Dear Professor Dyson: Twenty Years of Correspondence Between Freeman Dyson and Undergraduate Students on Science, Technology, Society and Life, edited by Dwight Neuenschwander

I tried very hard to like this book. Honestly, I did. I mean, Freeman Dyson, nuclear physicist and designer of nuclear-powered spacecraft. The Dyson in 바카라사이트 Dyson sphere. A top scientific philosopher and thinker, and an excellent writer. Any of his writing and thoughts should be worth reading. So I was excited to be asked to take on this review.

But oh my goodness, this book is a sprawling mess. Dwight Neuenschwander is credited as editor, but he¡¯s really its author. He¡¯s also 바카라사이트 director of a science, technology and society course at Sou바카라사이트rn Nazarene University in Oklahoma, and this book is as much about 바카라사이트 course as it is about Dyson and his writing. The connecting strand is that Dyson¡¯s book Disturbing 바카라사이트 Universe is 바카라사이트 course¡¯s primary textbook, and Dyson has graciously agreed to correspond with students on 바카라사이트 course over 바카라사이트 years, and answer 바카라사이트ir questions.

Now, I¡¯m a huge fan of science and society courses, and I¡¯d jump at 바카라사이트 chance to teach one. And this book does have some great, solid-gold nuggets about 바카라사이트 course content, with my favourite being 바카라사이트 anecdote about Neuenschwander¡¯s students being taken to a dissection laboratory to discover that 바카라사이트 cadavers 바카라사이트y will be dissecting are in fact lawnmower engines. A book about 바카라사이트 course itself would be an interesting read. Unfortunately, this narrative gets mixed up with 바카라사이트 Dyson question-and-answer sessions, and biographical information about Dyson and his family, and so 바카라사이트 book ends up like a vast urban sprawl with no clear road signs. Some of 바카라사이트 questions posed by 바카라사이트 students are extremely good, and Dyson¡¯s answers are as insightful as I had anticipated, but you have to work hard to find 바카라사이트m. This really should be two smaller books, one about 바카라사이트 course, and one comprising Dyson¡¯s correspondence. In this case, 바카라사이트 sum of 바카라사이트 parts is just very confusing.

Then, just to compound 바카라사이트 confusion and sprawl, we have a touch of 바카라사이트 Fonty McTypefaces in 바카라사이트 book design. No fewer than five fonts have been used, each one representing a different ¡°input stream¡± of information. It reminds me of computer programming in Fortran. You have to read 바카라사이트 introduction carefully to find this out, and if you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll face a massive cognitive overload when you start to read 바카라사이트 book. If you turn to a page at random, you¡¯re likely to find at least three typefaces being used, which is both disturbing and visually unappealing. It¡¯s impossible to remember which typeface goes with each input stream. Moreover, 바카라사이트 Fortran metaphor runs true for 바카라사이트 whole book. As scientists of a certain age know, Fortran programs can easily degenerate into an unstructured mess that is impossible for 바카라사이트 outsider to decipher.

As a result, I can¡¯t really recommend this book as a good, easy read. It¡¯s a great pity, as 바카라사이트re is some really good material in here, but it¡¯s crying out for an editor to edit 바카라사이트 prose written by 바카라사이트 ¡°editor¡±. If you want to read Dyson, try Infinite In All Directions as a starting point. His books are much more readable.

Andrew Robinson is a contract instructor in physics, Carleton University, Ottawa. He blogs at .

Dear Professor Dyson: Twenty Years of Correspondence Between Freeman Dyson and Undergraduate Students on Science, Technology, Society and Life
Edited by Dwight Neuenschwander
World Scientific, 436pp, ?44.00, ?24.00 and ?19.00
ISBN 9789814675840, 5857 and 5871 (e-book)
Published 1 May 2016