- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (10 May 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0879698640
- ISBN-13: 978-0879698645
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.5 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
602,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #97 in Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Central & South America
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Selected by his daughter, Vivien, from Max Perutz s voluminous correspondence, the letters reproduced here portray their author with a spontaneity and directness no autobiography could have matched. They chronicle Perutz s adventurous life through his own vivid, erudite and humorous pen, documenting the hopes, roadblocks and moments of elation of his sixty-year quest to understand the molecular biology of hemoglobin. The first great step in this quest unraveling the molecular structure of hemoglobin earned Perutz the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Narrated against a backdrop of family and friends, politics and war, literature, travels, and Max s beloved mountains, these letters provide rare insight into the thoughts of a remarkable and very human scientist, and delightful sketches of some of the people he encountered. Starting with lively letters to a girlfriend written in his youth in Vienna and the impressions of a young scientist in Cambridge, the letters progress to the desperate pleas of an enemy alien interned in Canada during World War II. The diary of Perutz s subsequent super-secret war work for the British to build a floating ice airstrip in the North Atlantic, ardent campaigning letters to scientists and politicians, and self-deprecating stories of his own mishaps written to amuse his children and grandchildren are some of the many highlights of these fascinating letters, unique in the annals of recent scientific history. This book is a companion to Georgina Ferry s Max Perutz and the Secret of Life. Together these volumes provide a portrait of an extraordinary character in the development of molecular biology. Contents: Preface Timeline Cast of characters List of illustrations Memoir of Max Perutz by David Blow Letters: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s Subject index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
This is a fascinating book on many levels. It is somewhat unfamiliar to learn of important events through the personal letters of a participant. Max Perutz writes of pre-war Europe, his experiences during the war and his life after it, all interesting. The book is not a history of molecular biology, but many of the letters touch on this and some excellent background is given. Not only was he a great scientist, but his contribution in causing the MRC laboratory of molecular biology to be built in Cambridge and then in directing it was immense; some of this is apparent in his letters. Above all one gets the impression of an unusually rounded, humane and generous man. The editing and selection of the letters are excellent, so it never becomes dull. A thoroughly good read.
Format:Hardcover
This is a most charming book that gives a lovely picture of the famous scientist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on discovering the structure of Haemoglobin. Max grew up as a Catholic in Austria and enjoyed the access to the Alps for skiing and climbing, but became disillusioned with the increasing political repression and moved to Cambridge, where he stayed for most of the rest of his life.
After being interned as an alien he worked to discredit the idea of a floating iceberg acting as an airstrip but then during the war resumed his research on haemoglobin. He managed several teams of eminent scientists and the funding bodies, both public and charitable endowments, with what would appear to have been remarkable success as breakthroughs in this area kept eluding researchers. Although his role in Crick and Watson's discovery of DNA was indirect it appears he acted with complete honesty in this and in all his dealings.
Max was quite a prolific writer and it helps that he writes well. When he met famous people he describes his experiences as he found them.Indeed like a good scientist he was eager to look at new ideas. The subject matter of the research was well beyond my understanding but the letters highlighted the collaborations, sometimes the competition, and more usually the difficulties in moving our knowledge forward.
After being interned as an alien he worked to discredit the idea of a floating iceberg acting as an airstrip but then during the war resumed his research on haemoglobin. He managed several teams of eminent scientists and the funding bodies, both public and charitable endowments, with what would appear to have been remarkable success as breakthroughs in this area kept eluding researchers. Although his role in Crick and Watson's discovery of DNA was indirect it appears he acted with complete honesty in this and in all his dealings.
Max was quite a prolific writer and it helps that he writes well. When he met famous people he describes his experiences as he found them.Indeed like a good scientist he was eager to look at new ideas. The subject matter of the research was well beyond my understanding but the letters highlighted the collaborations, sometimes the competition, and more usually the difficulties in moving our knowledge forward.
Format:Hardcover
have greatly enjoyed reading and no doubt I will re-read again and again as it is so entertaining; it was a pleasure to read and I was particularly impressed with the way all of the images were integrated into the text. The Timeline is excellent in my opinion, both in its layout and content; the Letters themselves have obviously been expertly edited, are very interesting; you really start to fully understand the man himself from his lengthy correspondence. The late David Blow's R.S. Memoir of Max Perutz (albeit incomplete) is very good in my opinion, and makes for an excellent start to the book; I would have preferred to have been able to read the complete memoir, ie unedited.
I am sorry to say that the decision to exclude (quote) "the correspondence on the controversy that broke out over Jim Watson's revelation in The Double Helix that my father had shown Francis Crick a Medical Research Council report on the work of Rosalind Franklin" is fundamentally wrong, and the omission of it does 'spoil' the book. The editor having 'shot herself in the foot' goes on to try to support this odd decision with "The grounds for exclusion are that the lengthy and repetitive correspondence will now be published on the web and that it has had a considerable airing in a number of books." This argument simply does not convince me at all to justify their exclusion; given say the choice between all of the pages devoted to the "Habbakuk Project" (pp 123/124, quote "told...a number of times"), I would have preferred to read the above.
I would like to think that the very best discussion of this issue is Bob Olby's "Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets" in Chapter 9, pp 161/Chapter 10, pp 191/192; what a pity that Vivien Perutz when she wrote the Preface in July 2008, could not have 'predicted' this new scientific biography, due to be published on the 1st. of September!
I am sorry to say that the decision to exclude (quote) "the correspondence on the controversy that broke out over Jim Watson's revelation in The Double Helix that my father had shown Francis Crick a Medical Research Council report on the work of Rosalind Franklin" is fundamentally wrong, and the omission of it does 'spoil' the book. The editor having 'shot herself in the foot' goes on to try to support this odd decision with "The grounds for exclusion are that the lengthy and repetitive correspondence will now be published on the web and that it has had a considerable airing in a number of books." This argument simply does not convince me at all to justify their exclusion; given say the choice between all of the pages devoted to the "Habbakuk Project" (pp 123/124, quote "told...a number of times"), I would have preferred to read the above.
I would like to think that the very best discussion of this issue is Bob Olby's "Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets" in Chapter 9, pp 161/Chapter 10, pp 191/192; what a pity that Vivien Perutz when she wrote the Preface in July 2008, could not have 'predicted' this new scientific biography, due to be published on the 1st. of September!
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