- Paperback: 337 pages
- Publisher: Picador; 4 edition (24 Feb 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330390287
- ISBN-13: 978-0330390286
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 2.5 x 19.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 194,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'An intensely moving and funny account of his chaotic scientific upbringing.' --Richard Holmes, Brilliant and Unusual Books about Science to inspire Non-Scientists - The Week
Review
"A rare gem.... Fresh, joyous, wistful, generous, and tough-minded."-"The""New York Times Book Review"
"This book underlies everything else Dr. Sacks has written, "and" is worthy to stand with the great scientific memoirs, for it's passion, its insight, its sense of history and its felicity." -Paul Theroux"
""Fired by Sacks's enthusiasm-obviously genuine, impossible to feign-bursting forth in all directions. . . .The book recounts the growth of a formidable young mind opening up to the order and beauty of the material world." -"Newsday
""Sack's study of a mind [is] as tough as tungsten, as fluid as mercury . . . as precious as gold." -"The Seattle Times
" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
"This book underlies everything else Dr. Sacks has written, "and" is worthy to stand with the great scientific memoirs, for it's passion, its insight, its sense of history and its felicity." -Paul Theroux"
""Fired by Sacks's enthusiasm-obviously genuine, impossible to feign-bursting forth in all directions. . . .The book recounts the growth of a formidable young mind opening up to the order and beauty of the material world." -"Newsday
""Sack's study of a mind [is] as tough as tungsten, as fluid as mercury . . . as precious as gold." -"The Seattle Times
" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Oliver Sacks was gifted by his parents with the greatest boon any child could receive. From the start, he writes, he was "encouraged to interrogate, to investigate". With this mandate, he spent his childhood interrogating the history of science and scientists. He investigated the nature of chemicals, learned magnetism and electricity, and, in preparation for his anticipated medical career, probed into the mysteries of the body. This exquisite and frank account traces Sacks' boyhood in London - with side pauses to the schools attended - exposing his fears and ambitions with equal fervour.
Sacks' quest for knowledge mainly focussed on chemical elements and compounds, with metals dominating his attention. "Uncle Tungsten" [his uncle Dave] owned a lamp factory and provided both advice and materials. Sacks drew heavily on his expertise, but Dave often left him to experiment on his own. With a highly inquisitive mind and a drive to learn, Oliver often duplicated the research performed by notable figures of science to achieve the same ends. This technique provided great insight into the scientific method, allowing him to manufacture chemicals that might have been purchased at a nearby shop.
He learns the scientists' techniques through the blizzard of printed paper he plowed through during those years. Biographies, autobiographies, published journals and notebooks, all were his reading fare throughout his boyhood. He reminds us of the hazards of research from the burned hands and faces from potassium to the still-radioactive notebooks of Marie Curie, today stored in lead boxes. Setting up a laboratory in a back room of the family home, he followed their reasoning, their sense of discovery, and their techniques as he made bangs, smells, brilliant lights and beautiful crystals. His biological endeavours were often less successful. He and his chums once drove the inhabitants of a house away for months until the noxious odour of rotting cuttlefish could be exorcised.
Although Sacks introduces a wealth of scientific information from a broad sweep of sources, there is not a dull page in this book. He describes the techniques to isolate elements in vivid detail, and you find yourself sharing the researcher's frustration to achieve the goal along with the exhilaration when success is achieved. You follow Sacks willingly as he plods through the museums and into shops buying chemicals. Mostly, you watch him as he begs Uncle Dave for materials or sits spellbound as "Uncle Tungsten" describes the properties of metals. Sacks' joys at "re-learning" what others have done is infectious - he leaves you longing to repeat the experiments for yourself - only to learn, of course, that today's caution has sequestered the materials away to prevent you blundering into harm. That's a sad testimony, but Sacks' journey through time and place remains for us to gain some sense of what it must be like to undertake scientific adventures. Every schoolchild should be in possession of this book as parents encourage them to "investigate and interrogate". [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What a lovely book! After years of reading Oliver Sachs's account of any number of fascinating/odd/ill people and learning about his own quirks by reading between the lines, in Uncle Tungsten the protagonist is Oliver Sachs himself. This is a charming account of Sachs childhood in wartime London and his fascination with chemistry. Yes, there are times when my eyes skimmed over the names of the different elements and chemical properties and principles, but that was only because I wanted to rush along to more of the narrative, to young Oliver's sense of wonder and amazement, and to the tremendous love and humor that is conveyed throughout.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I doubt that there is an actual neurological disorder that prevents Dr Sacks from revealing very much at all about himself in this entertaining book. He seldom touches on his own experiences and feelings during what was clearly a disturbing time when he was evacuated from London. Furthermore the book is named for an uncle but the cover shows young Oliver with his father who barely appears in the book. There are little or no reported conversations between Sacks and his father while there are great chunks of history devoted to the influence his uncles had and the anecdotes they shared.
Similarly his mother only truly comes to life in a conversation the older Sacks has with a former pupil of hers.
But while Sacks is begrudging with autobiographical information he is more than forthcoming with comprehensive biographies of some of the great scientists and chemical explorers of the past 400 years.
Once you put aside the idea that Uncle Tungsten is about Oliver Sacks and how he came to be a tremendous writer and explainer of neurological idiosyncrasies you have a book which entertains and amazes while reveling in the joy of scientific discovery.
Uncle Tungsten is a disappointment as an autobiography but a delight as a Sophie's World for science.
Similarly his mother only truly comes to life in a conversation the older Sacks has with a former pupil of hers.
But while Sacks is begrudging with autobiographical information he is more than forthcoming with comprehensive biographies of some of the great scientists and chemical explorers of the past 400 years.
Once you put aside the idea that Uncle Tungsten is about Oliver Sacks and how he came to be a tremendous writer and explainer of neurological idiosyncrasies you have a book which entertains and amazes while reveling in the joy of scientific discovery.
Uncle Tungsten is a disappointment as an autobiography but a delight as a Sophie's World for science.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A mixed bag
This was recommended to me and my wife by two of our peers; all are retired graduate/doctorate chemists. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Justin Thyme
Uncle Tungsten is magic
I read Uncle Tungsten a long time ago, so cannot recall many details; but I do recall being totally gripped. Read more
Published on 10 May 2010 by Stephen Penty
Great book - great price - slow delivery
Great book. Engaging autobiography and also very informative when it comes to chemistry. The closest I've come to understanding quantum physics was while reading this book, as he... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2010 by Paul Semicolon
Fascinating
Well written and a really enjoyable read. Boyhood in North London spanning WW2 years playing around with chemicals which you just wouldn't get to touch these days what with HSE... Read more
Published on 20 April 2009 by Pay Dirt
Oliver Sacks history of chemistry, disguised as a biography:...
After some years ago reading Sacks classic `The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat `I was keen to read something else. His biography seemed to be an intriguing option. Read more
Published on 29 July 2008 by R. Britain
The Metaphor of Chemistry
Dr. Sacks has written a number books beautifully crafted around the fascinating neurological lives of his patients. Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2007 by Dr. Philip J. Marriott
Calling all scientists
I adored this book. I got it from my local library and am now buying my own copy. However, I would add that I read chemistry at college and was recommended it by another chemist. Read more
Published on 6 July 2006 by John
Thank heaven for puberty's hormonal rush
"... I wanted to lay hands on cobaltite and niccolite, and compounds or minerals of manganese and molybdenum, of uranium and chromium ... Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2005 by Joseph Haschka
Not the book you expect
This is a childhood memoir from Oliver Sacks.
I've been an admirer of Sacks for years: it's clear from his books that he has a scintillating intelligence which he applies... Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2005 by Preacherdoc
A nice story with technical parts thrown in as well
I am an A-level chemistry student and I found this book very informative, whilst being easy to read. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2003
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 > Medical, Legal & Social Sciences > Psychology
- Books > Biography > Science, Mathematics & Technology > Science
- Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Depression & Mental Health
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Medical & Healthcare Practitioners > Internal Medicine > Neurology & Clinical Neurophysiology
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry
- Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Medical Sciences A-Z > Neurology
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical
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.
