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Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1
Uncle Tungsten
In Uncle Tungsten Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy’s adventures, and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind.
337 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Oliver Sacks
109 books9,205 followersOliver Wolf Sacks, CBE, was a British neurologist residing in the United States, who has written popular books about his patients, the most famous of which is Awakenings, which was adapted into a film of the same name starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.
Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine and entered The Queen's College, Oxford University in 1951, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in physiology and biology in 1954. At the same institution, he went on to earn in 1958, a Master of Arts (MA) and an MB ChB in chemistry, thereby qualifying to practice medicine.
After converting his British qualifications to American recognition (i.e., an MD as opposed to MB ChB), Sacks moved to New York, where he has lived since 1965, and taken twice weekly therapy sessions since 1966.
Sacks began consulting at chronic care facility Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Health Service) in 1966. At Beth Abraham, Sacks worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. These patients and his treatment of them were the basis of Sacks' book Awakenings.
His work at Beth Abraham helped provide the foundation on which the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), where Sacks is currently an honorary medical advisor, is built. In 2000, IMNF honored Sacks, its founder, with its first Music Has Power Award. The IMNF again bestowed a Music Has Power Award on Sacks in 2006 to commemorate "his 40 years at Beth Abraham and honor his outstanding contributions in support of music therapy and the effect of music on the human brain and mind".
Sacks was formerly employed as a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the New York University School of Medicine, serving the latter school for 42 years. On 1 July 2007, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons appointed Sacks to a position as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry, at the same time opening to him a new position as "artist", which the university hoped will help interconnect disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics. Sacks was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.
Since 1996, Sacks was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature). In 1999, Sacks became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Also in 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2002, he became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class IV—Humanities and Arts, Section 4—Literature).[38] and he was awarded the 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University. Sacks was awarded honorary doctorates from the College of Staten Island (1991), Tufts University (1991), New York Medical College (1991), Georgetown University (1992), Medical College of Pennsylvania (1992), Bard College (1992), Queen's University (Ontario) (2001), Gallaudet University (2005), University of Oxford (2005), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2006). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Asteroid 84928 Oliversacks, discovered in 2003 and 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, has been named in his honor.
Sacks was the youngest of four children born to a prosperous North London Jewish couple: Sam, a physician, and Elsie, a surgeon. When he was six years old, he and his brother were evacuated from London to escape The Blitz, retreating to a boarding school in the Midlands, where he remained until 1943. During his youth, he was a keen amateur chemist, as recalled in his memoir Uncle Tungsten. He also learned to share his parents' enthusiasm for medicine and entered The Queen's College, Oxford University in 1951, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in physiology and biology in 1954. At the same institution, he went on to earn in 1958, a Master of Arts (MA) and an MB ChB in chemistry, thereby qualifying to practice medicine.
After converting his British qualifications to American recognition (i.e., an MD as opposed to MB ChB), Sacks moved to New York, where he has lived since 1965, and taken twice weekly therapy sessions since 1966.
Sacks began consulting at chronic care facility Beth Abraham Hospital (now Beth Abraham Health Service) in 1966. At Beth Abraham, Sacks worked with a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica, who had been unable to move on their own for decades. These patients and his treatment of them were the basis of Sacks' book Awakenings.
His work at Beth Abraham helped provide the foundation on which the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), where Sacks is currently an honorary medical advisor, is built. In 2000, IMNF honored Sacks, its founder, with its first Music Has Power Award. The IMNF again bestowed a Music Has Power Award on Sacks in 2006 to commemorate "his 40 years at Beth Abraham and honor his outstanding contributions in support of music therapy and the effect of music on the human brain and mind".
Sacks was formerly employed as a clinical professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the New York University School of Medicine, serving the latter school for 42 years. On 1 July 2007, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons appointed Sacks to a position as professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry, at the same time opening to him a new position as "artist", which the university hoped will help interconnect disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics. Sacks was a consultant neurologist to the Little Sisters of the Poor, and maintained a practice in New York City.
Since 1996, Sacks was a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature). In 1999, Sacks became a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Also in 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. In 2002, he became Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class IV—Humanities and Arts, Section 4—Literature).[38] and he was awarded the 2001 Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University. Sacks was awarded honorary doctorates from the College of Staten Island (1991), Tufts University (1991), New York Medical College (1991), Georgetown University (1992), Medical College of Pennsylvania (1992), Bard College (1992), Queen's University (Ontario) (2001), Gallaudet University (2005), University of Oxford (2005), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2006). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours. Asteroid 84928 Oliversacks, discovered in 2003 and 2 miles (3.2 km) in diameter, has been named in his honor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 702 reviews
January 24, 2019
i do not understand science.
most phenomena i just dismiss with accusations of magic: the moon controls the tides?? but they are so far away!! oh, maaaagic!! leap year?? account for thyself!! magic?? got it. how did you make this pluot, sir?? ah, i see you are an alchemist!
much of it i have to blame on my high schooling because i have not studied any aspect of the sciences since then, but it's not like i have gone out of my way to do any research now that i am grown. i mean,they do make books after all. but i feel like i lack a foundation for this material and anything i learn at this point with my senile old-lady swiss-cheese brain would be a crumbling waste. i am not a complete sped - biology i get: genetics, reproduction, evolution, chromosomes, etc - i can handle myself in a trivial pursuit scenario, but don't ask me to be making any new species or anything. chemistry was fun when it was hands-on, but i only understood the short-term: do some paper chromatography, blow this shit up - i never really understood the knowledge behind the explosions, i was too dazzled by the craft-project elements. and it is best to not talk about karen and physics in the same sentence.
i know that amino acids are a kind of protein molecule because of a singsong rhyme i made up in third-grade to help me study, and i still hum sometimes.this is the extent of my science, although i swear i am going to read this book i have owned for years that makes "science" interesting to me.
i had a great teacher for AP english, and i also had him for a class called "reading appreciation" which was a class where students would read quietly for the period and submit a book report/review for every book completed. many students took this as an "easy A" class. i took it because it was like someone offering me a kitten that laid cadbury eggs and would live FOREVER. i opted to take this class instead of AP biology. in retrospect, i probably should have gone with the learning-class, but i was seventeen, and someone was offering me exactly what i wanted. i figured if i really wanted to dissect something, i could just do it in my spare time.
my science teachers i remember being very nice and very patient with me, but nothing stuck and no one inspired me to be all gung-ho about science.
and while i have been told that i am not stupid, i can't help feeling i am stupid when confronted by things that i just do not understand. and that confusion makes me resentful and makes me lash out and call you all robots and then go sulk in the corner and watch you figure out the half-lives of chemicals. show-off robots. but oliver sacks manages to humanize you science machines.and i am finally getting around to talking about the book.
man, oliver sacks... i have never read him before, even though i have heard him speak a number of times when he has given readings at my store. mostly just me half-listening, running around taking care of the books... he always struck me as a very personable older gentleman that people just got all starry-eyed over, but i never understood why. now i get it. he is just a delight. this book is about his early love of chemistry and his enviable understanding of all things chemical. his enthusiasm is seriously contagious and even though i can't get all worked up about it myself, the fact that he is bouncing in his seat over the elegance of the chemical world and how everything is structured and fits perfectly together - well, it makes me see the human underneath all the robot-makeup.
i really enjoyed reading this book, even if sometimes i would grumble at a ten-year-old whose understanding of the universe was greater than my own.
so i thank you, nick black, for the christmas miracle of allowing me to see how the other half lives, even if i will still refer to evaporation as "water-magic."
come to my blog!
most phenomena i just dismiss with accusations of magic: the moon controls the tides?? but they are so far away!! oh, maaaagic!! leap year?? account for thyself!! magic?? got it. how did you make this pluot, sir?? ah, i see you are an alchemist!
much of it i have to blame on my high schooling because i have not studied any aspect of the sciences since then, but it's not like i have gone out of my way to do any research now that i am grown. i mean,they do make books after all. but i feel like i lack a foundation for this material and anything i learn at this point with my senile old-lady swiss-cheese brain would be a crumbling waste. i am not a complete sped - biology i get: genetics, reproduction, evolution, chromosomes, etc - i can handle myself in a trivial pursuit scenario, but don't ask me to be making any new species or anything. chemistry was fun when it was hands-on, but i only understood the short-term: do some paper chromatography, blow this shit up - i never really understood the knowledge behind the explosions, i was too dazzled by the craft-project elements. and it is best to not talk about karen and physics in the same sentence.
i know that amino acids are a kind of protein molecule because of a singsong rhyme i made up in third-grade to help me study, and i still hum sometimes.this is the extent of my science, although i swear i am going to read this book i have owned for years that makes "science" interesting to me.
i had a great teacher for AP english, and i also had him for a class called "reading appreciation" which was a class where students would read quietly for the period and submit a book report/review for every book completed. many students took this as an "easy A" class. i took it because it was like someone offering me a kitten that laid cadbury eggs and would live FOREVER. i opted to take this class instead of AP biology. in retrospect, i probably should have gone with the learning-class, but i was seventeen, and someone was offering me exactly what i wanted. i figured if i really wanted to dissect something, i could just do it in my spare time.
my science teachers i remember being very nice and very patient with me, but nothing stuck and no one inspired me to be all gung-ho about science.
and while i have been told that i am not stupid, i can't help feeling i am stupid when confronted by things that i just do not understand. and that confusion makes me resentful and makes me lash out and call you all robots and then go sulk in the corner and watch you figure out the half-lives of chemicals. show-off robots. but oliver sacks manages to humanize you science machines.and i am finally getting around to talking about the book.
man, oliver sacks... i have never read him before, even though i have heard him speak a number of times when he has given readings at my store. mostly just me half-listening, running around taking care of the books... he always struck me as a very personable older gentleman that people just got all starry-eyed over, but i never understood why. now i get it. he is just a delight. this book is about his early love of chemistry and his enviable understanding of all things chemical. his enthusiasm is seriously contagious and even though i can't get all worked up about it myself, the fact that he is bouncing in his seat over the elegance of the chemical world and how everything is structured and fits perfectly together - well, it makes me see the human underneath all the robot-makeup.
i really enjoyed reading this book, even if sometimes i would grumble at a ten-year-old whose understanding of the universe was greater than my own.
so i thank you, nick black, for the christmas miracle of allowing me to see how the other half lives, even if i will still refer to evaporation as "water-magic."
come to my blog!
May 10, 2012
I read this, a chapter at a time, as bedtime reading for my 11-year-old son, who is very much into science, and said son is now fascinated with chemistry, its history, and all the people that were involved in many of the theories that have been proved.
I am struck by Sack's language throughout, the lyrical quality with which he describes a unique home life in London during the Second World War, the chemical explorations of his boyhood (my son was especially struck by the idea of another 11-year-old creating poisonous gasses in his own laboratory at home), and the qualities of his relatives who were all into various aspects of metallurgy, chemistry, lighting, and other endeavors that required a working knowledge of how things really are.
I don't give many fives, but Sack's historical research and accuracy and musings are gorgeous, his emotional honesty about the pain of his boyhood, and the detailed descriptions of the various experiments that cements his own relationship with chemistry and the pioneers of chemistry are inspiring as well as fascinating.
I am struck by Sack's language throughout, the lyrical quality with which he describes a unique home life in London during the Second World War, the chemical explorations of his boyhood (my son was especially struck by the idea of another 11-year-old creating poisonous gasses in his own laboratory at home), and the qualities of his relatives who were all into various aspects of metallurgy, chemistry, lighting, and other endeavors that required a working knowledge of how things really are.
I don't give many fives, but Sack's historical research and accuracy and musings are gorgeous, his emotional honesty about the pain of his boyhood, and the detailed descriptions of the various experiments that cements his own relationship with chemistry and the pioneers of chemistry are inspiring as well as fascinating.
Shelved as 'not-for-me'
February 21, 2012I feel totally terrible on giving up on this book. It is a very good book, but I believe it will not be readable for many. Or maybe I should put it this way – it cannot be appreciated as it should be unless you either have a thorough knowledge of chemistry or are willing to read the book slowly and do the experiments, look at the pinecones and sunflowers and investigate alongside the author as he speaks of his childhood in London. His family is one of scholars. These people were those very few who can take book knowledge and in an instant give you an example in nature that demonstrates what is in the books. His parents, although certainly no gilded pair since they were absent for much of the time, infused in him the wonder of knowledge. Every paragraph in the book prompts one to go out and do an experiment, look at a pinecone or a sunflower. To appreciate this book as it should be you should do and see what he saw as his parents and aunts and uncles guided him through science, giving him a hands-on visual, auditory and olfactory knowledge of what happens when you mix this chemical with that or view and touch an object of nature. To understand and really remember each paragraph one should do the experiments he did and carefully observe what he looked at in nature. It was too much for me to read example after example of experiments, such as the formation of colorful crystals when you put a thread in a solution of x and add a pinch of this or that. There were so many examples that I drowned and lost count and felt bereaved by my lack of knowledge. Clearly there is nothing wrong with this book, but it is simply better appreciated by someone who is willing to read it slowly and investigate all the marvels it speaks of. For me it was too jam packed full of things that I had not seen.
This is why I am continuing no further. I am too lacking in knowledge. This book is too smart for me. If you are able to relax and not demand that you see what he saw through each of the experiments and tests he carried out, then maybe you will enjoy the book. It is perfect for those of you who already have the scientific knowledge he speaks of. It is an autobiography of his childhood in London starting with the events of the Blitz and his first stay in one of those horrible English boarding schools where the headmasters are despicable. You come to understand why he is who he is and how his youth shaped him. I highly recommend this book to those who are well educated in the sciences, particularly chemistry.
This is why I am continuing no further. I am too lacking in knowledge. This book is too smart for me. If you are able to relax and not demand that you see what he saw through each of the experiments and tests he carried out, then maybe you will enjoy the book. It is perfect for those of you who already have the scientific knowledge he speaks of. It is an autobiography of his childhood in London starting with the events of the Blitz and his first stay in one of those horrible English boarding schools where the headmasters are despicable. You come to understand why he is who he is and how his youth shaped him. I highly recommend this book to those who are well educated in the sciences, particularly chemistry.
February 2, 2010
This is a five-star jealousy rating. Oh, to have had the intellectual riches of Oliver Sacks' childhood. It's not possible anymore, even if you have equally intelligent, indulgent, slightly disconnected parents, who let him do what he wished, when he wished, how he wished--allowing him, over years, to play in an under-the-stairs chemistry lab, where he nearly blew himself and the house sky-high many times. Safety glasses? Fire protection? Concerns about poisonous fumes? Never mind! And how pale all my relatives look in comparison to Sacks'. I have eccentrics in my bloodline, but the eccentrics in Sacks' family were brilliant polymaths. Ah, for a time machine and a genetic makeover.
September 13, 2016
Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) grew up in North London surrounded by scientific aunts and uncles. Both his parents were physicians. His mother was a well-known obstetrician and one of England’s first female surgeons. His brothers also went on to become physicians, as did Oliver.
Oliver’s Uncle ‘Tungsten’ Dave owned a light bulb factory on Farringdon Road. Uncle Dave helped Oliver with experiments in the laboratory and taught him about all the elements. Oliver was fascinated with Tungsten and its properties and resilience. When age 6 in 1939, he was sent off to Braefield, a boarding school. The school moved from London to the countryside because of the war. The school was run by a sadistic headmaster. Sacks tells the usual horror stories of the British boarding school. Sacks provides a history of the development of modern day chemistry and compares this to alchemy. As he learned about the founders of modern chemistry he followed their experiments step by step. He was primarily interested minerals.
Sacks taught himself photography and had a passion for chemistry. He found its elegant simplicity in a world of chaos during World War II. The book ends at adolescence. At age 14 he decided he wanted to be a physician.
The book is well written and the curiosity of young Oliver shines through. Sacks went on to become a famous neurologist and has written many books. His most popular one is called “Awakening” about sleeping sickness. His parents were ardent Zionist and he discussed his Jewish faith. Oliver was surrounded by relatives that were physicians and scientist; it is no wonder he was fascinated by the world of science and had a gift for scientific inquiry.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Jonathan Davis did a good job narrating the book. Davis is a voiceover artist and a three-time winner of the Audie award for audiobook narration.
Oliver’s Uncle ‘Tungsten’ Dave owned a light bulb factory on Farringdon Road. Uncle Dave helped Oliver with experiments in the laboratory and taught him about all the elements. Oliver was fascinated with Tungsten and its properties and resilience. When age 6 in 1939, he was sent off to Braefield, a boarding school. The school moved from London to the countryside because of the war. The school was run by a sadistic headmaster. Sacks tells the usual horror stories of the British boarding school. Sacks provides a history of the development of modern day chemistry and compares this to alchemy. As he learned about the founders of modern chemistry he followed their experiments step by step. He was primarily interested minerals.
Sacks taught himself photography and had a passion for chemistry. He found its elegant simplicity in a world of chaos during World War II. The book ends at adolescence. At age 14 he decided he wanted to be a physician.
The book is well written and the curiosity of young Oliver shines through. Sacks went on to become a famous neurologist and has written many books. His most popular one is called “Awakening” about sleeping sickness. His parents were ardent Zionist and he discussed his Jewish faith. Oliver was surrounded by relatives that were physicians and scientist; it is no wonder he was fascinated by the world of science and had a gift for scientific inquiry.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Jonathan Davis did a good job narrating the book. Davis is a voiceover artist and a three-time winner of the Audie award for audiobook narration.
July 6, 2015
This is the very personal memoir of Dr. Oliver Sacks, who is known as the author of numerous anecdotal stories involving case-studies of his patients' neurological disorders.
As a young boy he experienced a profound excitement over the study of chemistry, which helped him cope with his own neuroses which had their origins in the brutal treatment he and his brother Michael received at a boys' school that they attended during the early years of World War II.
This was a period which Oliver considered a form of "exile" from his family, and it resulted in severely disturbed behavior on his part and in his brother Michael's own nervous breakdown. But he was helped by his love of metals, and chemical compounds and experimentation, guided by his Uncle Dave, who owned a company which specialized in Tungsten filament light bulbs; hence his family nickname "Uncle Tungsten."
With his Uncle's friendly help and advice and affection, and support from the rest of his very extended family (Oliver had 17 Aunts & Uncles on his mother's side alone, and nearly 100 1st cousins), he experienced the joyous fraternity of science, and the adventure of reliving within himself the discoveries of the founders of Modern Chemistry, Boyle & LaVoissier, Becquerel & the Curies, Rutherford & Bohr.
Dr. Sacks interspersed intensely personal family anecdotes throughout his own chemical adventures, and I wept when I read how he watched as his cherished Aunt Birdie died in his mother's arms of a coronary occlusion.
As a young boy he experienced a profound excitement over the study of chemistry, which helped him cope with his own neuroses which had their origins in the brutal treatment he and his brother Michael received at a boys' school that they attended during the early years of World War II.
This was a period which Oliver considered a form of "exile" from his family, and it resulted in severely disturbed behavior on his part and in his brother Michael's own nervous breakdown. But he was helped by his love of metals, and chemical compounds and experimentation, guided by his Uncle Dave, who owned a company which specialized in Tungsten filament light bulbs; hence his family nickname "Uncle Tungsten."
With his Uncle's friendly help and advice and affection, and support from the rest of his very extended family (Oliver had 17 Aunts & Uncles on his mother's side alone, and nearly 100 1st cousins), he experienced the joyous fraternity of science, and the adventure of reliving within himself the discoveries of the founders of Modern Chemistry, Boyle & LaVoissier, Becquerel & the Curies, Rutherford & Bohr.
Dr. Sacks interspersed intensely personal family anecdotes throughout his own chemical adventures, and I wept when I read how he watched as his cherished Aunt Birdie died in his mother's arms of a coronary occlusion.
June 3, 2019
Mother ordered this book some time ago and wanted me to read it. While I was very interested in all the parts that spoke directly about the author's life and family, I could not maintain that interest for all the other (and much longer) parts telling the history of various elements, details and more details about chemical properties of many things, and biographical sketches about various scientists. I began looking for paragraphs that contained "I" and skimming the rest. I thought the author was lucky to get through his younger days mentally intact, and I appreciate how Science helped him manage that, but I would have enjoyed the book much more if there had been more of those "I" bits.
February 20, 2020
Great for a beginning college Chemistry class - to get students to understand and get hooked on the world of Chemistry. I learned a great deal. At times a little dry, but not for long amounts of time, and the pay off is worth it.
June 22, 2008
I went on a mini-Sacks "bender" this year, reading Uncle Tugsten, Musicophilia, and then dipping into one of his earlier books (An Anthropologist on Mars). What I have always loved about Sacks is his ability to present the scientific, social, personal and emotional aspects of his subject as a balanced entity. You can see, through his writings, how he develops a rapport with his patients.
Uncle Tungsten is a memoir of Sacks, growing up in Britain under the Blitz, a child of a remarkable family. Perhaps because of the subject, it reminded of my other beloved chemical memoir, Primo Levi's Then Periodic Table. As a chemist, I found Uncle Tungsten to be a wonderful description of the joys that many of us found as children in learning about, and playing with, chemicals- in those pre-litigation times when you could still by "Chemistry Sets".
Uncle Tungsten is a memoir of Sacks, growing up in Britain under the Blitz, a child of a remarkable family. Perhaps because of the subject, it reminded of my other beloved chemical memoir, Primo Levi's Then Periodic Table. As a chemist, I found Uncle Tungsten to be a wonderful description of the joys that many of us found as children in learning about, and playing with, chemicals- in those pre-litigation times when you could still by "Chemistry Sets".
May 13, 2007
I love Oliver Sacks, memoirs, and science. This was a wonderful book: a great memoir, and I learned a lot about chemistry, a field/branch of science where I am almost 100% ignorant. Who knew chemistry could be so entertaining! And because I’ve enjoyed Oliver Sacks books, I especially enjoyed reading about his childhood.
April 8, 2008
A very vivid and poignant account of Oliver Sacks childhood fascination and love for chemistry. He makes us all feel sad for the loss of that childlike curiosity and attachment to science. he found delight in exploring the physical world. How many of us has the abillity to do experiments on chemicals during our childhood days?How many of us dream of chemistry?How many of us delight in travelling the journey of science;asking questions and given answers to satisfy our eager curiosity? These are what we have to marvel at Sacks childhood. It was filled with chemistry and a pure love and fervent for science.
However, it was saddening to know that he was later persuaded to give up chemistry for medicine.Afterall, he was bornt in a family of doctors. In his words, he said, "what had been a holy subject for me full of poetry, was being rendered prosaic, profane." Such was his regret and the kind of ecstasy he felt for science.
However, it was saddening to know that he was later persuaded to give up chemistry for medicine.Afterall, he was bornt in a family of doctors. In his words, he said, "what had been a holy subject for me full of poetry, was being rendered prosaic, profane." Such was his regret and the kind of ecstasy he felt for science.
January 6, 2017
Great fun romping inside the mind of Oliver Sacks as he reminisces of childhood days. Insightful, funny, sometimes somber, sometimes lighthearted, always engaging. What strikes me as its most important quality is that it bears a restorative effect on those minds seeking to explain their own childhoods.
A great story-teller, of course, and he has produced a well-crafted literary work.
Everything that I would write would be a spoiler, of course, because it is a memoir so I'm just adding my voice to all those who think it is a good read.
Not a full five stars, just because I wanted more, and didn't get it.
A great story-teller, of course, and he has produced a well-crafted literary work.
Everything that I would write would be a spoiler, of course, because it is a memoir so I'm just adding my voice to all those who think it is a good read.
Not a full five stars, just because I wanted more, and didn't get it.
August 10, 2010
This is an odd book--part autobiography, part history of chemistry. Sacks, a neurologist who writes beautifully about unusual people. In doing so he always reminds me not only of our common humanity, but of just how strange and wonderful our humanity is. In this book he is the subject of his narrative and he manages to depict himself with the same grace and wit that uses to characterize others. The heart of the book is his experience being evacuated Along with many other children from London during World War II. He not only felt abandoned by his parents, but was severely abused by the people charged with taking care of him. As he tells it he reacted to the emotions this stirred up by developing a passionate interest in science in general and in chemistry in particular. He was aided in this by two uncles [one nicknamed Tungsten:] who were professionally involved in chemistry, and by two rather indulgent parents. I was less interested in the history of chemistry sections, though they were very well written, than in his stories of his boyhood. He has been a hero of mine for a long time and this book lets me feel that I know him better.
October 2, 2023
imposible aburrirse con esta autobiografía de Sacks. Además de sus libros de divulgación como el prólogo a Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals y Alucinaciones, entre otros, Sacks tiene una habilidad para contar su vida partiendo de un hecho extremadamente nerd (en este caso su obsesión infantil con la química) y que resulte entrañable y te den ganas de conocer a todas las personas y libros que menciona. Es una declaración de amor también a su familia judía, llena de médicos, científicos y al sufrimiento padecido durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Como de costumbre, enlaza muchísimos datos, todo resulta interesante y conmovedor (en especial cuando hace referencia a sus años de acoso escolar y cómo eso de cierta manera, cambió su vida para siempre).
Aprendí muchísimo de los elementos de la tabla periódica e inventos asociados a ella.
Aprendí muchísimo de los elementos de la tabla periódica e inventos asociados a ella.
July 3, 2016
Tungsteno è uno dei miei preferiti di Sacks. E' sia un bell'excursus autobiografico della sua infanzia e giovinezza, a tratti molto dolorosa ma il più delle volte ricca di affetti e interessi e conoscenze, sia un ripercorrere la storia della chimica attraverso il suo scoprire questo mondo nel mondo. Proprio per la parte centrale che la storia della chimica ha in questo libro non mi sento di consigliarlo a tutti indiscriminatamente: di chimica e della sua storia ce n'è davvero tanta, se non si condivide la passione per la storia delle scoperte scientifiche allora questo libro può risultare forse noioso. Ma se si condivide anche solo un poco la passione per lo scoprire com'è fatto il mondo e la storia dei pionieri della scienza, allora sentirete tutta la passione, Passione con la P maiuscola, che ha sentito Sacks per la chimica, e questo suo libro v'incanterà come gli altri suoi testi di carattere medico.
October 31, 2019
Really a combination of the history of chemistry and the story of the early life of the author. It can be argued that the chemistry is part of the biography since, as a child, it was the most important interest of the author. A bit boring if you know some chemistry and a tad superficial to my taste on the biography part. Still, fun to read.
July 27, 2011
I had a very strong personal reaction to this book (Sacks reminds me very much of my late father), so it's hard for me to judge whether it's a good book in any objective sense. It is not a standard memoir, in that you don't learn very much about Sacks' life or family outside of his explorations of chemistry. This can be frustrating. For instance, at one point he describes how as a teenager his brother Michael suffered from paranoid delusions (was he schizophrenic?), but then never goes on to say what happened to him or his delusions. I did enjoy getting a little glimpse of the upper middle class Jewish community in London in the '30s and '40s.
Nor is it really a popular introduction to chemistry. If you don't already know a fair bit about chemistry (for instance, the meaning of the word valency), most of the book will be utter gibberish to you. If you do remember some of your high school chemistry, you're not likely to learn much more.
It could be described as a popular history of chemistry. What makes his experience with chemistry so unique is that he seems to have learned it in the same order that it was discovered historically, allowing him to experience the awe and wonder of the new discoveries for himself, making his education far more enthralling than most people's. (But even here he seems to be assuming a lot of prior knowledge on the part of the reader. At one point in the book he talks about how as a child he had a kind of gut feeling that the colours of the different elements had some sort of deeper significance, but if you don't already know about spectroscopy (which is covered much later in the book), this sentence is pretty meaningless.)
As somebody who is very interested in chemistry (I have tried to teach myself as an adult) and who intends to home-school, this approach has been quite an eye opener. Sacks certainly gives the impression that the way chemistry was taught to my generation is backwards: It seems to me that most textbooks start with the structure of the atom or types of bonds or molecular formulas or the definition of atomic number (the most recent discoveries), thus not allowing students to see how astounding it was to find that there was an underlying structural explanation for the physical properties of the different elements. But I think it would take Sacks' exceptional circumstances and temperament to learn chemistry the way he did.
Nor is it really a popular introduction to chemistry. If you don't already know a fair bit about chemistry (for instance, the meaning of the word valency), most of the book will be utter gibberish to you. If you do remember some of your high school chemistry, you're not likely to learn much more.
It could be described as a popular history of chemistry. What makes his experience with chemistry so unique is that he seems to have learned it in the same order that it was discovered historically, allowing him to experience the awe and wonder of the new discoveries for himself, making his education far more enthralling than most people's. (But even here he seems to be assuming a lot of prior knowledge on the part of the reader. At one point in the book he talks about how as a child he had a kind of gut feeling that the colours of the different elements had some sort of deeper significance, but if you don't already know about spectroscopy (which is covered much later in the book), this sentence is pretty meaningless.)
As somebody who is very interested in chemistry (I have tried to teach myself as an adult) and who intends to home-school, this approach has been quite an eye opener. Sacks certainly gives the impression that the way chemistry was taught to my generation is backwards: It seems to me that most textbooks start with the structure of the atom or types of bonds or molecular formulas or the definition of atomic number (the most recent discoveries), thus not allowing students to see how astounding it was to find that there was an underlying structural explanation for the physical properties of the different elements. But I think it would take Sacks' exceptional circumstances and temperament to learn chemistry the way he did.
July 21, 2021
2003: This is Sacks at his best! What a pleasant way to learn something about the history of science. Every Chemistry student (and teacher) should read it.
2021: This is not the best choice to read in the summer. At least half the book is about chemistry, starting with the early years, prior to our understanding of atoms or the development of the periodic table. I am awed by people who can start with raw materials and take them down to the level of elements. Sachs tried to explain how this happened, but I am still awed. I probably could read this every year and maybe, eventually, I could begin to appreciate what he understood by the age of 14.
Of course, I always appreciate the passages that pop out at me. E.g. ...
p 47: In many ways, Uncle Dave told me, the history of chemical discovery was inseparable from the quest for light.
p 115: I was mesmerized by the giant barrage balloons that floated overhead in wartime London, looking like vast aerial sunfish, with their plump, helium-filled bodies and trilled tails. They were made of an aluminized fabric, so they gleamed brilliantly when the sun's rays hit them. They were attached to the ground by long cables, which (it was thought) could entangle enemy warplanes, preventing them from flying too low. The balloons were our giant protectors.
p 180: As a young woman, [my Aunt] Birdie had been employed by the firm of Raphael Tuck, which published calendars and postcards, as one of an army of young women who painted and colored the cards—these delicately colored cards were very popular, and often collected, for decades, and seemed a permanent part of life until the 1930s when color photography and color printing started to displace them, and to render Tuck's small army of women superfluous. In 1936, after almost thirty years of working for them, Birdie was dismissed one day, with no warning and scarcely a 'thank you,' let alone a pension or severance pay.
p 281: Marie Curie's own laboratory notebooks, a century later, are still considered too dangerous to handle and are kept in lead-lined boxes.
2021: This is not the best choice to read in the summer. At least half the book is about chemistry, starting with the early years, prior to our understanding of atoms or the development of the periodic table. I am awed by people who can start with raw materials and take them down to the level of elements. Sachs tried to explain how this happened, but I am still awed. I probably could read this every year and maybe, eventually, I could begin to appreciate what he understood by the age of 14.
Of course, I always appreciate the passages that pop out at me. E.g. ...
p 47: In many ways, Uncle Dave told me, the history of chemical discovery was inseparable from the quest for light.
p 115: I was mesmerized by the giant barrage balloons that floated overhead in wartime London, looking like vast aerial sunfish, with their plump, helium-filled bodies and trilled tails. They were made of an aluminized fabric, so they gleamed brilliantly when the sun's rays hit them. They were attached to the ground by long cables, which (it was thought) could entangle enemy warplanes, preventing them from flying too low. The balloons were our giant protectors.
p 180: As a young woman, [my Aunt] Birdie had been employed by the firm of Raphael Tuck, which published calendars and postcards, as one of an army of young women who painted and colored the cards—these delicately colored cards were very popular, and often collected, for decades, and seemed a permanent part of life until the 1930s when color photography and color printing started to displace them, and to render Tuck's small army of women superfluous. In 1936, after almost thirty years of working for them, Birdie was dismissed one day, with no warning and scarcely a 'thank you,' let alone a pension or severance pay.
p 281: Marie Curie's own laboratory notebooks, a century later, are still considered too dangerous to handle and are kept in lead-lined boxes.
January 14, 2008
I enjoyed this considerably more than The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, which partly just reflects my relative levels of interest in chemistry and neuroscience, but also reflects the way this book interleaves scientific and wartime memoir -- the Second World War being a topic which interests me more than either of the above, at least from a pleasure-reading point of view. (Plus, I learned a few more obnoxious chemistry trivia facts, the better to torment family and friends.)
July 26, 2009
This book was great because you can really sense the boyhood excitement, and you pick up a lot of little chemistry trivia (which I, as a chemist, especially appreciate). I don't think it's too technical, however, and I hope its chemistry content does not deter non-chemists of any type from reading it.
While reading, I was frequently reminded that the world has changed significantly in the past ~60 years. Oliver Sacks grew up in a time where you could essentially run down to the store and buy some pretty dangerous stuff- even at the age of 10! I liked reading about his discoveries much more than I liked reading about them in chemistry textbooks.
While reading, I was frequently reminded that the world has changed significantly in the past ~60 years. Oliver Sacks grew up in a time where you could essentially run down to the store and buy some pretty dangerous stuff- even at the age of 10! I liked reading about his discoveries much more than I liked reading about them in chemistry textbooks.
July 20, 2018
Nu citisem nimic de Sacks, dar volumul ăsta este, dincolo de o piatră de încercare pt cei mai puțin pasionați de știința chimiei, foarte interesant. Oliver Sacks a fost în adolescența timpurie un pasionat de chimie și de tot ce reprezintă ea, mai ales din punct de vedere practic, iar volumul acesta, scris spre bătrânețe, îmbină amintirile proprii din acea perioadă cu cercetările din domeniul chimiei din secolele anterioare, până la momentul celui de-al doilea război mondial.
O întreprindere grea, pentru că nu vorbim neapărat de un subiect prea ”maleabil”, chimia fiind o știință complicată și complexă, care s-a lăsat destul de greu ”domesticită”. Dar, în același timp, volumul este construit admirabil, iar cei interesați vor putea descoperi felul în care elementele au fost treptat descoperite, cum se făceau analizele (unele radioactive) de laborator, cât de mult poți descoperi ca tânăr, dar și modalitatea în care mintea lui Sacks a evoluat, de foarte devreme, cu ajutorul părinților și mai ales a unchilor săi.
O întreprindere grea, pentru că nu vorbim neapărat de un subiect prea ”maleabil”, chimia fiind o știință complicată și complexă, care s-a lăsat destul de greu ”domesticită”. Dar, în același timp, volumul este construit admirabil, iar cei interesați vor putea descoperi felul în care elementele au fost treptat descoperite, cum se făceau analizele (unele radioactive) de laborator, cât de mult poți descoperi ca tânăr, dar și modalitatea în care mintea lui Sacks a evoluat, de foarte devreme, cu ajutorul părinților și mai ales a unchilor săi.
March 20, 2013
Wonderfully inspiring, even more so because the book revolves around the great love of mine - chemistry.
Through his memories of childhood/adolescence Oliver Sacks tells the simplified (short?) version of the history of chemistry. I've come to realize that his "reasons" for chemical curiosity are rather similar to my own - to find certainty in this world, to understand the origins and reactions of things all around me, and so I was not enthralled to read the last chapter, "The End of the Affair", in which Sacks writes that he gradually lost his interest in chemistry as a teenager and moved on to biology/medicine. Nevertheless, the book chronicles the ways natural sciences developed and flourished from 1800's to early 20th century. (Although the topic fascinates me, I would never bother googling it.)
I would recommend it to everyone, for I wish more people were into sciences - chemistry in particular - but reading without background knowledge in chemistry may be difficult.
Through his memories of childhood/adolescence Oliver Sacks tells the simplified (short?) version of the history of chemistry. I've come to realize that his "reasons" for chemical curiosity are rather similar to my own - to find certainty in this world, to understand the origins and reactions of things all around me, and so I was not enthralled to read the last chapter, "The End of the Affair", in which Sacks writes that he gradually lost his interest in chemistry as a teenager and moved on to biology/medicine. Nevertheless, the book chronicles the ways natural sciences developed and flourished from 1800's to early 20th century. (Although the topic fascinates me, I would never bother googling it.)
I would recommend it to everyone, for I wish more people were into sciences - chemistry in particular - but reading without background knowledge in chemistry may be difficult.
January 13, 2023
No question, this is a scientist's memoir.
No doubt, Sacks is a stylish writer. Even I, an unabashed nonscientist -- but passionately curious about people -- acknowledge that he wrote beautifully about metals and experiments.
What interested me most was how Oliver Sacks was the youngest of four children, from a mother whose birth order was #16 out of 18.
As for a true highlight, that would be this quotation from Page 307:
"God thinks in numbers," Aunti Len used to say. "Numbers are the way the world is put together." This thought had never left me, and now it seemed to embrace the whole physical world.
Might I suggest? Agreed, God thinks in numbers. Yet God just might also think in plenty more than numbers.
No doubt, Sacks is a stylish writer. Even I, an unabashed nonscientist -- but passionately curious about people -- acknowledge that he wrote beautifully about metals and experiments.
What interested me most was how Oliver Sacks was the youngest of four children, from a mother whose birth order was #16 out of 18.
As for a true highlight, that would be this quotation from Page 307:
"God thinks in numbers," Aunti Len used to say. "Numbers are the way the world is put together." This thought had never left me, and now it seemed to embrace the whole physical world.
Might I suggest? Agreed, God thinks in numbers. Yet God just might also think in plenty more than numbers.
January 29, 2009
As a kid I really liked my chemistry set - maybe that is why I grew up to teach high school chemistry. I'm also a really good cook. The stories in this book really spoke to me - the relationship of the author and his uncle and that science is really cool!
October 14, 2022
Summary: A memoir of Sacks boyhood and his explorations of chemistry encouraged by an uncle who used tungsten to manufacture incandescent bulbs.
I’ve enjoyed several of Oliver Sacks books recounting various neurological conditions and the workings of the human brain. I had not been aware of this book until receiving it as a gift. Sacks employs his gifts in telling the story of his childhood, and particularly his fascination with chemistry. In some ways, it came with the territory. His parents were both doctors, who saw patients at their home or permitted Oliver to come on house calls his father would make.
From childhood, Sacks was fascinated with metals and other substances, their color, their weight, how they responded to heating, to being combined with other chemicals. This fascination was fed by by his “Uncle Tungsten” a.k.a Uncle Dave. He was called Uncle Tungsten not only because he made incandescent lamps using tungsten wire, but because he was truly enamored of tungsten, thinking it quite a wonderful metal. He shared this wonder with young Oliver, as well as showing him other metals including aluminum and what happened when you applied mercury to its surface.
Eventually Uncle Tungsten showed him how to set up his own lab bench with the apparatus he needed and how to use it safely. Inevitably there were “stinks and bangs” including an episode with a cuttlefish that made a dwelling uninhabitable for a time. The story is one of curious, self-directed learning that studied spectra, chemical reactions, and families of elements. His discovery of the periodic table, Mendeleev’s Garden, helped make sense of why certain elements were similar in character to others, and even helped predict the character of elements yet to be discovered.
Perhaps the most fascinating chapters were those on “cold” light–fluorescent and phosphorescent elements–and that on X-rays and how they were produced. Here it was Uncle Abe who exposed him to things like radium, at a time when people were only beginning to understand the detrimental effects of radiation on the human body. He speaks of viewing a grain of radium through a spinthariscope and the “shooting stars” he saw through the eyepiece. One wonders if there was any connection between these youthful explorations and the ocular melanoma that resulted in Sacks death.
Sacks did not take up a career in chemistry, obviously. But in this memoir we see the curiosity that fueled his neurological research, his quest to understand how things worked. What a wonderful thing that there were adults in his life who nurtured that curiosity while allowing him the space to pursue self-directed learning. He was a “researcher” long before he became a researcher. And this led to the wonder beyond laws and equations and tables to memorize, the wonder of color, of order, of chemical reactions, and so much more. For Sacks, science became a matter of wonder and wondering.
In our own era of mistrust of science, one wonders if we’ve missed something in science education. What if, instead of mistrust of “authorities” we worked to foster curiosity and wonder? What if, instead of making pronouncements, we worked to foster curiosity? What if instead of endless encouragements of vaccines and masks, we invited curiosity about how COVID is so cussedly good at infecting its human hosts and what happens in the body when it does?
I don’t know if that would change any of our discussions, but I do wonder if a healthy dose of curiosity and wonder, like that which characterized Oliver Sacks “chemical boyhood,” might do us all a bit of good.
I’ve enjoyed several of Oliver Sacks books recounting various neurological conditions and the workings of the human brain. I had not been aware of this book until receiving it as a gift. Sacks employs his gifts in telling the story of his childhood, and particularly his fascination with chemistry. In some ways, it came with the territory. His parents were both doctors, who saw patients at their home or permitted Oliver to come on house calls his father would make.
From childhood, Sacks was fascinated with metals and other substances, their color, their weight, how they responded to heating, to being combined with other chemicals. This fascination was fed by by his “Uncle Tungsten” a.k.a Uncle Dave. He was called Uncle Tungsten not only because he made incandescent lamps using tungsten wire, but because he was truly enamored of tungsten, thinking it quite a wonderful metal. He shared this wonder with young Oliver, as well as showing him other metals including aluminum and what happened when you applied mercury to its surface.
Eventually Uncle Tungsten showed him how to set up his own lab bench with the apparatus he needed and how to use it safely. Inevitably there were “stinks and bangs” including an episode with a cuttlefish that made a dwelling uninhabitable for a time. The story is one of curious, self-directed learning that studied spectra, chemical reactions, and families of elements. His discovery of the periodic table, Mendeleev’s Garden, helped make sense of why certain elements were similar in character to others, and even helped predict the character of elements yet to be discovered.
Perhaps the most fascinating chapters were those on “cold” light–fluorescent and phosphorescent elements–and that on X-rays and how they were produced. Here it was Uncle Abe who exposed him to things like radium, at a time when people were only beginning to understand the detrimental effects of radiation on the human body. He speaks of viewing a grain of radium through a spinthariscope and the “shooting stars” he saw through the eyepiece. One wonders if there was any connection between these youthful explorations and the ocular melanoma that resulted in Sacks death.
Sacks did not take up a career in chemistry, obviously. But in this memoir we see the curiosity that fueled his neurological research, his quest to understand how things worked. What a wonderful thing that there were adults in his life who nurtured that curiosity while allowing him the space to pursue self-directed learning. He was a “researcher” long before he became a researcher. And this led to the wonder beyond laws and equations and tables to memorize, the wonder of color, of order, of chemical reactions, and so much more. For Sacks, science became a matter of wonder and wondering.
In our own era of mistrust of science, one wonders if we’ve missed something in science education. What if, instead of mistrust of “authorities” we worked to foster curiosity and wonder? What if, instead of making pronouncements, we worked to foster curiosity? What if instead of endless encouragements of vaccines and masks, we invited curiosity about how COVID is so cussedly good at infecting its human hosts and what happens in the body when it does?
I don’t know if that would change any of our discussions, but I do wonder if a healthy dose of curiosity and wonder, like that which characterized Oliver Sacks “chemical boyhood,” might do us all a bit of good.
May 2, 2019
Me ha costado muuuuucho leer este libro. Considerando que se trata de un libro de divulgación científica, creo que el autor se debería haber esforzado más en hacerlo ameno, ya que, a no ser que te apasione la química tanto como a él, difícilmente puedas disfrutar el libro. Si buscas una lectura que te anime a saber más sobre química o que te ayude a interesarte por la materia... tampoco recomendaría este libro. Únicamente si ya te gusta esta especialidad científica podrás empatizar con el protagonista y disfrutar de su lectura. El final me ha dejado un poco triste además... ¿todas esas andanzas en la química para al final abandonarla? 🙈 El protagonista me da un poco de pena (a pesar de que durante casi toda la lectura solo he sentido indiferencia hacia él). Los capítulos más interesantes para mí, los que hablan de la guerra y de cómo su familia la afrontó, son precisamente los más cortos. 😢
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
April 8, 2019DNF for now at chapter 17 63%
A nice book when he's talking about his own experiences, but it slows down when he switches to the histories of famous chemists and discoveries (sort of relating them to how and what he learned). I may come back to it, but it's not stimulating enough for me right now. Sorry Mr. Sacks - it's not you. It's me.
A nice book when he's talking about his own experiences, but it slows down when he switches to the histories of famous chemists and discoveries (sort of relating them to how and what he learned). I may come back to it, but it's not stimulating enough for me right now. Sorry Mr. Sacks - it's not you. It's me.
September 9, 2013
I enjoy Oliver Sack's works. For one who is such an accomplished scientific figure in the medical world, his prose writing is so good. "Uncle Tungsten", published first in 2001, is his memoir of his life and times in pre and immediately post war England. Sack's family were Jews who had immigrated to England around the turn of the 20th century. His parents were physicians and his uncles (he came from quite a large family) were scientists and entrepreneurs. Uncle "Tungsten" owned and ran a factory that produced light bulbs and he was deeply knowledgeable about heavy metals that could be used as filaments in these early bulbs. In addition to Uncle Tungsten, Sacks's family members were brainy and colorful characters who are quite fun to read about.
Through Uncle (Dave) "Tungsten", Sacks's intellectual curiosity in chemistry was aroused. (Mathematics was also an obsession.) At an early age, he acquired all manner of chemicals and set up his own laboratory where he conducted experiments to understand better the chemical properties of various elements and compounds. One amazing aspect of the story is how easy it was for Sacks to acquire chemicals that are quite dangerous and how tolerant his parents were of the goings-on in his lab in an attached shed. One cannot imagine such liberality or forbearance today.
In many ways, Sacks's memoir gives the history of chemistry advances in the 19th and 20th century. He describes the breakthrough work of many of the icons of early chemistry -- Boyle, Lavoisier, Davy, Faraday, Mendeleev and others. His burning impulse to understand how the physical world was constructed and interacted is plain to see and marked him as an unusual young person of great intellectual potential.
What's perhaps even more compelling in Sacks's story is his depiction of life before and during the war. Sacks, born in 1933, was shipped off to boarding schools away from London during the Blitz and his memories (many were not happy ones) give a fascinating view of life during this time. His family was closely connected to the Jewish community in London and his stories about this culture are interesting and evocative; he says that this tight knit society ceased to be after the war.
His path through the world of chemistry progresses through increasing levels of complexity. Some of his descriptions of chemical laws and processes are above my understanding; they made me aware of how much about chemistry I have forgotten, or, more likely, never knew. When he reached atomic realms of the periodic table of elements and structure of atomic entities, I was quite lost. Notwithstanding, it's worth slogging through the esoteric parts of the book, if for nothing more than to gain an appreciation of this young man's remarkable intellectual focus and his passion for knowledge.
Through Uncle (Dave) "Tungsten", Sacks's intellectual curiosity in chemistry was aroused. (Mathematics was also an obsession.) At an early age, he acquired all manner of chemicals and set up his own laboratory where he conducted experiments to understand better the chemical properties of various elements and compounds. One amazing aspect of the story is how easy it was for Sacks to acquire chemicals that are quite dangerous and how tolerant his parents were of the goings-on in his lab in an attached shed. One cannot imagine such liberality or forbearance today.
In many ways, Sacks's memoir gives the history of chemistry advances in the 19th and 20th century. He describes the breakthrough work of many of the icons of early chemistry -- Boyle, Lavoisier, Davy, Faraday, Mendeleev and others. His burning impulse to understand how the physical world was constructed and interacted is plain to see and marked him as an unusual young person of great intellectual potential.
What's perhaps even more compelling in Sacks's story is his depiction of life before and during the war. Sacks, born in 1933, was shipped off to boarding schools away from London during the Blitz and his memories (many were not happy ones) give a fascinating view of life during this time. His family was closely connected to the Jewish community in London and his stories about this culture are interesting and evocative; he says that this tight knit society ceased to be after the war.
His path through the world of chemistry progresses through increasing levels of complexity. Some of his descriptions of chemical laws and processes are above my understanding; they made me aware of how much about chemistry I have forgotten, or, more likely, never knew. When he reached atomic realms of the periodic table of elements and structure of atomic entities, I was quite lost. Notwithstanding, it's worth slogging through the esoteric parts of the book, if for nothing more than to gain an appreciation of this young man's remarkable intellectual focus and his passion for knowledge.
January 4, 2022
Capolavoro. Diffidate da chi lo valuta 1 stella, probabilmente la persona non capisce un c****o.
May 25, 2015
This is Sacks' inspiring memoir of his early teenage years, when his growing scientific mind recapitulated the history of chemistry through reading and his own hands-on experiments. It can be read either as a record of one person's education, or as a high-level history of chemistry. The magic of this book is how Sacks combined the two into an engaging narrative.
He begins by telling of his earliest observations, when not yet ten years old, of simple material categories. This grew into differentiating the elements by their properties. When he saw the periodic table for the first time in a museum, along with samples of each element, it all came together in a blinding mind-storm. His romance with chemistry continued for another year or two, eventually leading him to flirt with basic nuclear processes at the dawn of the atomic age shortly after WW2. Then it all changed for him when adolescence barged in, bring with it other imperatives.
How fortunate Sacks was to have mentors (outside of the school system, of course) who recognized his non-conforming abilities and encouraged him. We see the universal, and despicable, bullying given to boys who are different and talented—a theme shatteringly taken-up in his 2015 memoir covering adulthood On the Move: A Life. We also see the amazing ability of the (even young and formative) human mind to understand the universe, one that is available to anyone curious.
He begins by telling of his earliest observations, when not yet ten years old, of simple material categories. This grew into differentiating the elements by their properties. When he saw the periodic table for the first time in a museum, along with samples of each element, it all came together in a blinding mind-storm. His romance with chemistry continued for another year or two, eventually leading him to flirt with basic nuclear processes at the dawn of the atomic age shortly after WW2. Then it all changed for him when adolescence barged in, bring with it other imperatives.
How fortunate Sacks was to have mentors (outside of the school system, of course) who recognized his non-conforming abilities and encouraged him. We see the universal, and despicable, bullying given to boys who are different and talented—a theme shatteringly taken-up in his 2015 memoir covering adulthood On the Move: A Life. We also see the amazing ability of the (even young and formative) human mind to understand the universe, one that is available to anyone curious.
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