Word: glashow
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...autobiographical sections largely take the form of digressions from the scientific discussions, with the exception of a long, unconstructive chapter on the Nobel Prize ceremony. In other words, Glashow takes a break from involved discussion of particle physics to describe who his friends were then (and what they are doing now--either in their professional or personal lives), his apartment's appearance, the women in his life, et cetera, et cetera...
Such passages would be innocuous enough if they were not also so often offensive, particularly to women. Here is one such passage, where Glashow describes the second year of his National Science Foundation Fellowship...
These passages are numerous. Glashow is less than disturbed by French racism as he recounts his absolution for an automobile accident for which he now claims total responsibility. Driving drunk on the wrong side of the road, Glashow collided with an Arab driver, who was arrested instead of Glashow after the latter showed the police some official French documents...
...hard to imagine what Glashow intended with such anecdotes. The humor is boorish, and the adventurous tales contribute little if anything to understanding the thought processes of a great physicist...
...GLASHOW never provides a real sense of what people, ideas or occurences shaped his thought, and hence the reader is left with no insight into the intellectual stimulants found in a scientific community. Interactions would have been a valuable book if it had begun to describe how a high-powered academic community functions, how competition and co-operation blend to produce great advances in knowledge. Instead, Glashow describes a puzzle of particle physics on one page, goes skiing with a colleague or his latest girlfriend on the next page and presents a possible solution on the next...