From Eros to Gaia Author:Freeman Dyson Freeman Dyson's 'Infinite in all Directions' was described by Roger Penrose in The New York Times Book Review as "A book to be read, savored and appreciated", while the New Yorker called 'Disturbing the Universe' "an extraordinary and beautiful book... written in swift, ribbon-clear prose". The same humanism, passion for science and skill at cut... more »ting through cliches are revealed in this erudite collection of essays.
It begins with an imagined trip to the asteroid Eros, written at the age of nine, and culminates in a plea to protect our planet. In between are incisive reflections on the achievements of amateur astronomers, on the future of physics, on saving science from committees, on the "cosmological hang-ups" which made the earth inhabitable, on Robert Oppenheimer and Richard P. Feynman. Dyson draws on his insider knowledge of British bombing strategy in the 1940s and long-standing contacts with Soviet scientists to offer fresh and compelling insights into 'smart' bombs, military dilemmas and international relations. Another superb essay celebrates the role models who revealed to him "how an uncompromising pursuit of excellence in a demanding professional discipline could be combined with joyful adventures in the world outside". As this book makes abundantly clear, Freeman Dyson now ranks indisputably among them.
"What recommends him is his ability to communicate, not merely, the interest of science and its application to human activities of every kind, but the sheer delight he takes in the universe"-Roy Herbert in the New Scientist.« less