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Book Reviews

The End of the Certain World
by Nancy Thorndike Greenspan
Basic Books, 2005

In 1920, Albert Einstein wrote to Max Born, "Theoretical physics will flourish wherever you happen to be; there is no other Born to be found in Germany today." That just about sums up the impact that Max Born had on physics ninety years ago.

I received this as a gift from someone who knew I read a lot of books about J.R. Oppenheimer, one of Born's doctoral students.  It's a fascinating biography about a fascinating man.  Additionally, it's the story of Germany and physics in Germany until Born fled to Englad with his family. The book was enjoyable and informational; quibbles are listed below:
1) I found the physics in the book lacking compared to treatments in other books I read (say, books by Richard Rhodes, Davis' biography "Lawrence and Oppenheimer," etc).  Even the description of what made the quantum revolution a revolution is fairly hidden because of the inadequate description of the physics.
2) The author tells us about Hedi Born's "hothouse" upbringing and expectations, alluding to this as an important dynamic in the marriage.  Pages go by before it's brought up again, when Hedi has an affair with a colleague of Born's.  What her "hothouse" upbringing had to do with the affair is not explained.  
3) The author casually drops the bombshell that Born converted to Lutheranism to please his mother-in-law.  This seems so out of character for the Born Greenspan depicted: non-religious but proudly Jewish.
4) The author mentioned that Born didn't get along with his mother-in-law, then when she died, it was devastating to him.  
5) From the bibliography, it appears the author is fluent in German, yet many German terms are used without translation (Sutterlin script, eg). The appearance of German words (not italicized) in English sentences is a bit odd; she should have used the entire phrase and then supplied the translation.

Read this book if you are fascinated by the history of physics, especially the quantum revolution.  Don't read it if you expect to come away having learned physics from it.

Review by lovesthelab
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