Scan barcode
wooknight's review against another edition
5.0
Cannot recommend this book enough . I started reading being vaguely aware of Albert Camus and completely ignorant of Jacques Monod and was completely bowled over by the story of these two giants of the twentieth century. Now I have to read every work written by Camus and "Chance and Necessity" by Monod . Sean Carroll did a magnificent job
cjchilds66's review against another edition
5.0
Awesome book. Albert Camus and Jaques Monod. Both Nobel prize winners. Both fought with the French resistance during WW2. And friends. Both a biography and explanation of their works.
liedora's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a definite departure from the usual works of this Author, in which he normally addresses the subject of biology; evolutionary biology to be exact, but in this case he has turned his writing skills to history. This book covers the stories of Albert Camus, Nobel Prize-winning writer / philosopher and political activist, and also that of Jacques Monod, Nobel Prize-winning biologist and French resistance fighter. I started reading this book not having any real knowledge of either Camus or Monod, but by the time I turned the final page the Author had done an outstanding job of expanding my education in this area.
Before the reader picks this up they need to be aware that it is a book of two distinct halves. The first half of the book centres on Occupied France during World War II and gives an in-depth look, from the French viewpoint as to what life was like living under German rule. It is apparent that the Author spent a great deal of time researching this aspect of the book as they cover in great detail the extent to which the occupation affected France, and also the circumstances that led to some of the occurrences that took place. This aspect alone makes it a great and informative read for anyone that has only a basic understanding of this era in history as it pertained to France. The Author gives the reader a personal look at these times, and from this they will be able to pick out the influence that World War II had on Camus and his future writing. The second half focuses on the work of Camus and Monod after the end of the war. Again it is very detailed and shows the reader, once again, the amount of time to research that the Author has invested during their writing of this historical chronicle.
The book is a very well documented and worthwhile the read and, although the Author paints the picture of both these men with a very broad brush, he still manages to convey the qualities that made these men great; that is the work they carried out beyond their own vocations. The Author also manages to stir in the reader feelings of admiration for both Camus and Monod to such an extent that sadness follows when we read about their deaths.
It is a long, very long read and due to the in-depth descriptions of activities taking place it can take some time to navigate; this makes it definitely not a book that can be delved into and absorbed within a few days, it needs time to be taken over it to be able to process everything that can be learnt from its pages. There were also some areas of the book that left me wondering as to the reactions and feelings of other persons mentioned, but these were just little annoyances in, what otherwise, is a very educating read.
I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in, or wanting to learn about Camus, Monod, and the way world was in their lifetime; it was would also be of great interest to anyone who enjoys a good non-fiction book that is slightly different from others in the genre. Readers of World War II history and philosophy may also enjoy this book.
Originally Reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/review-brave-genius-a-scientist-a-philosopher-and-their-daring-adventures-from-the-french-resistance-to-the-nobel-prize-sean-b-carroll/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Before the reader picks this up they need to be aware that it is a book of two distinct halves. The first half of the book centres on Occupied France during World War II and gives an in-depth look, from the French viewpoint as to what life was like living under German rule. It is apparent that the Author spent a great deal of time researching this aspect of the book as they cover in great detail the extent to which the occupation affected France, and also the circumstances that led to some of the occurrences that took place. This aspect alone makes it a great and informative read for anyone that has only a basic understanding of this era in history as it pertained to France. The Author gives the reader a personal look at these times, and from this they will be able to pick out the influence that World War II had on Camus and his future writing. The second half focuses on the work of Camus and Monod after the end of the war. Again it is very detailed and shows the reader, once again, the amount of time to research that the Author has invested during their writing of this historical chronicle.
The book is a very well documented and worthwhile the read and, although the Author paints the picture of both these men with a very broad brush, he still manages to convey the qualities that made these men great; that is the work they carried out beyond their own vocations. The Author also manages to stir in the reader feelings of admiration for both Camus and Monod to such an extent that sadness follows when we read about their deaths.
It is a long, very long read and due to the in-depth descriptions of activities taking place it can take some time to navigate; this makes it definitely not a book that can be delved into and absorbed within a few days, it needs time to be taken over it to be able to process everything that can be learnt from its pages. There were also some areas of the book that left me wondering as to the reactions and feelings of other persons mentioned, but these were just little annoyances in, what otherwise, is a very educating read.
I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in, or wanting to learn about Camus, Monod, and the way world was in their lifetime; it was would also be of great interest to anyone who enjoys a good non-fiction book that is slightly different from others in the genre. Readers of World War II history and philosophy may also enjoy this book.
Originally Reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/review-brave-genius-a-scientist-a-philosopher-and-their-daring-adventures-from-the-french-resistance-to-the-nobel-prize-sean-b-carroll/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
guinness74's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant!
The only reason this book doesn’t get 5 stars is the preponderance of scientific jargon that must be waded through to enjoy the entirety. And, I must admit that I’m ill equipped to understand, as were many of Monod’s detractors, but molecular biology will never be my forté. Regardless, this book covers Camus and Monod and their associates against the backdrop of WWII and the Cold War in excellence.
The only reason this book doesn’t get 5 stars is the preponderance of scientific jargon that must be waded through to enjoy the entirety. And, I must admit that I’m ill equipped to understand, as were many of Monod’s detractors, but molecular biology will never be my forté. Regardless, this book covers Camus and Monod and their associates against the backdrop of WWII and the Cold War in excellence.
boggle's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book. In brief, if you have even a passing interest in molecular biology or France in WWII, this is a great read.
Some more detailed notes:
* The book is sooooort of billed as a narrative describing the intertwined lives of Albert Camus and Jacques Monod, which is a bit hard to understand for the vast majority of the book, as the two men didn't really start to interact directly until well after the end of WWII in Europe. However, it is abundantly clear that from the late 50s or so onward, the two were quite close both personally and philosophically, and the author does a good job of tying up this latter point very nicely. So, I think that in the end, the book makes the case for the initial billing very well. Bit of a slow burn though.
* The science is mostly very well explained, which I presume is due to the fact that the author himself is a scientist. Crazy. I studied molecular biology in college and am currently a PhD student in biophysics and I still felt that the explanations given in the book were clear and illuminating--a great refresher on many topics I had learned of before in classes along with their historical antecedents. Honestly, I think current students of science could learn a lot by hearing these accounts of the process of basic research--particularly research that now forms the textbook canon. It really adds a great deal of depth to a thing that you thought you already knew backwards and forwards, and is genuinely quite inspiring to me at least, as someone still young and new in the scientific world.
* Damn, Monod and Camus were truly extraordinarily involved in the world around them, were that all my fellow grad students behaved more in this way. Ha.
Some more detailed notes:
* The book is sooooort of billed as a narrative describing the intertwined lives of Albert Camus and Jacques Monod, which is a bit hard to understand for the vast majority of the book, as the two men didn't really start to interact directly until well after the end of WWII in Europe. However, it is abundantly clear that from the late 50s or so onward, the two were quite close both personally and philosophically, and the author does a good job of tying up this latter point very nicely. So, I think that in the end, the book makes the case for the initial billing very well. Bit of a slow burn though.
* The science is mostly very well explained, which I presume is due to the fact that the author himself is a scientist. Crazy. I studied molecular biology in college and am currently a PhD student in biophysics and I still felt that the explanations given in the book were clear and illuminating--a great refresher on many topics I had learned of before in classes along with their historical antecedents. Honestly, I think current students of science could learn a lot by hearing these accounts of the process of basic research--particularly research that now forms the textbook canon. It really adds a great deal of depth to a thing that you thought you already knew backwards and forwards, and is genuinely quite inspiring to me at least, as someone still young and new in the scientific world.
* Damn, Monod and Camus were truly extraordinarily involved in the world around them, were that all my fellow grad students behaved more in this way. Ha.
jeffreyp's review
4.0
This one is tough to rate with stars--if you have any interest at all in Camus, it's probably a 5-star book, just because of the insight it gives into the guy. As a book about the friendship of two amazing minds, it's two-stars. As a book with amazing insights into the French resistance during WWII, it's 5-stars. As a book about the history of science, it's 3-stars.
Overall, though, the first two-thirds of the book, mostly taking place before and during WWII, is great. After that it is more thin, with some still interesting anecdotes. I would have liked a book more about the friendship of the two men.
Overall, though, the first two-thirds of the book, mostly taking place before and during WWII, is great. After that it is more thin, with some still interesting anecdotes. I would have liked a book more about the friendship of the two men.
jaymesnoyce's review
4.0
Check out my full review of the book on my blog, the lexicon devil: http://www.thelexicondevil.com/2016/02/the-review-brave-genius.html
doromid's review
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.25
George Orwell wrote in his article “What is Science?” that “a mere training in one or more of the exact sciences ... is no guarantee of a humane or sceptical outlook.” He felt that scientists “of all countries line up behind their governments with fewer scruples than are felt by the writers and the artists,” citing German scientists’ support for “racial science” and English scientists’ uncritical acceptance of “the structure of capitalist society.” Well, Orwell wouldn't have needed to worry about the French biologist Jacques Monod, the main character of Sean B. Carroll's excellent book Brave Genius.
When I think of a stereotypical scientist, someone as brave and socially conscious as Monod probably wouldn't come to mind.
When I think of a stereotypical scientist, someone as brave and socially conscious as Monod probably wouldn't come to mind.
• In 1940, Monod joined the French Resistance to continue the fight against Nazis. He risked his life every day by doing so: He had to use a false name and was in danger of being captured by the Gestapo. (They once searched to Monod’s lab, questioned him, and very nearly found his “incriminating papers.”)*
• In 1948, Monod publicly criticized the false science of Lysenkoism. In contrast, the biologist and French Communist Party member Marcel Prenant defended Lysenko by saying that the Soviet scientist was really fighting “the exaggerations of classical genetics.”† (This was even worse than what Orwell had written: An ideological loyalty, as opposed to a nationalistic one, could also motivate a scientist to perpetuate bad science.)
• In 1960, he helped to smuggle the biologist Agnes Ullmann out of the totalitarian Hungary at about the same time he was doing the research that would land him the Nobel Prize.‡
This is just a small selection; Monod did many more admirable social activism of the kind.
This book is many things at once: mainly a biography, but also a book about science, history, philosophy, literature, and politics. The best parts are stories of the ways in which Monod and his colleague François Jacob resolved the gaps in their understanding of genetics. One example: in an exhilarating chapter Carroll gives an account of how Jacob made the connection between two seemingly disparate experiments while watching a movie, daydreaming.§ This serendipitous insight led Jacob and Monod to make a model of gene regulation, which would earn both of them — and their boss André Lwoff — the Nobel Prize. I’m not well-versed in molecular biology to fully comprehend most of the science in the book, but it’s fascinating to find out how these scientists worked and thought.
The non-scientific parts are not as exhilarating as the scientific ones, but still engaging and often read like a thriller. There is the historical parts of the book, which place the main characters’ lives in a broader societal context. Then there is the philosophical and literary parts, which are are mainly about Albert Camus, another main character of Brave Genius. Here, Carroll provides a historical and biographical background to his works, such as The Myth of Sisyphus and The Plague. A significant part of the book also chronicles Camus’s friendship with Monod and his political views.
If there’s one criticism, it’s that this book doesn't paint a complete picture of Jacques Monod as a man. Outside of his scientific works and political activities, I don’t really know his personal demeanor and inner motivations. I think this is a price to pay in a book with variegated topics such as this one; there’s not enough space for a close analysis that one expects from a dedicated biography. However, these are minor quibbles — what matters more is that Brave Genius never loses its storytelling momentum throughout its 500-odd pages of text.
I’ll end with the words of our main characters, respectively from François Jacob, Jacques Monod, and Albert Camus:
[T]he process of science does not consist of explaining the unknown by the known ... it aims on the contrary to give an account of what is observed by the properties of what is imagined. To explain the visible by the invisible. **
I prefer to speak of the hatred of lies rather than the love of truth, since one is never sure of holding the truth, whereas with lies, one is almost always able to detect them, to discover them, and to denounce them. ††
Tyrants know there is in the work of art an emancipatory force, which is mysterious only to those who do not revere it. Every great work makes the human face more admirable and richer, and this is its whole secret. ‡‡
-- 13 November 2020
--------------------
* Hardcover edition of Brave Genius, p.130-1.
† Ibid., p. 285.
‡ Ibid., ch. 32.
§ Ibid., ch. 29.
** Ibid., p. 428.
†† Ibid., p. 496.
‡‡ From Camus’s 1957 speech titled “Create Dangerously.”
Originally posted at Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3586103326