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PETIT POINT
A Candid Portrait on the Aberrations of Science
by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1991)
In this fascinating book, Nobel Prize winner Pierre-Gilles de Gennes wittily captures the lives of personalities from both the academic and the industrial world in delightful bite-size stories. Most of the characters in this collection are like those in Aesop's fables, but in modern-day research settings. The book provides a critical account of aberrations (fortunately rare) of the scientific community. Many lessons can be drawn from the stories. For the young researcher, this book is like a telescope: for seeing other human beings beyond his or her laboratory. For the administrator, this book is like a microscope: for seeing inside the human beings huge and complex structures. However, like Aesop's fables, you would not offer the book as a gift to anyone other than a close and wise friend.
Petit Point is not a book to be devoured in a single sitting. It is one to be savored and reflected upon — it shows what the world may be like and what we ourselves may become. It is like a mirror — to be visited from time to time.
Contents:
- Letter
- Mastoc
- Véra
- Lanterne
- Leduc
- Emmy
- Breton
- Smirnoff
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Pluvieux
- Béziers
- Kuba
- Vladimir
- Aglaé
- Subtil
- Chazot
- Anchor
- Croesus
- Caesar
- Guru
- Dourakine
- Saplir
- Manfred
- Robert
- Polymorph
- Révizor
- Feston
- Philostrate
- Élise
- Spiros
- Akbar
Readership: General.
“Each of his essays is a jewel and perhaps would be better enjoyed privately ... It is an interesting and valuable addition to any science literature collection. To nonscientist readers, this book will help them to understand scientists and science better.”
Professor Ping Ao
University of Washington, Seattle |
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