Dreams of Earth and Sky

Physicist Dyson (A Many-Colored Glass), now retired from Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, demonstrates his intellectual breadth, wit, and iconoclasm in this collection of book reviews (one previously unpublished and 19 previously published in the New York Review of Books). The books he reviews focus on the nature, history, and philosophy of science; important scientists from Newton and Darwin to Einstein and Oppenheimer; and principles of warfare. Throughout, Dyson interweaves literature, politics, and public policy with science, bringing his seemingly inexhaustible personal experiences into every review—at times, perhaps, to excess. He certainly is not afraid of being opinionated and provocative, such as when he declares that “environmentalism has replaced socialism as the leading secular religion,” or when he asserts, “If American children could learn more mathematics and French children less, both countries would benefit.” Dyson is well aware that many of his positions fall outside of the mainstream or are likely to provoke discussion; as he notes after commenting on Paul Dirac’s role in shaping the debate about quantum mechanics, “I am, as usual, in the minority.” Although Dyson has no great flair for language, at times producing clumsy sentences and piling up paragraphs without any obvious transitions, his insights, passion, and knowledge make this collection well worth savoring. [em](May) [/em]