Point Regarding Books Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1)

Title	:	Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1)
Author	:	Oliver Sacks
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 337 pages
Published	:	August 23rd 2002 by Picador (first published 2001)
Categories	:	Science. Nonfiction. Autobiography. Memoir. Biography. Chemistry

Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1) Paperback | Pages: 337 pages

Description Concering Books Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1)

In Uncle Tungsten Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy’s adventures, and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind.
‘If you did not think that gallium and iridium could move you, this superb book will change your mind’ The Times
‘The amalgamation of personal recollection and scientific history makes a luminous, inspiring book’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Uncle Tungsten is really about the raw joy of scientific understanding; what it is like to be a precocious child discovering the alchemical secrets of reality for the first time; the sheer thrill of finding intelligible patterns in nature’ Guardian

Specify Books As Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1)

Original Title:	Uncle Tungsten
ISBN:	0330390287 (ISBN13: 9780330390286)
Edition Language:	English
Series:	Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1
Literary Awards:	Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize for Nonfiction (2002)

Rating Regarding Books Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1)

Ratings: 3.97 From 5368 Users | 564 Reviews

Assess Regarding Books Uncle Tungsten (Oliver Sacks' memoirs #1)

This is an odd book--part autobiography, part history of chemistry. Sacks, a neurologist who writes beautifully about unusual people. In doing so he always reminds me not only of our common humanity, but of just how strange and wonderful our humanity is. In this book he is the subject of his narrative and he manages to depict himself with the same grace and wit that uses to characterize others. The heart of the book is his experience being evacuated Along with many other children from London

i do not understand science. most phenomena i just dismiss with accusations of magic: the moon controls the tides?? but they are so far away!! oh, maaaagic!! leap year?? account for thyself!! magic?? got it. how did you make this pluot, sir?? ah, i see you are an alchemist!much of it i have to blame on my high schooling because i have not studied any aspect of the sciences since then, but it's not like i have gone out of my way to do any research now that i am grown. i mean,they do make books

I went on a mini-Sacks "bender" this year, reading Uncle Tugsten, Musicophilia, and then dipping into one of his earlier books (An Anthropologist on Mars). What I have always loved about Sacks is his ability to present the scientific, social, personal and emotional aspects of his subject as a balanced entity. You can see, through his writings, how he develops a rapport with his patients. Uncle Tungsten is a memoir of Sacks, growing up in Britain under the Blitz, a child of a remarkable family.

This book was great because you can really sense the boyhood excitement, and you pick up a lot of little chemistry trivia (which I, as a chemist, especially appreciate). I don't think it's too technical, however, and I hope its chemistry content does not deter non-chemists of any type from reading it. While reading, I was frequently reminded that the world has changed significantly in the past ~60 years. Oliver Sacks grew up in a time where you could essentially run down to the store and buy

I feel totally terrible on giving up on this book. It is a very good book, but I believe it will not be readable for many. Or maybe I should put it this way it cannot be appreciated as it should be unless you either have a thorough knowledge of chemistry or are willing to read the book slowly and do the experiments, look at the pinecones and sunflowers and investigate alongside the author as he speaks of his childhood in London. His family is one of scholars. These people were those very few

I read this, a chapter at a time, as bedtime reading for my 11-year-old son, who is very much into science, and said son is now fascinated with chemistry, its history, and all the people that were involved in many of the theories that have been proved.I am struck by Sack's language throughout, the lyrical quality with which he describes a unique home life in London during the Second World War, the chemical explorations of his boyhood (my son was especially struck by the idea of another

A nostalgic look at a family fueled by science and chemistry, Uncle Tungsten is a great and interesting read but it can be kind of slow at times if you're not a science person.