Maverick Genius- Published in 2013 by St. Martin's Press
background
This book tells the life story of Freeman Dyson, one of the leading cultural figures of our time. His impact on society has been huge because of his outstanding work in so many fields: as a physicist who helped found modern quantum theory; as an engineer who invented a best-selling reactor design and who planned a nuclear-powered rocketship; as a government advisor who helped shape the limited nuclear test ban treaty; as an astronomer who helped found the search for extraterrestrial life (including the concept for "Dyson spheres"); as a biologist who formulated a new theory of the origin of life; as a tireless crusader against nuclear weapons; as a book author and reviewer; and as an essayist on the thorny issue of science and religion. He has many honors, including the Fermi Award (the highest government physics award), the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the million-dollar Templeton Prize for writing on religion. Maverick Genius also tells the story of Dyson’s remarkable upbringing and his own later family life. His military work is recounted, including his time with Bomber Command during World War II and his report to the Pentagon (through the Jason organization) that helped keep tactical nuclear weapons out of Vietnam.
Freeman Dyson, in a New York Times book section profile, mentioned the making of Maverick Genius.
WHAT FREEMAN DYSON THOUGHT OF THE BOOK:
" I am happy to tell you that you did a good job, and I am grateful for all the hard work
and long hours that you put into it...
Altogether, you held up the mirror so that I could see how I look to people who do not know me. I think the mirror
gave me a true picture."
comments on the book
BOOKLIST (Starred review)
“A much-needed portrait of a compellingly human scientist”
PEOPLE MAGAZINE, 1 July 2013
Maverick Genius is the summer reading for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Craig Venter (biotech entrepreneur and genome mapper)
"A very readable story about a one of the greatest physicists who like others before him can't resist wandering from physics to the real life world of biology"
NATURE (Philosopher Robert Crease)
“Buoyant” “Breezy” “One of the pleasures of Schewe’s book is waiting for him to uncork the next flamboyant metaphor.” “Maverick Genius provides a vivid and enjoyable sketch of one of the most prominent scientific rebels of our day.”
PHYSICS TODAY (Novelist and physicist Gregory Benford)
"Phillip Schewe structures Maverick Genius: The Pioneering Odyssey of Freeman Dyson around stories—in doing so, he mimics Dyson’s own use of stories to illuminate ideas. Schewe‘s writing is often stylishly vivid, giving a sense of the excitement Dyson feels for science and its myriad consequences. The sheer range of Dyson’s interests and accomplishments is striking, as is his abiding concern for humanity. The book divides his life into eras that manifest aspects of his mind: for example, Dyson as mathematician, as seminarian, as artist. That construction works well and makes the book flow. It is one of several strategies in this fine book that biographers of scientists should study."
NEW YORK TIMES (science section)
“Chatty”
CHARLES FURGUSON, (President of the Federation of American Scientists)
“Phillip Schewe weaves a compelling biography of a true renaissance man: Freeman Dyson, an iconoclastic scientist who writes like a poet and has stirred controversy over his views on climate change. By masterfully intertwining the multiple threads of Dyson’s life, this book has become a tapestry that illustrates the complexity of a passionate genius who cares deeply about the fate of humanity and has made major contributions to quantum physics, advanced mathematics, nuclear arms control, national security, and the reconciliation between science and religion.”
PHYSICS PERSPECTIVE (Caltech physicist David Goodstein)
"This is a very fine book...Schewe has written a big, thorough biography of Freeman Dyson. For that he deserves our thanks."
PHYSICS WORLD (Nobel laureate Philip Anderson)
(Schewe) “has done a meticulous job of finding all of the relevant sources available.”
THE ECONOMIST
"Dyson, a British-born theoretical physicist, likes to call himself a dabbler. Yet as this first full biography, by Phillip Schewe, makes clear, his dabblings often carry the hallmarks of genius....Mr Schewe, a physicist turned popular-science writer, has garnered a wealth of material about his subject."
ANDREW SESSLER (past president of the American Physical Society)
"I just finished reading your book and enjoyed it very much. I have known many that you mention, so that added to my pleasure. I am impressed with the scholarship that you have put in. The list of folks you have talked with is truly comprehensive."
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITSCHRIFT (Economist Emanuel Derman)
“…reading Schewe’s biography and rereading Disturbing the Universe, one comes away with a sense of Dyson’s unregretful authenticity.”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“A fascinating account of an iconoclastic scientific polymath and the lively collection of scientists who were his friends.”
Some related websites:
---Emerson and Dyson (PT essay)
---The book as if it were a movie
---What happens on page 99
---APS podcast interview of PFS
---PFS article about Dyson's climate views
---Dyson meeting in Singapore
---Dyson and the Cuban Missile Crisis
how to order
From St. Martin's Press
From Amazon
This book tells the life story of Freeman Dyson, one of the leading cultural figures of our time. His impact on society has been huge because of his outstanding work in so many fields: as a physicist who helped found modern quantum theory; as an engineer who invented a best-selling reactor design and who planned a nuclear-powered rocketship; as a government advisor who helped shape the limited nuclear test ban treaty; as an astronomer who helped found the search for extraterrestrial life (including the concept for "Dyson spheres"); as a biologist who formulated a new theory of the origin of life; as a tireless crusader against nuclear weapons; as a book author and reviewer; and as an essayist on the thorny issue of science and religion. He has many honors, including the Fermi Award (the highest government physics award), the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the million-dollar Templeton Prize for writing on religion. Maverick Genius also tells the story of Dyson’s remarkable upbringing and his own later family life. His military work is recounted, including his time with Bomber Command during World War II and his report to the Pentagon (through the Jason organization) that helped keep tactical nuclear weapons out of Vietnam.
Freeman Dyson, in a New York Times book section profile, mentioned the making of Maverick Genius.
WHAT FREEMAN DYSON THOUGHT OF THE BOOK:
" I am happy to tell you that you did a good job, and I am grateful for all the hard work
and long hours that you put into it...
Altogether, you held up the mirror so that I could see how I look to people who do not know me. I think the mirror
gave me a true picture."
comments on the book
BOOKLIST (Starred review)
“A much-needed portrait of a compellingly human scientist”
PEOPLE MAGAZINE, 1 July 2013
Maverick Genius is the summer reading for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Craig Venter (biotech entrepreneur and genome mapper)
"A very readable story about a one of the greatest physicists who like others before him can't resist wandering from physics to the real life world of biology"
NATURE (Philosopher Robert Crease)
“Buoyant” “Breezy” “One of the pleasures of Schewe’s book is waiting for him to uncork the next flamboyant metaphor.” “Maverick Genius provides a vivid and enjoyable sketch of one of the most prominent scientific rebels of our day.”
PHYSICS TODAY (Novelist and physicist Gregory Benford)
"Phillip Schewe structures Maverick Genius: The Pioneering Odyssey of Freeman Dyson around stories—in doing so, he mimics Dyson’s own use of stories to illuminate ideas. Schewe‘s writing is often stylishly vivid, giving a sense of the excitement Dyson feels for science and its myriad consequences. The sheer range of Dyson’s interests and accomplishments is striking, as is his abiding concern for humanity. The book divides his life into eras that manifest aspects of his mind: for example, Dyson as mathematician, as seminarian, as artist. That construction works well and makes the book flow. It is one of several strategies in this fine book that biographers of scientists should study."
NEW YORK TIMES (science section)
“Chatty”
CHARLES FURGUSON, (President of the Federation of American Scientists)
“Phillip Schewe weaves a compelling biography of a true renaissance man: Freeman Dyson, an iconoclastic scientist who writes like a poet and has stirred controversy over his views on climate change. By masterfully intertwining the multiple threads of Dyson’s life, this book has become a tapestry that illustrates the complexity of a passionate genius who cares deeply about the fate of humanity and has made major contributions to quantum physics, advanced mathematics, nuclear arms control, national security, and the reconciliation between science and religion.”
PHYSICS PERSPECTIVE (Caltech physicist David Goodstein)
"This is a very fine book...Schewe has written a big, thorough biography of Freeman Dyson. For that he deserves our thanks."
PHYSICS WORLD (Nobel laureate Philip Anderson)
(Schewe) “has done a meticulous job of finding all of the relevant sources available.”
THE ECONOMIST
"Dyson, a British-born theoretical physicist, likes to call himself a dabbler. Yet as this first full biography, by Phillip Schewe, makes clear, his dabblings often carry the hallmarks of genius....Mr Schewe, a physicist turned popular-science writer, has garnered a wealth of material about his subject."
ANDREW SESSLER (past president of the American Physical Society)
"I just finished reading your book and enjoyed it very much. I have known many that you mention, so that added to my pleasure. I am impressed with the scholarship that you have put in. The list of folks you have talked with is truly comprehensive."
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITSCHRIFT (Economist Emanuel Derman)
“…reading Schewe’s biography and rereading Disturbing the Universe, one comes away with a sense of Dyson’s unregretful authenticity.”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“A fascinating account of an iconoclastic scientific polymath and the lively collection of scientists who were his friends.”
Some related websites:
---Emerson and Dyson (PT essay)
---The book as if it were a movie
---What happens on page 99
---APS podcast interview of PFS
---PFS article about Dyson's climate views
---Dyson meeting in Singapore
---Dyson and the Cuban Missile Crisis
how to order
From St. Martin's Press
From Amazon