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The Brothers Vonnegut: Science and Fiction in the House of Magic
Worlds collide in this true story of weather control in the Cold War era and the making of Kurt Vonnegut
In the mid-1950s, Kurt Vonnegut takes a job in the PR department at General Electric in Schenectady, where his older brother, Bernard, is a leading scientist in its research lab--or "House of Magic." Kurt has ambitions as a novelist, and Bernard is working on a series of cutting-edge weather-control experiments meant to make deserts bloom and farmers flourish. While Kurt writes zippy press releases, Bernard builds silver-iodide generators and attacks clouds with dry ice. His experiments attract the attention of the government; weather proved a decisive factor in World War II, and if the military can control the clouds, fog, and snow, they can fly more bombing missions. Maybe weather will even be the "New Super Weapon." But when the army takes charge of his cloud-seeding project (dubbed Project Cirrus), Bernard begins to have misgivings about the harmful uses of his inventions, not to mention the evidence that they are causing alarming changes in the atmosphere. In a fascinating cultural history, Ginger Strand chronicles the intersection of these brothers' lives at a time when the possibilities of science seemed infinite. As the Cold War looms, Bernard's struggle for integrity plays out in Kurt's evolving writing style. The Brothers Vonnegut reveals how science's ability to influence the natural world also influenced one of our most inventive novelists.
In the mid-1950s, Kurt Vonnegut takes a job in the PR department at General Electric in Schenectady, where his older brother, Bernard, is a leading scientist in its research lab--or "House of Magic." Kurt has ambitions as a novelist, and Bernard is working on a series of cutting-edge weather-control experiments meant to make deserts bloom and farmers flourish. While Kurt writes zippy press releases, Bernard builds silver-iodide generators and attacks clouds with dry ice. His experiments attract the attention of the government; weather proved a decisive factor in World War II, and if the military can control the clouds, fog, and snow, they can fly more bombing missions. Maybe weather will even be the "New Super Weapon." But when the army takes charge of his cloud-seeding project (dubbed Project Cirrus), Bernard begins to have misgivings about the harmful uses of his inventions, not to mention the evidence that they are causing alarming changes in the atmosphere. In a fascinating cultural history, Ginger Strand chronicles the intersection of these brothers' lives at a time when the possibilities of science seemed infinite. As the Cold War looms, Bernard's struggle for integrity plays out in Kurt's evolving writing style. The Brothers Vonnegut reveals how science's ability to influence the natural world also influenced one of our most inventive novelists.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 17, 2015
83 people are currently reading
1053 people want to read
About the author
Ginger Strand
14 books13 followersGinger Strand is an American essayist, novelist, environmental writer, and historian. Her 2005 debut novel Flight was adapted from several of her short stories. Her published books of non-fiction include Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies in May 2008 and Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate in 2012.
Ginger Strand grew up mostly on a farm in Michigan. Her family moved often while her father served in the Air National Guard. Throughout her childhood, she lived in Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Her father later worked as a commercial airline pilot for TWA for 35 years. Strand is a 1992 graduate from Princeton University. She has a daughter and lives in New York City. She teaches environmental criticism at Fordham University, and teaches writing at the 92nd Street Y.
Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, The Iowa Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Carolina Quarterly. Strand has received residency grants from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the American Antiquarian Society, as well as a Tennessee Williams scholarship in fiction from the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She is a contributing editor at Orion. Strand is also a former fellow in the Behrman Center for the Humanities at Princeton University.
Strand is also an environmental writer. She has been critical of Google’s environmental policies. In a November 2006 New York Times story, she talks about her personal difficulty in being eco-conscious.
She lists her obsessions as water, ancient Rome, infrastructure, SuperFund, airplanes, silent film, panopticons, P. T. Barnum, photography, lies, the 1930s, Niagara Falls, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Edward Wormley, consumerism and rhinoceroses, especially one named Clara who lived in the 18th century.
(from Wikipedia)
Ginger Strand grew up mostly on a farm in Michigan. Her family moved often while her father served in the Air National Guard. Throughout her childhood, she lived in Texas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Her father later worked as a commercial airline pilot for TWA for 35 years. Strand is a 1992 graduate from Princeton University. She has a daughter and lives in New York City. She teaches environmental criticism at Fordham University, and teaches writing at the 92nd Street Y.
Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Believer, Harper's, The Iowa Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Carolina Quarterly. Strand has received residency grants from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the American Antiquarian Society, as well as a Tennessee Williams scholarship in fiction from the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She is a contributing editor at Orion. Strand is also a former fellow in the Behrman Center for the Humanities at Princeton University.
Strand is also an environmental writer. She has been critical of Google’s environmental policies. In a November 2006 New York Times story, she talks about her personal difficulty in being eco-conscious.
She lists her obsessions as water, ancient Rome, infrastructure, SuperFund, airplanes, silent film, panopticons, P. T. Barnum, photography, lies, the 1930s, Niagara Falls, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Edward Wormley, consumerism and rhinoceroses, especially one named Clara who lived in the 18th century.
(from Wikipedia)
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February 26, 2016
By telling the story of the Vonnegut brothers Ginger Strand not only delivers a biography of their early careers, she illustrates the national culture of the immediate post-war years and shows the influence of Kurt’s early employment at General Electric on his fiction.
Bernard Vonnegut was a 1940’s/1950’s “man of science”. Like his father he got a degree from MIT after which he landed a scientist’s dream job at GE where he could pursue pure science without restraint. His brother Kurt swam against the tide in majoring chemistry when his heart was in writing. He went off to war where he had an horrific experience as a POW. After the war, through Bernie’s help, Kurt was hired to write publicity for GE.
Today’s corporate world would never tolerate GE's “House of Magic” where scientists followed their own whims. Management (and the public) believed in serendipitous breakthroughs and that all science was progress. The world was not so liability conscious.
Bernie joined the House of Magic's “Operation Cirrus”team which was working on seeding clouds. Kurt watched his brother’s unrestrained colleagues as they created floods with blithe disregard for its victims. He saw how GE dodged accountability. Against the 1950’s red scares, you see Bernie’s brave call for government regulation of cloud seeding, and Kurt facing editorial censorship as he tries to establish his writing credentials.
The book is mostly tight, with the author not taking more words or space than needed to get the points across. The exception, for which I’ve eliminated a star, is telling of the plots of the Vonnegut novels. Out of a 250 pages of narrative maybe 20-25 pages are devoted to the characters and plots. Each of these could be reduced to half the space or less. Otherwise, this book is a gem.
The recent biography And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life shows the subsequent years of Kurt Vonnegut. He did not age well. In both books, Jane Vonnegut is shown as the ultimate wife and team player. Like the scientists he created, Kurt Vonnegut ignored the impact of his behavior on others, most egregiously his post-fame treatment of his wife.
Bernard Vonnegut was a 1940’s/1950’s “man of science”. Like his father he got a degree from MIT after which he landed a scientist’s dream job at GE where he could pursue pure science without restraint. His brother Kurt swam against the tide in majoring chemistry when his heart was in writing. He went off to war where he had an horrific experience as a POW. After the war, through Bernie’s help, Kurt was hired to write publicity for GE.
Today’s corporate world would never tolerate GE's “House of Magic” where scientists followed their own whims. Management (and the public) believed in serendipitous breakthroughs and that all science was progress. The world was not so liability conscious.
Bernie joined the House of Magic's “Operation Cirrus”team which was working on seeding clouds. Kurt watched his brother’s unrestrained colleagues as they created floods with blithe disregard for its victims. He saw how GE dodged accountability. Against the 1950’s red scares, you see Bernie’s brave call for government regulation of cloud seeding, and Kurt facing editorial censorship as he tries to establish his writing credentials.
The book is mostly tight, with the author not taking more words or space than needed to get the points across. The exception, for which I’ve eliminated a star, is telling of the plots of the Vonnegut novels. Out of a 250 pages of narrative maybe 20-25 pages are devoted to the characters and plots. Each of these could be reduced to half the space or less. Otherwise, this book is a gem.
The recent biography And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life shows the subsequent years of Kurt Vonnegut. He did not age well. In both books, Jane Vonnegut is shown as the ultimate wife and team player. Like the scientists he created, Kurt Vonnegut ignored the impact of his behavior on others, most egregiously his post-fame treatment of his wife.
April 6, 2017
Four years ago a superb biography of Kurt Vonnegut called And So It Goes — Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields was published. Shields focused on his subject’s character, the ups and downs of his troubled inner life, and the rapidly shifting fortunes of his writing career. Now Ginger Strand has produced an equally engrossing book, The Brothers Vonnegut: Science and Fiction in the House of Magic, a dual biography of Kurt Vonnegut, the writer, with his older brother, Bernard, a brilliant scientist and inventor. The two books are very different. They complement each other.
Exploring the sources of Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction
Strand’s book is largely devoted to the brothers’ lives in the 1940s and 50s and is focused on exposing the roots of Kurt’s fiction. What stands out most clearly in her work is the powerful influence that Bernard played in Kurt’s life and his writing. Shortly after World War II, when Kurt moved to Schenectady, New York, to take a PR job at General Electric, he was following his older brother, who was employed as a research scientist at the then-famous GE Research Lab. Kurt’s miserable years at GE, churning out press releases while he faced a torrent of rejection slips for his short stories, provided him with rich fodder for his novels. GE figured so obviously and in such an unfavorable light in his early fiction that no bookstore in Schenectady would carry his first novel, Player Piano. Many of the characters in his books were modeled after scientists and executives at GE, including Bernard himself. At times, even their names were similar.
An equally powerful influence on Kurt’s writing was his first wife, Jane. They had been childhood sweethearts in Indianapolis. Though Kurt was a mediocre student who dropped out of Cornell after two years as a chemistry student and later abandoned the University of Chicago short of obtaining a degree in anthropology, Jane excelled at school. However, she too dropped out, to give birth to the couple’s first child in 1947. Though Shields emphasizes Kurt’s shabby treatment of his wife, Strand sees their relationship differently. It is clear in The Brothers Vonnegut that Kurt would never have persisted as a writer, much less succeeded, had it not been for Jane’s abiding faith in his genius and the many years during which she submerged her own considerable talents to support his instead.
The man who would control the weather
Bernard Vonnegut was marked for a brilliant career in science from an early age. At General Electric, he quickly came to the attention of the lab’s sole Nobel Prizewinner, Irving Langmuir. Along with Langmuir’s remarkable assistant, Vincent Schaefer, Bernard became a pioneer rainmaker. However, Langmuir and Schaefer focused on the use of dry ice to “seed” clouds and stimulate the production of snow and rain. Langmuir made wildly exaggerated claims for the effectiveness of dry ice. He claimed that the lab’s efforts in seeding clouds had changed the weather on a continental scale, triggering floods and shifting hurricanes off course — much to the chagrin of GE’s top executives, who were on the receiving end of numerous lawsuits filed as a result. Langmuir’s claims notwithstanding, it was Bernard who discovered silver iodide as a catalyst, which proved to have far superior properties. That discovery has played the major role in rainmaking in later decades.
The prospect of changing weather patterns by conscious effort early came to the attention of the Pentagon. Over time, the military managed to co-opt GE’s research in the field, classifying most of their findings. Years later, it was discovered that “the CIA had been using cloud seeding as a weapon of war. Since 1966, U.S. planes had flown more than twenty-six hundred cloud-seeding missions over Indochina, spraying the clouds of Vietnam and Laos with aerosolized silver iodide.” That revelation led to a UN treaty that banned this practice in war.
The ethics of science
GE’s increasing closeness to the U.S. military became deeply troubling to both Vonnegut brothers. They had been raised as pacifists, and Kurt regarded himself as a socialist. Both had been emotionally involved with efforts in the 1940s to establish a world government that could assume control of all nuclear weapons. Though the advent of the Cold War and the anti-Communist witch-hunts of the 1940s and 50s soon scotched those efforts, both Bernard and Kurt remained convinced that marquee scientists such as Edward Teller and John von Neumann, as well as many of Bernard’s colleagues at GE, were tragically misguided in serving the military and the weapons industry.
Strand emphasizes the importance of these moral qualms in the lives of both brothers. For Bernard, it was a major factor in his decision to leave GE and, eventually, to turn to academia to avoid having to work for the Pentagon. For Kurt, the failure of scientists to be guided by moral precepts became a major theme in his novels, from Player Piano to Cat’s Cradle to Slaughterhouse-Five.
Did Kurt Vonnegut write science fiction?
As Strand tells the tale, Kurt had a love-hate relationship with science fiction. In the 1950s, when he was eagerly sending one story after another to unreceptive magazine editors, he seemed comfortable being called a science fiction writer: he was desperate for recognition of any sort. Later in life, once he was established as one of the leading writers of his time, he resisted the label. No wonder, since most of the public associates science fiction with spaceships and alien monsters. In fact, the field is rich with imaginative, brilliantly written tales that illuminate the human condition.
About the author
Wikipedia describes Ginger Strand as “an American essayist, novelist, environmental writer, and historian.” The Brothers Vonnegut is her third nonfiction book.
Exploring the sources of Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction
Strand’s book is largely devoted to the brothers’ lives in the 1940s and 50s and is focused on exposing the roots of Kurt’s fiction. What stands out most clearly in her work is the powerful influence that Bernard played in Kurt’s life and his writing. Shortly after World War II, when Kurt moved to Schenectady, New York, to take a PR job at General Electric, he was following his older brother, who was employed as a research scientist at the then-famous GE Research Lab. Kurt’s miserable years at GE, churning out press releases while he faced a torrent of rejection slips for his short stories, provided him with rich fodder for his novels. GE figured so obviously and in such an unfavorable light in his early fiction that no bookstore in Schenectady would carry his first novel, Player Piano. Many of the characters in his books were modeled after scientists and executives at GE, including Bernard himself. At times, even their names were similar.
An equally powerful influence on Kurt’s writing was his first wife, Jane. They had been childhood sweethearts in Indianapolis. Though Kurt was a mediocre student who dropped out of Cornell after two years as a chemistry student and later abandoned the University of Chicago short of obtaining a degree in anthropology, Jane excelled at school. However, she too dropped out, to give birth to the couple’s first child in 1947. Though Shields emphasizes Kurt’s shabby treatment of his wife, Strand sees their relationship differently. It is clear in The Brothers Vonnegut that Kurt would never have persisted as a writer, much less succeeded, had it not been for Jane’s abiding faith in his genius and the many years during which she submerged her own considerable talents to support his instead.
The man who would control the weather
Bernard Vonnegut was marked for a brilliant career in science from an early age. At General Electric, he quickly came to the attention of the lab’s sole Nobel Prizewinner, Irving Langmuir. Along with Langmuir’s remarkable assistant, Vincent Schaefer, Bernard became a pioneer rainmaker. However, Langmuir and Schaefer focused on the use of dry ice to “seed” clouds and stimulate the production of snow and rain. Langmuir made wildly exaggerated claims for the effectiveness of dry ice. He claimed that the lab’s efforts in seeding clouds had changed the weather on a continental scale, triggering floods and shifting hurricanes off course — much to the chagrin of GE’s top executives, who were on the receiving end of numerous lawsuits filed as a result. Langmuir’s claims notwithstanding, it was Bernard who discovered silver iodide as a catalyst, which proved to have far superior properties. That discovery has played the major role in rainmaking in later decades.
The prospect of changing weather patterns by conscious effort early came to the attention of the Pentagon. Over time, the military managed to co-opt GE’s research in the field, classifying most of their findings. Years later, it was discovered that “the CIA had been using cloud seeding as a weapon of war. Since 1966, U.S. planes had flown more than twenty-six hundred cloud-seeding missions over Indochina, spraying the clouds of Vietnam and Laos with aerosolized silver iodide.” That revelation led to a UN treaty that banned this practice in war.
The ethics of science
GE’s increasing closeness to the U.S. military became deeply troubling to both Vonnegut brothers. They had been raised as pacifists, and Kurt regarded himself as a socialist. Both had been emotionally involved with efforts in the 1940s to establish a world government that could assume control of all nuclear weapons. Though the advent of the Cold War and the anti-Communist witch-hunts of the 1940s and 50s soon scotched those efforts, both Bernard and Kurt remained convinced that marquee scientists such as Edward Teller and John von Neumann, as well as many of Bernard’s colleagues at GE, were tragically misguided in serving the military and the weapons industry.
Strand emphasizes the importance of these moral qualms in the lives of both brothers. For Bernard, it was a major factor in his decision to leave GE and, eventually, to turn to academia to avoid having to work for the Pentagon. For Kurt, the failure of scientists to be guided by moral precepts became a major theme in his novels, from Player Piano to Cat’s Cradle to Slaughterhouse-Five.
Did Kurt Vonnegut write science fiction?
As Strand tells the tale, Kurt had a love-hate relationship with science fiction. In the 1950s, when he was eagerly sending one story after another to unreceptive magazine editors, he seemed comfortable being called a science fiction writer: he was desperate for recognition of any sort. Later in life, once he was established as one of the leading writers of his time, he resisted the label. No wonder, since most of the public associates science fiction with spaceships and alien monsters. In fact, the field is rich with imaginative, brilliantly written tales that illuminate the human condition.
About the author
Wikipedia describes Ginger Strand as “an American essayist, novelist, environmental writer, and historian.” The Brothers Vonnegut is her third nonfiction book.
January 24, 2021
Kind of a compare, contrast, and convergence of two brothers. Bernie, the brilliant scientist; Kurt the burgeoning writer. Both artists in their own right, both employed at General Electric. While big bro was discovering how to make rain/ice via cloud seeding and struggling with it’s ethics, Kurt was penning PR releases, short stories, and trying to write a novel. Bernie’s discovery was no doubt an influence on Kurt. “Ice-nine,” anyone?
August 7, 2021
Asociar la vida y la escritura de Kurt Vonnegut con la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el bombardeo de Dresde es inevitable. Basta haber leído Matadero cinco para sumergirse en la importancia de este fatídico suceso. Mucho menos conocido es el tiempo que trabajó para General Electric en su sede de Schenectady gracias a su hermano Bernard. Allí terminó de moldear su visión la ciencia y la tecnología sin la cual es imposible entender sus primeros relatos y novelas. Ginger Strand cuenta todo esto a través de un biografía paralela de ambos hermanos durante los años posteriores a la Segunda Guerra Mundial y la vinculación de Bernard al proyecto Cirro: la búsqueda del camino para manipular el tiempo atmosférico y el propio clima a gran escala. Una labor en la que fue parte fundamental mientras General Electric estuvo interesada y dio pie a situaciones rocambolescas.
Aparte de lo atractivo de esta locura, ya de por sí es una lectura satisfactoria, Strand imprime una estructura novelesca al relato de sus vidas. Mediante una estructura que las narra en paralelo a través de pequeñas secuencias de tres o cuatro páginas, sincroniza y enfatiza el arco dramático que para ellos supuso el trabajo en Schenectady. El de Kurt unido a un trabajo como periodista de la empresa, aceptado para mantener a su familia mientras buscaba la manera de ganarse las lentejas como escritor profesional; y el de Bernard desde la erosión del sueño de quien comienza a hacer Ciencia por el hecho de hacer Ciencia y choca con la instrumentalización corporativa y la militar de la Guerra Fría. Y como aditamento, acompasa estas historias con la propia carrera nuclear y el despertar del sueño utópico de que el mundo podría haber sido mejor de lo que fue (y es). El resultado es una biografía notable que apenas se apalanca levemente cuando Cirro se estanca en situaciones repetitivas (inevitables, por otro lado) o en alguna sinopsis de los textos de Kurt demasiado pormenorizadas.
Imprescindible si te interesa Vonnegut más allá de Matadero cinco, como es mi caso (las últimas 20 páginas han sido muy emocionantes), o la divulgación de ciencia y tecnología.
Aparte de lo atractivo de esta locura, ya de por sí es una lectura satisfactoria, Strand imprime una estructura novelesca al relato de sus vidas. Mediante una estructura que las narra en paralelo a través de pequeñas secuencias de tres o cuatro páginas, sincroniza y enfatiza el arco dramático que para ellos supuso el trabajo en Schenectady. El de Kurt unido a un trabajo como periodista de la empresa, aceptado para mantener a su familia mientras buscaba la manera de ganarse las lentejas como escritor profesional; y el de Bernard desde la erosión del sueño de quien comienza a hacer Ciencia por el hecho de hacer Ciencia y choca con la instrumentalización corporativa y la militar de la Guerra Fría. Y como aditamento, acompasa estas historias con la propia carrera nuclear y el despertar del sueño utópico de que el mundo podría haber sido mejor de lo que fue (y es). El resultado es una biografía notable que apenas se apalanca levemente cuando Cirro se estanca en situaciones repetitivas (inevitables, por otro lado) o en alguna sinopsis de los textos de Kurt demasiado pormenorizadas.
Imprescindible si te interesa Vonnegut más allá de Matadero cinco, como es mi caso (las últimas 20 páginas han sido muy emocionantes), o la divulgación de ciencia y tecnología.
February 19, 2019
This is a fascinating history of how the science of Bernard Vonnegut and the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut sprang, in some senses, from the same place, influenced each other, and reflected both men’s experiences with World War II, Cold-War America, and in particular the corporate culture of General Electric. I had hoped the book would shed light on the evolution of Kurt Vonnegut’s vision and works, and it did this and much, much more! It’s a wonderfully readable snapshot of a moment in history, captured through the lives and careers of two remarkable men who happened to be brothers. Recommended!
December 6, 2015
Strand wrote a meticulously researched dual biography of scientist Bernard Vonnegut (1914-1997) and his brother fiction writer Kurt (1922-2007). The primary focus of the book is late 1940’s to the early 1950’s when both brothers worked at General Electric Company. Bernie left MIT research meteorology laboratory in 1942 and went to work for GE on the “Project Cirrus” a weather modification research project. After returning from the War (“Slaughterhouse Five” was his War novel), in 1947 Kurt went to work at GE in the PR department. At the time GE wanted journalist who could place stories in the New York Times and other key publications.
When Bernard realized that manipulations of the weather were seen as a potential weapon he pressed for government oversight of the project. Kurt complained that many scientists, at GE and elsewhere, seemed indifferent to the consequences of their discoveries. In my opinion, Kurt’s novel “Cat’s Cradle”, makes more demanding claims about the ethical responsibilities of scientists than Strand acknowledges. Strand claims that the origin of many of Kurt’s concerns regarding, ethical responsibilities of science, started with his employment at GE.
Strand’s thoughtful history, drawn from abundant archival sources, recounts the brothers’ repeated frustration and disillusionment as they confronted the unsettling ethical questions of the time. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Sean Runnette does a good job narrating the book.
When Bernard realized that manipulations of the weather were seen as a potential weapon he pressed for government oversight of the project. Kurt complained that many scientists, at GE and elsewhere, seemed indifferent to the consequences of their discoveries. In my opinion, Kurt’s novel “Cat’s Cradle”, makes more demanding claims about the ethical responsibilities of scientists than Strand acknowledges. Strand claims that the origin of many of Kurt’s concerns regarding, ethical responsibilities of science, started with his employment at GE.
Strand’s thoughtful history, drawn from abundant archival sources, recounts the brothers’ repeated frustration and disillusionment as they confronted the unsettling ethical questions of the time. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Sean Runnette does a good job narrating the book.
May 3, 2018
Quite good, this history bounces between writer Kurt Vonnegut and his brother Bernard, contrasting writing and reality. An interesting behind the scenes for both scientist and writer, with excellent pacing. Contains a full set of notes and bibliography of sources. Recommended!
I really enjoyed both the look behind Kurt's stories and the science behind Bernard's research. Cloud seeding is a really interesting topic, though a full scientific explanation would require more depth. Also interesting were the connections between GE and the government in these research programs. Anytime a book drives me to read multiple additional books, I know it's good. I look forward to reading more about weather and also diving into Timequake, Kurt's last book.
I really enjoyed both the look behind Kurt's stories and the science behind Bernard's research. Cloud seeding is a really interesting topic, though a full scientific explanation would require more depth. Also interesting were the connections between GE and the government in these research programs. Anytime a book drives me to read multiple additional books, I know it's good. I look forward to reading more about weather and also diving into Timequake, Kurt's last book.
August 29, 2016
How did I not know about cloud seeding?
February 8, 2025
Towards the end of the book, there's a line "There is more art to science than most of us believe."
This biography does that statement absolute justice, weaving together the worlds of Glorious American Innovation, fraught internal and external politics and the human desire to succeed. Personally I knew very little about America post Ww2 (think pastel housedresses, asbestos and Cadillacs) but this book brings this time into poetic scrutiny.
The descriptions of ideal life and conformity in the electric city of GE spoke to me as a form of foreshadowing to the future of America on the tail end of the 1950's. The environment which previously pushed for the "Victorian Science" technique became commercialised and restrictive, souring the relationship between the brothers and their work environment. Freedom being a necessity to both art and scientific discovery takes me back to the quote above, and serves as critical commentary on the impact of modern society on these crucial human behaviours- creation and experimentation. Both Kurt and Bernie struggle with this as a result of power in their industries.
Despite the patriotic struggles to differ from the Soviets, the picture painted of America feels dystopian in an oddly detached way. That feeling is reflected in Vonnegut prose both via the ever present corporate bodies and the moral and physical struggle between science, person and control.
This was an incredible read of scientific and literary significance and I hardly felt as if i was reading non fiction. The impact of Kurt's real life on his writing is crystal clear.
This biography does that statement absolute justice, weaving together the worlds of Glorious American Innovation, fraught internal and external politics and the human desire to succeed. Personally I knew very little about America post Ww2 (think pastel housedresses, asbestos and Cadillacs) but this book brings this time into poetic scrutiny.
The descriptions of ideal life and conformity in the electric city of GE spoke to me as a form of foreshadowing to the future of America on the tail end of the 1950's. The environment which previously pushed for the "Victorian Science" technique became commercialised and restrictive, souring the relationship between the brothers and their work environment. Freedom being a necessity to both art and scientific discovery takes me back to the quote above, and serves as critical commentary on the impact of modern society on these crucial human behaviours- creation and experimentation. Both Kurt and Bernie struggle with this as a result of power in their industries.
Despite the patriotic struggles to differ from the Soviets, the picture painted of America feels dystopian in an oddly detached way. That feeling is reflected in Vonnegut prose both via the ever present corporate bodies and the moral and physical struggle between science, person and control.
This was an incredible read of scientific and literary significance and I hardly felt as if i was reading non fiction. The impact of Kurt's real life on his writing is crystal clear.
August 17, 2021
Tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial y durante aproximadamente una década, coincidieron en la sede de General Electric en Schenectady el autor Kurt Vonnegut y su hermano Bernard. El primero en el departamento de prensa, redactando reportajes que enviaban a las principales revistas para su publicación, el segundo en el departamento de investigación y desarrollo, estudiando la posibilidad de sembrar nubes.
Se trató de una época convulsa. Por una parte, el horror de la guerra había despertado sentimientos pacifistas y antibelicistas en un sector de la población, entre los que se encontraban ambos hermanos, especialmente Kurt. Estos sentimientos se mezclaban con una reivindicación de un gobierno mundial que evitara futuros conflictos, al tiempo que los países se reunían alrededor de la ONU.
Al comienzo de esta época los laboratorios de GE eran un lugar de libre investigación. Los científicos investigaban aquello que les interesaba y serían sus responsables quienes tratarían de encontrarle uso. Así, Bernard comenzaría investigando la formación de nubes para tratar de encontrar una forma de provocar la lluvia, proyecto que pronto encandiló a los militares al tiempo que alarmaba al público por su potencial dañino y atraía a vendedores de lluvia que trataban de obtener beneficio. Así, poco a poco Bernard se vio alejado de la investigación pura para enzarzarse en debates y comités
Kurt, por su parte, se sentía ahogado en un empleo que le disgustaba, obligado a redactar artículos que celebraban una política empresarial que detestaba y en la que se sentía ahogado. A lo largo de esta época Kurt orientó sus esfuerzos a lo que era su meta principal: ser escritor. Plasmaba sus vivencias (tanto las de la guerra como las laborales) en relatos que modificaba una y reescribía una y otra vez, adecuándolos a los gustos de las revistas a las que los enviaba.
Tras más o menos una década, el sueño antibelicista y de unidad mundial se marchitaba en una época de guerra fría y los hermanos Vonnegut abandonaban GE (primero Kurt, después Bernard).
El libro narra de forma hábil y amena estos años, describiendo los sentimientos de ambos hermanos hacia su trabajo y situaciones personales contextualizándolos en la época convulsa que les tocó vivir. Pese a la facilidad con la que se lee, el libro no abandona el rigor, la autora se documentó profusamente para su redacción, accediendo a noticias, entrevistas, publicaciones y poniéndose en contacto con la familia Vonnegut para obtener datos de primera mano.
Se trata, en resumen, de una obra muy recomendable para conocer a uno de los grandes autores de la ciencia ficción.
[+] Reseña completa en Alt+64 wiki: http://alt64.org/wiki/index.php?title...
Se trató de una época convulsa. Por una parte, el horror de la guerra había despertado sentimientos pacifistas y antibelicistas en un sector de la población, entre los que se encontraban ambos hermanos, especialmente Kurt. Estos sentimientos se mezclaban con una reivindicación de un gobierno mundial que evitara futuros conflictos, al tiempo que los países se reunían alrededor de la ONU.
Al comienzo de esta época los laboratorios de GE eran un lugar de libre investigación. Los científicos investigaban aquello que les interesaba y serían sus responsables quienes tratarían de encontrarle uso. Así, Bernard comenzaría investigando la formación de nubes para tratar de encontrar una forma de provocar la lluvia, proyecto que pronto encandiló a los militares al tiempo que alarmaba al público por su potencial dañino y atraía a vendedores de lluvia que trataban de obtener beneficio. Así, poco a poco Bernard se vio alejado de la investigación pura para enzarzarse en debates y comités
Kurt, por su parte, se sentía ahogado en un empleo que le disgustaba, obligado a redactar artículos que celebraban una política empresarial que detestaba y en la que se sentía ahogado. A lo largo de esta época Kurt orientó sus esfuerzos a lo que era su meta principal: ser escritor. Plasmaba sus vivencias (tanto las de la guerra como las laborales) en relatos que modificaba una y reescribía una y otra vez, adecuándolos a los gustos de las revistas a las que los enviaba.
Tras más o menos una década, el sueño antibelicista y de unidad mundial se marchitaba en una época de guerra fría y los hermanos Vonnegut abandonaban GE (primero Kurt, después Bernard).
El libro narra de forma hábil y amena estos años, describiendo los sentimientos de ambos hermanos hacia su trabajo y situaciones personales contextualizándolos en la época convulsa que les tocó vivir. Pese a la facilidad con la que se lee, el libro no abandona el rigor, la autora se documentó profusamente para su redacción, accediendo a noticias, entrevistas, publicaciones y poniéndose en contacto con la familia Vonnegut para obtener datos de primera mano.
Se trata, en resumen, de una obra muy recomendable para conocer a uno de los grandes autores de la ciencia ficción.
[+] Reseña completa en Alt+64 wiki: http://alt64.org/wiki/index.php?title...
November 22, 2015
Strand (Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate) beautifully illustrates the juxtaposition of the Vonnegut brothers, Bernard and Kurt in this compelling narrative of their lives and contributions in their respective fields. During WWII while Kurt was hunkered down beneath a slaughterhouse surviving the firebombing of Dresden (later a basis for his bestselling novel, Slaughterhouse Five), his brother Bernard, a scientist, was flying in the air testing out cloud seeding and producing rain. The brothers led vastly different lives, but shared the similar experience of both working for GE (General Electric), which back then was lovingly referred to as the "house of magic." While there, Bernard studied the sky and experimented with weather control and Kurt reveled in all the fantastic things he saw and heard, many of which become the basis for his later novels and short stories. What happens when science is no longer used for good, but for evil; are scientists compelled to be moral or just make progress for progress's sake, regardless of the consequences? Strand breaks down Bernard's science and Kurt's stories and it produces a fascinating look at two different, yet very similar, brothers. Compellingly narrated by Sean Runnette, this eye opening read is perfect for both fans of science and Kurt Vonnegut. A must read.
February 10, 2016
We all associate the name Vonnegut with the famous author, Kurt, but it was his older brother Bernard who carried the family's hopes and expectations. Bernie was the star student who earned his PhD at MIT and went on to discover silver iodide cloud seeding at General Electric. Kurt struggled at school, was taken as a prisoner of war in Germany, couldn't complete his degree when he got home, and wrote one rejected story after another while trying to escape his work as a publicist at GE, where his brother was stationed in the research lab with top scientists.
Ginger Strand's telling jumps quickly back and forth from brother to brother. There is little in the way of transition, and yet the book flowed and held interest. It's fascinating to learn the many factors - the culture of GE, the promising science of weather control, and the uncomfortable 1950s mixture of modernism and war - that seeded Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s ideas for the stories that would eventually make him famous.
I must confess that I've only read one of Vonnegut's books: Cat's Cradle. I will read Slaughterhouse-Five next, and I think I will enjoy it all the more for knowing the events, ideas, and long process that led to its publication.
Ginger Strand's telling jumps quickly back and forth from brother to brother. There is little in the way of transition, and yet the book flowed and held interest. It's fascinating to learn the many factors - the culture of GE, the promising science of weather control, and the uncomfortable 1950s mixture of modernism and war - that seeded Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s ideas for the stories that would eventually make him famous.
I must confess that I've only read one of Vonnegut's books: Cat's Cradle. I will read Slaughterhouse-Five next, and I think I will enjoy it all the more for knowing the events, ideas, and long process that led to its publication.
April 28, 2016
I struggled with this book. I couldn't really care about the characters. Although the book touches on the lives of the two brothers, it focuses on when Bernie was working at weather control and Kurt was becoming a struggling writer. This part of their lives didn't interest me, I wanted to know more about Kurt as he grew as a writer. Disappointing.
March 19, 2023
In other words, physicists would see this process as reducible to a series of equations, would understand the know-how. But the know-what? Would they note how it glowed?
Non-fiction that reads like a fiction novel—does it get any better than this? I didn't even think it was possible to write a biography with almost memoir-like sentimentality before I was introduced to the power of Ginger Strand's prose. Now I simply can't forgive Robert Weide for granting her such a short cameo in his marvelous Vonnegut documentary—she had so much more to say.
And just like Weide's deeply personal, emotion-laden movie, this book made me shed many, many tears. I think it's impossible for me to read Vonnegut, or about him, and not feel overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of his wit and imagination. Every time I venture a little further ahead and discover something new about his craft, it feels like a self-revelation. The consolation and encouragement I find in Master V's works are truly immeasurable.
Aside from a haunting lesson in the history of American politics, there's another discovery this book indirectly led me to, a discovery most likely to leave a permanent mark on my heart and soul. It has to do with a vile gentleman with black-rimmed eyes and a pet snake called Angel. He's frequently hanged and guillotined all around the world; I saw him once myself, and he's a real class act, old Vince. Yes, he still sometimes goes by Vince when he's off-duty. And do you know who his favorite author is? That's right, none other than Kurt Vonnegut. The two actually met in 1973. AC's favorite Vonnegut gem? Breakfast of Champions.
Talk about the meeting of the idols.
November 30, 2017
If you're looking for a complete biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s life this book is not it. However, for the Vonnegut enthusiasts out there, this book provides a lot of interesting background information. The book is a dual biography of the adult lives of Kurt and Bernard Vonnegut. The book alternates between analysis of Kurt's burgeoning writing career and Bernie's scientific career. Some of the writing on cloud-seeding was a little dull, but it is a topic that is generally interesting. The book provides great insight into: Player Piano, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five and Vonnegut's short stories. Of particular importance is all the information about Kurt Vonnegut's time in Schenectady at GE. I would highly recommend this book for all you Vonnegut nerds out there. Alternately, this might be an interesting book to climate/weather science enthusiasts.
February 16, 2023
Imprescindible per a qualsevol kurtvonnegutòfil susceptiblr de xalar davant la perspectiva de poder lligar caps entre llibres, obres, biografia de l'autor i context de guerra freda.
O si senzillament ets algú a qui li bateguen papallones a l'estòmac davant d'un paisatge d'un capvespre d'agost de postres de síndria amb regust de bomba atòmica, que esclata a l'horitzó com un amor amenaçantment apassionat.
Tot és possible, i tant se val quin sigui el punt de partida.
D'aquí surten els Bokonons, Billy Pilgrims, Trafalmodorians i tota la colla que es passegen pels llibres d'un dels meus autors més estimats.
Algú va mirar cap al cel amb ulls de nen davant d'una joguina nova. Però dels tricicles també en surten tancs. Així va la història, més o menys.
O si senzillament ets algú a qui li bateguen papallones a l'estòmac davant d'un paisatge d'un capvespre d'agost de postres de síndria amb regust de bomba atòmica, que esclata a l'horitzó com un amor amenaçantment apassionat.
Tot és possible, i tant se val quin sigui el punt de partida.
D'aquí surten els Bokonons, Billy Pilgrims, Trafalmodorians i tota la colla que es passegen pels llibres d'un dels meus autors més estimats.
Algú va mirar cap al cel amb ulls de nen davant d'una joguina nova. Però dels tricicles també en surten tancs. Així va la història, més o menys.
December 6, 2025
Really good look at Kurt Vonnegut - probably my favorite writer and one I really know little about. After his famous sojourn as a prisoner of war in Germany, Kurt returns home and gets a job at GE in Public Relations and tries to get his start as an author. His big brother, Dr Bernard Vonnegut, is also at GE as a research scientist.
The two Vonneguts are a study in contrasts, but it's the parallels in their lives and their beliefs that form the fascinating heart of this book. Both men are idealists, and both men are horrified by the War, and of course the Bomb that ends it. Both slowly become disillusioned by the culture at GE, how it, like most businesses, treat both nature and people as things to be controlled, commoditized, and eventually turned to profit themselves. Indeed they both are frightened by how most of America believes this way by the 1950s. Kurt will write about these themes for the next 50 years! I want to know more!
The two Vonneguts are a study in contrasts, but it's the parallels in their lives and their beliefs that form the fascinating heart of this book. Both men are idealists, and both men are horrified by the War, and of course the Bomb that ends it. Both slowly become disillusioned by the culture at GE, how it, like most businesses, treat both nature and people as things to be controlled, commoditized, and eventually turned to profit themselves. Indeed they both are frightened by how most of America believes this way by the 1950s. Kurt will write about these themes for the next 50 years! I want to know more!
January 28, 2018
This was a 5 star book for me. If you are fascinated by atmospheric science and love Kurt Vonnegut, this book is amazing. If not, I think it may get a bit boring. Great insights into the life and struggles of KV though.
March 13, 2021
So cool! A brief and strange history of a turning point for climate control, technology, atomic science, nationalism, capitalism, and looming nuclear warfare post WW2 that gives insight into the realities behind KVJ's characters and stories.
November 22, 2021
I've read a lot about Kurt Vonnegut so this book did not present me with anything new about him, but Bernie was fascinating. I really enjoyed learning a lot about GE and the role in different science projects during this time.
January 19, 2016
I read my first sci-fi book sometime around the age of ten. It was NOT one of the classics ... it wasn't even very good, but man I was hooked. In my early teens I found Bradbury and Vonnegut and pretty much made my way through everything they had written. I loved both of them equally. Bradbury for his beautiful lyrical dream-like descriptions and Vonnegut for his sharp satirical nightmarish bite. “Poo-tee-weet?”
I am only one chapter into Strand's book but so far I love her writing style and am optimistic that this book is going to be a real treat to read.
I soon realize the depths to which Strand dives into the weather experiments of brother Bernard are way beyond what I am interested in learning. It is very apparent that she has done her homework and if you are so inclined, you can follow all the nuances of his experiments as she details them and have a wealth of information on the subject at your fingertips. or - if you are more like me in this regard- you can skim through all the details of implementing the experiments, get the gist of it and move on. I certainly didn't have to focus on all that detail in order to understand the implications of weather control during the cold war.
Kurt Vonnegut has a place in my heart, and I loved reading about his days at G.E. and how that culture -along with the weather experiments of his brother- permeated his writing . For the most part Strand's book feels like a research project, documenting all the influences that went into making Vonnegut the satirist he was .... so I was surprised when I found the ending -the epilogue- so moving. so sad. It sometimes feels life's only aim is to break your heart again and again. And then it's done. Over. And if we are very very lucky we might get the epitaph Billy Pilgrim thought fitting: Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.
I am so glad we had Vonnegut. The world would be so much less than it is if he had never written his novels. “Poo-tee-weet?”
I am only one chapter into Strand's book but so far I love her writing style and am optimistic that this book is going to be a real treat to read.
I soon realize the depths to which Strand dives into the weather experiments of brother Bernard are way beyond what I am interested in learning. It is very apparent that she has done her homework and if you are so inclined, you can follow all the nuances of his experiments as she details them and have a wealth of information on the subject at your fingertips. or - if you are more like me in this regard- you can skim through all the details of implementing the experiments, get the gist of it and move on. I certainly didn't have to focus on all that detail in order to understand the implications of weather control during the cold war.
Kurt Vonnegut has a place in my heart, and I loved reading about his days at G.E. and how that culture -along with the weather experiments of his brother- permeated his writing . For the most part Strand's book feels like a research project, documenting all the influences that went into making Vonnegut the satirist he was .... so I was surprised when I found the ending -the epilogue- so moving. so sad. It sometimes feels life's only aim is to break your heart again and again. And then it's done. Over. And if we are very very lucky we might get the epitaph Billy Pilgrim thought fitting: Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.
I am so glad we had Vonnegut. The world would be so much less than it is if he had never written his novels. “Poo-tee-weet?”
March 3, 2016
This is a hell of a story, do not be fooled by the time it took me to finish it. February is not a good month for reading. I have no evidence to support that, and since this book is partly about a scientist, I'll confess I probably should have just spent more time reading it.
Kurt Vonnegut and Bernard Vonnegut were born 9 years apart and followed strangely similar yet ultimately divergent paths in life. Both were raised to appreciate science and knowledge, Bernard following his interest from an MIT degree to the "house of magic" at General Electric in Schenectady, New York, Kurt making an attempt at a Chemistry degree at Cornell, only to find himself in the Battle of the Bulge and a prisoner of war in Dresden.
By 1947, they were both employed at GE, Kurt in the PR department, Bernard studying weather and how to manipulate it. Ginger Strand has published a meticulously researched and beautifully written account of how both brothers came to be suspicious of scientific research, or at least a society unconcerned with the potential ramifications of it. The story is detailed but suspenseful, anyone looking for an in depth account of the red scare climate of America during the late 40's/early 50's or a harrowing account of a young author trying to get off the ground will be rewarded. Most importantly, Strand does a wonderful job of describing the complicated relationship between the two brothers without sounding invasive, choosing to tell a real story rather than a dramatic one. It's a skill that most modern writers are lacking, in my always humble opinion.
I myself managed to answer a reference question that had been dodging me for a month from this story (Kurt Vonnegut was on a road trip with some high school friends from Indianapolis to Denver when he found himself having drinks in Oklahoma on the night Hitler invaded Poland).
I would make this review longer, and add more quotes, but the review would go on forever, and you're better off reading it yourself.
Kurt Vonnegut and Bernard Vonnegut were born 9 years apart and followed strangely similar yet ultimately divergent paths in life. Both were raised to appreciate science and knowledge, Bernard following his interest from an MIT degree to the "house of magic" at General Electric in Schenectady, New York, Kurt making an attempt at a Chemistry degree at Cornell, only to find himself in the Battle of the Bulge and a prisoner of war in Dresden.
By 1947, they were both employed at GE, Kurt in the PR department, Bernard studying weather and how to manipulate it. Ginger Strand has published a meticulously researched and beautifully written account of how both brothers came to be suspicious of scientific research, or at least a society unconcerned with the potential ramifications of it. The story is detailed but suspenseful, anyone looking for an in depth account of the red scare climate of America during the late 40's/early 50's or a harrowing account of a young author trying to get off the ground will be rewarded. Most importantly, Strand does a wonderful job of describing the complicated relationship between the two brothers without sounding invasive, choosing to tell a real story rather than a dramatic one. It's a skill that most modern writers are lacking, in my always humble opinion.
I myself managed to answer a reference question that had been dodging me for a month from this story (Kurt Vonnegut was on a road trip with some high school friends from Indianapolis to Denver when he found himself having drinks in Oklahoma on the night Hitler invaded Poland).
I would make this review longer, and add more quotes, but the review would go on forever, and you're better off reading it yourself.
May 30, 2023
Si con un Vonnegut ya estaba desatado, imaginaros con dos.
La empresa más poderosa de los Estados Unidos, General Electric Company (GE), fue cuna, durante los años 40, del trabajo y dedicación de los hermanos Vonnegut.
Bernard, licenciado en química, trabajó allí como investigador principal en un ambicioso proyecto capaz de manipular el clima. Su jovencísimo hermano Kurt, regresaba de la guerra, sobreviviendo al cautiverio nazi y a un bombardeo capaz de sesgar la vida de 25.000 personas
La ciencia tomará un papel protagonista en esta escalada bélica entre EEUU y Rusia. Cada avance científico podría ser el definitivo para hacerse con el control mundial, y el horror de un nuevo ataque nuclear, como el de Nagasaki e Hiroshima, sigue atemorizando a la sociedad.
GE vislumbra que el futuro de su economía se encamina hacia la venta de patentes armamentísticas, así pues, destina buena parte del capital, en financiar a los mejores científicos del mundo y crear una red de periodistas capaces de publicitar sus avances y demonizar al enemigo.
¿Podrá Kurt dejar su trabajo como periodista en General Electric y apostar por su carrera literaria? ¿Y Bernard conseguirá dar con la pista que le permita desviar huracanes o sembrar nubes en los desiertos?
G. Strand consigue entrelazar, con maestría, las encerronas militares que padece el proyecto científico de Bernard con las penurias de Kurt y sus múltiples fracasos como escritor.
Este verano no podré sacarme de la cabeza a los hermanos Vonnegut. Dostoyevski pasará por mi estantería, con los hermanos Karamazov, a recomendación de Kurt y su esposa Jane, como la mejor novela escrita jamás. Y en julio, Nolan con Oppenheimer, volverá a recordarme las fatales consecuencias, que pueden acarrear, los avances científicos si caen en malas manos.
La empresa más poderosa de los Estados Unidos, General Electric Company (GE), fue cuna, durante los años 40, del trabajo y dedicación de los hermanos Vonnegut.
Bernard, licenciado en química, trabajó allí como investigador principal en un ambicioso proyecto capaz de manipular el clima. Su jovencísimo hermano Kurt, regresaba de la guerra, sobreviviendo al cautiverio nazi y a un bombardeo capaz de sesgar la vida de 25.000 personas
La ciencia tomará un papel protagonista en esta escalada bélica entre EEUU y Rusia. Cada avance científico podría ser el definitivo para hacerse con el control mundial, y el horror de un nuevo ataque nuclear, como el de Nagasaki e Hiroshima, sigue atemorizando a la sociedad.
GE vislumbra que el futuro de su economía se encamina hacia la venta de patentes armamentísticas, así pues, destina buena parte del capital, en financiar a los mejores científicos del mundo y crear una red de periodistas capaces de publicitar sus avances y demonizar al enemigo.
¿Podrá Kurt dejar su trabajo como periodista en General Electric y apostar por su carrera literaria? ¿Y Bernard conseguirá dar con la pista que le permita desviar huracanes o sembrar nubes en los desiertos?
G. Strand consigue entrelazar, con maestría, las encerronas militares que padece el proyecto científico de Bernard con las penurias de Kurt y sus múltiples fracasos como escritor.
Este verano no podré sacarme de la cabeza a los hermanos Vonnegut. Dostoyevski pasará por mi estantería, con los hermanos Karamazov, a recomendación de Kurt y su esposa Jane, como la mejor novela escrita jamás. Y en julio, Nolan con Oppenheimer, volverá a recordarme las fatales consecuencias, que pueden acarrear, los avances científicos si caen en malas manos.
April 26, 2016
Very interesting read about Kurt and Bernard Vonnegut, though at times a bit scattered. There is a lot about the weather experimentation, and documentation that really underscores the attempt to weaponize everything by the governments in the twentieth century. Scary stuff. Most happened so long ago that things can not still be classified, yet the facts are disturbing.
The book starts with a very sensationalist sentence, and it turned me off immediately. It got much better after that. Worth reading for people interested in Kurt Vonnegut, weather manipulation and weather science.
Bernard and Kurt were against war, and against using science to develop more ways to destroy life.
I really liked this book.
The book starts with a very sensationalist sentence, and it turned me off immediately. It got much better after that. Worth reading for people interested in Kurt Vonnegut, weather manipulation and weather science.
Bernard and Kurt were against war, and against using science to develop more ways to destroy life.
I really liked this book.
February 22, 2023
I can’t get past the fact that selling five short stories in one year offered enough salary to allow a writer to quit his corporate job and still support a family of four.
Can you even imagine?
Of all the things Kurt imagined, and he imagined a lot, I bet he never would have imagined how sadly absurd that sounds today.
I am what Kurt would call a corporate PR hack myself. If it were even remotely possible, I would aspire to follow in his footsteps, finding inspiration from the house of magic I find myself in, which includes software programs that can predict the future and solve problems we thought were impossible to solve.
In other words, there’s a lot for me to relate to here. A lot to inspire my own writing. A lot to nod my head at. And just a bit to scoff at.
So it guess.
Can you even imagine?
Of all the things Kurt imagined, and he imagined a lot, I bet he never would have imagined how sadly absurd that sounds today.
I am what Kurt would call a corporate PR hack myself. If it were even remotely possible, I would aspire to follow in his footsteps, finding inspiration from the house of magic I find myself in, which includes software programs that can predict the future and solve problems we thought were impossible to solve.
In other words, there’s a lot for me to relate to here. A lot to inspire my own writing. A lot to nod my head at. And just a bit to scoff at.
So it guess.
May 12, 2022
¿Sabes cuando te prestan o coges de la biblioteca un libro y luego te da pena que no sea tuyo? Pues este es el caso. Estaba en la sección "Tu biblioteca te recomienda" y lo cogí sin expectativas, pero ha resultado ser estupendo. Me lo he bebido. ¡Habla de tantas cosas! Del agónico proceso creativo de los escritores, del método científico, de la guerra fría, de cómo EEUU se movió desde el liberalismo del New Deal hacia el macarthismo militante, de ética y responsabilidad personal...
Un ensayo muy recomendable que, estoy segura, me voy a acabar comprando.
Un ensayo muy recomendable que, estoy segura, me voy a acabar comprando.
January 8, 2025
My second book by Ginger Strand and my umpteenth by or about Vonnegut. I liked it enough, but it didn't grab me the way a really good book does. Also, by necessity the book switches from brother to brother every 1-5 pages. I get it, these things are going on around the same time, but it makes it a bit disjointed as you get into either Kurt or Bernie's story only to have it shift, then shift again.
Interesting enough and I'd definitely recommend to hardcore Vonnegut fans, but not for everyone.
Interesting enough and I'd definitely recommend to hardcore Vonnegut fans, but not for everyone.
September 8, 2016
It's interesting - I chose this book because I wanted to know more about Kurt Vonnegut, and I wound up far more interested in the narrative about his older brother, Bernard. While Kurt's writing career was an excellent lesson in never giving up, his brother's scientific advances were fascinating. Shame on me for not knowing about cloud seeding until this book - was I living under a rock??
January 31, 2016
Impeccably researched (just check out the bibliography) and written with competence.
I didn't find the subject matter intrinsically interesting for most of the early chapters but things picked up steam. This is probably a book more for Vonnegut completists but worthwhile to others nonetheless.
I didn't find the subject matter intrinsically interesting for most of the early chapters but things picked up steam. This is probably a book more for Vonnegut completists but worthwhile to others nonetheless.
February 28, 2018
Pretty science-y, but not over your head science-y. Interesting insight to Kurt and Bernard Vonnegut’s relationship and how Bernard’s career as a research scientist impacted Kurt’s writing. The next time it rains, you’ll wonder if it was Mother Nature or the military.
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