientists, giving fresh insights into the workings of first-rate minds.

We meet such characters as Leo Szilard, the inventor of the atomic bomb who devoted his life to preventing its use, and the German chemist Fritz Haber, the very mirror-image of Szilard who became a real-life Faust. We also learn much about Perutz's own approach to science--including his involvement in a project to harness icebergs in the fight against the Nazis.

With its combination of choice of subject and light, often humorous style, this is one of the best collections of scientific essays to emerge for years. --Robert Matthews

Review:

Review from previous edition Perutz introduces the giants of 20th-century science gracefully, writing with the lucidity and precision that he brought to his work on proteins. There is something for everyone here. (John L. Casti, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, New Scientist, 29/05/99)

A splendidly varied and totally readable collection of articles, some new and some previously published elsewhere, but all the better for being drawn together in one volume ... I enjoyed the book straight through on a long flight; it would also be ideal for dipping into. Either way, the sort of book you are sorry to finish. (Ron Fraser, Microbiology Today, February 2000)

If you are interested in science and what makes scientists tick, you will find great enjoyment in this book ... What a wonderful bedside read. This is a book to treasure. (Food Technology in New Zealand, August 1999)

"I Wish I Made Your Angry Earlier" is a joy to read and captures some wonderful insights into the lives of a number of key scientists during their pursuit of knowledge. (Education in Chemistry, September 2000)

This is a wholly captivating book; it has warmth, wit, and style, and not a dull sentence. I urge you to read, enjoy, and learn. (Walter Gratzer, Nature)

The essays are beautifully written, with flashes of wit and humour ... I read this as a bedtime book ... when I finally found that there was no more to read, I felt quite disappointed - no more chocolates in the box! (Nature Medicine)

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PublisherCold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,U.S.
Publication date1998
ISBN 10 0879695242
ISBN 13 9780879695248
BindingHardcover
Number of pages354
Rating
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I Wish I'D Made You Angry Earlier - Essays on Science, Scientists, and Humanity

Perutz, Max F.

Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1998)

ISBN 10: 0879695242 ISBN 13: 9780879695248

New Hardcover First Edition Quantity: 1

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Dr.Bookman - Books Packaged in Cardboard
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. First Edition. This specific hardback book is in new condition with a hard board cover that has sharp edges and corners and has a tight binding. The pages are clean, crisp, unmarked and uncreased. The dust jacket is in new condition with no discernible wear. We package all books in custom cardboard book boxes for shipment and ship daily with tracking numbers.; "In this collection of essays, Nobel Prize-winning protein chemist Max Perutz writes about the pursuit of scientific knowledge, which he sees as an enterprise providing not just a few facts but cause for reflection and revelation, as is a painting or poem. This work includes detective stories, tales of conflict and battle, a woman's love affair with crystals, a man's gruesome fascination with poison gas, Nobel Laureates' geriatric illusions about cancer cures, an onslaught on social relativists, the anticlimactic homecoming of a war hero that led to a Nobel prize, phantom perils that threaten us, and real perils that have been conquered by silent heroes. Perutz seeks to convince us that science is a passionate enterprise and the pursuit of knowledge a sortie into the unknown. He combines potraits of 20th-century giants such as Pauling, Meitner, Medawar, Krebs and others, with glimpses of his own life: his flight from Vienna in the '30s, internment in Britain as an enemy alien in World War II, rescue from the sea after a U-boat attack, and more. His observations on abortion issues, nuclear fuel reprocessing and human rights reflect a lifelong concern for social justice and scientific integrity."; 6.5 X 0.75 X 9.25 inches; 354 pages. Seller Inventory # 24492

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