Max Perutz and the Secret of Life
Perutz made a wise choice when he chose to invite Georgina Ferry to write his life. The result is an engaging, beautifully written book deserving a place on the shelf of everyone who likes to read about science and scientists. Ferry takes Perutz s career through to the end of his life with his work on the amyloid associated with Alzheimer s disease. Whether dealing with personal matters or explaining the science, Ferry handles the subject matter with ease and clarity. As the official biographer, Ferry has handled Perutz s mix of vanity and self-deprecation, vicious critique and devoted admiration, diplomatically, reporting not judging. Medical History --Medical HistoryA biographer, it seems to me, walks a fine line: he or she needs to be truthful, enthusiastic and selective without suppressing, inventing or distorting the individual whose life is under scrutiny. He or she must allow his or her readers to feel, as well as to understand, the passions, foibles and idiosyncrasies that made his or her subject a person while dealing with family members and intimates who might object to a biography on the grounds that it s nobody s business. On all counts, Ferry s beautifully written book meets and passes the test with flying colors...  In telling the story of this admirable man and exceptional scientist, Ferry has succeeded in making her subject live again for the reader. Nature Medicine --NatureFerry does a superb job of using the correspondence, archival sources, interviews, and other traditional tools of biography writing...Teachers of undergraduates will treasure [this book] for the rich coverage of the birth of molecular biology and the circumstances that made it possible.  The Quarterly Review of Biology --The Quarterly Review of Biology