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Damaged
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14 Sep 2009, 2:11 pm

From the New York Times reviewing the book: THE STRANGEST MAN; The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom;
By Graham Farmelo:
"This biography is a gift. It is both wonderfully written (certainly not a given in the category Accessible Biographies of Mathematical Physicists) and a thought-provoking meditation on human achievement, limitations and the relations between the two. Here we find a man with an almost miraculous apprehension of the structure of the physical world, coupled with gentle incomprehension of that less logical, messier world, the world of other people."
"Dirac is the main character of a thousand humorous tales told among physicists for his monosyllabic approach to conversation and his innocent, relentless application of logic to everything. Listening to a Dirac story is like slipping into an alternate universe..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/books ... ?ref=books



cosmiccat
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15 Sep 2009, 5:23 pm

Thanks for the link, Damaged. This sounds like a great book. I would very much like to read it. Have you read it and if so, do you think someone like me, who has never studied physics, would find it enjoyable? I guess, what I am asking is: is it written specifically for math geniuses, or could an ordinary person, especially one like me who loves biographies, also find it good reading?

Hmmm... I wonder if the author, Louisa Gilder, is related in any way to "our" Gilder? He is a math genius, isn't he? Just musing. Could be totally off the wall. Also, the title of your thread, "Another Aspie In Our Midst", are you referring to Louisa?

Here's a link to a great preview of the book which answers one of the questions I asked above: Would I, an ordinary person outside the field of Physics, enjoy this book? I absolutely would! No question in my mind.

The Age of Entanglement



wildgrape
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15 Sep 2009, 8:34 pm

Thanks. I adore these scientific autists. They so appreciate the incredible beauty of mathematics and physics.