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| View Larger Image | The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell
by Basil Mahon
| | List Price: | $14.95 | | Price: | $10.17 | | You Save: | $4.78 (32%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 41872 | | Studio: | Wiley | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 246 | | Publication Date: | November 05, 2004 | | Publisher: | Wiley |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
This is the first biography in twenty years of James Clerk Maxwell, one of the
greatest scientists of our time and yet a man relatively unknown to the wider public. Approaching science with a freshness unbound by convention or
previous expectations, he produced some of the most original scientific thinking
of the nineteenth century and his discoveries went on to shape the twentieth
century. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 23 reviews)
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A GREAT BIOGRAPHY OF THE GREASTEST SCIENTIST OF ALL TIMES: JAMES CLERK MAXWELL 
Certainly not only mainstream physics is not on the right track- see my review of The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, by his same father, Erwin Schrodinger- but history too.
After reading this excellent biographical book by Basil Mahon, of the greatest physicist of all times, James Clerk Maxwell, who was not only that, but a great husband, a great son, a great friend and most importantly a great human being to whom mankind owes such a great deal. In effect why the great public and specially the young ones do not know such an example of a truly human being?
But let me share with you in this review some of the points I have pointed out in my copy of this book:
- James was invited to give a lecture at the Royal Institution on his work on colour vision...and so... The Royal Institution audience saw the world's first colour photograph.Pag93
- He believed strongly in the power of subconscious thoughts to generate insights...pag94
- James had shown how the electrical and magnetic forces which we experience could have their seat not in physical objects like magnets and wires but in energy stored in the space between and around the bodies.pag106
- Light must consist of electromagnetic waves. Some of the great leaps in science have come when two sets of apparently different phenomena are explained by a single new theory...This was one such leap: at a stroke, he had united the old science of optics with the much newer one of electromagnetism...pag109
- It was at this time, busy as he was with experiments... that Maxwell produced a paper which will remain forever one of the finest of all man's scientific accomplishment,
A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. Its boldness, originality and vision are breathtaking.pag119
- The negative idea was negative feedback... He wrote a paper called On Governors. It was the first mathematical analysis of control systems and became the foundation of modern control theory.pag140
- To James scientific facts were incomplete without the knowledge of how they came to be discovered.pag154
- We know little of Katherine- James's wife-...Whether or not Katherine deserves her reputation... It is also clear that they were loyally devoted to one another, with a strong spiritual sense of union, that they always shared their deepest thoughts, and that James always put Katherine's welfare before his own.pag169
- What is done by what I call myself is, I feel, done by something greater than myself in me...pag173
Recently when I have been investigating about the Eastern Inner science of Taoism, I find it perplexing how the West has its own great Masters, and without such a difficult trayectory, but by concentrating the mind on the great ideals of science.
August 10, 2008 | |
A very pleasant and easy read
A great book written by obvious fan.
Very easy to just pick up and read from start to end.
I've always wanted to know more about this remarkable man, and after reading this book - well, he was even more remarkable than I realized.
A modern scientist decades before the era of modern science. The author argues, reasonably persuasively, that Maxwell is the prototypical modern scientist in that his approach combined hard core maths with rigorous experiments (Hmmm. come to think of it, we seem to have lost that !)
I also didn't realize the Maxwell's famous Equations were treated with disdain his peers and for a couple of decades later; right up to the point when Hertz actually discovered the traveling electromagnetic waves that the equations forecast.
Can't recommend it highly enough.
July 14, 2008 | |
Outstanding!!
This book is biography at its best! The title of this book is perfect. Maxwell was a giant - true genius. Maxwell unified all the previous knowledge of electrical and magnetic phenomema in his famous equations. And if that weren't enough, he noticed something interesting - a velocity that looked familiar - and predicted the electromagnetic nature of light and electromagnetic waves in general!!! What an achievement - a triumph!
The author does a magnifcent job of showing the chronology of his life, his character, the current state of knowledge and the environment he inherited, gives us some insight into his thoughts, his insatible curiosity, his gift to apply mathematics to natural phenomema, and the significance of his work.
I read one review that was unhappy that it didn't have enough mathematics in it. If you want differential equations, look elsewhere - like a physics book or Maxwell's treatises which are readily available.
I was surprised to learn of his extensive researches into color theory and that he made the very first color photograph. It seems that Maxwell was the first person to apply statistical methods to natural phenomena - specifically thermodynamics and the kinetic theory of heat. Read this book - there's lots more.
When I finished this book I was both in awe and inspired. And I say "Thanks!" to James Clerk Maxwell when I listen to the radio, watch TV, talk on a cell phone or look at my computer.
July 10, 2008 | |
Lacks a strong narrative, not enough science 
It is amazing that such a pivotal figure in physics remains relatively unknown to the public at large. I even asked a British friend of mine -- who actually went to Cambridge -- if he knew who James Clerk Maxwell was. He hadn't the foggiest.
So it's a shame that this narrow biography (barely 190 pages of actual content -- excluding end-notes, etc.) does not deliver a more compelling picture of both the man and the scientist.
A good biographer must do more than collect a series of chronological facts and array them in a sensible order; he must know how to tell a story. A science biographer has an even more daunting task -- he must tell the story of his subject while at the same time unraveling the wonder of scientific discovery. Mahon fails at both of these.
Mahon's style is factual and competent, but he fails to convey any essence of the man himself. Who was James Clerk Maxwell? I know where he lived, where he taught, and what he did, but I have no greater insight whatsoever into what drove the man. What were his hopes, fears, ambitions?
While it is possible that there was not enough historical source material to paint this picture, I highly doubt it. A prolific letter writer (by Mahon's own account), I would have appreciated far more quotes from Maxwell's own writings (both private and published). Anything -- realy -- to give greater insight into the man.
Pehraps equally disappointing is the limited play that Mahon gives Maxwell's science. While he does provide a cursory view of some of Maxwell's greatest achievements, I believe he does not go deep enough. I admit that the topic of electromagentic field theory is complex, but a greater effort shoud have been made to explain how important this development was to the development of modern field theory. Oddly, Mahon spends time explaining Maxwell's equations (i.e., the meaning of the terms), but is not able to truly convey their beauty or importance to the layman. More importantly, Mahon fails to demonstrate exactly why the subject of his biography lives up to the book's title "The Man Who Changed Everything."
In many ways, James Clerk Maxwell's fame seems inversely proportional to his influence on the historical development of modern physics. So it's regrettable that it has been left to Mahon to write the modern biography of such a great man.
March 01, 2008 | |
An Unsung Hero 
If your a science enthusiast and enjoy reading about the history and the people behind some of the great scientific achievements then you will enjoy this book. I certainly never realized the scope of Maxwell's achievements. He was simply brilliant.
January 16, 2007 | |
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