- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Pimlico (3 Aug 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1844130924
- ISBN-13: 978-1844130924
- Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 2.6 x 21.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
629,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #30 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Warfare & Defence > Weapons & Equipment > Chemical & Biological Weapons
- #37 in Books > History > Military History > War Crimes > Genocide
Between Genius And Genocide
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £2.25
Trade in Between Genius And Genocide: The Tragedy of Fritz Haber, Father of Chemical Warfare for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £2.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
Product Description
Review
'Haber's story is an enduring scientific tragedy, one that Charles tells with commendable clarity, style and brevity', Robin McKie, Observer .'A deeply thoughtful study of Fritz Haber - a brilliant, fascinating and finally tragic figure - and his equivocal legacy... A book to make one ponder', Oliver Sacks
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
The astonishing story of the first man to fix nitrogen from the air, which led to the mass production of agricultural fertilisers; winner of the Nobel Prize; the creator of chemical warfare; a German patriot destroyed by the Nazis.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Despite a rather overwritten style, this could have been an excellent book, since the author has examined (directly or indirectly) numerous documents relating to this dramatic and tragic story. So I was about to give five stars.
Then my own research led me to examine the correspondence between Haber and Weizmann in the last months of Haber's life, and I find that this book completely misrepresents the situation. Farkas is quoted as scoffing at Haber as a spent force, and we are told correctly that Farkas eventually "found a new home in Palestine", but we are not told that it was Haber who had brokered the Palestinian job, nor, even more importantly, that letters from Haber to Weizmann in September and October show Haber fully committed to accepting Weizmann's offer of employment, and enthusiastic about the possibilities that the demise of German science offered to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Making his case that Haber was a broken man,the author quotes from a letter Haber wrote in January 1934, three weeks before his death, in order to illustrate Haber's frame of mind six months earlier. This is either carelessness or misrepresentation.
If I know the book to be so deeply flawed in the one area that I have closely studied, how can I trust it anywhere else?
Then my own research led me to examine the correspondence between Haber and Weizmann in the last months of Haber's life, and I find that this book completely misrepresents the situation. Farkas is quoted as scoffing at Haber as a spent force, and we are told correctly that Farkas eventually "found a new home in Palestine", but we are not told that it was Haber who had brokered the Palestinian job, nor, even more importantly, that letters from Haber to Weizmann in September and October show Haber fully committed to accepting Weizmann's offer of employment, and enthusiastic about the possibilities that the demise of German science offered to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Making his case that Haber was a broken man,the author quotes from a letter Haber wrote in January 1934, three weeks before his death, in order to illustrate Haber's frame of mind six months earlier. This is either carelessness or misrepresentation.
If I know the book to be so deeply flawed in the one area that I have closely studied, how can I trust it anywhere else?
Format:Hardcover
The moral complexity and tragic conclusion of his life make Haber a tricky subject. His former assistant Johannes Jaenicke spent decades collecting materials for a biography, but never got it written down. His collection is the archive from which biographers feed, including Dietrich Stoltzenberg (whose epic effort appeared in a shortened translation: Fritz Haber: Chemist, Laureate, German, Jew), Thomas Hager (The Alchemy of Air) and Daniel Charles.
Charles's advantage is that he sees Haber with the fresh eyes of an outsider, who admits that he once visited the Haber institute without knowing who it was named after. Since then, he has certainly done his homework at the Jaenicke archive, and manages to tell the story in a compelling and fascinating, yet compact and accessible form. His strength is the witty summary ("Haber didn't immediately volunteer for this epic quest. He had to be goaded into it with offers of money and insults to his pride." -- p.83) that often introduces a new section of his story. The only blemish is the title of the book, which demonises the creator of one of the most important inventions of the 20th century - the Haber-Bosch process that literally feeds half the world population.
Charles's advantage is that he sees Haber with the fresh eyes of an outsider, who admits that he once visited the Haber institute without knowing who it was named after. Since then, he has certainly done his homework at the Jaenicke archive, and manages to tell the story in a compelling and fascinating, yet compact and accessible form. His strength is the witty summary ("Haber didn't immediately volunteer for this epic quest. He had to be goaded into it with offers of money and insults to his pride." -- p.83) that often introduces a new section of his story. The only blemish is the title of the book, which demonises the creator of one of the most important inventions of the 20th century - the Haber-Bosch process that literally feeds half the world population.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
All modern children have learned at school about the Haber Process to produce ammonia. I wonder how many are told about the fascinating moral dilemmas, personal tragedies, human failings and stunning technical achievements described in this book?
Daniel Charles covers the science in a simple but sound way. Because of Haber, he says, we produce enough food to feed the world. Haber realised that increasing food production will remove the nitrogen in the soil faster than nature can replace it. He seized on what was almost a chance discovery, to design an industrial process to produce nitrogen fertiliser in vast quantities.
That is the good side of Haber's work. His productive period, however, coincided with the growth of modern Germany, still in its ardently patriotic and nationalistic phase. Events were leading inevitably to the First World War and Haber's work was also essential for that. I was astonished to learn that, without the chemicals produced by the Haber Process, Germany would have run out of explosives in the first year of the war.
But the story turns, to our modern attitudes and hindsight, even more dark. Haber not only worked on the choice of gases for use in the trenches, but actually supervised its release. Charles sets this in context and helps us to understand Haber's justifications. In the end though, Haber's work turns grotesquely negative when one of his inventions becomes the foundation for Zyklon-B, used by Hitler to kill his fellow Jews.
This is a very readable book about an intriguing man. The science is well described for a non-scientist reader. For anyone interested in the role of science, and the moral dilemmas it generates, this is required reading.
Daniel Charles covers the science in a simple but sound way. Because of Haber, he says, we produce enough food to feed the world. Haber realised that increasing food production will remove the nitrogen in the soil faster than nature can replace it. He seized on what was almost a chance discovery, to design an industrial process to produce nitrogen fertiliser in vast quantities.
That is the good side of Haber's work. His productive period, however, coincided with the growth of modern Germany, still in its ardently patriotic and nationalistic phase. Events were leading inevitably to the First World War and Haber's work was also essential for that. I was astonished to learn that, without the chemicals produced by the Haber Process, Germany would have run out of explosives in the first year of the war.
But the story turns, to our modern attitudes and hindsight, even more dark. Haber not only worked on the choice of gases for use in the trenches, but actually supervised its release. Charles sets this in context and helps us to understand Haber's justifications. In the end though, Haber's work turns grotesquely negative when one of his inventions becomes the foundation for Zyklon-B, used by Hitler to kill his fellow Jews.
This is a very readable book about an intriguing man. The science is well described for a non-scientist reader. For anyone interested in the role of science, and the moral dilemmas it generates, this is required reading.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thorough record of an utter tragedy
Young Fritz Haber believed the united Germany of 1871 would not allow discrimination of jews anymore. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2008 by Christian Jongeneel
Ambition, Bigotry and Downfall of a Master
Fritz Haber was a scientific genius, but his love for the German Fatherland proved to be his humiliating downfall. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2006 by Joan H. Hammond
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > War & Espionage
- Books > History > Military History > War Crimes > Genocide
- Books > History > Military History > Weapons & Warfare > Biological & Chemical
- Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > History of Science
- Books > Science & Nature
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Warfare & Defence > Weapons & Equipment > Chemical & Biological Weapons
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
