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Mind, Life and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time
Nearly forty of the world's most esteemed scientists discuss the big questions that drive their illustrious careers. Co-editor Eduardo Punset--one of Spain's most loved personages for his popularization of the sciences--interviews an impressive collection of characters drawing out the seldom seen personalities of the world's most important men and woman of science. In Mind, Life and Universe they describe in their own words the most important and fascinating aspects of their research. Frank and often irreverent, these interviews will keep even the most casual reader of science books rapt for hours.
Can brain science explain feelings of happiness and despair? Is it true that chimpanzees are just like us when it comes to sexual innuendo? Is there any hard evidence that life exists anywhere other than on the Earth? Through Punset's skillful questioning, readers will meet one scientist who is passionate about the genetic control of everything and another who spends her every waking hour making sure African ecosystems stay intact. The men and women assembled here by Lynn Margulis and Eduardo Punset will provide a source of endless interest.
In captivating conversations with such science luminaries as Jane Goodall, James E. Lovelock, Oliver Sachs, and E. O. Wilson, Punset reveals a hidden world of intellectual interests, verve, and humor. Science enthusiasts and general readers alike will devour Mind, Life and Universe, breathless and enchanted by its truths.
Can brain science explain feelings of happiness and despair? Is it true that chimpanzees are just like us when it comes to sexual innuendo? Is there any hard evidence that life exists anywhere other than on the Earth? Through Punset's skillful questioning, readers will meet one scientist who is passionate about the genetic control of everything and another who spends her every waking hour making sure African ecosystems stay intact. The men and women assembled here by Lynn Margulis and Eduardo Punset will provide a source of endless interest.
In captivating conversations with such science luminaries as Jane Goodall, James E. Lovelock, Oliver Sachs, and E. O. Wilson, Punset reveals a hidden world of intellectual interests, verve, and humor. Science enthusiasts and general readers alike will devour Mind, Life and Universe, breathless and enchanted by its truths.
358 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2007
About the author
Lynn Margulis
86 books211 followersLynn Margulis (1938-2011) was a Professor of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 29, 2014
This book is a set of interviews with 36 contemporary scientists. Some of the scientists are well known to laymen; Daniel Dennett, Joan Goodall, Richard Dawkins, Oliver Sacks, Stephen Jay Gould, Paul Davies, James Lovelock, Lisa Randall, and Edward O. Wilson, for example. Many of the other scientists are not as well known, at least to me. So, in several pages per interview, I got an inkling--just an inkling of an idea of what each scientist is about. A brief biography on each scientist, and a reading list are featured at the end of the book.
Almost every interview was enjoyable, but I sometimes felt cheated--the interviews are so short, that I got the feeling that we were just skimming the surface, and not penetrating in depth into any particular subject. The vast majority of the interviews were with biologists and psychologists. Only six scientists work in the physical sciences, and most of them are not well-known. So, I felt that the bias of the editors showed through their selection, and again, I felt a bit cheated.
Several of the interviews were particularly fascinating to me. For example, Daniel Gilbert talked about the "Science of Happiness". When people try to predict how happy they might be in some particular vacation, they prefer to read brochures rather than ask others about their experience on the same vacation. They often make the wrong decision about the vacation, because humans have an "illusion of uniqueness". People do not believe that the experiences of others can help them decide, because they we feel we are unique; we know our own thoughts and feelings, and we don't believe that the experiences of others are relevant.
James Lovelock's interview was fascinating. The interview did not explicitly bring up Lovelock's "Gaia" hypothesis, but he had lots to say about the origin and preservation of life on Earth. When asked about how humans might prevent the demise of life, Lovelock declared that it is important to overcome our fears of nuclear power, as it is the only energy source that does not harm the atmosphere. He talked about the pressures that humans put on the Earth's ecology, and some of the misguided efforts of environmentalists.
I loved Eugene Chudnovsky's interview--he is quite a character. I enjoyed his response when he was asked,
This book is not good as a comprehensive guide to the sciences. But it is an excellent way to be exposed to some very interesting, prominent scientists and a wide range of ideas. Think of this book as a "teaser", and you will be well rewarded.
Almost every interview was enjoyable, but I sometimes felt cheated--the interviews are so short, that I got the feeling that we were just skimming the surface, and not penetrating in depth into any particular subject. The vast majority of the interviews were with biologists and psychologists. Only six scientists work in the physical sciences, and most of them are not well-known. So, I felt that the bias of the editors showed through their selection, and again, I felt a bit cheated.
Several of the interviews were particularly fascinating to me. For example, Daniel Gilbert talked about the "Science of Happiness". When people try to predict how happy they might be in some particular vacation, they prefer to read brochures rather than ask others about their experience on the same vacation. They often make the wrong decision about the vacation, because humans have an "illusion of uniqueness". People do not believe that the experiences of others can help them decide, because they we feel we are unique; we know our own thoughts and feelings, and we don't believe that the experiences of others are relevant.
James Lovelock's interview was fascinating. The interview did not explicitly bring up Lovelock's "Gaia" hypothesis, but he had lots to say about the origin and preservation of life on Earth. When asked about how humans might prevent the demise of life, Lovelock declared that it is important to overcome our fears of nuclear power, as it is the only energy source that does not harm the atmosphere. He talked about the pressures that humans put on the Earth's ecology, and some of the misguided efforts of environmentalists.
I loved Eugene Chudnovsky's interview--he is quite a character. I enjoyed his response when he was asked,
"But do you believe in cyborgs, in those half-machine, half-organism hybrids?"There is a famous story about Chudnovsky, when he was young, attending a lecture by the world-famous Soviet Professor Lysenko. Unfortunately, Lysenko believed in Lamarkism, and he had a lot of influence in the Soviet Union. Lysenko said,
"Of course I believe in cyborgs."
"If we cut the ears off calves when they were born, generation after generation, after some time cows would be born without ears."
"Professor Lysenko," timidly asked the young Chudnovsky, "if it were true that by systematically cutting off cow's ears, generation after generatation, they would end up being born without ears, how do you explain that all the young women of the Soviet Union continue to be born virgins?"
This book is not good as a comprehensive guide to the sciences. But it is an excellent way to be exposed to some very interesting, prominent scientists and a wide range of ideas. Think of this book as a "teaser", and you will be well rewarded.
March 16, 2010
As much as I enjoy the sort of television show which interviews scientists each episode, this Redes companion book fell a bit flat for me. Part of it was certainly a language issue, the show is Spanish, and that probably accounts for a few awkward sentences.
More of an issue was the interviews themselves. I enjoyed interviews with scientists whose fields I am familiar with, because I caught many allusions to their work. I could see how Punset was bringing the audience to the 'good bits'. Unfortunately, when I was less familiar with the subject I didn't learn quite enough to be intriguing.
The highlight of the book for me was the Dawkins interview. It focused on his work in genetics, which is excellent, rather than wandering off into Memetics and everything-expertitis.
The low point of the work was when Punsett digressed into homeopathy as an unfairly attacked science. WTF?
All in all, I found some of the further works by the scientists which might be nice to look into, but I'm not too interested in following up on anything else by Punset.
More of an issue was the interviews themselves. I enjoyed interviews with scientists whose fields I am familiar with, because I caught many allusions to their work. I could see how Punset was bringing the audience to the 'good bits'. Unfortunately, when I was less familiar with the subject I didn't learn quite enough to be intriguing.
The highlight of the book for me was the Dawkins interview. It focused on his work in genetics, which is excellent, rather than wandering off into Memetics and everything-expertitis.
The low point of the work was when Punsett digressed into homeopathy as an unfairly attacked science. WTF?
All in all, I found some of the further works by the scientists which might be nice to look into, but I'm not too interested in following up on anything else by Punset.
November 26, 2012
Fascinating interviews with the world's leading scientists. I felt some of the interview edits were a bit too short to make an impact. Some of Eduardo's comments were a bit zany and hokey which digressed from the actual interview. But overall, I learned some new insights. Also disappointed that there were only 3 women scientists interviewed...
August 17, 2019
Glimpses of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time
Eduardo Punset, the Spaniard who conducts almost all of the interviews in this wide-ranging book with some of the world's most highly respected scientists, is the host of the Spanish-language TV show Redes (Networks). As such he is experienced at drawing out scientists in such a way that their work comes alive to a general audience.
Lynn Margulis is the famous biologist who pioneered endosymbiotic ideas leading to the "Origin of Eukaryotic Cells," a book she published in 1970. Here she acts as co-editor and mostly intervenes in the text in footnotes to point to errors or misconceptions. There is something almost quirky about the way these interviews, or "discussions," as Penset calls them, appear on the pages. There are typos and obvious errors in translation. Part of the problem is that the interviews in most cases were patched together from transcripts and edited to remove some of the imprecision, repetition, and the um-ing and ah-ing that natural speech is prone to. The result nonetheless is a fascinating survey of what is happening in a host of scientific fields as expressed by some of science's greatest stars.
Included are interviews with Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, Oliver Sacks, James E. Lovelock, Stephen Jay Gould, Paul Davies and thirty others. There is a foreword by David T. Suzuki and Margulis contributes an introduction with acknowledgments. Charming features are the black and white line drawings of the scientists under the chapter headings. There are biographical notes about the scientists near the end of the book, and a list of readings recommended by the scientists (two each).
Punset's interviewing style in which he interrupts and augments what the interviewee has said, while occasionally taking a kind of diversion to digress on some point, makes for lively reading. He and the interviewees sometimes even openly disagree, while the venerable Lynn Margulis sometimes comes sailing in as though from on high to make a salient point or to out-and-out contradict what someone has said! I'm sure some of the scientists were misquoted or had some of what they said truncated so that their meaning may not be exactly what they had intended. Strange to say I somewhat enjoyed the imprecision and the cluttered desk aspect to the discussions.
Here's an example of what I mean. Philosopher Daniel Dennett is quoted as saying, "It has been discovered that chimpanzees have a way of catching termites with a stick, which involves using a sponge to take out water from the trunk to drink." Obviously two statements by Dennett about tool use by chimpanzees have been inadvertently meshed together! (p. 81)
Here's another: Punset is talking about the genetic basis for language, music, schizophrenia, and religion. He finishes with: "Religiosity played a very important role in the early evolution of culture." Anthropologist Ralph Holloway's immediate response is "Mankind was perturbed and that is why it was selected." Just what the pronoun "it" refers to is unclear as is what elicited his "mankind was perturbed" remark. (p. 178)
Regardless of such shortcomings this reader was delighted with the discussions, and time and again surprised and informed by something someone said. Here's an example of the kind of off the cuff profundity that this book offers. Neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas is talking about systems in the brain. He says:
"There are two large systems: the more primitive one, the one of passions, pain, what a passion is, envy, sloth, lust, eating, and feeling. This is not negotiable. You like someone or not, something gives you pleasure or not, like a reptile. The possibility of negotiating with reality only occurs with the second system, the one of the neocortex, though it is completely dominated by the passions."
Reading this book offers a glimpse of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Eduardo Punset, the Spaniard who conducts almost all of the interviews in this wide-ranging book with some of the world's most highly respected scientists, is the host of the Spanish-language TV show Redes (Networks). As such he is experienced at drawing out scientists in such a way that their work comes alive to a general audience.
Lynn Margulis is the famous biologist who pioneered endosymbiotic ideas leading to the "Origin of Eukaryotic Cells," a book she published in 1970. Here she acts as co-editor and mostly intervenes in the text in footnotes to point to errors or misconceptions. There is something almost quirky about the way these interviews, or "discussions," as Penset calls them, appear on the pages. There are typos and obvious errors in translation. Part of the problem is that the interviews in most cases were patched together from transcripts and edited to remove some of the imprecision, repetition, and the um-ing and ah-ing that natural speech is prone to. The result nonetheless is a fascinating survey of what is happening in a host of scientific fields as expressed by some of science's greatest stars.
Included are interviews with Edward O. Wilson, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, Oliver Sacks, James E. Lovelock, Stephen Jay Gould, Paul Davies and thirty others. There is a foreword by David T. Suzuki and Margulis contributes an introduction with acknowledgments. Charming features are the black and white line drawings of the scientists under the chapter headings. There are biographical notes about the scientists near the end of the book, and a list of readings recommended by the scientists (two each).
Punset's interviewing style in which he interrupts and augments what the interviewee has said, while occasionally taking a kind of diversion to digress on some point, makes for lively reading. He and the interviewees sometimes even openly disagree, while the venerable Lynn Margulis sometimes comes sailing in as though from on high to make a salient point or to out-and-out contradict what someone has said! I'm sure some of the scientists were misquoted or had some of what they said truncated so that their meaning may not be exactly what they had intended. Strange to say I somewhat enjoyed the imprecision and the cluttered desk aspect to the discussions.
Here's an example of what I mean. Philosopher Daniel Dennett is quoted as saying, "It has been discovered that chimpanzees have a way of catching termites with a stick, which involves using a sponge to take out water from the trunk to drink." Obviously two statements by Dennett about tool use by chimpanzees have been inadvertently meshed together! (p. 81)
Here's another: Punset is talking about the genetic basis for language, music, schizophrenia, and religion. He finishes with: "Religiosity played a very important role in the early evolution of culture." Anthropologist Ralph Holloway's immediate response is "Mankind was perturbed and that is why it was selected." Just what the pronoun "it" refers to is unclear as is what elicited his "mankind was perturbed" remark. (p. 178)
Regardless of such shortcomings this reader was delighted with the discussions, and time and again surprised and informed by something someone said. Here's an example of the kind of off the cuff profundity that this book offers. Neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas is talking about systems in the brain. He says:
"There are two large systems: the more primitive one, the one of passions, pain, what a passion is, envy, sloth, lust, eating, and feeling. This is not negotiable. You like someone or not, something gives you pleasure or not, like a reptile. The possibility of negotiating with reality only occurs with the second system, the one of the neocortex, though it is completely dominated by the passions."
Reading this book offers a glimpse of reality as seen by some of the leading scientists of our time.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
February 26, 2013
This book is an opportunity to get inside the heads of leading scientists in a variety of fields. Eduardo Punset and Lynn Margulis simplify science through interviews and translate complicated information for the reader who has no professional background in science.
Mind, Life and the Universe is split into the following four parts: People Primates, Animal Body-Mind, Life on an Animate Planet and Toward the Invisible. Topics include many facets of science, including biology, chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, as well as their numerous sub-topics within them. Each chapter/interview/topic is only an average of five to seven pages, which keeps the subjects flowing well.
I lost interest in the middle of the book, somewhere within Life on an Animate Planet, primarily because I have little interest in biology. However, overall, Mind, Life and the Universe is a good, quick read. I could understand almost every topic discussed, even though I have little formal education in the sciences. I'd encourage all those with a broad interest in the sciences to pick this book up.
Favorite Chapters:
Life, Master of the Earth: Interview with James E. Lovelock
Too Huge for the Atom, Too Tiny for the Star: Interview with Sheldon Lee Glashow
Manipulation by Dwarves: Interview with Nicolas Garcia
Favorite Quotes:
"We are in the right place just because life exists; it is life that has modeled this lovely planet that it is so favorable to life." [reference to a group of scientists' opinions, p. 202]
"Physics encompasses chemistry, biology, astronomy, cosmology. Everything is based on physics. All sciences are, in the end, physics." [Sheldon Lee Glashow, p.289]
"If life exists elsewhere in the universe, it doesn't necessarily have to be like ours." [Nicolas Garcia, p. 305]
Note: As this book was published almost five years ago, in includes outdated scientific information. For example, several chapters discuss the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which had yet to be finished. I'd love to hear what these scientists think of the LHC and its findings now!
Mind, Life and the Universe is split into the following four parts: People Primates, Animal Body-Mind, Life on an Animate Planet and Toward the Invisible. Topics include many facets of science, including biology, chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, as well as their numerous sub-topics within them. Each chapter/interview/topic is only an average of five to seven pages, which keeps the subjects flowing well.
I lost interest in the middle of the book, somewhere within Life on an Animate Planet, primarily because I have little interest in biology. However, overall, Mind, Life and the Universe is a good, quick read. I could understand almost every topic discussed, even though I have little formal education in the sciences. I'd encourage all those with a broad interest in the sciences to pick this book up.
Favorite Chapters:
Life, Master of the Earth: Interview with James E. Lovelock
Too Huge for the Atom, Too Tiny for the Star: Interview with Sheldon Lee Glashow
Manipulation by Dwarves: Interview with Nicolas Garcia
Favorite Quotes:
"We are in the right place just because life exists; it is life that has modeled this lovely planet that it is so favorable to life." [reference to a group of scientists' opinions, p. 202]
"Physics encompasses chemistry, biology, astronomy, cosmology. Everything is based on physics. All sciences are, in the end, physics." [Sheldon Lee Glashow, p.289]
"If life exists elsewhere in the universe, it doesn't necessarily have to be like ours." [Nicolas Garcia, p. 305]
Note: As this book was published almost five years ago, in includes outdated scientific information. For example, several chapters discuss the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which had yet to be finished. I'd love to hear what these scientists think of the LHC and its findings now!
August 4, 2010
Mind, Life and Universe affords all the pleasures as well as the dissatisfactions of a short-format TV program(in fact, the 36 interviews with distinguished scientists presented here are excerpted from interviews conducted by Eduardo Ponset for Spanish television). The reader is titillated by the taste of something good, but never quite makes it to the real meal. That said, an extensive supplementary reading list follows the interviews, to encourage readers to read on. The interviews are grouped under 4 headings (each with sub-headings) entitled "People Primates," "Animal Body-Mind," "Life on an Animate Planet," and "Toward the Invisible." The interviewees are all currently active and influential in their respective fields: Psychology, Neuroscience, Zoology, Psychobiology, Ethology, Entomology, Evolutionary Biology, Cognitive Studies, Human Genetics, Mechanics, Medicine, Human Biology, Paleontology, Microbiology, and Physics.
Among the interviewees are Jane Goodall, Edward O. Wilson, Oliver Sacks, Diana Deutsch, William Haseltine, James E. Lovelock, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Dorion Sagan, Eugene Chudnovsky and Lisa Randall. Interestingly, although the book is edited by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, only three female scientists are included. And, despite characterization of the world of scientific research and exploration as transnational and unbounded, the male scientists are all North Americans or Europeans. This last may be simply a function of access and/or language, but I still find it disappointing.
Read this collection like a magazine and it won't disappoint. At a minimum, it points in some interesting directions.
Among the interviewees are Jane Goodall, Edward O. Wilson, Oliver Sacks, Diana Deutsch, William Haseltine, James E. Lovelock, Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Dorion Sagan, Eugene Chudnovsky and Lisa Randall. Interestingly, although the book is edited by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, only three female scientists are included. And, despite characterization of the world of scientific research and exploration as transnational and unbounded, the male scientists are all North Americans or Europeans. This last may be simply a function of access and/or language, but I still find it disappointing.
Read this collection like a magazine and it won't disappoint. At a minimum, it points in some interesting directions.
June 9, 2011
I personally love this book. I love the format- the interviews make the reading go much more smoothly, and there's the perfect amount of information in each section to keep you from feeling too bogged down and overwhelmed. On the other hand, the information is clear and deep enough to keep you from feeling as if the scientists are trying to baby you. One of my favorite aspects is how often a scientist says - straightforwardly or indirectly - "I don't know." We still have so much to learn, which is important to keep in mind at all times, and Mind, Life, and Universe does a great job of articulating this. Sure the language is easily accessible to anyone who wishes to read it, which, in the field of science is often displeasing to the specialists, but the introduction clearly stresses the importance of making science important and available to everyone, and the book does a wonderful job of this as well. Overall, the book breaks down common cliches, stereotypes, and ideas that science is heartless, dull, and rids life of its meaning. In their interviews, essays, and introductions, Margulis and Punset - along with many other prominent scientists - expose the passion and life that is so very prominent within the field of science. Reading this book will give you a whole new way to appreciate life, whether it is realizing the importance of treating animals kindly or confronting the brain vs. mind issue or appreciating the role that music has in all of our lives. Mind, Life, and the Universe makes science personal.
October 17, 2012
Aynı anda dünya çapında 36 bilimciyi bulup uzmanlık alanlarındaki son gelişmeleri almak herkesin yapabileceği bir iş değil. NTV yayınlarından 'Hayat Kitabı' adıyla Türkçemize kazandırılan kitap pek çok bilimsel bilgi içeriyor. Kitabı hazmade hazmede okuyup bitirmem neredeyse bir haftayı aldı. Kitabın dikkat çekici yönü bütün bilimsel gelişmeleri evrimci ve Darvinist bir yaklaşımla ele alması. Ayrıca kitabı okuduğunuzda sanki bu bilimciler başka bir gezegende yaşıyor hissine kapılıyor insan. Kendilerine göre bir çevçeveleri var. Tamamı bu çerçeveden bakıyorlar, olaylara, insana, hayvana ve diğer canlılara ya da cansızlara. Sanki başka bir bakış açısı olamazmış gibi. Ama yine de güzel bir çalışma bu konulara meraklı olanlar için okunası bir kitap. İlave bir bilgide aktarayım. NTV yayınları daha önceden benzer konseptde 'Gelecek 50 Yıl' adlı bir kitap daha çıkarmışta. Hatta bazı bilimciler iki eserde de yer alıyor. Richard Dawkins, Paul Davies, Joseph Ledoux gibi.
August 4, 2015
A very personal approach to the scientific debate and communication to the main public, something that I personally care much about. The figures interviewed were all very unique and had a lot to give to the reader, except Deepak Chopra, which I refuse to include in the category of scientist. THe only reason I didnt give it 5 stars it's because many of the topics are already out of date, but 10 years ago this book must have been a complete hit, not so much nowadays though.
Read
June 9, 2010Some of the conversations were really fascinating - others lost me. I liked the format of the book and think that it's the sort of book it would be nice to have around the home so you could refer to different chapters as they appeal to you. I think it's a good slow read (and re-read) as opposed to a library borrow.
December 5, 2008
Enjoyed reading this book very interesting to read. Informative about each scientists and there fields. You get to know all of them and what they love and what they do. Plus they talk about what they believe and things that could happen in the future. An interesting read but really enjoyed it.
August 15, 2012
This was a pretty good introductory book into a bunch of various scientific studies, theories, and fields. Sometimes I wished there was a bit more depth and detail with certain interviews, but looking at it from an introductory viewpoint it made sense. Pretty good read overall.
March 7, 2008
an interesting concept- each chapter is an interview with a different current scientist. slow and somewhat rambling, but introduces you to current topics out of your field.
July 26, 2016
This is an excellent, contemporary review of advanced concepts made easier for the rest of us.
December 10, 2021
Thoughtful ideas, fascinating interviews.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews