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Mind, Life and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time (Sciencewriters)

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Mind, Life and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time (Sciencewriters) (Paperback)

by Lynn Margullis (Author, Editor), Eduardo Punset (Editor)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Co; Reprint edition (10 April 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1933392436
ISBN-13: 978-1933392431
Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 2.8 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 246,201 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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This item is part of The Science Writers Series.

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Review

What a delight it is to eavesdrop on conversations with so many agile, inventive, piquantly original minds. That the interviewers are far-sighted and wide-ranging themselves enriches the dialogues. A profound and timely book. - Diane Ackerman

Product Description

Nearly forty of the world s most esteemed scientists discuss the big questions that drive their illustrious careers. Coeditor Eduardo Punset one of Spain s most loved personages for his popularization of the sciences interviews an impressive collection of characters, drawing out their seldom-seen personalities. In 'Mind, Life and Universe', they describe in their own words the most important and fascinating aspects of their research. Frank and often irreverent, these interviews will keep even the most casual reader of science books rapt for hours. Can brain science explain feelings of happiness and despair? Is it true that chimpanzees are just like us when it comes to sexual innuendo? Is there any hard evidence that life exists anywhere other than on the Earth? Through Punset s skillful questioning, readers meet one scientist who spends her waking hours assuring the freedom of African primates, another passionate about his idea that his wife's choice of husband was determined when she was a fetus, and another who explains the evidence for more than the standard four dimensions of length, width, height, and time. In captivating conversations with such science luminaries as Richard Dawkins, Sheldon Glashow, Jane Goodall, James E. Lovelock, Lisa Randall, Robert Sapolski, Oliver Sacks, and E. O.Wilson, the editors reveal a unique, hidden world of intellectual interest, verve, and humor. Science enthusiasts and general readers alike will devour 'Mind, Life and Universe'.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Glimpses of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time, 14 Oct 2008

By	Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Eduardo Punset, the Spaniard who conducts almost all of the interviews in this wide-ranging book with some of the world's most highly respected scientists, is the host of the Spanish-language TV show Redes (Networks). As such he is experienced at drawing out scientists in such a way that their work comes alive to a general audience.

Lynn Margulis is the famous biologist who pioneered endosymbiotic ideas leading to the "Origin of Eukaryotic Cells," a book she published in 1970. Here she acts as co-editor and mostly intervenes in the text in footnotes to point to errors or misconceptions. There is something almost quirky about the way these interviews, or "discussions," as Penset calls them, appear on the pages. There are typos and obvious errors in translation. Part of the problem is that the interviews in most cases were patched together from transcripts and edited to remove some of the imprecision, repetition, and the um-ing and ah-ing that natural speech is prone to. The result nonetheless is a fascinated survey of what is happening in a host of scientific fields as expressed by some of science's greatest stars.

Included are interviews with Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, Oliver Sacks, James E. Lovelock, Stephen Jay Gould, Paul Davies and thirty others. There is a foreword by David T. Suzuki and Margulis contributes an introduction with acknowledgments. A charming feature are the black and white line drawings of the scientists under the chapter headings. There are biographical notes about the scientists near the end of the book, and a list of readings recommended by the scientists (two each).

Punset's interviewing style in which he interrupts and augments what the interviewee has said, while occasionally taking a kind of diversion to digress on some point, makes for lively reading. He and the interviewees sometimes even openly disagree, while the venerable Lynn Margulis sometimes comes sailing in as though from on high to make a salient point or to out-and-out contradict what someone has said! I'm sure some of the scientists were misquoted or had some of what they said truncated so that their meaning may not be exactly what they had intended. Strange to say I somewhat enjoyed the imprecision and the cluttered desk aspect to the discussions.

Here's an example of what I mean. Philosopher Daniel Dennett is quoted as saying, "It has been discovered that chimpanzees have a way of catching termites with a stick, which involves using a sponge to take out water from the trunk to drink." Obviously two statements by Dennett about tool use by chimpanzees have been inadvertently meshed together! (p. 81)

Here's another: Punset is talking about the genetic basis for language, music, schizophrenia, and religion. He finishes with: "Religiosity played a very important role in the early evolution of culture." Anthropologist Ralph Holloway's immediate response is "Mankind was perturbed and that is why it was selected." Just what the pronoun "it" refers to is unclear as is what elicited his "mankind was perturbed" remark. (p. 178)

Regardless of such shortcomings this reader was delighted with the discussions, and time and again surprised and informed by something someone said. Here's an example of the kind of off the cuff profundity that this book offers. Neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas is talking about systems in the brain. He says:

"There are two large systems: the more primitive one, the one of passions, pain, what a passion is, envy, sloth, lust, eating, and feeling. This is not negotiable. You like someone or not, something gives you pleasure or not, like a reptile. The possibility of negotiating with reality only occurs with the second system, the one of the neocortex, though it is completely dominated by the passions."

Reading this book offers a glimpse of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time.

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