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 C.S. Lewis - A Life
"White's biography is at its most interesting discussing Lewis' later life, especially his writing career, which didn't take off until he was in his 40s. White, whose other subjects have included Tolkien and Stephen Hawking, is a fan who is able to approach not only the man, but the storyteller who became the man.
The most any reader can ask of a biography is a sense of who the person was, what made them tick. White's take on Lewis, while affectionate, remains balanced and comprehensive. More importantly he eloquently reveals the heart of a storyteller - flaws and all."
Sydney Morning Herald
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C.S. Lewis - A Life
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 Machiavelli - A Man Misunderstood
"Machiavelli was a great thinker and a greater artist, and Michael White has done as much as anyone could to convince us of his genius"
John Banville, Irish Times
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 The Fruits of War
"Michael White ... populariser of science par excellence tackles this theme with gusto ... White shows himself the master of his trade. The pace never slackens ... As an
introduction to the whole business of science, discovery, war and combat, one can hardly think of anything better"
Robert Fox, EVENING STANDARD
"White confidently stretches his reputation as a biographer of Leonardo, Newton and Einstein ... His talent for digesting and repackaging scientific history
and difficult ideas for a lay readership holds up well"
THE TIMES
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The Fruits of War
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 Tolkien:
A Biography
"White's virtue lies in making his subject seem both accessible
and fun"
The Economist
"Immensely readable"
Irish Independent
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Tolkien: A Biography
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 Rivals
- Conflict as the Fuel of Science
(Known in the U.S as 'Acid Tongues and Tranquil
Dreamers')
"As an introduction to the thoroughly human, often irrational
and frequently nasty face of science, Rivals is the best thing on
the market...simple, erudite and entertaining...A fascinating read."
Guardian
"These stories are well told and neatly bridge the gulf between
biographical detail and scientific explanation. One moment White
is detailing the advantages of alternating over direct current,
the next he is telling the shocking story of how Edison callously
withheld thousands of dollars due to his rival Nikola Tesla...A
radically different view of science in which progress has been both
fuelled and disrupted by personal ambition and bitter rivalry."
Scotsman
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"Rivals - Conflict as the Fuel Science"
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Tolkien:
A Biography
"White's virtue lies in making his subject seem both accessible
and fun"
The Economist
"Immensely readable"
Irish Independent
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Tolkien: A Biography
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 Leonardo
- The First Scientist
"In his forceful new biography, British science writer, Michael
White accomplishes the impossible: He makes Leonardo da Vinci's
work as a painter beside the point."
Dina Temple-Raston, USA Today
"Leonardo: The First Scientist makes an excellent case for
Leonardo's era-straddling…Leonardo's spirit is present in White's
careful scholarship and independence of mind…The diversity
of White's talents might have given him a personal insight into
the polymath nature of his childhood hero's genius. Remarkably,
he does so without going over the top, and even takes time to deflate
some of the existing hyperbolic folklore Leonardo inspires."
Ted Dewan, the Times Educational Supplement.
"Lively and illuminating."
Miranda Seymour, the Sunday Times
"White's scientific expositions are lucid and interesting."
Hilary Spurling, the Daily Telegraph
"Because of the quality of writing and White's ability to
attract and interest the reader, making science sound exhilarating
- even for those of us who like our Bunsen burners well and truly
off - this promises to join White's list of best-sellers."
Nuala McCann, Irish Times
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"Leonardo - The First Scientist"
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 The
Pope and the Heretic
"Written in a lively, colloquial Radio 4 style, Michael White's
story of Giordano Bruno is focused on his trial for heresy."
The Times, London
"White's account of Bruno's trial, based upon long-suppressed
Vatican documents is riveting."
Birmingham Post
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The Pope and the Heretic
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 Isaac
Newton - The Last Sorcerer
"The virtue of White's biography is that he attempts to integrate
Newton's alchemical and Biblical studies with the seer's major discoveries
in physics. This biography delivers a mass of information about
a man who in his lifetime obfuscated and romanticized the basic
biographical facts."
John Updike, The New Yorker
"An informative and genuinely interesting biography"
Peter Ackroyd, the Times
"White provides such a good analysis of the personality that
I felt drawn to Newton as I progressed through the book and sort
of missed him when I finished it."
The Irish Times
"White has written a lively, elegant, informed and informing
book. It is a fine achievement to have made of this coldest of cold
fish a fascinating case study in the Yeatsian dichotomy between
life and work…White is admirably unsentimental, but his account
of the child's - and the man's - sense of inner isolation, his inability
to love, and the resultant coldness, jealousy and fang-and-claw
determination to protect himself from the world, is deeply moving."
John Banville, Literary Review
"White skillfully depicts a Newton who is as impressive as
ever, but even more intriguing."
The Independent
"Neither sensationalizing nor over-playing Newton's interest
in mysticism, this superb, demythologizing biography shatters the
conventional portrait of the man of pure intellect."
Publisher's Weekly
"It is dispiriting to learn that Newton was so serious about
alchemy, numerology, Rosecrucianism and kindred mystical arts. These
things are worse than nonsense, I always thought; they were boring
nonsense. After reading Mr White's excellent new biography, Isaac
Newton: The Last Sorcerer, I am less sure about the 'boring' part."
Wall Street Journal
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"Isaac Newton - The Last Sorcerer"
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 Stephen
Hawking - A Life in Science
"Excellent...From the opening pages, which relate the occasion
when Shirley MacLaine sought an audience with her hero in a Cambridge
restaurant, to the final chapter Hollywood, Fame and Fortune, the
book is well-nigh unputdownable...It ought to be read alongside
A Brief History of Time as a kind of explanatory supplement."
Heather Couper in the Times Educational Supplement
"Intriguing...There are larger questions here than the life
even of this singular man...We are on the brink here of a mystery
as great as that of an extraordinary man whose mind and imagination
have soared beyond the disabling confines of the flesh."
Peter Ackroyd, the Times
"Admirable...What makes this book so rewarding is the way
that the authors have blended their account of Hawking's science
with that of his life, giving us a picture of a remarkable scientist
as a remarkable person."
The Spectator
"It's compulsive reading, maybe because Hawking towers above
it all, a complex and fascinating character who remains strangely
elusive: boyish yet indomitable, stubborn yet charming, a private
man reveling in fame."
Clare Francis in the Sunday Express
"Few scientists become legends in their own lifetime. Stephen
Hawking is one. It is good to have this well-documented and immensely
readable biography to remind us that the media-hyped 'mute genius
in the wheelchair' is in fact a sensitive, humorous, ambitious and
occasionally willful human being."
Paul Davies in Times Higher Education Supplement
"Excellent...one of the best biographies of the year."
Birmingham News (USA)
"Fascinating...Our taste for wonder is well catered for."
Anthony Burgess The Observer
"A successful merger of biography and physics...As it traces
the course of Hawking's life, it pauses occasionally to prepare
the reader for the mind-boggling complexities of relativity theory
and the even more bizarre notions of quantum physics...The exercise
works. By the time the higher elevations are reached, such strange
notions as Einsteinian curved space-time and the quantum uncertainty
principle, heavy meals indeed, seem not so difficult to digest."
Time
Buy
"Stephen Hawking - A Life in Science"
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 Einstein
- A Life in Science
"An unqualified success."
Literary Review
"A superb introduction to his scientific work, the clearest
and most accessible I have read. After countless books explaining
relativity I felt for the first time that I had begun to understand
the theory."
J.G. Ballard, The Daily Telegraph
"White and Gribbin's achievement is to make Einstein's ideas
intelligible, at least in outline, to non-mathematical readers...Mind-stretching
but lucid, the three-dimensional models and analogies they think
up offer a rare adventure in enlightenment."
John Carey, The Sunday Times
"To grasp the importance of the scientific revolution and
Einstein's contribution requires, for the non-physicist, special
guidance. Michael White and John Gribbin have admirably filled the
bill with their Einstein - A Life In Science, and anyone who has
attempted to understand at least a lay-person's view of quantum
mechanics and relativity should not hesitate to read it."
The Spectator
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"Einstein - A Life in Science"
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 Darwin
- A Life in Science
"A remarkable biography...Provides a new look at the man
who gave us the natural-selection theory of evolution."
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"A solidly readable introduction to Darwin's life and ideas."
The Oregonian
"Provides a wealth of information, both biographical and scientific...will
help the reader to a better grasp of scientific thought...Supporters
of any theory will come away enlightened and better able to debate
after reading this thorough work."
Anniston Star
"Solid and quite readable...admirably fulfills the nonspecialist's
needs...clarifies the meaning of Darwin's theory."
Kirkus Reviews
"Excellent...illuminating."
Virginian-Pilot
"Makes good use of the large body of information now in print
to fashion a nicely balanced account of Darwin's personal and professional
lives."
Science
"A fascinating book."
Roanoke Times
"The sections tracing development of concepts concerning evolution
and related religious ideas are well done."
Publishers Weekly
"Excellent...touches all the essentials of Darwin's life and
science."
Booklist
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Darwin - A Life in Science
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