ONE has to be a genuine polymath or a nutter to embark on a solo series as
broad-ranging as The Big Idea(Arrow, 拢3.99 each). Each of Paul
Strathern鈥檚 paperbacks is about 100 pages long, and intended to be accessible to
nonscientists as well as scientists. They could serve as useful introductions to
science鈥攖hough oddly, the blurbs do not mention senior school level, to
which they seem well suited.
Anyone who has tried writing for such a wide audience knows just how
difficult it can be, even when the material is well within one鈥檚 grasp.
Strathern鈥檚 background is in philosophy and mathematics. Though he is clearly
happiest when combining the two, the content in all the titles seems fairly
sound. But however admirably cheap and cheerful a series may be, no publisher
should skimp on copy editing, checking or proofreading. I found some alarming
deficiencies here. The overuse of brackets is merely irritating鈥攁nd
perhaps typical for a mathematician鈥攂ut much worse are misstatements and
literals in such number as to cause concern.
For example, in Einstein and Relativity(ISBN 0099237326),
particles are 鈥渄iscreet鈥�; Albert Einstein 鈥渘ow grasped the mettle鈥�; and his
famous equation 鈥渨as literally earth-shattering鈥�. On page 49 of Crick
(ISBN 0099237243) an unforgivably sexist view of Rosalind Franklin is presented.
In Hawking and Black Holes (ISBN 0099237725), the subject鈥檚
biographer is 鈥淛ohn Gribben鈥� throughout. In all the books, unqualified hyperbole
is too often given as fact: for example, Linus Pauling鈥檚 The Nature of the
Chemical Bondis 鈥渢he greatest chemistry textbook ever written鈥�. I could go
on. And on . . .
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All that said, these little books have the great merit of being readable and
interesting鈥攊n between the jolts鈥攁nd there is scarcely a page of
tedium. Each great innovator is placed in historical context and treated fairly,
warts and all. Hagiography this is not. Delicate readers will possibly gain the
impression that the principal requirements for forming a mathematical genius
include a lousy childhood and hostility to the school curriculum, followed by an
adult life dogged with marital or sexual problems and irrational behaviour often
verging on the insane.
Newton鈥檚 pathological vindictiveness, for example, is well illustrated before
the author signs him off in typically unabashed fashion as 鈥渢he finest scientist
who ever lived鈥�. (Among Britons, I would myself argue for Michael Faraday.) The
totally lunatic pseudo-religion invented by Pythagoras also receives the full
treatment. Pythagoras and His Theorem (ISBN 0099237520) is worth buying
just to learn the real reason why he banned his disciples from eating beans.
Each book has a short bibliography but no index. Inevitably, and there is no
demerit in it, Strathern leans on the biographies and autobiographies, most
sensitively in the case of Alan Turing, but also for Francis Crick and James
Watson鈥攚ho, their friends might care to know, stand out as islands of
stability among the surrounding mathematicians. In Turing and the
Computer (ISBN 0099237822), there is a powerful blast against British
public schools and their products that should kill sales in bookshops near Eton
and Harrow. And the book also contains the only substantial female character of
the series other than Franklin and various wives. Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron鈥檚
daughter, was a fine mathematician who assisted Charles Babbage鈥攄escribed
here as 鈥渁n irascible old fart鈥�.
Please, Mr Strathern, may we read about, say, Marie Curie and Dorothy Hodgkin
in the next batch? Or are women just too staid and sensible?
The New York Library Amazing Space (John Wiley, $12.95, ISBN
0471144983) is an absolutely straight reference book, well-written and organised
for tackling the kinds of questions children ask. Ranging from the structure of
the Earth to quasars, it has a good index and bibliography, and should appeal to
adults. Amazing Facts (Dorling Kindersley, 拢7.99, ISBN
0751355178), on the other hand, is a very well-illustrated ragbag organised in
double-page 鈥渢opics鈥�. The price seems a bit steep鈥攅ven in
hardback鈥攆or 18 topics with about a dozen facts on each. But as a present
it should keep precocious nephews and nieces quiet for a while.