Book description
‘If you did not think that gallium and iridium could move you, this
superb book will change your mind’
The Times
In Uncle Tungsten Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in
wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who
fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at
boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual
curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to
London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his
passion for learning. Uncle Tungsten
radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy’s adventures, and is an
unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind.
‘This book is both a heartwarming account of a delightful, eccentric
family life and an inspiring record of a remarkable intellectual
odyssey’ Mail on Sunday
‘The amalgamation of personal recollection and scientific history makes
a luminous, inspiring book’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Uncle Tungsten
is really about the raw joy of scientific understanding; what it is
like to be a precocious child discovering the alchemical secrets of
reality for the first time: the sheer thrill of finding intelligible
patterns in nature’ Guardian
Oliver Sacks was educated in London, Oxford, California and New York.
He is a professor of clinical neurology at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
and Awakenings
.
