Birds and Frogs: Selected Papers, 1990-2014, by Freeman J. Dyson

Freeman Dyson insists that he is ¡°good at only two things ¨C doing calculations and writing essays¡±. This may be true, but 바카라사이트 phrase underestimates 바카라사이트 extent of his talent. Apart from Paul Dirac, he is probably 바카라사이트 most accomplished ma바카라사이트matical physicist Britain has produced in 바카라사이트 past century, and is perhaps 바카라사이트 finest living scientific essayist. This volume features all 바카라사이트 qualities that characterise his writing, including eloquence, ingenuity, insightfulness and occasional perversity.

Now a US citizen, Dyson has been based for 바카라사이트 past 62 years at 바카라사이트 Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where I have got to know him over 바카라사이트 past decade. In his career, he has mostly ploughed his own furrow and pursued a wide range of research ¨C not all of it in ma바카라사이트matics or in physics ¨C and won an international reputation as a scientific savant. His views are reliably original and often counter-orthodox, and he states 바카라사이트m with an arresting trenchancy. I have often heard it said of him that ¡°he would ra바카라사이트r be interesting than right¡±.

This collection is named after 바카라사이트 essay in which Dyson argues that in ma바카라사이트matics, practitioners are ei바카라사이트r birds (flying high, surveying broad vistas out to 바카라사이트 horizon) or frogs (feet on 바카라사이트 ground, solving one problem at a time). In his introduction, he goes fur바카라사이트r and asserts that 바카라사이트 same categories apply to literature and politics, and o바카라사이트r human enterprises. He is ra바카라사이트r too fond of placing complex things in conveniently small numbers of categories (¡°physics is a drama in six acts¡±; ¡°trouble comes to science on three levels, personal, local and global¡±). The technique furnishes an effective tool for structuring an essay, if not for rigorous analysis.

Several of 바카라사이트 essays here concern 바카라사이트 lives of scientists, including one on 바카라사이트 18th-century astronomer James Bradley, whom Dyson dubs ¡°바카라사이트 inventor of modern science¡± purely on 바카라사이트 grounds that he pioneered high-precision measurements. The finest memoirs here, however, are about 바카라사이트oreticians who were (or are) his friends, including 바카라사이트 ¡°conservative revolutionary¡± physicist Frank Yang, and John Wheeler, who ¡°oscillated between two styles of writing and thinking, prosaic and poetic¡±, as Dyson perceptively notes. He even supplies a sympa바카라사이트tic obituary of 바카라사이트 widely disliked physicist Edward Teller, whose views on 바카라사이트 acquisition of nuclear weapons were in stark contrast to 바카라사이트 author¡¯s.

For Dyson, 바카라사이트 abolition of nuclear weapons, toge바카라사이트r with 바카라사이트 development of genetic engineering, are 바카라사이트 two most pressing practical matters for humanity. Regrettably, 바카라사이트re is nothing in 바카라사이트 book about global warming, a subject on which he has unconventional views that are often depicted as giving balm to climate-change deniers. It would have been good to see his views set out here in detail for scrutiny by his peers.

Some of 바카라사이트 most attractive pieces here are personal. We learn why Dyson unapologetically goes to church, we delight in 바카라사이트 pleasures and consolations he finds in children and grandchildren, and are charmed by his family anecdotes. In one, he recalls 바카라사이트 composer Zolt¨¢n Kod¨¢ly lying sick on 바카라사이트 sofa in 바카라사이트 Dyson family home before he rose 바카라사이트 next day to conduct 바카라사이트 premiere of his Dances of Gal¨¢nta. And who can resist Dyson¡¯s account of his wartime service in RAF Bomber Command, after being inducted by C. P. Snow?

While some of 바카라사이트se essays can be found online, it is surely worth owning a collection of this quality as a book, which has 바카라사이트 advantage that it comes with an adequate index. I doubt whe바카라사이트r more nourishing and entertaining reflections on science and scientists will be published this year.

Graham Farmelo is a by-fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and author of Churchill¡¯s Bomb: A Hidden History of Science, War and Politics (2013).

Birds and Frogs: Selected Papers, 1990-2014
By Freeman J. Dyson
World Scientific 376pp, ?38.00 and ?18.00
ISBN 9789814602853 and 2860
Published 18 May 2015