Nabokov's Blues: The Scientific Odyssey of a Literary Genius

Rating:
Summary: Beauty and Science
Review: At first blush this book appears to be a footnote to a writer who had an eccentric hobby. Since Professor Boyd's definitive biography some may consider that there was little else to explore. The scientific achievements of Vladimir Nabakov were not lost but perhaps overwhelmed in the literary story.
Nabakov's Blues does more than just dust off the lepidoptry papers. The book is in the final assessment a celebration of how science and research are never a sterile academic exercise but a reflection of greater issues of the beauty and elegance of intellect at work.
During the course of shedding light on the under recognized research we are reminded that the mundane work of classifying and sorting often underpins more glamorous tasks, but are also given insight into the many quiet achievers in science, who often take considerable personal risks to complete research which is part of a greater whole and leaves them only as a name in a arid catalogue.
We are too prone to identify the heros and not those who without clamor or boasting actually do the work.
Nabakov himself never "promoted" his science although he made it clear that his butterflies were an integral part of his life. We grow to specialise and those who can travel in literary circles as well as science are rare. The authors Johnson and Coates do themselves demonstrate that they too can travel the literary salons and the research laboratories, and write an elegant supplement to Professor Boyd that transcends that status to become a commentary on the man who was in many ways a true renaissance figure.

Rating:
Summary: A stylish mix of Indiana Jones and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Review: I had heard about this book before its release and I was not disappointed. The authors seem to have an uncanny sense about Nabokov's oeuvre. I have long had an interest in Nabokov's writing but was fascinated by the prospect of a book that would finally tell the story of his work, and its importance, in science. What is great about this book is that it reads with a plot, from the beginning-- which tells Nabokov's story as a scientist before his fame in literature-- to its end, which tells the story of the scientists who completed Nabokov's work nearly 50 years later. The latter includes exciting treks across remote areas of Latin America in search of Nabokov's Blues. The authors also tell us about Nabokov's fascination with butterflies within his own literature and, at the end of their book, provide what appears to be the first major assessment of Nabokov the scientist. In their opinion his contribution was far more important than ever previously appreciated. A great book.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Delightful Account
Review: The authors have created an absolutely perfect and delightful work on Nabokov's butterflies and all the resulting interfaces. Nabokov has always preoccupied me and, fortunately, I also have a deep interest in nature - particularly in butterflies and birds. Thus, this book, which develops everything from Nabokov's biography and literary use of butterfly and other nature motifs to their place in modern science and today's biodiversity crisis, was wonderfully eye-opening and informative. It's my bet that few people appreciate how big a story Nabokov's science actually is. It is not only a major part of his biography, previously untold, but also a linkage of his life's scientific work to major questions confronting scientists today. As with his literature, Nabokov turns out to have been a pioneer. It is only a pity that Nabokov did not have two lifetimes, one for literature and one for science.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating New Account
Review: What is intriguing about this book is that it has taken an entire volume of previously untapped material-- Nabokov's scientific work and the stories of and from the scientists who have studied and completed Nabokov's pioneering work in science and woven an entirely new story about a personage who might have been considered previously well-known. Who would have known this story was around? It reminds of Sobel's Galileo's Daughter which also uses the same tack-- takes the correspondence with his daughter, previously untapped, and weaves a whole new story about Galileo! The authors of Nabokov's Blues have extra luck in that, since they are demonstrating for the first time Nabokov's acumen in two very different fields, science and literature, they can take the opportunity to interweave these two worlds, which they do in a fascinating and intriguing way. What is so compelling about this book is that its story has just not been told before. Just when you thought you knew something about Nabokov, here comes his science! and, with gusto. A great book.