Curious Minds edited by John Brockman, Pantheon Books, $23.95, ISBN 0375422919 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
THIS is an engrossing treat of a book, subtitled How a Child Becomes a Scientist. These 27 erstwhile children are all distinguished scientists now, and some are famous. They were asked what turned them on to science and when and how and why.
Nicholas Humphrey, a theoretical psychologist, could hardly avoid science. He was born into a family of scientists: his grandfather was a Nobel prizewinner and his father was director of the National Institute for Medical Research in London. The theoretical physicist Paul Davies, on the other hand, came from a poor family but says he always knew what career he wanted, almost from the cradle. At 14 he was building his own telescope from a roll of linoleum and grinding the lens himself. Freeman Dyson cannoned about like the ball in a pinball machine, lighting up several disciplines before settling for physics.
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The contributions are crammed with hugely enjoyable anecdotes. But how many are reliable? Memory notoriously erases, twists, adapts and embroiders. Steven Pinker, an experimental psychologist at Harvard, starts his chapter with this: “Don’t believe a word of what you read in this essay on the childhood influences that led me to become a scientist.” Even more startlingly, he writes: “Don’t believe a word of what you read in the other essays, either.” This dose of cold water might have been better as the last contribution, but you’ll have a wonderful time reading these reminiscences all the same.