... The Danger of Cosmic Genius.
Dave Lull brought this to my attention the other day, but I didn't post a link because I didn't think the article was very good. In particular, I found it odd that Brower, who -- as he mentions -- wrote a book in which Dyson figured prominently -- a book I reviewed and rather liked -- didn't bother to get in touch with Dyson, who is alive and well in Princeton and still quite able to explain himself.
Anyway, I post a link now because I find the bulk of the comments heart-warming.
Well, Brower is his father's son. David Brower was the maverick who put The Sierra Club on the map both as a publishing venture (thank you, Ansel Adams) and as an activist organization (thank you again, Mr. Adams). He isn't a "fair and balanced" reporter, and doesn't intend to be. He's always been advocate.
ReplyDeleteI read "The Starship and the Canoe" many years ago, when it first came out, and thought it was brilliant. The interviews with Freeman Dyson were terrific. I was less impressed with George. But then at the end of the book, Brower reveals that he himself agrees more with George than with his father, thus putting the entire book into a different light at its conclusion. Which I'm sure was deliberate.
So, again, I think Brower is a good interviewer and writer, but he is not even trying to be fair and balanced, and that really does color this article.
I'm still more of a fan of Freeman Dyson than I am of the other players here. And the question "how can a smart man not get it?" is a straw-man question. Everyone has their blindspots, and at least Freeman has really interesting thinking about the issue, even if I might disagree with it.