This book is amazing on so many different levels I am not really sure where to begin. It is an amazingly well written, compelling, insightful, and utterly fascinating book on it's own. Fortunately, it is so much more than just a really well written book, it is TRUE story that everyone needs to read. It is book about a true hero, a courageous man who risked his life and his reputation to save tens of millions of lives. I don't really want to give too much away, but it answers a question that many World War 2 historians want to know: WHY didn't the Germans create the Atomic Bomb? Well, there is one word for why, Heisenberg. This man stayed in Germany and deliberately sabotaged the Nazi's attempts to make the bomb.
In a world where people struggle to find heroes and gather up courage it is a shame not many people know this story. I think many people would be amazed at the sacrafices one very proud man would endure to save the world. Please read this book, you will not be disappointed.

The story of the German atomic bomb project has inspired controversy and invited investigation for over half a century. In his book, Thomas Powers has combined his experience as a writer with years of exhaustive research to form a fresh and in-depth interpretation of these events. Powers' focus is Werner Heisenberg, one of the world's foremost physicists in the 1920s and '30s, who elected to remain in Nazi Germany even after most of his colleagues had fled.

Heisenberg, the most famous physicist in wartime Germany, was chosen to head Germany's nuclear research program. Yet, in his own version of events after the war, Heisenberg stated that there was never a danger of a German atomic bomb, despite fear in the U.S. at the time, because the German nuclear research program never focused on weapons and most of the project's scientists had no interest in making such a weapon for the National Socialists. Heisenberg's story, however, was treated with intense skepticism after the war by his friends and colleagues outside Germany, who forever saw Heisenberg as guilty by association. Powers, however, has challenged this accepted belief through intensive research into both new and old documents, and through a number of interviews with those who were in some way involved with the events. Powers conducts a thorough investigation and uses his expertise in writing about secret activities to expose the prejudices that have condemned Heisenberg. Powers addresses the issue from a different starting point and relies on the evidence to generate a new conclusion which ultimately exonerates Heisenberg from the guilt by association judgment.

Powers' conclusions about Heisenberg and the German bomb may not satisfy everyone, especially since the subject has always been emotionally and politically charged, and the record incomplete. However, his book is intellectually stimulating because it addresses so many gray areas, not only in this particular subject but also in what constitutes accurate history. On the first note, Powers' reinterpretation of the events is compelling because he also simultaneously addresses how the condemnation of Heisenberg was created and perpetuated: by people who were most immediately traumatized by the Nazis, or somehow connected to the American bomb program. Secondly, Powers has treated the subject with about as much energy and time as any one person can, approaching the truth of the matter more closely than any other work to date. Yet, despite such considerable effort, the history is still incomplete and will likely remain so, which gives credence to the idea that history is only a representation of truth, and that hopefully all historians will approach history with as much hard work, honesty and objectivity as possible, setting aside their purposeful judgments in the pursuit of more accurate conclusions.

Heisenberg's War shouldn't be called just Heisenberg's war: it should be called Physics During World War 2 or something of that nature. This book does not concentrate solely on Werner Heisenberg, the great theoretical physicist, but also on the Los Alsos mission of America, specific characters within that mission and other important physicists throughout the world. Knowing little about Physics before reading this book (having only completed an AP course in high school) Powers educates the reader on the basis of Physics that needs to be known to fully understand the book and it's subject. In fact, this book took me 3 months to read, the longest it has ever taken me to read a book, because I would attempt to learn the physics being taught. It was a thoroughly rewarding experience. Nonetheless, if you have no interest in physics, I suggest you skip this book. This was a complete history and Powers managed to get many first hand accounts, most surprisingly, in my opinion, from Carl Friedrich von Weiszacker, Heisenberg's most brilliant pupil and fellow member of the Uranverein (read the book and you'll understand). A new conclusion is drawn about why Heisenberg and his fellow German physicists didn't build an atomic bomb, in contrast to the old conclusion which suggested it was due to, in short, 'bumbling Nazis'. Powers suggests the Heisenberg and his cohorts didn't want to build a bomb for Hitler. Though he does respect the fact that perhaps there were also several important flaws in their thinking; for example, Heisenberg thought a bomb could run with slow molecules, which, apparently, it couldn't (I'm no scientists). Overall, this is a complete history which is, at points, a page turner and I suggest anyone with an interest in the politics behind World War 2 of Physics purchase it.

In September, 1941, Werner Heisenberg, then leading Nazi Germany's war-time effort to exploit the uses of nuclear fission, made a trip to Copenhagen to visit his former mentor, the brillant Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Together, in the 1920s, Bohr and Heisenberg had been instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics, complementarity and the uncertainty principle, concepts which provided the theoretical underpinning for modern nuclear physics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb. Hence, the reason for Heisenberg's visit to Bohr, and what Heisenberg and Bohr discussed during that visit, has been the subject of much historical speculation. It is this event which forms the basis for Michael Frayn's thought-provoking play of ideas, "Copenhagen".

Heisenberg's role in Germany's effort to develop atomic weapons has been the topic of much speculation, historians tending to place him on one side or the other of the moral dividing line. There are those who paint him as an evil tool of the Nazis, someone who willingly devoted himself to Germany's scientific efforts to develop an atomic weapon. From their perspective, there has been a tendency to read Heisenberg's 1941 visit to Bohr as an effort to recruit Bohr to the German scientific fold. There are others who see the visit as more enigmatic, who do not ascribe such clear intentions to Heisenberg, and who see in the historical record evidence that Heisenberg was a passive opponent of the Nazis' objectives, a scientist who quietly undermined the German scientific effort while ostenbibly remaining a "good" German.

Frayn brilliantly depicts the uncertainty of Heisenberg's motivations, as well as the uncertainty of what occurred at the meeting between the two scientists, using the theory of these physicists to illumine not the physical world, but the psychological world of human motives. "Uncertainty" thus describes not merely the behavior of the atom, but also the behavior of individuals living in ethically difficult historical circumstances. As Frayn notes in his Postscript to the text of this play, "thoughts and intentions, even one's own-perhaps one's own most of all-remain shifting and elusive. There is not one single thought or intention of any sort that can ever be precisely established."

"Copenhagen" is lucidly and sparely written, a play of dialogue among only three characters-Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr's wife, Margrethe. There are, of course, numerous references to the esoteric world of theoretical physics, particularly as it developed in the 1920s, and the Postscript to the text is therefore especially helpful in understanding both the scientific and historical frames of reference for the play.

Read this little play-better yet, see it if you can-because "Copenhagen" is a dramatic work that truly deserves to be recognized as one of outstanding plays of recent years.

Who would think that a play about two theoretical physicists, Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr would pack such dramatic interest for people with little background in nuclear physics? Yet Michael Frayn's Copenhagen provides both the human drama of the scientists involved in the nuclear weapons race between Nazi Germany and the Allied Forces ,and the ironic parallels between the Principle of Uncertainty in physics developed by these scientists and the unpredictability of outcomes involving human variables in their own lives. My rather "dry " summary of the content of this play, however, does not begin to convey the drama, irony and humour in the play . Three characters, Heisenberg, Bohr and his wife Margrethe met once again after their death to try to understand Heisenberg's "real " reason for his strange visit to Bohr in 1941 in occupied Copenhagen while Heisenberg was heading the German nuclear reactor program. Through the recollection of each from their points of view about the events of the past, the play reveals the personal and professional relationship between the two scientists and others in the elite scientifc community. The dialog is fast moving, sparkles with humor and dazzling description of the mind games of the brilliant and ideosycratic group of scientists. But in these exchanges between the characters, one understands how important and potentially deadly these "games" and the players can be for humanity. With the three perspectives of the same events provided by the three characters, the play reveals mulitple motives and meanings that conclude in the abrupt termination of the meeting between Heisenberg and Bohr in 1941 that might have been the reason that the Nazis failed to develop an atom bomb before the Allied Forces! Or maybe a lost opportunity for deterring the development of nuclear weapons by either side? In two acts, one is absorbed by the levels of relationship between the characters, the irony of academic brilliance and real life failures, the dilemma of pursuit of scientifc 'truth' and responsibility to humanity. Along with all these heady issues, however, ones gains enough knowledge of nuclear physics to see the parallel in the human drama of these scientists in their personal lives. This play is trully a heady trip that makes one want to slow down the racing of ideas in the dialog by going back to catch the multiple meanings one missed in the first reading. It makes one continue to post "what if's" about the development of nuclear weapon and the possible human histories of our lifetime. I saw the play in London before reading the book, but find the book to be a even more satisfying experience. Don't miss it!

In September, 1941, Werner Heisenberg, then leading Nazi Germany's war-time effort to exploit the uses of nuclear fission, made a trip to Copenhagen to visit his former mentor, the brillant Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Together, in the 1920s, Bohr and Heisenberg had been instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics, complementarity and the uncertainty principle, concepts which provided the theoretical underpinning for modern nuclear physics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb. Hence, the reason for Heisenberg's visit to Bohr, and what Heisenberg and Bohr discussed during that visit, has been the subject of much historical speculation. It is this event which forms the basis for Michael Frayn's thought-provoking play of ideas, "Copenhagen".

Heisenberg's role in Germany's effort to develop atomic weapons has been the topic of much speculation, historians tending to place him on one side or the other of the moral dividing line. There are those who paint him as an evil tool of the Nazis, someone who willingly devoted himself to Germany's scientific efforts to develop an atomic weapon. From their perspective, there has been a tendency to read Heisenberg's 1941 visit to Bohr as an effort to recruit Bohr to the German scientific fold. There are others who see the visit as more enigmatic, who do not ascribe such clear intentions to Heisenberg, and who see in the historical record evidence that Heisenberg was a passive opponent of the Nazis' objectives, a scientist who quietly undermined the German scientific effort while ostenbibly remaining a "good" German.

Frayn brilliantly depicts the uncertainty of Heisenberg's motivations, as well as the uncertainty of what occurred at the meeting between the two scientists, using the theory of these physicists to illumine not the physical world, but the psychological world of human motives. "Uncertainty" thus describes not merely the behavior of the atom, but also the behavior of individuals living in ethically difficult historical circumstances. As Frayn notes in his Postscript to the text of this play, "thoughts and intentions, even one's own-perhaps one's own most of all-remain shifting and elusive. There is not one single thought or intention of any sort that can ever be precisely established."

"Copenhagen" is lucidly and sparely written, a play of dialogue among only three characters-Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr's wife, Margrethe. There are, of course, numerous references to the esoteric world of theoretical physics, particularly as it developed in the 1920s, and the Postscript to the text is therefore especially helpful in understanding both the scientific and historical frames of reference for the play.

Read this little play-better yet, see it if you can-because "Copenhagen" is a dramatic work that truly deserves to be recognized as one of outstanding plays of recent years.

To the best of my knowledge, this is one of the first books to try documenting the StarOffice suite. A bold challenge since much of the exhaustive documentation is either in German or scattered in a several newsgroups. This book has met that challenge rather well. If you are working with StarOffice, and need more than just the online help (who doesn't?), this book is currently (as of 10/99) probably one of the best out there.

The problem that I usually encounter with references which cover the entire "suite" is that there is very little coverage of of the advanced features. This book is only partly guilty of these kinds of omissions. The advanced features ARE covered but just a tad lightly (I suppose we'll be seeing very in-depth, application-specific books someday in the future). Having used StarOffice for about 8 months now, this book made me aware that StarCalc had its own version of Microsoft Excel's Pivot-Tables.

This covers version 5.1 as was released by the original StarDivision or as is available now from Sun Microsystems. It covers both the Windows and Linux/Unix/Solaris versions and identifies subtle differences which you might encounter. Overall, it's a very good first reference with enough advanced topics.

Unfortunatly this was the third Star Office Help Book that I bought - I wished there was a review that discussed the book, instead of the progam - prior to my two other purchases.

The Special Edition book is a volumous tome of information that every skill level can use. The book is written in a manner that appeals to both the computer expert and the newbie user.

Each section of the book discusses the basic techniques that are used on a regular basis and then it progresses to more powerful techniques. Examples and illustrations are plentiful - which many people find helpful.

The index and table of contents is written is plain english - so it is not difficult to find the answer to any question you may have. The book also discusses the compatibility of StarOffice and other major office suites.

For expert level user tasks - macro designing, the book offers very little information on this area. But to find the answers on building the macros - I simply went to the Sun Microsystem's (The Makers of StarOffice) website and did some poking around until I found my answer.

Sadly, StarOffice 5.2 will debut this year and this book may be obsolete by teh time you read it - but if you plan to use or continue to use StarOffice 5.1 - then consider buying this book.

The price may be a bit higher then some of the "thinner" books - but in this case - you get what you pay for. Don't be a "Dummy." Purchase this book!

This book is an in-depth reference to the StarOffice functionality. The book is huge, fine print; and still the book does not touch on the new database capability of Adabas.

The StarBasic programming section is particularly instructive. The book's programming tutorial nicely complements the SO Online Help system and the SO SDK downloadable from the internet.

For old hacks, like me, this material (and Linux) is the best of times for computing.

So far, there has been no anatomy atlas in the world that has beaten Pernkopf Anatomy. No anatomy book contains such detail or such visual confirmation. This book is a work of art, something everyone in the medical field should see. Frank Netter's atlas cannot be compared to Pernkopf's. They are in completely different leagues. The controversy is over. It is time to start the presses again!

With respect to those who refuse to read this book on moral grounds, the fact remains that, although the methods used to produce this work may have been monstrous, boycotting the book will not undo them. No executed prisoners will be brought back to life and no torture undone. Rather, let their suffering, though involuntary, at least help us to save the lives of others, so that their deaths not be in vain.

I'm a medical illustration student, and find these books invaluable. It's too bad they're out of print. They are still lives of real dissections and are much better then Netter. Netter tended to abstract and totally lose proportions of the human body. After having gross anatomy, I can assure you that Netter's pictures don't look natural. From what I' know, it's a debate wither Pernkopf ever used Jews in his dissections. There's not much written record of the bodies used, but most of it's authors were actually serving in the war and weren't putting much time in the books. They were done over several decades, and used executed convicts. Though there still is a great deal of cynicism over them, as first editions carry the SS symbol on them. A good history of the series can be found at....

This book is basically what it says. All filled with timetables, it's one huge book that is a chart. It goes throughout history listing the events of the years. Categories include history, politics, literature, theater, religion, philosophy, learning, visual arts, music, science, technology, growth, and daily life. The version available now is newer than mine so it may have more.

It's a handy reference guide for wither self interest or research.

Timetables of History is an encyclopedic style text that organizes information on a year by year basis. Each item is organized into one of seven categories: 1) History and Politics, 2) Literature and Theatre, 3) Religion, Philosophy and Learning, 4) Visual Arts, 5) Music, 6) Science, Technology and Growth and 7) Daily Life. Starting from 5000 BC and continuing to 1991, each area is shown in a parallel fashion so that you know which items were occurring at the same time in history. For example, in the year 1838 in politics, Osceola, the Indian leader died and Queen Victoria was coronated, in Literature Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby were top sellers, in Visual Arts the London National Gallery was opened, in Science John Muir was born and in Daily Life the first traveling post office was opened.

If you have ever tried to fix an event in history in terms of what else was happening at the same time then this book is extremely useful. If you are into genealogy then it can help understand what was going on in the lives of your ancestors. If you are into science you can follow which scientists were contemporaries and what items were influencing them.

If you have any interest in history and want to get an overall picture of what was happening around the world at a particular time then this book can be a useful addition to your studies. A recommended resource for those who are interested in such things I value it for it's ability to let me know what was going on during the time of my ancestors for my genealogy hobby.

In 1946 Werner Stein published "Kulturfahrplan", or "Timetables of History" in Germany - just a year after the end of World War II in Europe. He was the first to crosslist by year, from the first accurately dated event (4241 BC) tens of thousands of people and events in world history and politics; literature and theater; religion and philosophy; visual arts, music, science and technology; and daily life.

It took another 29 years before the first updated English language edition emerged. The edition I am reviewing goes up to 1978 (published in 1979). Although many more specialized chronologies are now available, nothing matches the Stein-Grun publication in breadth and authoritativeness (leave it to German thoroughness). That explains why this book is still in print with only minor updates since 1975. I have now upgraded the book from 4 to 5 stars, having meanwhile reviewed other chronologies. The five stars rating may suffer from grade inflation (understandably - most people will review books they like) but for those who want to know when practically anything was performed, invented, or happened, or what was going on elsewhere in 1776 besides the American Revolution, this is still the preeminent reference.

The Sept 1, 1963 X-Men #1 starts this book off and goes through issue #24. Featuring Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, and a very human looking Beast.

I bought all of these to back track and read the previous things that had happened within the comic. This serves the purpose but was disapointed that they were not in color.

I bought all of these to back track and read the previous things that had happened within the comic. This serves the purpose but was disapointed that they were not in color.

Boxer's start up is what it says--a beginners guide to boxing. The author is a weekend warrior who goes through the regimen of boxing training, and recounts it in great detail in his book. He doesnt go too deeply into competition boxing, but he does give the reader a good starting point to begin training.

Great beginner's guide to boxing! The author goes through the basic movements, punches, evasions, counters and working on the heavy bag. There are lots of pictures to show the technique that the author is trying to explain. Great camera angles from the side, top and front views for some of the techniques. There is also a short history of boxing included, as well as brief descriptions of those who made the sport great. As someone who wanted to learn the "basics" of boxing, this was a welcome book to add to my library!

I've been involved in the sweet science for about 10 years. As a youngstser I competed as an amateur. Later, as an adult a boxing instructor. I use this book as a prerequisite for my beginning students

Though he wrote in the early 19th century, Kant belongs as much to contemporary philosophy as he does to the history of philosophy. This is not to say that all (or any) of his arguments are valid or sound. Kant's transcendental idealism, though taken seriously from a historical point of view, is no longer considered (and rightfully so) a defensible doctrine. But then again, in epistemology and metaphysics no doctrine is uncontroversial. Be that as it may, the reviewer who dismisses this book as failing to employ logic are as deeply misguided as the reviewer who claims to be persuaded by theCritique's arguments. In philosophy, the most important thing is to clarify questions, pose problems, and advance useful methods of analysis. Kant did that to a greater extent and with greater breadth than any other philosopher except Aristotle. But any none-student of philosophy who picks up this book without having taken a course is a fool. Sometimes, and this is one of those times, one is better off not thinking at all than thinking wrong. This is not a real worry, however, because anyone who attempts to read this book without the help of a Kant specialist won't get past the first ten pages. The Critique is an excrutiatingly dull read, despite its profundity. Kant's writing is dense, his arguments are not easy to follow, and he is no Goethe. As for the translation, short of learning German, this translation is the clearest one available and is standard at most universities.

You can evidently tell from the title of my review that I liked the book. The Critique of Pure reason is a pretty important work screaming to be read by any curious person. The reason I like the book is because it is one of, if not the 1st book, to address the concept of human cognition. In this context, Kant discusses the possible, the necessary, time, and a few other very significant details of our human, corporeal existence. Yes the book is long and tedious but shows Kant's genius in developing a framework of human cognition (previously called 'the understanding' by some classical writers). If Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' doesn't begin to demonstrate, objectively, how the clever cognitve apparatus known as the brain weaves its fantastical web, then you were reading it upside down.

Among the many ideas put forward in this opus what stood out as the main thesis to me was the distinction between a real idea and a transcendental one; hence Kant's transcendental idealism. Humans have ideas of course, we have experiences, this is how we live in this world, by our ideas and experiences. Other thinkers, like Locke, would have our ideas be the results of our experiences. Not quite sayeth Kant. Some ideas are completely exclusive of experience. These are the tranascendental ideas, ideas that transcend experience. They're really not worth much, they might be, you can't (no pun intended) tell. Although transcendental ideas can arise independently of experience, they can only be verified by experience. Such an idea, the distinction between ideas proper and transcendental ones is the key idea here. The ultimate verification of either type of idea by some experience is why Kant is known as the father of the scientific method. Verifying ideas by experience is another term for what we now call experimentation. Not that Kant invented experimentation, but that he codified it (well really others did too, like Francis Bacon, but Kant gets the laurel).

Ideas help us to interpret the world, transcendental ones are apt to lead us off on paths we don't really want to go down, and for good reason. Cognitively, we might deduce far into the future and conclude that events meet somehwere up there on the horizon. Or we could reverse this process, looking back into the past, like we do with the 'big bang' concept. From where we are in the present, looking far into the future or far into the past, what we appear to see may look like a unity. Well maybe and maybe not. The meeting of events way off up or back there are simply impossible to confirm by experience. In such a case we are left to rely on circumstantial evidence, as with the big bang. For example, there is no overwhelming evidence that what astronomers call the universe actually represents the universe as it is. There are bits of evidence, like ubiquitous microwave background radiation and predominant red-shifting, but the idea of what the universe is in actuality is a transcendental idea; there is simply no empirical way to confirm the existence of such a thing as the universe. Within such cognitive phenomena Kant is our sage.

What is really true or false in this world? If you still think the idea of objective reality is feasible then this treatise by the father of the scientific method must not be missed. Don't be fooled by the ethical implorings of Kant's 'The Critique of Practical Reason.' That's an entirely different book. 'The Critique of Pure Reason' is an atheist's dream. After Kant thoroughly exposes the idea of the absolute being as transcendental pish-posh, he does attempt to backpedal some by imploring the faithful to remain vigilant, but too late; he has already pounded the stake into the withering heart of a deity who Nietzsche [my paraphrase] would later lament the passing of. One can never hope to aspire to even a modicum of philosophical being, indeed it's hard to imagine even beginning to think critically, til they've read this work. Buy it, suffer through it (then read Schopenhauer), and maybe, just maybe, you'll have a chance.

Dry, yes. Boring, to many readers, yes. Worthwhile, definitely.

Accept no substitutes. If you're interested in modern
philosophy, this will be required reading. For the
beginner I do recommend that one first look over
the works of Locke, Hume, Berkely, Descartes,
and Leibniz to obtain an understanding of
what specifically Kant is attempting to
accomplish; which is the doctrine that we
bring more to experience than empiricism
admits while not beyond the realm of
experience as the rationalists maintain.

This is the famous Copernican switch
from external objects as the source of
all knowledge to human beings as containing
the forms of knowledge that we bring to
objects. I recommend a careful reading
of the Critique so as to discourage false
impressions of it. Kant was not arguing
for subjectivism or that human beings
make up the world entirely with their
thoughts. There is a world that is
an organized nature in so far as
we know it, but "in itself" independant
of our minds, it isn't anything for us.
Because we all share the same reason,
we all share the same universe, and
so Kant's system is just as objective
and amicable to common sense as
any other.

I am a German teacher, and I just wanted to tell all of you students of German the same thing that I tell my students. PLEASE do not buy a dictionary until you are proficient in the language, because you will waste your money and you will be completely frustrated. Unfortunately you have to know both languages fairly well to use a dictionary. Sorry, but it is the truth, glaub mir! If you are buying a dictionary -- I would recommend the Langenscheidt over this dictionary.

As an intermediate-level student of German, this dictionary absolutely works for me! Obviously written to be a usable reference for people of either native language. However I don't recommend it for beginners in either language. I have never NOT found the word I'm looking for in this monster. As another reader pointed out, yes, the lack of plural forms of German nouns on the English half is inconvenient. Also includes small grammar reviews of English and German (each written in the opposite lang.), lists of irregular verbs, Rechtschreibreform info, instructions on how to write letters in the correct forms in both languages (British letters, not American ones) and canned phrases for condolences, congratulation, etc. A great book!

Do you offer this book in it's CD format

The concepts put forward in "The Touchstone of Life" seem reasonable on an intuitive level. However, a significant amount of the underlying science is mis-interpreted and the logical arguments are not internally consistent. In particular, the concept of information presented here is nothing like that defined by Shannon, despite what the book claims. For similar ideas, but in an historically important book with correct science, I recommend Schrodinger's "What is Life?". For information theory, Shannon and Weaver's "The Mathematical Theory of Communication" is surprisingly readable.

There are two books wriggling between the covers of this volume. On the one hand, there is a superb exposition of cell biology and molecular biology, mainly towards the end of the book. This is as it should be, given that the author was a leading figure in cell biology and biophysics.

On the other hand, there is a spectacularly lame attempt to write a Book of Ages, yes, with Capitalisation of Words involved and some of the most fruity prose you will see this side of a Creationist text. Let me give you an example

"These modest assymetric molecular geneses were nursed with information from photons coming in from the cosmos. The nascent molecules suckled photons, as it were."

Nursed? Suckled? Do you have a picture of a nascent molecules with breasts? Probably a diatomic molecule. Here's another,

"In our journey down the information stream, we shunted our boat, by a little sleight of hand, to the 'mainstream' in the DNA-to-protein segment. Had we sailed down by the book, we might have been sucked in sideways and gone in dizzying circles"

Follow? Follow the stream, I mean? I would have thought that metaphors be treated gently with good writing, but they're rife in this book.

Nevertheless, when Lowenstein isn't trying to be Keats, this is quite a majesterial survey of molecular biology. This is particular evident in the discussion of inter-cellular communication, of which Lowenstein is one of the undisputed masters. Indeed, when discussing his own work, the prose is suddenly emptied of metaphors and sharpens into tight well-written scientific prose.

However, I find a serious problem with one of the central tenets of the book - that all of molecular biology can be united into the central idea of information. The problem is, no one knows how to calculate information in molecular or cellular systems. True the equation of Shannon's information and Boltzmann's entropy is the same. But to calculate the information of, say a DNA molecule, which Lowenstein argues you can in principle do, one must specify all of the other states from which the DNA molecule is constructed out of. That is, you must find the boundary condition.

But this is hopelessly ambiguous. Is it the atoms stripped apart in a soup? Or is it the sum of all possible DNA sequences of all possible lengths? And I haven't even considered the difficulties of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. The problems multiply once you consider interactions between DNA and any, or all other molecules. Given there is no way to calculate or algorithmically unambiguously pin down information, it is simply a rhetoric ploy to talk about the transfer of information.

Anyway, I ignored all the musings on the Power of Information and what remains is a substantial meditation on the state of the art molecular biology. If you're willing to work through the dense material, some of the most cutting edge ideas on DNA, RNA, replication, structural biology of cells are here.

The book is really a must read for anyone interested in the subject of biological information and cell communication. Dr Loewenstein treats the subject from an evolutionary perspective and so I think a good book to read in conjunction with this one is "In The Beginning Was Information" by Werner Gitt.

Loewenstein takes us from a simple problem that was not answered until the concept of information was discovered by science. This field of information will no doubt be the proof that either spoils or makes the pudding in the evolution vs. creation debate. The communication within a living organism and the information exchange mechanism is quite fascinating as Loewenstein points out quite thoroughly by the use of analogy. The book is difficult to read in places and he gets quite technical so the reader should not expect to sail through it but it is definitely worth the effort.

After reading Gitt's book I was left with the impression that Loewenstein did not understand the full nature of meaningful information. Claude Shannon deals with information from a mostly statistical and mechanical perspective and Loewenstein does not go beyond that level in the book. The mechanics are fascinating but I am afraid that Dr Loewenstein has failed to explain where the 'foundations of life' comes from. His constant answer when he reaches a gap in knowledge is to say that 'Lady evolution' did it. Werner Gitt on the other hand goes way beyond the statistical level and shows the true nature of the coded information contained in DNA.

Loewenstein's book however is invaluable especially as it explores cell communication. I am quite happy that I purchased the book and I will probably use it as a reference tool for years to come. I only rated it with four stars because I think he over did it a little in his constant references to 'Lady evolution' and what 'she' supposedly did. This is a rather typical 'evolution in the gaps' argument and it is to be expected now days but I had to chuckle a few times when he inserted 'her' into the discussion as if we all know that 'she' can do just about anything if she is given enough time and if the reader has enough faith. Read Gitt's book and his and decide for yourself who or what is the foundation of life. I am the author of "The Blind Atheist".