Science, history and World War II
A review of Why Beauty is Truth: The History of Symmetry by Ian Stewart; The Equation that Couldn’t be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry by Mario Livio; The Poincare Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe by Donal O'Shea; and MetaMaths: The Quest for Omega by Gregory Chaitin. The foreword to Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics by A. Zee. Master of the Enlightenment: A review of The Scientific Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1765-1820. An over-celebrated pathologist: A review of Lethal Witness: Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Honorary Pathologist by Andrew Rose. Eliciting why blood gives life: A review of Max Perutz and the Secret of Life by Georgina Ferry (and more). A review of Suffer And Survive: Gas Attacks, Miners’ Canaries, Spacesuits And The Bends — The Extreme Life of Dr JS Haldane by Martin Goodman.
Tyrant who unified China: The terracotta army that guards his tomb is world famous. But what about Qin Shi Huangdi himself? Clifford Coonan investigates the legend of one of the most extraordinary men who ever lived. A review of Inquisition: The Reign of Fear by Toby Green. A review of The Plot Against Pepys by James Long and Ben Long (and more). A discovery in Virginia raises questions about Pocahontas' people. A review of For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions by James Gaines. A review of Lenin's Private War: The Voyage of the Philosophy Steamer and the Exile of the Intelligentsia by Lesley Chamberlain. A review of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. The birth of the teen: A review of Teenage: The creation of youth 1875-1945 by Jon Savage.
From California Literary Review, Notes From Italy: Looking back at Mussolini. Heroism — and humour — in hell: A review of Absolute War by Chris Bellamy. A review of Endgame 1945 by David Stafford. A review of After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation by Giles MacDonogh (and more). How much did the Marshall Plan really matter? Niall Ferguson reviews The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe by Greg Behrman. A review of Ike: An American Hero by Michael Korda (and more). An interview with Edward W. Wood Jr., author of Worshipping the Myths of World War II.
