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Rating: 
Summary: High school physics on steroids
Review: A lot of the material was similar to what I did in high school physics...but excellent presentation combined with insights into the lives of the phycisists made this a much more interesting text.
Rating: 
Summary: Heisenberg slept?!
Review: First of all, the subtitle of this book, "The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Physicists of the 20th Century," is a bit inaccurate. Among the 8 physicists depicted in Brennan's mini-biography is Sir Isaac Newton; obviously not a denizen of the 20th century. Granted, Newton had more influence on the present epoch of physics than anyone else up until the time of Einstein, so his presence in this work is not inappropriate. It's just that he's not a 20th century physicist.On the other hand, a startling omission is Erwin Scroedinger. It is understood that one's selection of who's in & who's out can never please everyone in these types of books. However, I can't imagine someone assembling a roster of 20th century physicists without including the venerable Schroedinger. Just my opinion. The content of the personages Brennan does write about is quite remarkable. Brennan does a reputable job of describing the major motifs of different biographical epochs of each physicist, then mixing in some nice anectdotes for good measure. He also does not get carried away & deify the scientists to make them look infallible. Rather, Brennan fairly integrates their faults into his text. As a bonus, there is also a brief synopsis of the history of Pre-Newtonian physics. The most informative pages are those devoted to Heisenberg. I had always wanted to believe the stories about how he tried to sabatoge the Nazi bomb effort from the inside. Unfortunately, referencing British documents which were de-classified in 1992, Brennan nullifies those arguments as nothing but wishful thinking and ad-hoc propoganda engendered by H himself. I would highly recommend this book as a prelude for those who wish to study the lives of these great physicists more deeply. As it is a quick read, it is an equally ideal book for physicists who have only a marginal interest in the great lives of their predecessors.
Rating:
Summary: Heisenberg slept?!
Review: First of all, the subtitle of this book, "The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Physicists of the 20th Century," is a bit inaccurate. Among the 8 physicists depicted in Brennan's mini-biography is Sir Isaac Newton; obviously not a denizen of the 20th century. Granted, Newton had more influence on the present epoch of physics than anyone else up until the time of Einstein, so his presence in this work is not inappropriate. It's just that he's not a 20th century physicist. On the other hand, a startling omission is Erwin Scroedinger. It is understood that one's selection of who's in & who's out can never please everyone in these types of books. However, I can't imagine someone assembling a roster of 20th century physicists without including the venerable Schroedinger. Just my opinion. The content of the personages Brennan does write about is quite remarkable. Brennan does a reputable job of describing the major motifs of different biographical epochs of each physicist, then mixing in some nice anectdotes for good measure. He also does not get carried away & deify the scientists to make them look infallible. Rather, Brennan fairly integrates their faults into his text. As a bonus, there is also a brief synopsis of the history of Pre-Newtonian physics. The most informative pages are those devoted to Heisenberg. I had always wanted to believe the stories about how he tried to sabatoge the Nazi bomb effort from the inside. Unfortunately, referencing British documents which were de-classified in 1992, Brennan nullifies those arguments as nothing but wishful thinking and ad-hoc propoganda engendered by H himself. I would highly recommend this book as a prelude for those who wish to study the lives of these great physicists more deeply. As it is a quick read, it is an equally ideal book for physicists who have only a marginal interest in the great lives of their predecessors.
Rating: 
Summary: Convenient compilation, however too many mistakes
Review: I bought this book thinking about its convenient compilation: biography of Feynman, Gell-Mann, Heisenberg, Planck, all-in-one. However I was already disappointed after the first chapter about Isaac Newton, who I know well from Westfall's biography (which is cited as a reference in this book). The chapter about Newton is full of mistakes, some of them are exactly the opposite of what you find in Newton's biography. You don't need to read Westfall's book to notice that since the author uses many adjectives all the time, instead of telling the history. Then this convenience become very expensive since you must read the biography book of each scientist to find out whether the author wrote the truth or just invented it up. Being a book compiling many biographies it was expected that it would have some mistakes, however the book is full of errors instead of just one or two. It is worth reading each big biography book of each scientist in this edition since you'll find much more historical discussions instead of imposing lots of adjectives like they were facts.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Well Written
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed this book for several reasons. Richard Brennan does a remarkable job of explaining each physicists' work in a manner a layperson can understand, but still involved enough that the reader appreciates the significance of each discovery. Brennan also manages to capture the character and personality of each physicist with relatively a short biography. He has also structured the book so that the implication of each of the subjects' work on his successors is clear. In short, I found the physicists' personal stories compelling and the science fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: The book had exquisite view of those great scientists
Review: When I read the book at first time, I was attracted to the stories. They are not only an interesting narrative but also provide the correct attitude of life and research of science for us. When I finished reading the book, I was deeply affected by the stories. I introduced the book to my friends, and I stilly like reading the book now.
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