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Michael Faraday: Physics and faith by Colin Russell, Oxford University Press,
$22, ISBN 0195117638

IT鈥橲 the new Mission: Impossible. Colin Russell has to entertain and inspire
teenage science students with a compelling tale about the life of Michael
Faraday. You have to feel a bit sorry for him.

Faraday, you see, was a bit dull. He went to church regularly, had a steady,
loving marriage, was scrupulously fair to all. He had no thought for wealth, and
turned down a knighthood because he wanted to remain 鈥減lain Michael Faraday鈥�.
Need I go on? There are occasional touches of colour鈥攈e was once thrown
out of the church, and he was famously cheeky to the prime minister鈥攂ut
most of the time he is the epitome of self-control.

And that makes for a rather flat tale. The subtitle of this biography,
鈥淧hysics and faith鈥� tries to add interest, but Russell can鈥檛 quite convince me
that Faraday鈥檚 faith much affected the way he did science. He never struggled
over the big questions, preferring to accept the answers he had already found in
the Bible. He even remained silent when Darwin dared to question the very nature
of creation.

The writing is fine, if a little unimaginative, and explains Faraday鈥檚 work
clearly. It鈥檚 the story itself that鈥檚 the problem: it simply lacks grip. But if
your school homework is on the life and works of Michael Faraday, this contains
everything you鈥檒l need.