Variety of Men

Fülszöveg

The nine men portrayed in this book have affected the shape and spirit of the twentieth century. They would seem, at first glancé, to be very different sorts of men: Róbert Frost and Stalin, Winston Churchill and Einstein. But C. P. Snow has related them to each other by parallels he finds in their natures as weil as by contrasts. He calls his book "a set of personal impressions" because, with the exception of Stalin, he has known all these men, and that fact brings to the portraits a particular warmth and vividness. The variety provides richness, and surprises. The essays of Rutherford, the founder of Nuclear physics, and the mathematician G. H. Hardy convey the excitement of the extraordinary scientific achievements made at Cambridge in the Thirties. Approaching Stalin through people who knew him, C. P. Snow fixes on the psychological crisis that broke into an utterly rational, ruthless career: the onset of paranoia. Snow's story of his first meeting with H. G. Wells, who wanted... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The nine men portrayed in this book have affected the shape and spirit of the twentieth century. They would seem, at first glancé, to be very different sorts of men: Róbert Frost and Stalin, Winston Churchill and Einstein. But C. P. Snow has related them to each other by parallels he finds in their natures as weil as by contrasts. He calls his book "a set of personal impressions" because, with the exception of Stalin, he has known all these men, and that fact brings to the portraits a particular warmth and vividness. The variety provides richness, and surprises. The essays of Rutherford, the founder of Nuclear physics, and the mathematician G. H. Hardy convey the excitement of the extraordinary scientific achievements made at Cambridge in the Thirties. Approaching Stalin through people who knew him, C. P. Snow fixes on the psychological crisis that broke into an utterly rational, ruthless career: the onset of paranoia. Snow's story of his first meeting with H. G. Wells, who wanted advice on marriage, is extremely funny. The absorbing portrait of Lloyd George brings out his long friendship with Winston Churchill. C. P. Snow gives us a Russian memóriái service for Frost; a study of Hammarskjöld, an intricate inner man expecting his own death; he writes with deep feeling about Einstein, one of the greatest men, wh* wasted the second half of his scientific lifetime. Personal, witty, continually illuminating with insights, these nine portraits compose a unique and important book. It is unique in what C. P. Snow brings to bear on his subjects: the combination of his novelist's gift with his intimate knowledge of the worlds of science, literature, and government. Vissza